Joseph Canteloube
Encyclopedia
Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (ma.ʁi ʒɔ.zɛf kɑ̃t.lub də ma.la.ʁɛ) (21 October 18794 November 1957) was a French
composer
, musicologist, and author
best known for his collections of orchestrated folksongs from the Auvergne
region.
, Ardèche
, into a family with deep roots in the Auvergne
region of France
. He studied piano
from the age of four with Amélie Daetzer, a friend of Frédéric Chopin
. After earning his baccalauréat, he worked at a bank in Bordeaux
. He returned to his family home in Malaret (Annonay) due to an illness, but when his health was restored, he decided to make a career in music in Paris
. He entered the Schola Cantorum
in 1901 and was a student of Vincent d'Indy
and Charles Bordes, soon becoming friends with Déodat de Séverac
, Isaac Albéniz
, and Albert Roussel
.
In 1907, he wrote a suite entitled Dans la montagne for piano and violin
in four movements that was played at the Société Nationale. Other significant works followed, including Colloque sentimental for voice and string quartet (1908); Eglogue d'Automne for orchestra (1910); Vers la Princesse lointaine, a symphonic poem (1912); Au Printemps for voice and orchestra; and L'Arada (“The Earth”), a song cycle of six mélodie
s (1922).
Canteloube composed his first opera
, Le mas ("farmstead" in Occitan language), to his own libretto from 1910 to 1913. The three act work won the Prix Heugel in 1925, and was awarded the one hundred thousand francs prize. However, the reaction to this composition by the leaders of the Opéra-Comique in Paris were far less enthusiastic than the jury. After pressure from the publisher, it finally premiered on 3 April 1929, but it was never revived. Vercingétorix
, his second opera, in four acts, was inspired by a libretto by Étienne Clémentel, mayor of Riom
(Puy-de-Dôme
) and Hervé Louwyck on the Gaul
s’ defeat by Julius Caesar
. The Paris Opéra
gave the first performance on 22 June 1933, but it was accused of lacking theatricality.
In 1925, Canteloube founded a group called La Bourrée with several young Auvergnats in Paris who were eager to publicize the folklore and the beauty of their home region. Canteloube himself believed that "peasant songs often rise to the level of purest art in terms of feeling and expression, if not in form" ("les chants paysans s’élèvent bien souvent au niveau de l’art le plus pur, par le sentiment et l’expression, sinon par la forme"). He composed several song collections, which include Chants de Haute-Auvergne, albums of songs of Rouergue
, Limousin
, and Quercy
, regional religious songs (Chants religieux d'Auvergne), and L'Hymne des Gaules based on a poem by Philius Lebesque. He also participated in the creation of the Bardic College of Gaul.
In 1941, he joined the government in Vichy France
during the Nazi
occupation, and wrote in the monarchist newspaper Action Française
. He participated in numerous radio broadcasts of French folklore with his "Songs of France" with the tenor Christian Selva. The radio was an ideal vehicle for disseminating regional popular music.
Alongside his career as a composer, Canteloube worked as a musicologist, collecting traditional French folksongs, which were published by Didier and Heugel. He also wrote biographies of Vincent d'Indy (1949) and of his friend Déodat de Séverac (1950).
Canteloube took more than thirty years (1924 to 1955) to complete the compilation of his most admired and famous collection of songs, Chants d'Auvergne
. Passionate, sometimes to excess, the songs reflect the landscapes of the Auvergne in lush orchestral colors and have enabled French folklore and rustic melodies to become better known.
He died in Grigny
, Essonne
, in 1957, aged 78.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, musicologist, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
best known for his collections of orchestrated folksongs from the Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
region.
Biography
Joseph Canteloube was born in AnnonayAnnonay
Annonay is a commune in the north of the Ardèche department in the Rhône-Alpes region in southern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department, although it is not the capital, which resides in the smaller town of Privas.-Geography:...
, Ardèche
Ardèche
Ardèche is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River.- History :The area has been inhabited by humans at least since the Upper Paleolithic, as attested by the famous cave paintings at Chauvet Pont d'Arc. The plateau of the Ardeche River has extensive standing stones ,...
, into a family with deep roots in the Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
region of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
from the age of four with Amélie Daetzer, a friend of Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
. After earning his baccalauréat, he worked at a bank in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. He returned to his family home in Malaret (Annonay) due to an illness, but when his health was restored, he decided to make a career in music in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He entered the Schola Cantorum
Schola Cantorum
The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private music school 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...
in 1901 and was a student of Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
and Charles Bordes, soon becoming friends with Déodat de Séverac
Déodat de Séverac
Déodat de Séverac was a French composer.-Biography:...
, Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
, and Albert Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
.
In 1907, he wrote a suite entitled Dans la montagne for piano and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
in four movements that was played at the Société Nationale. Other significant works followed, including Colloque sentimental for voice and string quartet (1908); Eglogue d'Automne for orchestra (1910); Vers la Princesse lointaine, a symphonic poem (1912); Au Printemps for voice and orchestra; and L'Arada (“The Earth”), a song cycle of six mélodie
Mélodie
Mélodie refers to French art songs of the mid-19th century to the present; it is the French equivalent of the German Lied. It is distinguished from a chanson, which is a folk or popular song.-Nature of the mélodie:...
s (1922).
Canteloube composed his first opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Le mas ("farmstead" in Occitan language), to his own libretto from 1910 to 1913. The three act work won the Prix Heugel in 1925, and was awarded the one hundred thousand francs prize. However, the reaction to this composition by the leaders of the Opéra-Comique in Paris were far less enthusiastic than the jury. After pressure from the publisher, it finally premiered on 3 April 1929, but it was never revived. Vercingétorix
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix was the chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars....
, his second opera, in four acts, was inspired by a libretto by Étienne Clémentel, mayor of Riom
Riom
Riom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:Until the French Revolution, Riom was the capital of the province of Auvergne, and the seat of the dukes of Auvergne. The city was of Gaulish origin, the Roman Ricomagus...
(Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...
) and Hervé Louwyck on the Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
s’ defeat by Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. The Paris Opéra
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
gave the first performance on 22 June 1933, but it was accused of lacking theatricality.
In 1925, Canteloube founded a group called La Bourrée with several young Auvergnats in Paris who were eager to publicize the folklore and the beauty of their home region. Canteloube himself believed that "peasant songs often rise to the level of purest art in terms of feeling and expression, if not in form" ("les chants paysans s’élèvent bien souvent au niveau de l’art le plus pur, par le sentiment et l’expression, sinon par la forme"). He composed several song collections, which include Chants de Haute-Auvergne, albums of songs of Rouergue
Rouergue
Rouergue is a former province of France, bounded on the north by Auvergne, on the south and southwest by Languedoc, on the east by Gévaudan and on the west by Quercy...
, Limousin
Limousin (province)
Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
, and Quercy
Quercy
Quercy is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and Auvergne....
, regional religious songs (Chants religieux d'Auvergne), and L'Hymne des Gaules based on a poem by Philius Lebesque. He also participated in the creation of the Bardic College of Gaul.
In 1941, he joined the government in Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
during the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupation, and wrote in the monarchist newspaper Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
. He participated in numerous radio broadcasts of French folklore with his "Songs of France" with the tenor Christian Selva. The radio was an ideal vehicle for disseminating regional popular music.
Alongside his career as a composer, Canteloube worked as a musicologist, collecting traditional French folksongs, which were published by Didier and Heugel. He also wrote biographies of Vincent d'Indy (1949) and of his friend Déodat de Séverac (1950).
Canteloube took more than thirty years (1924 to 1955) to complete the compilation of his most admired and famous collection of songs, Chants d'Auvergne
Chants d'Auvergne
Chants d'Auvergne is a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France arranged for soprano voice and orchestra or piano by Joseph Canteloube between 1923–1930. The songs are in the local language, Occitan...
. Passionate, sometimes to excess, the songs reflect the landscapes of the Auvergne in lush orchestral colors and have enabled French folklore and rustic melodies to become better known.
He died in Grigny
Grigny
-Places:Grigny is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Grigny, in the Pas-de-Calais département* Grigny, in the Rhône département* Grigny, in the Essonne département...
, Essonne
Essonne
Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...
, in 1957, aged 78.