![Theodore Gouvy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Theodore_Gouvy.JPG)
Louis Théodore Gouvy (3 July 1819 – 21 April 1898) was a French/German composer.
Biography
Gouvy was born into a French-speaking family in the village of Goffontaine, then a Prussian village in the
Sarre region (now
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...
-Schafbrücke, Germany). The family was of Belgian descent. Gouvy's great-grandfather Pierre came from Goffontaine, a Belgian village near
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
. Around 1753, being mayor of Saarlouis, he named his ironworks factory "Goffontaine". Because this region fell under
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n control shortly before his birth, Théodore Gouvy could not attain French citizenship until the age of 32.
He began piano lessons with a private tutor at the age of eight, and was educated in
Sarreguemines
Sarreguemines (; German: ''Saargemünd'' , Lorraine Franconian: ''Saargemìnn'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France.
It is the seat of an arrondissement and a canton. As of t ...
(France), developing a keen interest in
Classical Greek culture and in modern languages. He spoke not only German and French, but English and Italian as well. In 1837, he went to Paris to study law, continuing his piano lessons with a pupil of the pianist and composer
Henri Herz
Henri Herz (6 January 1803 – 5 January 1888) was a virtuoso pianist, composer and piano manufacturer, Austrian by birth and French by nationality and domicile. He was a professor in the Paris Conservatoire for more than thirty years. Among his ...
(1803–1888) and became friendly with
Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and '' Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas ''Le pos ...
. This led to further music studies in Paris and Berlin. Unable to pursue music instruction at the
Conservatoire de Paris
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 ...
, he took up private courses.
Drawn toward instrumental music rather than opera, this led Gouvy to live the last third of his life almost entirely in Germany where he felt more appreciated. In particular, he wrote twenty-four compositions for full orchestra, including nine symphonies, as well as overtures and variations. Chamber music comprises a large portion of Gouvy's work and accounts in particular for four sonatas in duet form, five trios, eleven quartets, seven quintets, an enormous piano repertoire, several scores for wind ensembles, as well as many melodies and
Lied
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er. There are also five dramatic
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
s: ''Aslega'', ''Œdipe à Colone'', ''Iphigénie en Tauride'', ''Électre'', and ''Polyxène''; two operas: ''Le Cid'' and ''Mateo Falcone''; as well as some large religious works, including a Requiem, a Stabat Mater, a Missa brevis, and the cantata ''Golgotha''. A list of his works was compiled by
François-Joseph Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univers ...
and
Arthur Pougin
Arthur Pougin ( 6 August 1834 – 8 August 1921) was a French musical and dramatic critic and writer. He was born at Châteauroux ( Indre) and studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris under Alard (violin) and Reber (harmony). In 1855 he beca ...
.
[. ]J. A. Fuller Maitland
John Alexander Fuller Maitland (7 April 1856 – 30 March 1936) was an influential British music critic and scholar from the 1880s to the 1920s. He encouraged the rediscovery of English music of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly Henry Pu ...
(ed.), 1906 edition, p. 211 An important portion of his compositions was not published during his lifetime. Publishing them is now the major aim of the
Institut Théodore Gouvy
The Théodore Gouvy Institute (french: Institut Théodore Gouvy) is a French music organisation based in Hombourg-Haut (in the historical region of Lorraine). Founded in 1995 its aims are to bring the name of the composer Théodore Gouvy (1819 ...
.
![Théodore Gouvy 1819 - 1898](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Th%C3%A9odore_Gouvy_1819_-_1898.jpg)
Gouvy was elected to the
Académie des Beaux-Arts
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
in Paris in 1894 on the death of
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sai ...
, and to the König-Preussische Akademie in Berlin in 1895. He died in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
on 21 April 1898.
Appreciation
Gouvy was a man of two cultures, divided between France and Germany, from which he drew his inspiration, his characteristics and his force. While to a certain extent he was known and recognised in his lifetime, he fell into obscurity following his death.
During his lifetime, his compositions, and especially his chamber music, were held in high regard and often performed in countries like Germany, Austria, England, Scandinavia, and Russia, rather than France. Gouvy was universally acknowledged for being a master of form and for his deft sense of instrumental timbre.
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...
and
Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
were his models. Virtually all of his works show that he was a gifted melodist. Musicians of the first rank such as
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
,
Carl Reinecke
Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke (23 June 182410 March 1910) was a German composer, conductor, and pianist in the mid-Romantic era.
Biography
Reinecke was born in what is today the Hamburg district of Altona; technically he was born a Dane, as ...
, and
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of ...
, who were familiar with Gouvy's music, held it in high regard.
