Charles-Victor Sieg (8 August 1837 – 6 April 1899) was a French composer and organist. He won the 1864

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for his setting of the 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 ...

, ''

Ivanhoé ''Ivanhoé'' is an 1826 pastiche opera in three acts with music by Gioachino Rossini to a French-language libretto by Émile Deschamps and Gabriel-Gustave de Wailly, after Walter Scott's 1819 novel of the same name. The music was adapted, with ...

''. Gérard, Yves (2010)
"Saint-Saëns and the Prix de Rome: Scandal(s)?"
''Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Music for the Prix de Rome'', pp. 17–18. Glossa GCD922210

Life and career

Sieg was born in

Turckheim Turckheim (; Alsatian: Tercka; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies west of Colmar, on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains. History Archeological finds indicate the area was already ...

, a small town in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

region of France. His father, Constant Sieg (1807 – 1891), was a composer and the organist of the Church of Saint-Martin in

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

. Sieg studied first under his father and then 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 ...

under

François Benoist François Benoist (10 September 1794 – 6 May 1878) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Benoist was born in Nantes. He took his first music lessons under Georges Scheuermann. Benoist studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris and ...

(organ) and

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...

(composition). He won the conservatory's First Prize in organ in 1863, and the following year he won the Prix de Rome for the cantata, ''Ivanhoé'' set to a French text by Victor Roussy based on

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

's 1820 novel, ''

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...

''. The cantata premiered on 18 November 1864 at the

Paris Opera 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 ...

with Jean Morère in the title role and was well received. ''Ivanhoé'' proved to be Sieg's only major composition, although he later published several piano pieces including ''Trois Impromptus'', ''Tarentelle'' and ''Caprice-Valse''. After he returned from Rome where he had worked on composing an

opéra-comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

, he took up a post in Paris as organist at the church of

Notre-Dame de Clignancourt Notre-Dame de Clignancourt ( Our Lady of Clignancourt) is a Roman Catholic church located in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Completed in 1863, the church takes its name from Clignancourt, a small village in the commune of Montmartre that was a ...

and devoted himself to teaching. He also served as the organist of the

Church of Saint-Merri The Church of Saint-Merri or ''Église Saint-Merry'') is a parish church in Paris, located near the Centre Pompidou along the rue Saint Martin, in the 4th arrondissement on the Rive Droite (Right Bank). It is dedicated to the 8th century abbot of ...

and as the singing inspector for Paris city schools. Sieg died in Colmar in 1899 at the age of 61.

Pougin, Arthur 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 Jean Delphin Alard, Alard (violin) and Napoléon Henri ...

(16 April 1899)
"Nécrologie"
''

Le Ménestrel ''Le Ménestrel'' (The Minstrel) was an influential French music journal published weekly from 1833 until 1940. It was founded by Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry and originally printed by Poussièlgue. In 1840 it was acquired by the music publishers Heu ...

'', p. 128 Rue Victor Sieg, a street in Turckheim, is named in his honour.Billich, André (1975). ''Histoire d'une ancienne ville impériale: Turckheim'', pp. 83 and 171. Éditions Alsatia

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sieg, Victor 1837 births 1899 deaths 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical organists French male composers French male organists Prix de Rome for composition Male classical organists 19th-century organists People from Haut-Rhin