Boellmann, Léon

Léon Boëllmann – Symphony in F major op. 24

(b. Ensisheim, September 25, 1862 – d. Paris, October 11, 1897)

Introduction, Allegro et Lento – Allegro con fuoco p.1
Intermède variée p.81
Recitatif et Final p.96

Preface
Léon Boëllmann is only famous today because of only one composition, which he isinseparably connected with: the Suite gothique op. 25 for organ, which the composer wrote for the inauguration of the new organ in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Dijon. Beyond this stroke of genius, no one knows him or his work today – not even in the organ scene, though Boëllmann left behind a remarkably extensive œuvre for organ despite his short life. And the Symphony in F major op. 24 – already recognizable alone by its opus number as a work, that is closely related to the Suite gothique – is more than just an impressive testimony to the artistry of a young, up-and-coming composer of the fin de siècle: it can enrich the – in any case little-received – symphonic scenery of France in the second half of the century in many ways.

Léon Boëllmann was born in Ensisheim, Alsace, in a small municipal near Mulhouse: he was a child of the second marriage of his father Antoine, already 48, a pharmacist who had already brought several children from his first marriage into his union with Marie-Hortense Brazis, who was considerably younger at 29 years of age. Léon’s musical talent was noticed early, and already in 1875 the only thirteen-year-old was admitted to the École de Musique Religieuse – next to the traditional Paris Conservatoire de Musique, the second major training school for musicians in the 19th century. Founded in 1853 by Louis Niedermeyer, with a focus on church music, it was located near the Place Pigalle. His teachers included Gustave Lefèvre and Eugène Gigout, who would become his adoptive father after the death of Boëllmann’s parents. ..

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