Gabriel Pierné


Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist.

Biography

Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germany in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, gaining first prizes for solfège, piano, organ, counterpoint and fugue. He won the French Prix de Rome in 1882, with his cantata Edith. His teachers included Antoine François Marmontel, Albert Lavignac, Émile Durand, César Franck and Jules Massenet.
He succeeded César Franck as organist at Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris from 1890 to 1898. He himself was succeeded by another distinguished Franck pupil, Charles Tournemire. Associated for many years with Édouard Colonne's concert series, the Concerts Colonne, from 1903, Pierné became chief conductor of this series in 1910.
His most notable early performance was the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, at the Ballets Russes, Paris, on 25 June 1910. He remained in the post until 1933.
He made a few electrical recordings for Odeon Records, from 1928 to 1934, conducting the L'Orchestre Colonne, including a 1929 performance of his Ramuntcho and a 1931 performance of excerpts from his ballet Cydalise et le Chevre-pied.
He died in Ploujean, Finistère.

Music

Pierné wrote several operas, choral and symphonic pieces as well as a good deal of chamber music. His most famous composition is probably the oratorio La Croisade des enfants based on the book by Marcel Schwob. Also notable are such shorter works as his March of the Little Lead Soldiers, which once enjoyed substantial popularity as an encore; the comparably popular Marche des petits faunes is from his ballet Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied. His chamber work Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire for saxophone quartet is a standard in the saxophone quartet repertoire.
His discovery and promotion of the work of Ernest Fanelli in 1912 led to a controversy over the origins of impressionist music.
One critic described him as "the French Mahler, not stylistically perhaps, but in terms of his skill set. A superb conductor, he applied his podium experience to his compositions, writing immaculately finished, brilliantly scored pieces in a wide range of styles," while another described his work as "pleasant, wonderfully fluent but ultimately unremarkable examples of French late romanticism."

Honours

Pierné became a member of the Academie des Beaux Arts in 1925. He was made a Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur in 1935. His tomb at Père Lachaise Cemetery has a headstone designed by sculptor Henri Bouchard.
Square Gabriel Pierné in Paris is named after him.

Selected compositions

Orchestral works

  • Serenade for Strings
  • Trois pièces formant suite de concert, 1883
  • Suite No. 1, 1883
  • Envois de Rome, c. 1885
  • Ballet de cour, 1901
  • Two suites from the incidental music for Ramuntcho, 1910
  • Paysages franciscains, Op. 43, 1920
  • Divertissement sur un thème pastoral, Op. 49, 1932
  • Gulliver au pays de Lilliput, 1935
  • Viennoise, suite, Op. 49bis, 1935

    Concertante works

  • Fantaisie-ballet, for piano and orchestra, 1885
  • Piano concerto, Op. 12, 1886
  • Scherzo-caprice, for piano and orchestra, 1890
  • Concertstück, for harp and orchestra, 1903
  • Poème symphonique, for piano and orchestra, 1903
  • Fantaisie basque, for violin and orchestra, 1927

    Works for band

  • Marche des petits soldats de plomb, 1887
  • Marche solennelle, 1899
  • Petit Gavotte et Farandole
  • Ramuntcho,

    Operas

  • La Coupe enchantée, 1895
  • Vendée, 1897
  • La Fille de Tabarin, 1901
  • On ne badine pas avec l'amour, 1910
  • Sophie Arnould, 1927
  • Fragonard, 1934

    Ballets

  • Le Collier de Saphir, 1891
  • Les Joyeuses commères de Paris, 1892
  • Izéÿl, 1894
  • Bouton-d'or, 1895
  • Salome, 1895 March 4, 1895 closed 27 April.
  • Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied, 1923
  • Impressions de music-hall, 1927
  • Giration, 1934
  • Images, 1935

    Music for theatre

  • Yanthis, 1894
  • La Princesse Lointaine, 1895
  • La Samaritaine, 1897
  • Francesca da Rimini, 1902
  • Ramuntcho, 1908
  • Les Cathédrales, 1915

    Chamber works

  • Sonata in D minor, Op. 36, 1900.
  • Piano Quintet, Op. 41, 1917
  • Trio in C minor, Op. 45, 1920–21
  • Sonata in F sharp minor, Op 46 , 1922
  • Sonata da camera, Op.48, 1926

    Piano works

  • Étude de concert in C minor, Op. 13, 1887
  • Album pour mes petits amis, Op. 14,

    Solo works

  • Serenade, Op. 7, 1881
  • Impromptu-Caprice, Op. 9,
  • Piece in G minor, 1883
  • Solo de concert, 1898
  • Canzonetta, Op. 19, 1888
  • Trois pièces Op. 29,

    Choral works

  • L'An Mil,
  • * no. 1. Miserere Mei
  • * no. 2. Fete Des Fous Et de L'ane
  • * no. 3. Te Deum
  • Les Cathédrales, 1915
  • * no. 1. Prélude des cathédrales
  • * no. 3. Chanson Picarde
  • * no. 7. Épisode des églises
  • * no. 8. Épisode des Flandres

    Songs

  • 6 Ballades françaises de Paul Fort,
  • * No. 1, La Vie
  • * No. 2, La Baleines
  • * No. 3, Complainte des Arches de Noé
  • * No. 4, Le petit rentier
  • * No. 5, Les dernières pensées
  • * No. 6, La Ronde autour du monde
  • Deux mélodies
  • * Découragement
  • * À Saint Blaise
  • Poèmes de Jean Lorrain
  • * no. 1. Le Beau Pirate
  • * no. 2. Les Petites Ophélies
  • * no. 3. Les Petits Elfes
  • * no. 4. Une belle est dans la forêt
  • * no. 5. Ils étaient trois petits chats blancs
  • Soirs de Jadis
  • * no. 1. La princesse au bord du ruisseau
  • * no. 2. Ils s'aimaient
  • * no. 3. Ce qui frappa ses yeux d'abord
  • * no. 4. Le soir tombe sur la rivière
  • Trois adaptations musicales sur des vers
  • * no. 1. La marjolaine
  • * no. 2. Nuit divine
  • * no. 3. Noël