René Gerber (29 June 1908;
Travers, Switzerland
Travers was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice ...
– 21 October 2006;
Bevaix
Bevaix is a former municipality in the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipalities of Bevaix, Saint-Aubin-Sauges, Gorgier, Vaumarcus, Montalchez and Fresens merged into the new munic ...
) was a Swiss composer. A student of
Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas ( or ; 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His b ...
and
Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.
From a ...
, among others, he taught at the Collège
Latin (Neuchâtel) and became the director of the Conservatoire de Musique de Neuchâtel.
An exponent of neoclassicism and “French clarity”, his compositions follow traditional forms. He composed symphonic music (including the orchestral suite "The Old Farmer's Almanach"), 15 concertos, chamber music, vocal music, piano music, a work for organ, two operas inspired by Shakespeare plays (
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
,
Midsummer Night’s Dream).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerber, Rene
20th-century classical composers
Swiss male composers
1908 births
2006 deaths
20th-century male musicians
20th-century Swiss composers