Gaston Carraud (20 July 1864 – 15 June 1920) was a French composer and

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

Life

Born at

Le Mée-sur-Seine Le Mée-sur-Seine (, literally ''Le Mée on Seine'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France, next to Melun. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris from the center. Geogra ...

, Carraud was the son of Ivan Carraud (1826–1881), general inspector of water and forests, general adviser of the

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, and of Zoé de Ridder (1835–1903), of Belgian origin, and the grandson of

Zulma Carraud Zulma Carraud (24 March 1796 – 24 April 1889) was a French author. She is best known for her children's books and textbooks particularly ''La Petite Jeanne ou le devoir'' and ''Maurice ou le travail''. Early and family life Carraud was born o ...

, ''née'' Tourangin, writer and friend of Honoré de Balzac. Carraud began his musical training at the "École Monge", receiving instruction from Albéric Magnard,

Charles Koechlin Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin (; 27 November 186731 December 1950), commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things ...

, Jacques Pillois, André Caplet and Gabriel Bender. He then studied

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

at the Conservatoire de Paris 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' ...

and obtained in 1890 the Premier Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata ''Cléopâtre'' after a text by Fernand Beissier. He later composed the symphonic poems ''La Chevauchée de la chimère'', ''Les Nuits'' after the poems by

Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

and the overture ''Buona Pasqua''. From 1905, he worked as a music critic for the newspaper '' La Liberté''. In 1921 his book ''La Vie, l'œuvre et la mort d'Albéric Magnard (1865-1914)'' was published in Paris. Carraud died in his home in the

8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' ("the eighth"). The arrondissement, ...

. He rests in the family plot at

Nohant-en-Graçay Nohant-en-Graçay () is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography A farming area comprising a small village and two hamlets situated some southwest of Vierzon at the junction of the D68, D163 and ...

cemetery (Cher), next to Zulma Carraud.Bertrand Beyern, ''Guide des tombes d'hommes célèbres'' (Paris: Le Cherche-Midi, 2011), p. 48.

References

External links

Gaston Carraud
(Prix de Rome 1890-1899) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carraud, Gaston 1864 births 1920 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni French male classical composers French music critics French Romantic composers People from Seine-et-Marne Prix de Rome for composition 20th-century French male musicians 19th-century French male musicians