Jean Émile Paul Cras (; 22 May 1879 – 14 September 1932) was a 20th-century French composer and career naval officer. His musical compositions were inspired by his native
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, his travels to Africa, and most of all, by his sea voyages. As a naval commander he served with distinction in the Adriatic Campaign during World War I.
Biography
Life and naval career
Cras was born and died in
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
*Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
*Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
**Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Brest, ...
. His father was naval medical officer. He was accepted into the navy at the age of seventeen. As a midshipman cadet on the ''Iphigénie'', he travelled in the Americas, the West Indies and Senegal. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1908. His mathematical skills led to his proposing a number of innovations in technical practices which were adopted by the navy, including his invention of an electrical selector and a navigational plotter
protractor
A protractor is a measuring instrument, typically made of transparent plastic or glass, for measuring angles.
Some protractors are simple half-discs or full circles. More advanced protractors, such as the bevel protractor, have one or two sw ...
known as (aka Cras ruler, Cras protractor, Cras plotter).Michel Fleury, "Jean Cras, an exceptional destiny", ''Polyphème'', Timpani, 2003, pp. 15–17 (However, it was difficult to operate by some, which inspired the later development of the
Breton plotter
A Breton plotter (French: ), also known as a Portland course plotter or Weems protractor named after later manufacturers producing similar devices, is a navigational instrument used for nautical navigation with charts. It is a ruler with a rotati ...
by Yvonnick Gueret.)
With the outbreak of war in 1914 Cras was appointed as adjutant to Admiral
Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère
Augustin Manuel Hubert Gaston Boué de Lapeyrère (18 January 1852 – 17 February 1924) was a French admiral during World War I. He was a strong proponent of naval reform, and is comparable to Admiral Jackie Fisher of the British Royal Navy.
...
. He later worked in the Submarine Defense Service. In 1916 he was appointed commander of the
torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
''Commandant Bory''. During the Adriatic campaign he sank a submarine and was commended for his bravery in rescuing a sailor who had fallen overboard.
After the war Cras became Chief Secretary to the Chief of General Staff, and was promoted to Commander. He served on several other vessels before being appointed Service Chief on the General Staff for Scientific Research. In 1931 he was appointed Major General of the Port of Brest and promoted to
rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
. He occupied this position when he died after a short illness.
His daughter, Colette Cras, a concert pianist for whom he wrote his piano concerto, married the Polish-French composer
Alexandre Tansman
Alexander Tansman ( pl, Aleksander Tansman, link=no, French: Alexandre Tansman; 12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of ...
.
Musical career
Cras met the composer Henri Duparc early in his career and the two became lifelong friends. Duparc called Cras "the son of my soul". Though Cras's duties in the French navy left him little time to devote to his musical work, he continued to compose throughout his life, mainly writing chamber music and songs. Much of his most ambitious work, the opera '' Polyphème'', was written and orchestrated during the war; however, most of his output dates from after the war. Today, his string trio and string quartet are his best known works.
His lyric tragedy ''Polyphème'' is considered his masterpiece. The opera was acclaimed at its premiere in 1922, giving Cras a burst of notoriety in the French press. The title character is
Polyphemus
Polyphemus (; grc-gre, Πολύφημος, Polyphēmos, ; la, Polyphēmus ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and lege ...
, who, according to
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, is the eldest
Cyclops
In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...
and son of
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...
. It tells the well-known story of the attempt by Polyphemus (baritone) to steal
Galatea
Galatea is an ancient Greek name meaning "she who is milk-white".
Galatea, Galathea or Gallathea may refer to:
In mythology
* Galatea (Greek myth), three different mythological figures
In the arts
* ''Aci, Galatea e Polifemo'', cantata by H ...
(soprano) from Acis (tenor). In the original myth Polyphemus eventually kills Acis by rolling a rock onto him.
Albert Samain
Albert Victor Samain (3 April 185818 August 1900) was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school.
Life and works
Born in Lille, his family were Flemish and had long lived in the town or its suburbs. At the time of the poet's birth, his fa ...
, the librettist, humanized Polyphemus by having him become aware of the feelings shared by two lovers and thus decide not to crush them. Ultimately, the cyclops wanders into the sea to find death because the couple's happiness horrifies him. The music is impressionistic, restless, and highly chromatic, in the spirit of Chausson and Duparc. The influence of Debussy's opera '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' is also noticeable. (A recording of this opera was released in 2003, with
Bramwell Tovey
Bramwell Tovey (11 July 1953 – 12 July 2022) was a British conductor and composer.
Life and career
Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. His formal music education was as ...
conducting the
Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra
The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra ( lb, Lëtzebuerger philharmoneschen Orchester, french: Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg), abbreviated to OPL, is a symphony orchestra based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The orchestra formerly perfor ...
and Armand Arapian in the title role.)
Cras's later work developed a more acerbic style comparable to that of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
, though formally close to
César Franck
César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium.
He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...
. He considered chamber music to be his forte, writing that "this refined musical form has become for me the most essential". The String Trio in particular integrates a wide range of styles, including North African influences. It was described as a 'miraculous' work by André Himonet in 1932, achieving "perfectly balanced sonority and a plenitude of expression between which one dare not choose." The Trio for Strings and Piano also blends African and Eastern melodic patterns with Breton musical traditions into a coherent whole. The critic Michel Fleury compares his work to the Japonist style of the artist Henri Rivière revealing "a stylised Breton land, as though it had been passed through the sieve of his varied experiences gained in the four quarters of the globe."
Selected works
Opera
*'' Polyphème'', opera in five acts on a lyric drama by
Albert Samain
Albert Victor Samain (3 April 185818 August 1900) was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school.
Life and works
Born in Lille, his family were Flemish and had long lived in the town or its suburbs. At the time of the poet's birth, his fa ...
(1910–1918, Ed. Salabert) (f.p. Opéra-Comique, Paris, 29 December 1922.)
Published excerpts:
*N° 1: ''« Oh ! qui m’enlèvera… »'', Polyphème: Act III, scene 1, (1921, Senart)
*N° 2: ''« Il est parti… Pourquoi faut-il que l'heure arrive »'', Galatée: Act IV, scene 5, (1921, Senart)
*''Le Sommeil de Galatée'', musical interlude from Act I, (1922, Senart)
Vocal compositions
* (1892–1896, numerous songs in manuscript, ''"Album de jeunesse"'')
*''Panis angelicus'' (August 1899, ms.)
*''Sept mélodies'', (poems by Rodenbach, Droin, Verlaine, Baudelaire) for voice and piano (1899–1905, Ed. Salabert)
::1. ''Douceur du soir'', poem by
Georges Rodenbach
Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist.
Biography
Georges Rodenbach was born in Tournai to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland (Andernach). He was ...
(1901)
::2. ''Mains lasses'', poem by Georges Rodenbach (1905)
::3. ''L’espoir luit'', poem by
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and ...
(''Sagesse III''), (1900, 1st ed.; 1909, éd. mutuelle de la Schola Cantorum)
::4. ''Le Son du cor'', poem by Paul Verlaine (''Sagesse X''), (1900)
::5. ''Rêverie'', poem by Alfred Droin, (1903, 1st ed.; 1909, éd. mutuelle de la Schola Cantorum)
::6. ''Nocturne'', poem by Alfred Droin, (1903, 1st ed.; 1909, éd. mutuelle de la Schola Cantorum)
::7. ''Correspondances'', poem by
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
(1901)
*''Ave verum'', for voice, violin, organ (or harmonium) (1905, ms.)
*''Deuxième messe à 4 voix a capella'' (1907–1908, ms.)
::1. ''Kyrie'' (1907)
::2. ''Gloria'' (1907)
::3. ''Sanctus'' (1908)
::4. ''Benedictus'' (1908)
*''Regina coeli'', voices with organ (1909, pub. 1914, Ed. Schola Cantorum)
*''Ave Maria'', for voice with organ (August 1910, ms.)
*''Elégies'' (four poems by Albert Samain), for voice with orchestra (1910, Ed. Durand)
*''L’Offrande lyrique'' (seven poems by
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
, transl.
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...
), for voice with piano (1920/1921, Ed. Salabert)
*''Image'' (poem by E. Schneider), for voice with piano (1921, Ed. Salabert)
*''Fontaines'' (five poems by
Lucien Jacques
Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius.
Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to:
People
Given name
* Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint
*Lucien, a band member ...
), for voice & orchestra, or for voice & piano (1923, Ed. Salabert)
*''Cinq Robaïyats'' (five Persian quatrains by
Omar Khayyam
Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, an ...
, transl.
Franz Toussaint Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...