Hector Berlioz
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
wrote in the ''
Journal des débats
The ''Journal des débats'' ( French for: Journal of Debates) was a French newspaper, published between 1789 and 1944 that changed title several times. Created shortly after the first meeting of the Estates-General of 1789, it was, after the ou ...
'' of 13 April 1851: "
at a musician of the importance of M. Gouvy is still not very well known in Paris, and that so many gnats bother the public with their tenacious buzzing, it is enough to confuse and inflame the naive spirits that still believe in the reason and the justice of our musical manners."
But Berlioz's favourable reviews had little effect, and Gouvy's music continued to be neglected until the end of the 20th century. In 1994, his Requiem, with its vigorous ''Dies iræ'', was revived by the Lorraine Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of (who recorded a CD with the work, which appeared the K617 label). Stylistically the composition owes something to Mendelssohn, to
Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
, and to
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
, but remains quietly original despite these influences. Although his work comprises more than two hundred compositions, including 90 opuses published in his lifetime, it largely remains ignored.
Works
Opera
*''Le Cid'' (1853) with German libretto
*''Mateo Falcone''
Orchestral works
*Symphony No. 1 in E major, Op. 9 (1845)
[published by Richault of Paris in the 1850s]
*Serenade for strings, Op. 11
*Symphony No. 2 in F major, Op. 12 (1848)
[Released on Sterling i]
early 2010
/ref>
*''Le Giaour'' Overture, Op. 14
*Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 20 (1850) (premiered by 1854 in Leipzig)[Released on ]cpo
CPO may refer to:
Occupations
* Certified Professional Organizer
* Certified Protection Officer, a professional certification for security officers from the International Foundation for Protection Officers
* Chief people officer, a corporate of ...
in mid-2009
*Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 25 (1855) (premiered 1856 at Gürzenich)[Fétis' entry for Gouvy, volumes 3–4, pp. 73–74.]
*Symphony No. 5 in B major, Op. 30 (pub.1868)
*''Symphonie brève; variations et rondo pour orchestre'' in G minor, Op. 58 (1855?)
*''Jeanne d'Arc'' (Concert Overture) (1858)
*''Fantaisie symphonique'' in G minor, Op. 69 (1879)
*Sinfonietta in D major, Op. 80 (1885)[published by Kistner in 1886 (Hofmeisters Monatsberichte, scanned images at ÖNB searchable at http://www.hofmeister.rhul.ac.uk/, the source for this)]
*Symphony No. 6 in G minor, Op. 87 (1889–1892)[Recorded on cpo.][published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1893]
*''Paraphrases symphoniques'', Op. 89 (1886)
*''Le Festival'' Overture
*4 Pieces for String Orchestra
*''Swedish Dance'' (''tirée de l'Otteto''), Op. 71
*''Tragic March'' for organ and orchestra
*''Variations for Orchestra on Theme of Scandinavia''
*''Fantasie Pastorale'' for violin and orchestra
*''Hymne et marche triomphale''
Chamber music
*Piano Trio No.1 Op.8 (1844)
*Piano Trio No.2 Op.18 (1847)
*String Quartet in E minor (1848)
*String Quartet in D major (1848)
*String Quartet in A minor (1848)
*String Quartet in B major (1855)
*Piano Trio No.3 Op.19 (1855)
*String Quartet No.1 in B major Op.16/1 (1857)
*String Quartet No.2 Op.16/2 (1857)
*Piano Trio No.4 Op.22 (1858)
*''Decameron'', 10 Pieces for cello and piano Op.28 (1860)
*Piano Trio No.5 Op.33 (1860)
*Piano Quintet in A major Op.24 (ca.1850)
*Serenade(Piano Quartet) Op.31 (1865)
*Duets for violin and piano Op.34
*Duets for violin and piano, Op.50
*String Quintet in E minor (1869)
*String Quintet No.1 in G major Op.55 (1870)
*String Quintet in B minor (1871)
*String Quintet in B major (1872)
*String Quartet No.3 Op.56 No. 1 (1872)
*String Quartet No.4 Op.56 No. 2 (1873)
*Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor Op.61 (1873)
*String Quintet in D minor (1873) (first version)
*6 Duets for Cello and Piano (1872–1876)
*String Quartet No.5 Op.68 (1874)
*Sonata in G for clarinet and piano Op.67 (1875)
*Impromptu for Cello and Quartet (1878)
*String Quintet in D minor, 2nd version (1879)
*Octet No.1 Op.71 (1879)
