Gounod, CHARLES FRANÇOIS

Gounod, CHARLES FRANÇOIS, an eminent French composer, was born in Paris, 17th June 1818, and studied at the Conservatoire under Halévy, Lesueur, and Paer. Obtaining the first prize in 1839, he was sent to Rome to complete his musical education, and while there devoted himself chiefly to religious music. On his return to Paris he was for a time attached to the church of the Missions Etrangères, where his earliest compositions were performed; one of them, a Messe Solennelle, was the first work which brought him into general notice. For a time he contemplated taking orders, and went through part of the preliminary novitiate. His first opera, Sappho, was produced in 1851; in 1852 he wrote choruses for Ponsard's drama of Ulysse; and in 1854 appeared his opera of La Nonne Sanglante. His comic opera, Le Médecin malgré lui (1858), was a great success; it was followed in 1859 by Faust, which at once attained European popularity, and raised its composer to the foremost rank of contemporary musicians. Philémon et Baucis followed in 1860; in 1862, La Reine de Saba (brought out afterwards in England as Irene); in 1864, Mireille; in 1867, Roméo et Juliette; in 1878, Polyeucte; in 1881, Le Tribut de Zamora. He also published much church music, including several masses, hymns, and motets or anthems, and was extensively popular as a song-writer. His oratorio, The Redemption, produced at the Birmingham Festival in 1882, and deemed by the composer his masterpiece, has achieved great popularity in Britain, though less esteemed abroad; its sequel, Mors et Vita, written for and produced at the succeeding Festival in 1885, has not gained equal approval. From 1870 to 1875 he resided in England, where his works are as much admired as in his own country, his sacred music probably even more. A master of the orchestra, he was the originator of new and impressive combinations. His dramatic faculty is often dominated by the lyric element; he exhibits a singular combination of the mystic and the voluptuous—e.g. sensuous melodies with solemn religious harmonies. Faust is generally regarded as his most enduring work. A member of the Institute (1866) and a Commander of the Legion of Honour (1877), he died 18th October 1893. See works by Pagnerre (1890) and Marie Anne de Bovet (1891).