MAKERS OF MODERN OPERA
Charles François Gounod
FIVE
Charles François Gounod, the best known and by many the most liked of modern French composers, was born in Paris, June 17, 1818. His father having died when Gounod was yet very young, he was brought up by his mother, who was an excellent pianist. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1836, and studied there under masters, one of them, Halévy, composer of “The Jewess,” a successful opera in its day. Gounod won the grand prize of Rome in 1839. That gave him the privilege of studying in Rome, and while there he devoted much of his time to the study of sacred music, especially to the works of the old masters Palestrina and Bach.
Gounod had a strong religious tendency from the first, which brought him at times near to a resolution to join holy orders. His earliest compositions were masses, and on returning to Paris he played the organ for sacred services in one of the leading churches. He was turned from a serious and religious contemplation to worldly matters by receiving a commission to compose an opera. This, his first operatic composition, was “Sapho,” which was produced in 1851. It was not very successful, and is seldom produced; though selections from its score are sometimes played and sung.
After some indifferent success and several failures Gounod brought out his opera “Faust” in 1859. In spite of the fact that he had chosen a subject that had been drawn on liberally by other composers, “Faust” was a success from the beginning, and it is now without doubt the most popular French work in the operatic repertoire. It was liked at the start; but its enormous success was not predicted then. It has grown in the affections of the opera-going public year by year, until today it is one of the most prominent features of an operatic season.
“Philémon et Baucis,” “The Queen of Sheba,” “Roméo et Juliette,” and other operas followed. Of these the last named is the only one that remains a favorite with the public. Among Gounod’s notable compositions are two grand oratorios, “The Redemption” and “Mors et Vita” (Death and Life), and a number of distinguished songs.
According to the celebrated composer Saint-Saëns, it is in these two oratorios that Gounod’s genius rose highest. Gounod’s life was spent for the most part in or near Paris, and it was in that city that most of his great works were first produced. He was a man of great energy, a constant worker, both in musical composition and in writing. He died at St. Cloud, October 18, 1893, leaving an influence on French music that will probably never be dimmed.
Personally he was one of the most interesting figures in the musical world,—a man of the world, and at the same time a student, a dreamer, and a mystic devoted to religious exaltations.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 47
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.