Raphaël Marie Paul Fumet (31 May 1898 – 1979) was a 20th-century French composer and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

Biography

Born in Juilly (

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

), the son of composer Dynam-Victor Fumet (a student with

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 pa ...

, 1867–1949), brother of writer Stanislas Fumet, father of flautist Gabriel Fumet, Raphaël Fumet showed exceptional talent as a pianist and improviser at an early age. Raphael_jeune_orgue_sv

In parallel to his studies of musical composition 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 ...

at the

Schola Cantorum de Paris The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded ...

, he was employed in many Parisian cinemas where his extraordinary facilities allowed him to improvise directly on the organ on the images of silent films of that time. His charisma as a musician earned him the friendship of many artists, mainly in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

; he was especially connected with painters and sculptors as yet unknown as Soutine, Modigliani, Jeannette Hébuterne,

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

Joseph Bernard Joseph Bernard (1866, Vienne, Isère – 1931) was a modern classical French sculptor, featured on the frontispiece of Elie Faure's 1927 survey of modern art, "Spirit of Forms". Bernard was trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in the atelier o ...

… Raphaël Fumet, who was very independent by nature and naturally had little incentive to confront the sectarianism exacerbated by the aesthetic quarrels of his time, withdrew first to the countryside in the famous

College of Juilly The College of Juilly ( French: ''Collège de Juilly'') was a Catholic private teaching establishment located in the commune of Juilly, in Seine-et-Marne (France). Directed by the French Oratorians, it was created in 1638 by the congregationis ...

in Seine-et-Marne where he remained ten years as Maître de chapelle. During the 1940 debacle, he left Jully with his family and moved to

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

where he became professor of piano and harmony at the conservatory, as well as organist at St. Joseph's Church, continuing his father's work in almost complete isolation.

His work

The history of art has always been that of genius rather than that of the various academics seeking a "historically correct" aesthetic consensus. Raphaël Fumet's music is a remarkable illustration of this paradox. Raphael_compose

Although he possessed the qualities of an outstanding creator, he essentially lacked a fundamental social know-how at a time when the composer was totally dependent on the structures of the institution that governed his art in this very tough competition. This probably explains the extraordinary abandonment of his work, which has only just begun to be published. Of course, the fact that his music never broke with a lineage that could be located from

Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is consider ...

to Stravinsky through his father Dynam-Victor Fumet whom he worshipped, did not facilitate his promotion at a time when any language that did not recommend itself to the avant-gardism was considered worthless. Moreover, convinced that his music had little chance of being understood, Raphaël Fumet would do almost nothing for the diffusion of his work. "I no longer believe in the success of serious music," he wrote to a friend about one of his works, ''Le Colloque des Horizons'', which unfortunately has disappeared. "The man of the century wants to enjoy in music anything other than harmony, in the proper and universal sense of the word. He wants sensual or "scientific" but never love that looks like trees and flowers, which makes him look old-fashioned and meaningless. It is true that the realization of a musical piece is such a work, such an undertaking on one's own life, that one has little time in its completion to take care of, if his dear daughter, the day of her presentation to the public, will have success at the ball..." Though condemned to create in silence until his death, without ever hearing the echo of his music, Raphaël Fumet has left us - in spite of his inevitable discouragement - a certain number of works that are all significant in their diversity, testifying to the non-conformist freedom of their author, and to the search, against all odds, for musical beauty alone. Listening to this so strong work, leads to consider that there is not a sense of history of unique and ineluctable art, but different directions sometimes contradictory with, in some cases, possible returns to previous horizons... Raphaël Fumet died in

in 1979.

List of works

* Several symphonic works including the ''Grande Symphonie de l'âme'' performed twice by the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire under the direction of François Bilger and Marc Soustrot, * Works for organs: ''Miserere – Toccata – Chant d’amour – Nuit – Prélude – Fugue – Choral à l’ancienne – Le sommeil des fleurs'' * Pieces for piano, * String quartet premiered by the

Via Nova Quartet The Via Nova Quartet is a French string quartet ensemble established in 1968. History Founded in 1968 by musicians who had met at the Cyrne Arte festival ( Corsica) four years earlier, it first took the festival's name. Its repertoire ranges fro ...

and revived by the New

Budapest String Quartet The Budapest String Quartet was a string quartet in existence from 1917 to 1967. It originally consisted of three Hungarians and a Dutchman; at the end, the quartet consisted of four Russians. A number of recordings were made for HMV/Victor t ...

, *

Wind quintet A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the in ...

''Quintette à vents'' on l'Éducation musicale
/ref> premiered at

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

by members of the Orchestre National, * Works for flûte, * Various chamber music works...

Recordings

Symphonie de l'Ame
Orchestre du Palais de Tauride - Saint-Pétersbourg. Conductor Mikhail Golikov. HYBRID'MUSIC H1830 (released in July 2013) Intégrale de l'œuvre pour flûte
with Gabriel Fumet, Benoît Fromager,

Philippe Pierlot Philippe Pierlot (born 1958) is a Belgian viola da gamba player and a conductor in historically informed performance. He is also an academic teacher at the royal conservatories of The Hague and Brussels. Career Born in Liège, Pierlot learne ...

, Hubert de Villèle (flutes)
Désiré N'Kaoua, Ichiro Nodaïra, David Berdery (piano)

Gérard Caussé Gérard Caussé (born 26 June 1948, Toulouse, France) is a French violist. He gave the first performance of the celebrated '' Ainsi la nuit'' quartet by Henri Dutilleux. The first movement of Gérard Grisey's celebrated work, ''Les Espaces Acous ...

(viola), Michel Poulet (cello)
Label : Marco Polo (Naxos) - Ref : 8.225295 (released on 18 February 2005) Hommage à Raphaël Fumet
with Bruno Rigutto (piano), Gérard Caussé (viola), Gabriel Fumet (flute), Jean Mouillère (violin), Jean Galard (organ), Ichiro Nodaïra (piano).
''Orchestre de chambre Jean-Jacques Wiederker'' with Anne Wiederker (violin solo)
ARION (ARN68475) (released on 12 April 1999) L'œuvre pour orgue
with Henri-Franck Beaupérin (organ), Gabriel Fumet (flute), Hervé Noël (trumpet)
Ligia Digital (Lidi 0109103-01) (released on 4 February 2002) L'œuvre pour orgue by Raphaël Fumet & Dynam-Victor Fumet
with Jean-Paul Imbert (organ)
Cybelia (CY848) (released in 1989)

Bibliography

* ''Raphaël Fumet ou la musique de l'âme'' / Bernard LEUTHEREAU. Mémoire de maîtrise en Musicologie. (Université Paris IV-Sorbonne. 1984)

References

External links

Fumet Raphaël
on IdRef
Formidable Famille Fumet !
on

France Musique France Musique is a French national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on classical music and jazz. History The channel was launch ...

Raphaël Fumet's discography

Les éditions DELATOUR

on Naxos

on musicologie.org
Raphaël Fumet
on Musicalics

on musicologie.org
Diptyque baroque, duo instrumental Raphaël Fumet (1898-1979)
on Data.bnf.fr
Raphaël FUMET - L’œuvre pour orgue / The organ works - Prélude et fugue (Prelude)
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Fumet, Raphael 1898 births 1979 deaths People from Seine-et-Marne 20th-century French composers 20th-century organists