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 Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical traditions of his native

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

. He first studied in Toulouse, then later moved to Paris to study under

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 Pa ...

and

Albéric Magnard Lucien Denis Gabriel Albéric Magnard (; 9 June 1865 – 3 September 1914) was a French composer, somewhat influenced by César Franck and Vincent d'Indy. Magnard became a national hero in 1914 when he refused to surrender his property to German ...

at the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris ( being ) 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 The Schol ...

, an alternative to the training offered by the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

. There he took organ lessons from

Alexandre Guilmant Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Canto ...

and worked as an assistant to

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also had a significant influence on his con ...

. He returned to the southern part of France, where he spent much of the rest of his rather short life. His native south was a region that attracted a number of his contemporaries—artists and poets he had met in Paris. His

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

''Héliogabale'' was produced at

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

in 1910.Jean-Bernard Cahours D'ASPRY (2013) "Déodat de Séverac, Ricardo Viñes et leurs amis de Fontfroide". In

Mario d'Angelo Mario d’Angelo is a French academic, management consultant and author, born in 1954 with Italian and German ancestry. His work in the field of culture and the creative industries is in the line with the system analysis and interdisciplinarity a ...

(ed) ''La musique à la Belle Époque. Autour du foyer artistique de Gustave Fayet. Béziers, Paris, Fontfroide.'' Paris: Éditions du Manuscrit, p. 53-86. He died in

Céret Céret (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department in southern France. It is the capital of the historic Comarques of Catalonia, Catalan comarca of Vallespir. Geography The town lies in ...

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

Roussillon Roussillon ( , , ; , ; ) was a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and French Cerdagne, part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the region of ' ...

aged 48, and was interred in the family grave in his native village of Saint-Félix-Lauragais.

Music

Séverac is noted for his vocal and choral music, which includes settings of verse in

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

(the historic language of

) and Catalan (the historic language of

) as well as French poems by

Verlaine Verlaine (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density Population density (in ag ...

and

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, an ...

. His compositions for solo piano have also won critical acclaim, and many of them were titled as pictorial evocations and published in the collections ''Chant de la terre'', ''En Languedoc'', and ''En vacances''. A popular example of his work is ''The Old Musical Box'' ("Où l'on entend une vieille boîte à musique", from ''En vacances''). His masterpiece, however, is the piano suite ''Cerdaña'' (written 1904–1911), filled with the local color of

. His

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

'' Tantum ergo'' is also still in current use in church settings.

Selected compositions

Operas

*''Les Antibels'' (1907, lost) based on a novel by

Émile Pouvillon Émile Pouvillon (1840 in Montauban1906 in Chambéry) was a French novelist. He published a collection of stories entitled ''Nouvelles réalistes'' in 1878. Making himself the chronicler of his native province of Quercy in southwestern France, h ...

*''Le Cœur du moulin'', poème lyrique in two acts (1908) *''Héliogabale'', tragédie lyrique in three acts (1910) *''Le Roi Pinard'', opérette (1919)

''Works for Piano''

*''Le Chant de la terre (1900)'' *''En Languedoc (1904)'' *'' (1904), for piano duet'' *''Baigneuses au soleil (1908)'' *''Cerdaña. 5 Études pittoresques (1904–1911)'' *''En vacances. Petites pièces romantiques (1912)'' *''Sous les lauriers roses (1919)'' *''Où l'on entend une vieille boîte à musique (An Old Music Box)''

Chamber music

*''Barcarolle'' (1898), flute and piano *''Élégie héroique'' (1918), violin/cello and piano/organ *''Trois Recuerdos'' & ''Cortège nuptial catalan'' (1919), string quintet and brass *''Minyoneta'' (1919), violin and piano *''Souvenirs de Céret'' (1919), violin and piano

Choral music

*''Sant Félix'' (1900) *''Mignonne allons voir si la rose'' (1901) *''La Cité'' (1909) *''Sorèze et Lacordaire'' (1911) *''Sainte Jeanne de Lorraine'' (1913)

Songs

*numerous art songs, including ''À l'aube dans la montagne'' (1906) and ''Flors d'Occitania'' (1912).

References

Biography from NaxosBiography from Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Severac, Deodat de 1872 births 1921 deaths 19th-century French classical composers 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century French classical composers 20th-century French male musicians Composers for piano French opera composers French male opera composers People from Haute-Garonne Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni Musicians from Pyrénées-Orientales