*String Quintet in A minor (1880)
*Le Nonetto (1883)
*Octet No.2 in G minor (1884)
*''Sérénade vénitienne'' in E minor for viola and piano (1875)
*String Quartet in G minor (1886)
*Septuor(Septet) inedit dedicated to Paul Taffanel (1887)
*String Quartet in G major (reconstruction:Pierre Thilloy) (1888)
*''Petite Suite Gauloise'' Op.90 (1888)
Piano music
*2 Studies for piano Op. 1 (1842)
*''20 Sérénades'' for piano (1855)
*''Divertissement'' for 2 pianos
*Sonata for Piano Op. 29
*Sonata in D minor for piano 4 hands Op.36
*Sonata in C minor for piano 4 hands Op.49 (1869)
*Sonata in F major for piano 4 hands Op.51 (1869)
*''Variations on a French Theme'' for piano 4 hands Op.57
*''6 Morceaux'' for piano 4 hands Op.59
*Fantaisie in G minor for piano 4 hands op. 69 (1879)
*''Scherzo and Aubade'' for piano 4 hands Op.77
*''Ghribizzi'' Op.83
Choral works
*12 Choral Works for Men's voices Op.23 (1860)
*Requiem Op.70 (1874)
*Stabat Mater Op.65 (1875)
*''La Religieuse'' (1875)
*''Asléga'' (1876)
*''Le Calvaire'' (1877)
*Missa Brevis Op.72 (1882)
*''Spring (Frühlings Erwachen)'' Op.73 (1878)
*''Oedipus in Colonna'' Op.75 (1880)
*''Iphigénie en Tauride'' Op.76 (1883)
*''Elektra'' Op.85 (1886)
*''Egille'' Op.86 (1886)
*''Polyxéne'' Op.88 (1894)
*''Fortunato'' (1896)
*''Golgotha''
*''Le dernier Hymne d'Ossian''
*''Didon ''
Songs
*"Gondoliera" Op.2 (1842)
*''6 Songs after Moritz Hartmann
Moritz Hartmann (15 October 1821 – 13 May 1872) was a Bohemian-Austrians, Austrian poet, politician and author.
Biography
Hartmann was born of Jewish parentage at Duschnik (now Trhové Dušníky) in Bohemia. His maternal grandfather, Isaac Sp ...
'' Op.21 (1857)
*''20 German Poems'' Op.26
*''40 Poèmes de Ronsard'' Op.37, Op.41, Op.42, Op.44 (1876)
*''Songs and Sonnets by Desportes'' Op.45 (1867)
*"La pléiade francaise" Op.48 (1876)
*"Que dites-vous, que faites-vous, mignonne?" (1866)
*"Regrets" (1866)
See also
*Théodore Gouvy International Festival
The Théodore Gouvy International Festival (''Festival international Théodore Gouvy'') is an annual festival of classical music held in honour of Franco-German composer, Théodore Gouvy. The festival is located in Hombourg-Haut (region Grand Est ...
Bibliography
* Wolfgang Birtel, "Zu Persönlichkeit und Werk des 'saarländischen' Komponisten Theodor Gouvy (1819–1898)", in: ''Mitteilungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für mittelrheinische Musikgeschichte'', vol. 38 (1979), p. 463–472.
* Alexandre Dratwicki (ed.), ''Théodore Gouvy: Cantates, œuvres symphoniques et musique de chambre'', CD booklet notes (3 CDs), Ediziones singulares/Palazetto Bru-Zane (Centre de musique romantique française), 2013.
* , ''Theodor Gouvy. Sein Leben und seine Werke'' (Berlin: Harmonie, 1902).
* & René Auclair (ed.), ''Théodore Gouvy 1819–1898. Bericht über den Internationalen Kongress / Actes du Colloque international, Saarbrücken/Hombourg-Haut (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2008), .
References
External links
*
*
French Symphonies From the Nineteenth Century To The Present
A Discography of CDs And LPs. Prepared by Michael Herman
Fantaisie symphonique. III ''Alla breve''
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern
The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern (German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern) is a German radio orchestra. Its administrative headquarters is in Saarbrücken, at the ''Funkhaus Halberg''. The or ...
, dir. Jacques Mercier
Jacques Mercier (born 17 October 1943 in Mouscron) is a Belgian writer and television and radio presenter.
The third eldest son of René and Denise Mercier, Jacques Mercier was educated at St. Joseph's College. Mercier joined RTBF in Septembe ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouvy, Theodore
1819 births
1898 deaths
19th-century classical composers
19th-century French composers
19th-century German composers
19th-century German male musicians
Composers for piano
French composers of sacred music
French male classical composers
French Roman Catholics
French Romantic composers
German classical composers
German male classical composers
Male opera composers
Music in Leipzig
People from Saarbrücken
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Musicians from Saarland