Gounod, Charles

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Gounod, Charles

Marche religieuse for full orchestra with principal harps in E-flat

SKU: 1786 Categories: ,

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Charles Gounod

Marche religieuse for full orchestra with principal harps in E-flat

(b. Paris, 17. June 1818 – d. Saint-Cloud/Hauts-de-Sein, 18. October 1893)

Charles François Gounod was born in Paris June 17, 1818. His father, Jean François Gounod, a painter of some renown, died when Charles was a small boy; his accomplished mother taught him piano and oversaw his education. He won the Second Prix de Rome in 1837 and the Grand Prix de Rome in 1839, both with cantatas on secular subjects. Once in Rome, he studied church music, writing a Mass for three voices, and a Requiem which he conducted in Vienna in 1842. Studies in theology and a post as church organist in Paris followed, along with more religious works.

In 1851 his career took a more secular turn with the production of his first opera, Sapho. For the rest of his life, he composed for church and theater in parallel, with but little symphonic and solo keyboard output. Of his long string of operas, only Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867) have won a place in the standard repertoire.

On 9 April 1877, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris saw a performance of Gounod’s Messe du Sacré-Coeur by the Association of Musical Artists (Gérard Condé, Charles Gounod). The mass was preceded by the first performance of Gounod’s Marche religieuse for full orchestra with principal harps in E-flat, which was published in full score the following year. The composer had already done arrangements (1876) for organ and piano and for two pianos. Curiously, there is a second Marche religieuse, in C major, but many reference sources list only one.

By this time, after decades of prolific work, the composer was honored and revered; in 1878 he would bring out two more operas that are now forgotten, Cinq-Mars and Polyeucte. Besides his masterpiece operas, Faust and Roméo et Juliette, he is widely known for three minor religious works: his “Ave Maria” based on Bach’s Prelude no. 1 (Well-Tempered Clavier part I), “O Divine Redeemer” and the “Song of Ruth.”

Anthony Miller, 2016

For performance material please contact Ricordi, Milano. Reprint of a copy from the Musikbibliothek der Münchner Stadtbibliothek, Munich.

 

 

 

Score No.

1786

Edition

Repertoire Explorer

Genre

Orchestra

Size

210 x 297 mm

Printing

Reprint

Pages

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