), for voice with piano (1924, Ed. Salabert)
*''Dans la montagne'' (poems by Maurice Boucher), five chorales for male quartet (1925, Ed. Salabert)
*''Hymne en l'honneur d'une Sainte'' (text by Jean Cras) for female voices with organ (1925, Ed. Salabert)
*''Vocalise-Etude'', for voice and piano (1928, Ed. Leduc)
*''La Flûte de Pan'' for voice, Pan-pipes, violin, viola and cello (four poems by Lucien Jacques), (1928, Ed. Salabert)
*''Soir sur la mer'' (poem by
Virginie Hériot
Virginie Claire Désirée Marie Hériot (26 July 1890 – 28 August 1932) was a French people, French yachtswoman who won in the 1928 Summer Olympics in the 8 Metre ''Aile VI''.Léon Chancerel), for voices and chorus with piano (1929, Ed. Salabert)
*''Trois chansons bretonnes'' (poems by Jean Cras), for voice and piano (1932, Ed. Salabert)
*''Deux chansons: le roi Loudivic, Chanson du barde'', extracts from ''Chevalier étranger'' by
Tanguy Malmanche
Tanguy Malmanche (7 September 1875 – 20 March 1953) was a French writer involved in the revival of Breton culture. His first name also appears as Tangi.
The son of Gustave Malmanche, a ship's purser based in Paris, and Marie Louise Piédalu ...
, for voice and piano (1932, Ed.Salabert)
Chamber music
*''Voyage symbolique (premier trio)'', for piano, violin & cello (1899, ms.)
*''L'Esprit (première sonate)'', for violin & piano (1900, ms.)
*''L'Âme (deuxième sonate)'', for viola & piano (1900, ms.)
*''La Chair (troisième sonate)'', for cello & piano (1900, Ed. Durand)
*''Trio en ut pour piano, violon et violoncelle'' (1907, Ed. Durand)
*''À ma Bretagne'', string quartet (1909, Ed. Salabert)
*''Quintette'', for flute, harp, violin, viola, & cello, or for piano and string quartet (1922, Ed. Salabert)
*''Prélude et danse: Demain'', saxophone quartet (1924–1926, ms.)
*''Deux Impromptus pour harpe (1925, Ed. Salabert)
*''Trio pour violon, alto et violoncelle'' (1926 Spring; 1927, Senart) Senart Edition, miniature score (publ. 1927) Information about Autograph Manuscript from BNF Data /ref>
*''Quatre petites pièces pour violon et piano:''
::1. ''Air varié'' (1926, Ed. Salabert)
::2. ''Habanera'' (1927, Ed. Salabert)
::3. ''Evocation'' (1928, Ed.Salabert)
::4. ''Epilogue'' (1929, Ed. Salabert)
*''Suite en duo'', for flute & harp, or for violin & piano (1927, Ed. Salabert)
*''Quintette pour harpe, flûte, violon, alto et violoncelle'' (1928, Ed. Salabert)
*''Légende'', for cello & piano (reduction of work for cello & orchestra) (1930, Senart)
Piano works
*''Impromptu pastoral'' (1900, ms.)
*''Petite pièce en fa mineur'' (1901, ms.)
*''Valse en mi majeur'' (1904, ms.)
*''Cinq poèmes intimes pour piano:'' (1912, E. Demets)
::1. ''En Islande'' (1902, Ed. Eschig)
::2. ''Preludio con fughetta'' (1902, Ed. Eschig)
::3. ''Au fil de l'eau'' (1911, Ed. Eschig)
::4. ''Recueillement'' (1904, Ed. Eschig)
::5. ''La maison du matin'' (1911, Ed. Eschig)
*''Deux Paysages: Paysage maritime, Paysage champêtre'', piano solo (1917, Ed. Durand)
*''Danze'' (1917, Rouart, Lerolle et cie.)
*''Quatre Danze: Danza morbida, Danza scherzosa, Danza tenera, Danza animata'', piano solo (1917, Ed. Salabert)
*''Âmes d'enfants, pour 6 petites mains'',
piano six hands
Music described as piano six hands is for three pianists at one piano. More rarely the neologism 'Triet' is used, by analogy with the duo/duet distinction sometimes made between 2 pianos and piano four hands (and also because piano trio is an al ...
(1917, ms.),
piano four hands
Piano four hands (french: À quatre mains, german: Zu vier Händen, Vierhändig, it, a quattro mani) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is ...
(1922, Senart), also orchestrated (1918, Ed. Salabert)
*''Premier anniversaire, « A mon petit Jean-Pierre »'' (1 May 1919, ms.)
*''First string quartet'', version for piano, 4 mains, (1921, Rouart, Lerolle et cie.)
*''Deux impromptus'', for piano or harp, (1926, Senart)
Organ
*''Chorale'' (1904, ms.)
*''Grande marche nuptiale pour orgue'' (1904, Ed. Schola Cantorum)
Orchestral works
*''Andante religieux'' (1901, ms.)
*''Âmes d'enfants'', orchestration of work for « piano et 6 petites mains » (1921, Senart)
*''Journal de bord, Suite symphonique'' (1927, Ed. Salabert)
*''Légende pour violoncelle et orchestre'' (1929, Ed. Salabert)
*''Concerto pour piano et orchestre'' (1931, Ed. Salabert), (reduction for 2 pianos, 1932, Senart)
References
Bibliography
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. Jean Cras, Polymath of Music and Letters. Farnham (UK): Ashgate, 2009; 610 pp.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Jean Cras", ''Revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. London: MacMillan.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Ravel Writes to Jean Cras", in Liber Amicorum Isabelle Cazeaux: Pendragon Press (Hillsdale, New York: 2005), pp. 365–376.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Fair Winds and Following Seas: Jean Cras’ Symphonic Autobiography, ‘Journal de bord (1927),’ " in Liber Amicorum Isabelle Cazeaux, Pendragon Press (Hillsdale, New York: 2005), pp. 443–457.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "The Breton Compositions of Jean Cras", in Proceedings of the 23rd Harvard Celtic Colloquium (2003).
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Narrating the Symbol: Jean Cras’ Legacy of Song", in Ars Lyrica XII, pp. 3–70. (2002)
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Where Formalism Meets Folklore: Jean Cras’ ‘Trio pour cordes (1925),’" American String Teacher, May 2001, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 74–81.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "The Choral Works of Jean Cras", The Choral Journal, February 2001, Vol. 41, No. 7, pp. 9–16.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "An Admiral of Music: Jean Cras’ Chamber Music for Strings", The Strad, London, October 2000, Vol.111, No. 1326, pp. 1096–1100.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Love's Labours Found: Jean Cras' Pieces for Violin and Piano Rediscovered (with apologies to The Bard)", American String Teacher, November 1999, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 64–74.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Inside Jean Cras’ Musical Laboratory II: Cyclical Composition at its Zenith: ‘Quintet for Harp, Flute, and Strings,’" American Harp Journal, Summer 1999., Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 7–12.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Jean Cras and Albert Samain: Parallels and Paradoxes in the Genesis of Polyphème", The Opera Journal, March 1998, Vol. XXXI/1, pp. 3–17.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Inside Jean Cras' Musical Laboratory: An African Diary in Music and Letters: The Genesis of His ‘Suite en Duo' for Flute and Harp (1928),’" American Harp Journal, Winter 1998, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 7–14.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "A Rediscovered Masterpiece: Jean Cras' ‘Deux Impromptus pour harpe (1925),’" American Harp Journal, Summer 1998, Vol.16, No. 3, pp. 5–10.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. Jean Cras, in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG), 2001.
* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Naval Hero—Novel Voice: The Piano Works of Jean Cras", Piano & Keyboard 206, September–October 2000, pp. 47–55.
* Brister, Wanda. "The Vocal Music of Jean Cras", Journal of Singing, March/April 2015, pp. 521-526.
* Cras, M. & Surchamp, Dom Angelico. "Regard sur Jean Cras". ''Zodiaque'', Numéro 123, January 1980.
* Dumesnil, René. ''Portraits de musiciens français''. Paris: 1938. Chapter on Jean Cras.
* Himonet, André. "Jean Cras, musicien de la mer". ''Revue de la Société Internationale des Amis de la Musique française'', December 1932
* Malherbe, Henry. "Jean Cras." ''Le Temps'', 21 September 1932.
* Thomazi, A. ''Trois marins compositeurs: Roussel, Mariotte, & J. Cras''. Paris, Imprimerie Bellemand, 1948.
* Thiollet, Jean-Pierre. '' Sax,
Mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
& Co'' ("Jean Cras", pp. 112–113). Paris, H & D, 2004