André Gedalge (27 December 1856 – 5 February 1926) was a French composer and teacher.

Biography

André Gedalge was born at 75 rue des Saints-Pères in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he first worked as a bookseller and editor, specialising in ''livres de prix'' for public schools. During this time his father and him published books by Marie Laubot and Edmond About for the Librairie Gedalge. In 1886, at the age of 28, he entered the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

. In that same year he won the Second

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

. He studied under

Ernest Guiraud Ernest Guiraud (; 23 June 18376 May 1892) was an American-born French composer and music teacher. He is best known for writing the traditional orchestral recitatives used for Bizet's opera '' Carmen'' and for Offenbach's opera '' Les contes d ...

, professor of

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

and

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

, who had also been

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

's teacher. In 1891, Gedalge composed the score for ''Le Petit Savoyard'', a pantomime in four acts performed at the

Théâtre des Nouveautés The Théâtre des Nouveautés ("Theatre of the New") is a Parisian theatre built in 1921 and located at 24 boulevard Poissonnière (Paris, 9th arr.). The name was also used by several earlier Parisian theatre companies and their buildings, begin ...

. In 1895, ''Pris au Piège'' was awarded the Prix Cressant. In June 1900, his one act

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

''Phoebé'' debuted at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

. He composed ''Quatuor d'archet'', ''Les Vaux de Vire'' (a collection of ''mélodies''), children's songs, and three symphonies. These illustrated the proud motto that he followed: "Neither literature, nor painting", which defined "pure music". His ''Third Symphony in F Major'' and his ''Concerto for Piano and Orchestra'' (written in 1899) were considered masterpieces of French music. In the years before World War I, Gedalge served as mayor of Chessy,

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, where he later died and was buried.

Teaching

He influenced many students of music . Both

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

and Enesco, who studied under Gedalge, dedicated compositions to him, Ravel dedicating his

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

and Enescu his octet for strings. Other pupils who dedicated works included

Charles Koechlin Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin (; 27 November 186731 December 1950), commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. Among his better known works is '' Les Heures persanes'', a set of piano pieces based on th ...

, who dedicated his ''7 Rondels, Op.8'', and Eugène Cools, who dedicated his Violin Sonata, Op.79. He also wrote instructional works for students: ''Traité de la fugue'' ("Treatise of the Fugue", 1904) and ''L'Enseignement de la Musique par l'éducation de l'oreille'' ("The Instruction of Music by the Education of the Ear", 1922). He was relatively modest and, as such, did not garner a large reputation as an individual musician, but he greatly benefited from the wide recognition of his students. On the day after his death, it was written:

He gave to his students the best part of himself: the knowledge, the understanding of man and the supreme gift that is goodness. It was sufficient that he had been poor and worthy of the name of musician for that he counselled, taught, and gave affectionate welcome not only to his class, but in the intimacy of his dwelling.

(''See below for original quote.'') (''Il donnait à ses élèves le meilleur de lui-même: le savoir, la connaissance des hommes et ce don suprême qu'est la bonté. Il suffisait qu'un être fût pauvre et digne du nom de musicien pour qu'il trouvât conseils, leçons et affectueux accueil non seulement à sa classe, mais dans l'intimité de son logis''.)

Selected works

Operas

* ''Volapük-Revue'' (1886), Play, libretto by William Busnach and Albert Vanloo * ''Pris au piège'' (1890),

Opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular ''opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

* ''Le Petit Savoyard'' (1891), Pantomime * ''Le Rabbin'' (1891), Opéra comique * ''Hélène'' (1893), Drama * ''La Farce du cadi'' (1897) * ''Sita'', Légende dramatique * ''Yvette'', Pantomime

Ballets

* ''Phoebé'' (1900)

Orchestral works

* Symphony No. 1 in D major (1893) * Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 16 (1899) * Symphony No. 2 in C minor (1902 reorchestrated 1912) * Symphony No. 3 in F major (1910) * Violin Concerto in A minor (date unknown) * Symphony No. 4 in A major (unfinished)

Chamber works

* Menuet for String Trio (1873) * ''Romance sans paroles'' for violin and piano (1880) * String Quartet in B major (1892) * Sonata No 1 in G major for violin and piano, Op. 12 (1897) * Sonata No 2 in A minor for violin and piano, Op. 19 (1900)

Piano

* ''Séguedille'' (1884) * ''3 Valses'' (1888) * ''Quatre Préludes et fugues'', Op. 11 (1896) * ''4 Pièces pour piano à 4 mains'', Op. 18 (1901) * ''3 Etudes de concert'', Op. 23 (1902) Also works for piano, piano and voice, a requiem and other choral works.

Writings

* ''Traité de la fugue'' (1901) * ''l'Enseignement de la Musique par l'éducation de l'oreille'' (1922)

Discography

* ''Pièces instrumentales et mélodies'' Geneviève Laurenceau, violin; Mario Hacquard, baritone; Lorène de Ratuld and Claude Collet, piano; Benny Sluchin, trombone;

Antoine Curé Antoine Curé (born 11 April 1951) is a French classical trumpeter. He is a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris. Life Curé started learning the trumpet at the music school in Bayeux. He furthered his studies at the conservatories of Caen an ...

, trumpet (CD, Polymnie, 2007)

References

External links

MusiMem site on André Gedalge
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gedalge, Andre 1856 births 1926 deaths 19th-century French classical composers 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century French classical composers 20th-century French male musicians French ballet composers French male classical composers French male non-fiction writers French music theorists French Romantic composers Musicians from Paris Prix de Rome for composition Jewish classical composers 19th-century French musicologists