Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) Orchestral Works 'My first concern is to do as I please; seeking above all to give rein to my individuality; my second is not...
Emmanuel Chabrier
(1841-1894)
Orchestral Works
'My first concern is to do as I please; seeking above all to give rein
to my individuality; my second is not to be a damned bore'
Emmanuel Chabrier in a letter to his publisher, Costallat,
'A man of exquisite gentleness and sudden exuberance', 'the soul of a
sentimental girl in the body of a water carrier', Emmanuel Chabrier is the
great forgotten man of French music. With a passion for poetry and painting as
much as for music, among his friends he could count Verlaine, Edmond Rostand,
Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Manet (whose canvasses he was one of the first to
buy), Faure, Duparc and Chausson. Beneath the laughing, chubby exterior there
dwelt a roguish tenderness, an infinite passion for music: 'No artist will ever
have worshipped music, nor striven to honour it more than I, none has suffered
more for it and I shall suffer for it eternally', he wrote to Charles Lecocq.
Emmalluel Chabrier was born at Ambert, in the Auvergne, on 18th January,
1841. The only child of Jean Chabrier, a lawyer, and Evelina Durozay, he showed
an early aptitude for music and at the age of six was taking piano lessons with
the town's teacher, Manuel Zaporta, a Carlist refugee who perhaps created in
him his taste for Spain. However, Emmanuel had to follow the family way and
study law, devoting all his free time to his musical education. At the age of
twenty, following his father's wishes, he went into the Ministry of the
Interior. Civil servant by day, artist by night, he frequented the clubs and
salons of Paris. From this period came nine unpublished melodies, pieces for
piano, two operettas based on Verlaine's librettos which were never finished
and a plan for the opera Jean Hunyade. 1869 was marked by the death of
both his parents within a week. He had always been very close to them, but now
only his former governess, Nanine, was to watch over the destiny of 'Mavel' and
his future family. Following the enforced movements of the Ministry during the
Franco-Prussian War, he had little inclination to compose and it was not until
1873 that there came an Impromptu for piano dedicated to Manet's wife.
In the same year, Chabrier married Alice Dejean. Two sons were born of this
happy union.
Alice soon had eye problems, gradually losing her sight. It was at the
time, in 1874, that Chabrier wrote Lamento, a relatively short symphonic
piece which remained an unpublished manuscript until its rediscovery a few
years ago. Chabrier, who used to revise his work time and time again, seems to
have written it in one go, with no subsequent alterations; according to Yvonne
Tiennot, it was performed at the Societe Nationale that year, then the
manuscript seems to have been lost. Herve Niquet describes the extraordinary
effect of this poignant work as the equivalent in sound of gradually
deteriorating sight, the tones becoming thinner, the mass of sound fading away
by degrees. A year later, Chabrier wrote a Larghetto for horn and
orchestra which was performed in 1878 at the 'Societe des compositeurs'. True recognition
came in 1877 with the success of his operetta L'Etoile. Thereafter
Chabrier was acknowledged by his peers. In 1880 he finally resigned his post at
the Ministry of the Interior to devote himself entirely to music.
Two years later, Chabrier and his wife visited Spain, a four month stay
which had an appreciable effect on the composer's life and which is the source
of his most well known orchestral work: Espana. His letters are full of
exuberant wit, cheerfulness and mundane delights. 'In the evening we are
forever in the bailos flamencos, both of us surrounded by toreros in
town clothes, with black felt hats split down the middle, hip-length jackets
and tight trousers showing off sinewy legs and the shapeliest of buttocks. And
the gypsies singing their malaguenas or dancing the tango, and the manzanilla
which is passed from hand to hand and which everybody is obliged to drink.'
(21st October, 1882). Later he writes again 'I don't need to tell you that I've
made notes on lots of things; the tango, a way of dancing where a woman
imitates a ship's pitching with her behind is the only one in duple time; all
the rest, everything, is in 3/4 (Seville) or 3/8 (Malaga and Cadiz); in the
North, it's different, there's a very odd 5/8 one. The tango's 2/4 is always of
the habanera type...' Performed on 4th November, 1883 at the Societe des Nouveaux
Concerts founded by Charles Lamoureux, the rhapsody Espana (Allegro con
fuoco) is conceived for a full, colourful orchestra where the harp takes on
melodies, the horns, trombones and tuba sing, the woodwind dazzle. All is
contrast and delight. 'The musical qualities of both north and south are
mingled or superimposed.' Chabrier used the rhythms and motifs noted in Spain
without ever seeking to copy them exactly.
In 1895, he again took inspiration from Spain and from this very
distinctive habanera rhythm for a short piece for piano which he later
orchestrated felicitously. Dedicated to Marguerite Lamoureux, the conductor's
daughter, Habanera was first heard at Angers on 4th November, 1888.
After the unfortunate interruption of the performances of Gwendoline,
an opera steeped in Chabrier's profound admiration for the Wagnerian, the
composer from the Auvergne turned to light opera. Le Roi malgre lui was
completed in 1887. The Opera Comique fell victim to fire a week after the
première. The Fete polonaise opens the second act Brilliant, with
irresistible momentum, it takes us into the ball where Count Laski, plotting to
depose the king, has assembled his conspirators. The rhythms of mazurka and
waltz are interlaced in a whirl of daring harmonies. Somewhere between a
mazurka and fast polonaise, Danse slave appears at the start of the
third act.
The concert of 4th November, 1888 staged by the Angers Association
Artistique had seen not only the first performance of Habanera, but also
that of the Suite pastorale, the Prelude pastoral and the Joyeuse
marche. Chabrier had conducted with his customary fire and the success was
instant. The four scenes of the Suite pastorale are taken from Dix
pièces pittoresques composed for piano in 1881. As was often the case,
Chabrier next created an orchestration full of subtlety and vividness for
certain pieces: Idylle (No. 6 transposed up one tone) with the flute's
translucent limpidity, Dan,e villageoise (No. 7) which switches between
minor and major, Sous-bois (No. 4) with its softened nuances and Scherzo-Valse
(No. 10) with its utterly rustic exuberance and joy. The Prelude
pastoral is, according to the review in the Patriote de l'ouest of
the day, 'a superb piece whose Wagnerian tones in no ways diminish our esteem
for the French master's very individual powers'.
Chabrier considered his Joyeuse marche (originally entitled
'Marche française' then 'Marche joyeuse') 'idiotically comical; the musicians
were in stitches'. Dedicated to Vincent d'Indy, this 'masterpiece of high
fantasy' is, according to Debussy, filled to overflowing with bold and
colourful innovations, and with the good-natured humour characteristic of
Chabrier. Let us hope that the audacious harmonics, the novel and quirky
instrumentation, the almost grotesque consistency of sound, the constant
rhythmic invention, at last do justice to this composer loved and admired by
his peers and misunderstood by the public at large.
Isabelle Battioni
Translation: Wil Gowans