Henri Gabriel Mulet (17 October 1878 – 20 September 1967) was a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

and

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

, and

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

Biography

Mulet was born on 17 October 1878 in Paris. His father Gabriel Léon Mulet was choirmaster of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur, where his mother Blanche Victoire Augustine Gatin would also play the

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

; as a boy he sometimes deputised for her. He studied at the

Paris Conservatoire 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 ...

from 1890, where his teachers included

Jules Delsart Jules Delsart (24 November 1844 – 3 July 1900)MacGregor, "Jules Delsart"Grove Music Online (Subscription Access)/ref> was a 19th-century French cellist and teacher. He is best known for his arrangement for cello and piano of César Franck's V ...

Raoul Pugno Stéphane Raoul Pugno (23 June 1852) was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist known for his playing of Mozart's works. Biography Raoul Pugno was born in Paris and was of Italian origin. He made his debut at the age of six, and with t ...

Xavier Leroux Xavier Henry Napoleón Leroux (11 October 1863 – 2 February 1919) was a French composer and a teacher at the Paris Conservatory. He was married to the famous soprano Meyrianne Héglon (1867–1942). Life Born in Italy at Velletri, 30 k ...

Alexandre Guilmant Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Cantor ...

and

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the mid-Romantic era, most notable for his ten organ symphonies. His Toccata from the fifth organ symphony has become one of th ...

. He originally intended to be a cellist, but later served as an organist at

Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge Saint-Pierre de Montrouge () is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Petit-Montrouge quarter of the 14th arrondissement of Paris. It was built from 1863, during Hausmann's redesign of the city, by Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer, the architect ...

and also taught at the École Niedermeyer and the Schola Cantorum, where he worked with his friend

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

. From 1922 to 1937 he was organist at St. Phillippe du Roule.Bate (1980), pp. 766-767Plender (1981), pp. 967, 969-767 Mulet's most notable works are for organ: the ''Esquisses byzantines'' (1914-1919) and the ''Carillon-Sortie'' (1911/12). The former, a set of ten pieces, was a recollection of the Romano-Byzantine architectural style of Sacré-Cœur and five of the pieces are named after some of its features, including "Campanile" (bell-tower) and "Chapelle des Morts" (chapel of the dead). The ''Carillon'' has been called "one of the great showpieces of French Romantic organ music". Mulet's complete organ works were recorded in a set of two CDs in 1989, played by Paul Derett. In 1922 Mulet published "''Les tendances et antireligieuses néfastes de l'orgue moderne''", an attack on modern schools of organ building; this was followed by similar essays. He deplored the trend to create organs which he felt were more appropriate for the cinema than for church: the organ was "a

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window. Its tones of imposing and embracing calm flood the air of our cathedrals, in the same way that ...stained-glass windows bring down meditation upon the congregation." In 1937, Mulet, following a financial crisis, destroyed his manuscripts and many of his possessions and left Paris for

Draguignan Draguignan (; oc, Draguinhan) is a commune in the Var department in the administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (formerly Provence), southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department and self-proclaimed "capital of ...

(

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

). There he continued as a church organist until 1958, often in poverty (his wife opened a toy-shop in the hope of increasing their income). Ill-health led Mulet and his wife, Isabelle-Emilie-Marie (''née'' Rochereau) to retire to a convent in Draguignan, where he died in 1967.

Works

Mulet's compositions include: Organ *Méditation religieuse, 1896? *Prière, 1902? *Carillon-Sortie, Procure Générale, 1911 or 1912? *Offertoire funèbre *Petit offertoire - Maurice Senart, 1912 reprinted by Edition: "Le Grand Orgue" *Sortie douce - Maurice Senart, 1912 reprinted by Edition: "Le Grand Orgue" *Offertoire sur un Alléluia grégorien, pour la fête du Très-Saint-Rosaire *Esquisses Byzantines (10 pieces), 1914–19, including the popular ''Tu es petra'' ("Thou art the rock") Harmonium *Angelus (a transcription of his earlier orchestral work "San Salvator"). *Offertoire *Sortie Orchestral *Dans la vallée du tombeau (Souvenir de Lombardie), symphonic poem, 1908 *La Toussaint, symphonic poem, 1909 *Fantaisie pastorale, 1911 *Paysage d’hiver *Paysages crépusculaires *Scherzo-Marche *Petite suite sur des airs populaires français *Souvenirs de Lombardie Vocal *O mon Jésus (hymn), 1900 *L’aigu bruissement, voice and piano, 1904 *Laudate dominum, four voices and organ, 1904 *Soleils couchants, voice and piano, 1904 *Ave Maria, three voices & organ, 1910 *Les deux étoiles, voice and piano, 1910 *Le dernier des Maourys, voice and piano, 1911 *Le talion, voice and orchestra, 1912 (on a text by LeConte de Lisle). Chamber and instrumental *Danse afghane, piano, 1904 *2 noëls, oboe or clarinet & piano, 1904 *Danse persane, piano, 1910 *Petit lied très facile, harpsichord or piano, 1910 Essays *Les tendances et antireligieuses néfastes de l'orgue modern. Congres General de Musique Sacree, Strassbourg 26-31 Juillet 1921. *Étude sur le role des mutations et la composition rationelle du Plein-Jeu dans un grand orgue, Strassbourg 26-31 Juillet 1921.

References

; Notes ;Sources *Bate, Jennifer (1980). "Mulet, Henri", in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. S. Sadie, vol.12, pp. 766–7. * Nickol, Christopher (1989)
"Complete Mulet"
''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'', Vol. 130, No. 1757, . *Plender, Aidan (October 1981)
"Henri Mulet, 1878-1967"
''

'', Vol. 122, No. 1664, . *Simeone, Nigel (2000)
''Paris--a Musical Gazetteer''
. Yale University Press. *Dimitroulis Ioannis (2012) "Mulet, Henri", in

Henri Mulet Henri Gabriel Mulet (17 October 1878 – 20 September 1967) was a French composer, pipe and reed organist, and cellist. Biography Mulet was born on 17 October 1878 in Paris. His father Gabriel Léon Mulet was choirmaster of the Basilica of Sacr ...

, ed. Flu Press Gerd Numitor (Ed.) ;Further reading *Duchesneau, Michel (1997). ''L'avant-garde musicale et ses sociétés à Paris de 1871 à 1939''. Sprimont: Editions Mardaga *Sabatier, F (1991) ‘Henri Mulet’, Guide de la musique d’orgue, ed. G. Cantagrel (Paris), 605–6 *Smith, Rollin (1999)
''Louis Vierne: Organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral''
, note 171. Pendragon Press.

External links

* Ioannis Dimitroulis
"Henri Mulet"
in Classicalcomposers.org website. Retrieved via

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

18 October 2017. * Henri Mulet: A biography by Ioannis Dimitroulis

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulet, Henri 1878 births 1967 deaths 20th-century French composers French male composers French classical organists French male organists Musicians from Paris Conservatoire de Paris alumni Schola Cantorum de Paris faculty 20th-century French male musicians Male classical organists