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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893)

Composer of the Week: Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893): Episode 5: The Elder Statesman

Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893)

Episode 5

Episode 5: The Elder Statesman

The Elder Statesman

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), The Elder Statesman

Donald Macleod explores Gounod's late operas, Polyeucte and Cinq-Mars.

Donald Macleod explores Gounod's late operas, Polyeucte and Cinq-Mars, and considers his contemporaries' view of his music.

Donald Macleod explores some of Gounod's later stage works, Polyeucte, an opera to which he remained deeply attached until his death, and Cinq-Mars and considers his contemporaries' view of his music.

The importance of Charles Gounod was readily acknowledged by the generations who succeeded him. A prolific composer, his contribution to song repertoire led Ravel to call him the "father of the French melodie". Bizet, Massenet and Saint-Saens all took inspiration from his operas, while the body of religious music he produced is so substantial, it has yet to be properly assessed. Given his standing among peers it's perhaps unfair that his reputation faded so quickly after his death in 1893. In more recent times his reputation has recovered but still, unfairly, rests on a handful of works. This week, therefore, presents a rare chance to delve into the surprising breadth of Gounod's musical preoccupations.

Born in 1818 into an artistic family, Gounod found success early on in 1839 as a winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome competition. The years he spent in Rome as a consequence led to a life-long love affair with Italy. As a young man he considered taking holy orders, but his desire for success as a theatre composer won out in the end. While he continued to write music for the church, he went on to complete twelve operas, among them "Faust", "Mireille", hugely popular in its day, and "Romeo et Juliette". 

Rather to the irritation of his younger friend Bizet, in his final years Gounod assumed the role of a kind of elder statesman of French music, giving interviews and opining on any given subject. A devout Catholic, one of the very last pieces of music he wrote was to be a Requiem. 

Mors et Vita, Part 2 (excerpt) 
Sedenti in Throno 
Orféon Donostiarra 
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra 
Christoph Kuhlmann, organ 
Michel Plasson, conductor 

Polyeucte, (Act 2, Scene 2) 
Nadia Vezzù, soprano, Pauline
Luca Grassi, baritone, Sévère
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia 
Manlio Benzi, conductor 

String Quartet in A 
The Daniel Quartet 

Cinq-Mars (Act 3, excerpt) 
Mathias Vidal, tenor, Cinq-Mars 
Véronique Gens, soprano, La Princesse Marie 
Andrew Foster-Williams, bass-baritone, Father Joseph
Tassis Christoyannis, baritone, De Thou 
Bavarian Radio Chorus 
Munich Radio Orchestra 
Ulf Schirmer, conductor 

Requiem 
Benedictus 
Christophe Einhorn, tenor 
Charlotte Müller-Perrier, soprano 
Valérie Bonnard, alto 
Christian Immler, baritone 
Ensemble Vocal & Instrumental de Lausanne, 
Michel Corboz, conductor 
Marcelo Giannini, organ.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Five-part series exploring the life and work of French composer Charles Gounod.

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Episode 5: The Elder Statesman

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