Gabriel Édouard Xavier Dupont (1 March 1878 – 2 August 1914) was a French composer, known for his operas and

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 ...

Biography

Dupont was born in

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Paris Conservatory at the age of 15. There he studied composition with

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' ...

, harmony with Antoine Taudou, and descant with

André Gedalge 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 where he first worked as a bookseller and editor, specialising in ''livres de prix' ...

. In 1895, he was also given instruction on the organ by Alexandre Guilmant. Between 1897 and 1903, he studied composition with Charles-Marie Widor. In 1901, while performing his military service, Dupont competed for the Prix de Rome. He won second prize, behind André Caplet but ahead of

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

. He was also named laureate of the Sonzogno competition for his opera ''La Cabrera'', which was later presented with success at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

and then at the Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique in 1905. In 1903, Dupont composed a cycle of fourteen pieces for the piano, ''Les Heures dolentes'', during his convalescence from his first bout of tuberculosis – the disease that would ultimately cause his death at the age of 36. While residing at Cap Ferret, in a small island refuge for tuberculosis patients, he composed another cycle of ten pieces for the piano, ''La Maison dans les dunes'' (1908–1909).

Maurice Dumesnil Maurice Hippolyte Dumesnil (20 April 1884 – 26 August 1974) was a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Angoulême, Dumesnil studied the piano at the Conservatoire de Paris with Isidore Philipp, and was a pupil of Claude Debussy. He unde ...

premiered the suite on 3 June 1910 at the Salle Pleyel. Dupont wrote three more operas: ''La Glu'' (1909), a Breton melodrama based on a novel by Jean Richepin; ''La Farce du cuvier'' (1911), using a libretto by Henri Caïn; and ''Antar'' (1912–14), also using a Caïn libretto. ''Antar'' was performed after Dupont's death in a grandiose and exotically dark production at the Opéra Comique in March 1921. Dupont died from tuberculosis in Le Vésinet. The monument on his tomb is prominent in the cemetery there. Dupont's brothers also had artistic careers. Maurice, curator of the Guimet Museum, was an Oriental expert and man of letters. Robert (1874–1949) was a landscaper for Sarthe and Brittany, as well as an official painter of the town halls of Paris.

Selected works

Operas * ''La Cabrera'', libretto by Henri Cain (1903) * ''La Glu'', libretto by Jean Richepin and Henri Cain (1908) * ''La Farce du cuvier'' (1911) * ''Antar'', libretto by Chekri Ganem (1913) Vocal * ''Trois Choeurs'', songs from Normandy for women's choir (1900) * ''Poèmes d'automne'', songs (1904) Orchestra * ''Les Heures dolentes'' (1906) * ''Le Chant de la Destinée'', symphonic poem (1908) Organ * ''Allegretto'' (1898) * ''Élévation en Si bémol majeur'' * ''Pièce en forme de canon'', published in ''L'Orgue moderne'', 10th issue, edited by Charles-Marie Widor and Alexandre Guilmant (Paris: Leduc, 1897) * ''Méditation'', published in ''L'Orgue moderne'', 15th issue, edited by Charles-Marie Widor and Alexandre Guilmant (Paris: Leduc, 1899) * ''Pour la Toussaint'' (1902) * ''Offertoire'', ''Élévation'' and ''Sortie'', published in ''Archives de l'organiste'', vol. 4, edited by H. Delépine (Arras: Procure Générale de musique religieuse, c. 1910) Piano * ''Deux Airs de Ballet'' (1895) * ''Feuillets d'album'' (1897) * ''Les Heures dolentes'' (1905) * ''La Maison dans les Dunes'' (1909) Chamber * ''Journée de Printemps'' for violin and piano (1901) * ''Poème'' for piano and string quartet (1911)

Recordings

Dupont's complete works for solo piano have been recorded by

Émile Naoumoff Émile Naoumoff (Bulgarian: Емил Наумов; born 20 February 1962 in Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian pianist and composer. He revealed himself a musical prodigy at age five, taking up study of the piano and adding composition to his stud ...

, Marie-Catherine Girod, and Bo Ties. A recording of ''La Cabrera'' has been released on the Bongiovanni label. A recording of "Les Heures Dolentes", played by pianist Daniel Blumenthal, was released on the Cybella label. Dupont's "Poème", "Journées de Printemps", as well as selections from "Heures dolentes" and "La Maison dans les dunes", were recorded by Marie-Catherine Girod and the Pražák Quartet and released on the Mirare label in 2014.

Bibliography

* Robert Jardillier
Hommage à Gabriel Dupont
in ''Revue de Bourgogne'', vol. 12, p. 635–646 (Dijon, 1924) * Philippe Simon, ''Gabriel Dupont (1878–1914), ou La Mélancolie du Bonheur'',

Atlantica-Séguier Atlantica-Séguier (Created in 1984) is a French publishing house. Background Created in 1984, the company has published more than 2,300 works which include fiction and non-fiction books as well as plays. The non-fiction focus is mainly on cinema, ...

(2001). * Adriano Spampanato, ''Gabriel Dupont, un compositeur méconnu'', CNSMDP, Master's thesis, 2016 * Adriano Spampanato, ''En attendant Dupont ...'', in: ''Revue Massenet'', no. 14, p. 50–58, Mortagne-au-Perche 20

* Bo Ties,
An Orchestral Approach to the Piano Works of Gabriel Dupont. Remembering and Recording a Forgotten Musician
', DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) thesis (University of Iowa, 2018)

References

External links

*
Dupont: Complete Works for Solo Piano, by Émile Naoumoff
*, 4 excerpts by Daniel Blumenthal (pianist), Daniel Blumenthal, piano *, complete, Stéphane Lemelin, piano *, Sara Chen and Pablo Muńoz, violin; Jae Choi, cello; Émile Naoumoff, piano {{DEFAULTSORT:Dupont, Gabriel 1878 births 1914 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris alumni French male classical composers French Romantic composers Musicians from Caen Prix de Rome for composition Tuberculosis deaths in France