Gounod, Charles

(1818-1893)

   composer

   Born in Paris, Charles Gounod was a student of jacques halévy and other noted artists at the Conservatoire and, in 1839, won the prix de Rome, which allowed him to study in Italy. There, he was inspired by Palestrina and, when he went to Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Robert Schumann. At first drawn to sacred music (Te Deum; Requiem), as an organist and chapel master, he considered joining the priesthood. But when his first opera, Sapho (1851), was produced, Gounod decided to devote himself to musical composition. While some works (Le Médicin malgré lui, 1858) had only moderate success, with Faust (1859) he gained much notoriety. other works also brought him immediate renown (Mireille, 1864; Roméo et Juliette, 1867), but the poor reception given his last opera (Le Tribut de Zamora, 1881), led him to dedicate his later years to religious music (Rédemption, 1882; Mors et Vitae, 1885; Requiem, 1893). Gounod is also the author of two symphonies, 13 masses, motets, canticles, melodies, and choir pieces, as well as works for piano and organ. As a stylist, melodist, and lyricist, he influenced georges bizet, césar franck, henri duparc, gabriel fauré, and claude debussy. A contemporary of Richard Wagner, Gounod escaped Wagner's ascendancy and found his own unique expressiveness, and his operas are some of the essential contributions of French music and lyric art.