Marie-Joseph Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (; 20 July 1872 – 24 March 1921) was a French composer. Saint-Félix-Lauragais - Maison de Déodat de Séverac

Saint-Félix-Lauragais - Tombe de Déodat de Séverac

Life

Séverac was born in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman,

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country' ...

. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical traditions of his native

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. He first studied in Toulouse, then later moved to Paris to study under

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 ...

and

Albéric Magnard Lucien Denis Gabriel Albéric Magnard (; 9 June 1865 – 3 September 1914) was a French composer, sometimes referred to as a "French Bruckner", though there are significant differences between the two composers. Magnard became a national hero in ...

at the Schola Cantorum, an alternative to the training offered by 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 ...

. There he took organ lessons from Alexandre Guilmant and worked as an assistant to

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...

. He returned to the southern part of France, where he spent much of the rest of his rather short life. His native south was a region that attracted a number of his contemporaries—artists and poets he had met in Paris. His

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

''Héliogabale'' was produced at Béziers in 1910.Jean-Bernard Cahours D'ASPRY (2013) "Déodat de Séverac, Ricardo Viñes et leurs amis de Fontfroide". In

Mario d'Angelo Mario d’Angelo is a French academic, management consultant and author, born in 1954 with Italian and German ancestry. His work in the field of culture and the creative industries is in the line with the system analysis and interdisciplinarity ap ...

(ed) ''La musique à la Belle Époque. Autour du foyer artistique de Gustave Fayet. Béziers, Paris, Fontfroide.'' Paris: Éditions du Manuscrit, p. 53-86. He died in

Céret Céret (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It is the capital of the historic Catalan comarca of Vallespir. Geography The town lies in the foothills of the Pyrénées mountains, in southern France. ...

, Pyrénées-Orientales, Roussillon aged 48.

Music

Séverac is noted for his vocal and choral music, which includes settings of verse in Occitan (the historic language of

) and Catalan (the historic language of Roussillon) as well as French poems by

Verlaine Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density Population d ...

and Baudelaire. His compositions for solo piano have also won critical acclaim, and many of them were titled as pictorial evocations and published in the collections ''Chant de la terre'', ''En Languedoc'', and ''En vacances''. A popular example of his work is ''The Old Musical Box'' ("Où l'on entend une vieille boîte à musique", from ''En vacances''). His masterpiece, however, is the piano suite ''Cerdaña'' (written 1904–1911), filled with the local color of

. His motet '' Tantum ergo'' is also still in current use in church settings.

Selected compositions

Bakst - Ida Rubinstein (1885-1960) comme Helene de Sparte, 1912

Operas

*''Les Antibels'' (1907, lost) based on a novel by

Émile Pouvillon Émile Pouvillon (1840 in Montauban1906 in Chambéry) was a French novelist. He published a collection of stories entitled ''Nouvelles réalistes'' in 1878. Making himself the chronicler of his native province of Quercy Quercy (; oc, Carcin ...

*''Le Cœur du moulin'', poème lyrique in two acts (1908) *''Héliogabale'', tragédie lyrique in three acts (1910) *''Le Roi Pinard'', opérette (1919)

''Works for Piano''

*''Le Chant de la terre (1900)'' *''En Languedoc (1904)'' *''Le Soldat de plombe (1904), for piano duet'' *''Baigneuses au soleil (1908)'' *''Cerdaña. 5 Études pittoresques (1904–1911)'' *''En vacances. Petites pièces romantiques (1912)'' *''Sous les lauriers roses (1919)'' *''Où l'on entend une vieille boîte à musique (An Old Music Box)''

Chamber music

*''Barcarolle'' (1898), flute and piano *''Élégie héroique'' (1918), violin/cello and piano/organ *''Trois Recuerdos'' & ''Cortège nuptial catalan'' (1919), string quintet and brass *''Minyoneta'' (1919), violin and piano *''Souvenirs de Céret'' (1919), violin and piano

Choral music

*''Sant Félix'' (1900) *''Mignonne allons voir si la rose'' (1901) *''La Cité'' (1909) *''Sorèze et Lacordaire'' (1911) *''Sainte Jeanne de Lorraine'' (1913)

Songs

*numerous art songs, including ''À l'aube dans la montagne'' (1906) and ''Flors d'Occitania'' (1912).

References

Biography from NaxosBiography from Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Severac, Deodat de 1872 births 1921 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians French classical composers French male classical composers French opera composers Male opera composers People from Haute-Garonne Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni