Charles-François Gounod (1818 – 1893), usually known
as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote
twelve operas, of which the most popular has always
been Faust (1859); his Roméo et Juliette (1867) also
remains in the international repertory. He composed a
large amount of church music, many songs, and popular
short pieces including his Ave Maria (an elaboration of
a Bach piece), and Funeral March of a Marionette.
Born in Paris into an artistic and musical family
Gounod was a s...(+)
Charles-François Gounod (1818 – 1893), usually known
as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote
twelve operas, of which the most popular has always
been Faust (1859); his Roméo et Juliette (1867) also
remains in the international repertory. He composed a
large amount of church music, many songs, and popular
short pieces including his Ave Maria (an elaboration of
a Bach piece), and Funeral March of a Marionette.
Born in Paris into an artistic and musical family
Gounod was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris and
won France's most prestigious musical prize, the Prix
de Rome. His studies took him to Italy, Austria and
then Prussia, where he met Felix Mendelssohn, whose
advocacy of the music of Bach was an early influence on
him. He was deeply religious, and after his return to
Paris, he briefly considered becoming a priest. He
composed prolifically, writing church music, songs,
orchestral music and operas.
Gounod's career was disrupted by the Franco-Prussian
War. He moved to England with his family for refuge
from the Prussian advance on Paris in 1870. After peace
was restored in 1871 his family returned to Paris but
he remained in London, living in the house of an
amateur singer, Georgina Weldon, who became the
controlling figure in his life. After nearly three
years he broke away from her and returned to his family
in France. His absence, and the appearance of younger
French composers, meant that he was no longer at the
forefront of French musical life; although he remained
a respected figure he was regarded as old-fashioned
during his later years, and operatic success eluded
him. He died at his house in Saint-Cloud, near Paris at
the age of 75.
Few of Gounod's works remain in the regular
international repertoire, but his influence on later
French composers was considerable. In his music there
is a strand of romantic sentiment that is continued in
the operas of Jules Massenet and others; there is also
a strand of classical restraint and elegance that
influenced Gabriel Fauré. Claude Debussy wrote that
Gounod represented the essential French sensibility of
his time.
In Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship,
the girl Mignon embodies the longing for Italy. In the
novel, she sings the song "Kennst du das Land, wo die
Zitronen blühn" (Do you know the country where the
lemon trees flower). Charles Gounod set a free
translation of the text by Louis Gallet in 1871. At the
"appassionato", melodies heavy with longing over a
piano part with flowing triplet figurations express the
wanderlust for the country where "die Orangen wie Gold
glänzen"!
L’absent (1876) is said to have been written for the
composer’s wife as a rather belated apology in song
(the words are Gounod’s own) for his English escapade
with Mrs Weldon. The story about this was so well known
and discussed in the drawing rooms of both Paris and
London at the time that an open recantation of this
sort must have seemed appropriate. It might not have
been lost on Gounod that such a public statement of mea
culpa was also a strong selling point for the music.
The piece is probably one of the composer’s most
famous mélodies, and with justification. The rippling
accompaniment flows seraphically beneath an
exceptionally beautiful (and extremely difficult)
long-breathed vocal line. César Franck might easily
have written this perfumed and beatific music. It is to
Gounod’s credit that he somehow avoids the sugary
sentimentality which would make the listener question
the composer’s sincerity. In a good performance the
music radiates a noble sense of regret and loss, with
just the slightest whiff of attitudinizing. It helps to
have the words sung by a soprano; men and women have a
different way of spinning a line.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Gounod,_Charles)
Although originally composed for Voice (Soprano) and
Piano, I created this arrangement of "L'absent" (The
Absent One) for Flute & Piano.
