Ernest Chausson
If Marcel Proust had written music, it might have sounded something like Ernest Chausson's: intensely passionate, yet rarely given to grand gestures. The effectiveness of Chausson's ardent, even erotic, musical language derives largely from the slithery chromatic style the composer inherited from his most important teacher, César Franck. Indeed, Chausson's music forms an elegant, if swaying, bridge between Franck's lush, Wagnerian Romanticism and the sensuous Impressionist language of Debussy.
Chausson came from a well-to-do family; in fact, comfortable circumstances throughout his entire life made it unnecessary for him to seek a living as a musician. Although interested in music from a young age, he pursued law studies at his father's behest. In 1877, he was sworn in as a lawyer in Paris; in the same year, he wrote his first work, the unpublished song Lilias. The impulse to devote himself to composition was sparked in 1879, when Chausson attended a performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in Munich and met there the sometime Wagner disciple Vincent d'Indy. Chausson entered the Paris Conservatory the following year and began studies with Jules Massenet. His formal musical education was rounded out by private study with Franck. Chausson's talent flowered in short order. A number of even his earliest published works -- especially the song set Seven Mélodies, Op. 2 (1879-1882) -- have long been regarded as small masterpieces.
As secretary of the Société Nationale de Musique (an organization founded by Saint-Saëns and others to promote the performance of French instrumental music) from 1886, Chausson became a full-fledged member of the Parisian musical community. His salon became a regular meeting place for literary and musical notables including Mallarmé, Debussy, Albéniz, pianist Alfred Cortot, and violinist/composer Eugène Ysaÿe. A prolific composer of songs, Chausson also composed works for voice and orchestra, choral music, and several operas. He is best known, however, for his chamber music -- especially the Concert for piano, violin, and string quartet, Op. 21 (1889-1891), and the Piano Quartet, Op. 30 (1897) -- and for imaginative orchestral works like the Symphony in B flat major, Op. 20 (1889-1890), and the Poème for violin and orchestra, Op. 25 (1896). Chausson died in 1899, at the age of 44, from injuries sustained in a bicycle accident. His death silenced the most distinctive voice in French music in the generation immediately preceding Debussy.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Discography
10 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Chausson: Poeme for Violin and Piano, Op. 25
Classical - Released by Music Online on 31 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson: Concert (Live)
Alexandre Brussilovsky, Natalia Khoma, Volodymyr Vynnytsky
Chamber Music - Released by Suoni e Colori on 26 Apr 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson : Concert Op.21, Chanson perpétuelle Op.37, Quatuor Op.35
Classical - Released by Saphir Productions on 21 Oct 2010
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer - Brahms: Vier ernste Gesänge - Bach: Arias
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Urania on 13 Jun 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson: Poem for Violin and Orchestra in E-Flat Major, Op. 25 (Digitally Remastered)
Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Guennadi Rosdhestvenski, Igor Oïstrakh
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 1 May 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ernest Chausson: Poème de l'Amour et de la Mer [Poem of Love and the Sea] Op. 19 (1955)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Louis De Froment, Írma Kolássi
Classical - Released by Classical Moments on 9 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson: Symphony & Faure: Pelleas et Melisande
Ernest Chausson, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson: Poem for Violin and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 25 (Digitally Remastered)
Oliver Colbentson, Erich Appel
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 9 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Favourite Classical Miniatures
Classical - Released by Piros - Send on 13 Nov 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson, Reger and Suk: Piano Music
Classical - Released by MSR Classics on 13 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo