Charles-Gaston Levadé (3 January 1869 – 27 October 1948) was a French composer. A pupil of

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

, Grand

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 ...

in 1863, Levadé wrote

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, melodies, religious music, drama and opéras comiques. He was very successful in his time.

Life

Levadé was born in the

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as the neuvième (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is loc ...

. At the age of 13 he entered the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as 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 ...

where he followed the solfège classes of

Albert Lavignac Alexandre Jean Albert Lavignac (21 January 1846 – 28 May 1916) was a French music scholar, known for his essays on theory, and a minor composer. Biography Lavignac was born in Paris and studied with Antoine François Marmontel, François Benoi ...

, Charles de Bériot,

Georges Mathias Georges Amédée Saint-Clair Mathias (; 14 October 182614 October 1910) was a French composer, pianist and teacher. Alongside his teaching work, Georges Mathias was a very active concert pianist. Biography Mathias was born in Paris. He studied a ...

, and Auguste Bazille. A few years later, it is at Lavignac's that he met

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

who dedicated one of his ''

Ogives The ''Ogives'' are four pieces for piano composed by Erik Satie in the late 1880s. They were published in 1889, and were the first compositions by Satie he did not publish in his father's music publishing house. Satie was said to have been ins ...

'' and one of his ''

Gymnopédies The ''Gymnopédies'' (), or ''Trois Gymnopédies'', are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. He completed the whole set by 2 April 1888, but they were at first published individually: the first and the thir ...

'' to him. But it is especially with

that Levadé reached the fullness of his talent. Among his students Massenet had an impressive number of

Grand 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 ...

. In 1911, the student paid tribute to his master by writing in the ''Annales politiques et littéraires'' dated 17 December 1911: After Massenet's resignation in 1896, Levadé attended the classes of

Charles Lenepveu Charles-Ferdinand Lenepveu (4 October 1840 – 16 August 1910), was a French composer and teacher. Destined for a career as a lawyer, he defied his family and followed a musical career. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, and won France's to ...

and obtained the Grand Prix de Rome in 1899 with his cantata ''Callirhoe'' to a text by Eugène Adénis. His public debut was quite rapid. As early as 1895 he produced a Japanese pantomime: ''Coeur de magots'', a "sketch" given at the "Grand Guignol" in 1897, and a "salon opera" in 1903. But his success really began with a three-acts opera: ''The Heretics'', a lyrical tragedy on a poem by

Ferdinand Hérold Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold (28 January 1791 – 19 January 1833), better known as Ferdinand Hérold (), was a French composer. He was celebrated in his lifetime for his operas, of which he composed more than twenty, but he also wrote ballet mus ...

. In 1908, he composed the music for ''La Courtisane de Corinthe'', to a text by

Michel Carré Michel Carré (20 October 1821, Besançon – 27 June 1872, Argenteuil) was a prolific French librettist. He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libre ...

and

Paul Bilhaud Paul Bilhaud (31 December 1854 – 8 January 1933) was a French playwright and librettist. An old friend of the author Alphonse Allais, he is remembered along his friend as a forerunner of minimalism with his painting ''Combat de nègres pendan ...

which was staged in 1908 by

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

, then ''Les Fiançailles de l'ami Fritz'', after

Erckmann-Chatrian Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann (1822–1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (1826–1890), nearly all of whose works were jointly written.Mary Ellen Snodgrass, ''Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature''. New York, Facts ...

in 1919. Other musical adaptations of literary texts followed, such as ''Le Capitaine Fracasse'', libretto by

Émile Bergerat Émile Bergerat (29 April 1845 – 13 October 1923) was a French poet, playwright and essayist. He used the pseudonyms l'Homme masqué (the masked man), Caliban and Ariel (the latter two drawn from '' The Tempest'' by William Shakespeare). ...

and Michel Carré, lyrical comedy from

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...

's eponymous novel and in 1929, ''La Peau de chagrin'', lyrical comedy in four acts after Balzac, libretto by

Pierre Decourcelle Pierre Adrien Decourcelle (25 January 1856 - 10 October 1926) was a French writer and playwright. Life Pierre Adrien Decourcelle was born in Paris on 25 January 1856. His father, Adrien Decourcelle, and his uncle, Adolphe d'Ennery, were both a ...

and Michel Carré, then ''La Rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque'', lyrical comedy in four acts based on

the novel ''The Novel'' (1991) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of ...

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

in 1934. Levadé was also a composer of popular songs (''J'ai cueilli le lys'', 1912), symphonic music (Prélude religieux for string orchestra), lullaby for piano and violin and

religious music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

: Prélude religieux for organ, ''Agnus Dei'' for choir, Psaume CXIII for solo, choir and orchestra. Levadé died in

Cabourg Cabourg (; nrf, Cabouorg) is a commune in the Calvados department, region of Normandy, France. Cabourg is on the coast of the English Channel, at the mouth of the river Dives. The back country is a plain, favourable to the culture of cereal. Th ...

on 27 October 1948.

Selected works

* ''Antigone'', cantata, 1893 * ''Clarisse Harlowe'', cantata, 1895 * ''Cœur de Magots'', japanese pantomime, 1895 * ''Mélusine'', cantata, 1896 * ''Hortense, couche-toi !'' by

Georges Courteline Georges Courteline born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux (25 June 1858 – 25 June 1929) was a French dramatist and novelist, a satirist notable for his sharp wit and cynical humor. Biography His family moved from Tours in Indre-et-Loire to Pari ...

Théâtre du Grand-Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialised in natur ...

, 1897 * ''Callirhoé'', cantata, 1899 * ''L’amour d’Héliodora'', Salon Opera, 1903 *
Les Hérétiques
', poem by Ferdinand Hérold, à

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

, libretto by Ferdinand Hérold. 1905 * Stage music for ''La Courtisane de Corinthe''''La Courtisane de Corinthe''
on Bibliothèque nationale de France by

and

, 1908 * ''Les Fiançailles de l'ami Fritz'' by Jean-Marc d’Anthoine, 1919 * ''La Rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque'', adapted by , 1920 * ''Caroles de Noël'', opera, 1923 * ''Sophie'', opéra comique after

Louis Tiercelin Louis Tiercelin ( Rennes, 1846 - Paramé, 1915), was a French writer, poet and playwright associated with the Breton cultural renaissance of the early 20th century. He debuted at the age of 18 with two plays performed at the theatre of Rennes. He ...

, Georges Docquois and Alfred Aubert, 1923 * ''La Peau de chagrin'', lyrical comedy based on Honoré de Balzac's

La Peau de chagrin ''La Peau de chagrin'' (, ''The Skin of Shagreen''), known in English as ''The Magic Skin and The Wild Ass's Skin'', is an 1831 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). Set in early 19th-century Paris, it tells t ...

and Michel Carré, 1929 * ''Le Capitaine Fracasse'', comedy by

and Michel Carré based on the novel of the same name by

* ''Prélude religieux'' for string orchestre * ''Danses alsaciennes'' for Grand Orchestra * ''Feuilles d’album'' for Grand Orchestra * ''Arrichino'' for piano * ''Berceuse'' for piano and violin * ''Prélude religieux'' for

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

* ''Agnus Dei'' for Choir * ''Psaume CXIII'' for Soli, Choir and Orchestra

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levade, Charles 1869 births 1948 deaths Musicians from Paris Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical composers French male classical composers Prix de Rome for composition