Auguste Sérieyx (14 June 1865 – 19 February 1949) was a French music pedagogue, musicographer and composer.

Biography

Born in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

, Auguste Sérieyx, musicographer and composer studied at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

with André Gedalge and subsequently at the

Schola Cantorum de Paris The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded ...

with Charles Bordes, Paul Dukas and

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

where he latter taught

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

(1900–1914). As early as 1883, he wrote in his diary: "Music holds an increasingly important place in my preoccupations". In particular, he discovered Tchaïkovsky,

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

and Saint-Saëns. In 1905, he married pianist Jeanne Taravant, a sought-after performer of the musicians of his time, in particular the piano music of

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

. It was she who contributed to the introduction of Sérieyx into the Parisian musical life of the time. In the same year, Sérieyx undertook a trip to Switzerland. He visited

Bulle Bulle (; frp, Bulo ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême. History Ancient times Bulle is first ...

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

, the

Abbey of St. Maurice, Agaunum The Abbey of Saint Maurice, Agaunum (french: Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune or ''Saint-Maurice-en-Valais'') is a Swiss monastery of canons regular in Saint-Maurice, Canton of Valais, which dates from the 6th century. It is situated against a c ...

and he attended the

fête des vignerons In Britain and some of its former colonies, fêtes are traditional public festivals, held outdoors and organised to raise funds for a charity. They typically include entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Village fêtes Village f� ...

in the company of Albert Roussel. Installed in Montreux since 1914, Auguste Sérieyx taught at the Institut Ribaupierre. Several local musicians followed his teaching at this time, such as , , Philippe Jules Godard and Fernand Maudon. Sérieyx also held the position of maître de chapelle at the Villeneuve church. He collaborated with Vincent d'Indy on his monumental ''Cours de composition''. On 11 June 1920, his wife died, and he dedicated his ''Cours de grammaire musicale'' to her, which was published five years later. In 1931, on 26 July, Auguste Sérieyx married Marie-Louise Bouët. Like her husband, Marie-Louise has devoted her entire life to teaching musical language. Very attached to the Catholic faith, Sérieyx devoted the deepest of his inspiration to

religious music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

. He signed a collection of 24 motets on texts from ''

The Imitation of Christ ''The Imitation of Christ'', by Thomas à Kempis, is a Christian devotional book first composed in Medieval Latin as ''De Imitatione Christi'' ( 1418–1427).''An introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious studies'', by Orlando O. Esp� ...

'', masses, organ pieces and a

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

for soli, choir and orchestra. Sereyx left music of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and some pages of chamber music including a sonata for

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and piano. Author of several melodies for vocals and piano, he paid great attention to the choice of his lyrics. Among the writers and poets he put to music were Alexandre Duman,

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, Édouard Guinand, and

Jean Richepin Jean Richepin (; 4 February 1849 – 12 December 1926) was a French poet, novelist and dramatist. Biography Son of an army doctor, Jean Richepin was born 4 February 1849 at Médéa, French Algeria. At school and at the École Normale Supé ...

, not to mention personal translations of Latin texts. In November 1972, the Music Department of the

Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne The Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne (''Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Lausanne'', BCU) was founded in the 16th century and became one of the most important public libraries in Switzerland. History The University of ...

enriched its collections of music archives with the work of composer, professor and theorist Auguste Sérieyx. Auguste Sérieyx died in Lausanne on 19 February 1949.

Selected publications

*1910: ''Les Trois états de la tonalité'', Paris *1925: ''Cours de grammaire musical'',''Cours de grammaire musical''
/ref> Paris *1946: ''Monteverdi et Franck'', Geneva

Sources

Auguste Sérieyx (1865-1949)

Biography

Selected publications

Sources

References

External links