![Joseph Canteloube](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Joseph_Canteloube.jpg)
Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (; 21 October 18794 November 1957) was a French composer,
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
, and author best known for his collections of orchestrated
folksong
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
s from the
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
region, ''
Chants d'Auvergne ''Chants d'Auvergne'' (; en, italic=yes, Songs from the Auvergne) is a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France arranged for soprano voice and orchestra or piano by Joseph Canteloube between 1923 and 1930. The 27 songs, collecte ...
''.
Biography
Canteloube was born in
Annonay
Annonay (; oc, Anonai) is a commune and largest city in the north of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department although it is not the capital ...
, Ardèche, into a family with deep roots in the
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
region of France. He studied piano from the age of six with Amélie Doetzer, a friend of
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
. After earning his ''baccalauréat'', he worked at a bank in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
. He returned to his family home in Malaret (Annonay) upon his father's death in 1896, remaining there until his mother's death in 1899 and then beyond as sole owner of the estate. After a period of silence and mourning, in 1901 Canteloube married Charlotte Marthe Calaret, who gave birth to twins Pierre and Guy in 1903.
He began studying with
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 ...
via correspondence in 1901, reluctant to leave Malaret. Upon d'Indy's constant urging, he finally entered the
Schola Cantorum in 1907 in Paris, where he remained until the beginning of World War I in 1914. At the Schola, Canteloube became close friends with fellow composer and student
Déodat de Séverac
Marie-Joseph Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (; 20 July 1872 – 24 March 1921) was a French composer.
Life
Séverac was born in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, Haute-Garonne. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical trad ...
.
In 1907, he wrote a suite in four movements for piano and violin entitled ''Dans la montagne'', which was played at the Société Nationale. Other significant works followed, including ''Colloque sentimental'' for voice and string quartet (1908); ''Eglogue d'Automne'' for orchestra (1910); ''Vers la Princesse lointaine'', a symphonic poem (1912); ''Aù printemps'' for voice and orchestra; and ''L'Arada'' (''The Earth''), a song cycle of six ''
mélodie A ''mélodie'' () is a form of French art song, arising in the mid-19th century. It is comparable to the German ''Lied''. A ''chanson'', by contrast, is a folk or popular French song.
The literal meaning of the word in the French language is "melod ...
s'' (1922).
Canteloube composed his first opera, ''Le mas'' ("The Farmstead" in
Occitan language
Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Ital ...
), to his own libretto from 1910 to 1925 (its composition delayed during the war years). The three-act work won the Prix Heugel in 1925, and was awarded the prize of 100,000 francs. However, the reaction to this composition by the leaders of the Opéra-Comique in Paris was far less enthusiastic than the jury. After pressure from the publisher, it finally premiered on 3 April 1929, but it was never revived. His second opera, ''
Vercingétorix'', in four acts, was inspired by a libretto by Étienne Clémentel, mayor of
Riom (
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.[Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...]
s' defeat by
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
. The
Paris Opéra
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
gave the first performance on 22 June 1933, but it was accused of lacking theatricality.
In 1925, Canteloube founded a group called La Bourrée with several young Auvergnats in Paris who were eager to publicize the folklore and the beauty of their home region. Canteloube himself believed that "peasant songs often rise to the level of purest art in terms of feeling and expression, if not in form" (''les chants paysans s’élèvent bien souvent au niveau de l'art le plus pur, par le sentiment et l'expression, sinon par la forme''). He composed several song collections, which include ''Chants de Haute-Auvergne'', albums of songs of
Rouergue
Rouergue (; ) is a former province of France, corresponding roughly with the modern department of Aveyron. Its historical capital is Rodez. It is bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan ...
, Limousin, and
Quercy
Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and Au ...
, regional religious songs (''Chants religieux d'Auvergne''), and ''L'Hymne des Gaules'' based on a poem by Philius Lebesque. He also participated in the creation of the Bardic College of Gaul.
In 1941, he joined the government in
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
during the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
occupation, and wrote in the monarchist newspaper ''
Action Française
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 f ...
''. He participated in numerous radio broadcasts of French folklore with his "Songs of France" with the tenor Christian Selva. The radio was an ideal vehicle for disseminating regional popular music.
Alongside his career as a composer, Canteloube worked as a musicologist, collecting traditional French folksongs, which were published by Didier and Heugel. He also wrote biographies of Vincent d'Indy (1949) and of his friend Déodat de Séverac (1950).
Canteloube took more than thirty years (1924 to 1955) to complete the compilation of his most admired and famous collection of songs, ''Chants d'Auvergne''. These passionate songs reflect the landscapes of the Auvergne in lush orchestral colors and have enabled French folklore and rustic melodies to become better known.
He died in
Grigny, Essonne, in 1957, aged 78.
Discography
*
''Chants d'Auvergne, Vol. 1'', with Frederica von Stade and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Antonio de Almeida, Columbia, 1982
*
''Chants d'Auvergne, Vol. 2 & Triptyque'', with Frederica von Stade and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Antonio de Almeida, Columbia, 1986
*''Chants d'Auvergne'', with Kiri Te Kanawa and the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jeffery Tate, Decca, 1995
*''Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne – Complete'', with Dawn Upshaw and the Lyon National Opera Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano, Erato 44656, 2002
*''Chants d'Auvergne'' (selection), with
Carolyn Sampson and the Tapiola Sinfonietta, conducted by Pascal Rophé, BIS-2513 (SACD), 2021
Bibliography
* Sadie, Stanley (Ed.)
992
Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Worldwide
* Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
(1994). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. 1, A-D, chpt: "Canteloube (de Malaret), (Marie) Joseph" by Richard Langham Smith, New York: MacMillan. .
* L.G. Boursiac, ''Canteloube'' (Toulouse, 1941)
* Françoise Cougniaud-Raginel, ''Joseph Canteloube : chantre de la terre 1879–1957'' (Béziers, 1988)
* Cahours d'Aspry, Jean-Bernard. ''Joseph Canteloube (1879–1957): chantre d'Auvergne et d'ailleurs''. (Biarritz: Séguier, 2000)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canteloube, Joseph
1879 births
1957 deaths
19th-century classical composers
19th-century French composers
19th-century French male musicians
20th-century classical composers
20th-century French composers
20th-century French male musicians
French male classical composers
French opera composers
Male opera composers
Occitan musicians
People from Annonay
People of Vichy France
Pupils of Vincent d'Indy
Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni