Marie-Alexis de Castillon de Saint-Victor (13 December 1838 – 5 March 1873) was a French composer.

Life and career

Born in Chartres into an old aristocratic family from Languedoc, his parents initially intended him to pursue a military career. But Castillon gave up plans for professional soldiering in favour of music, which he learned first in his birthplace and then in Paris, studying piano and composition, initially with

Charles Delioux Jean-Charles Delioux (de) Savignac (17 April 1825 – 12 November 1915) was a French composer, a pupil of Halévy and potentially Chopin, who was quite popular in the Paris salons of the nineteenth century. Life Charles Delioux was born in the B ...

. For composition, he attended the classes of

Victor Massé Victor Massé (born ''Félix-Marie Massé''; 7 March 1822 – 5 July 1884) was a French composer. Biography Massé was born in Lorient (Morbihan) and studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Prix de Rome in 1844 for his cantata ''Le Rén ...

and, from 1869, of

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

at the

Paris Conservatoire 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 ...

. Before his studies with Franck, he had completed his Opus 1, a

piano quintet In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a pian ...

, probably inspired by the earlier example of his friend

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto ...

. Both the quintet and the later piano quartet Op. 7 follow

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

's model.Fauquet (1997), p. 302. He disavowed earlier efforts, including a symphony in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is ...

, which he had written in 1865. In fragile health at the best of times (volunteering during the War of 1870, he fell ill and was demobilized in 1871), he died of complications from fever in 1873 at age 34. His works include pieces for piano, chamber music, mélodies, a

piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showp ...

, and other orchestral music. He was also active in Parisian musical life, in particular helping to create, in 1871, the ''

Société Nationale de Musique Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

'', of which he was the first secretary.

List of compositions

Piano solo

* Fugue in G minor * ''Fugues dans le style libre'', Op. 2 (1869) * Suite No. 1, Op. 5 (1867?-69) ::I. ''Canon'' ::II. ''Scherzo'' ::III. ''Thème et Variations'' ::IV. ''Gavotte'' ::V. ''Marche'' * ''5 Pièces dans le style ancien'', Op. 9 (1870) ::I. ''Prélude'' ::II. ''Sicilienne'' ::III. ''Sarabande'' ::IV. ''Air'' (D major) ::V. ''Fughette'' * Suite No. 2, Op. 10 (1870) ::I. ''Ballade'' ::II. ''Ronde'' ::III. ''Adagietto'' (F major) ::IV. ''Fantaisie'' (D minor) ::V. ''Saltarelle'' * ''6 Valses humoristiques'', Op. 11 (1871) (orchestrated by

Charles Koechlin Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin (; 27 November 186731 December 1950), commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things ...

)Warszawski, 2005. ::I. (Liberamente) (E major) ::II. (Non troppo vivo) (A major) ::III. (Con fantasia) (C minor) ::IV. (Comodo) (F major) ::V. (Energico) (B major) ::VI. (Vivo assai) (E major) * ''24 Pensées fugitives'' (1873) ::I. ''Aveu'' ::II. ''Minuetto'' ::III. ''Au bois'' ::IV. ''Carillon'' ::V. ''Compliment'' ::VI. ''Première Mazurka'' ::VII. ''Causerie'' ::VIII. ''Fanfare'' ::IX. ''Scherzo-Valse'' ::X. ''Regrets'' ::XI. ''Deuxième Mazurka'' ::XII. ''Toccata'' ::XIII. ''Marche des Français'' ::XIV. ''Au revoir'' ::XV. ''Feu follet'' ::XVI. ''Bayadère'' ::XVII. ''Chanson du cavalier'' ::XVIII. ''Extase'' ::XIX. ''Colombine'' ::XX. ''Les Dragons'' ::XXI. ''Scherzettino'' ::XXII. ''Appel du soir'' ::XXIII. ''Troisième Mazurka'' ::XXIV. ''Aubade''

Chamber

* Piano Quintet, Op. 1 (1863–64) ::I. ''Allegro'' ::II. ''Scherzo'' ::III. ''Adagio et final'' * String Quartet No. 1, Op. 3, No. 1 (1867) (ded. to Henri Poencet) ::I. (Allegro) ::II. (Adagio molto lento - Allegro scherzando) ::III. (Molto grave - Molto allegro) * String Quartet No. 2, Op. 3, No. 2 (1867) (unfinished, only ''Cavatina'' published) * Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 4 (1865) ::I. ''Prélude et Andante'' ::II. ''Scherzo'' ::III. ''Romance'' ::IV. ''Finale'' * Sonata for violin and piano, Op. 6 (1868) (ded. to Elie-Miriam Delaborde) ::I. (Allegro moderato) ::II. (Allegro scherzando) ::III. (Andante) ::IV. (Allegro molto) * Piano Quartet, Op. 7 (1869) (ded. to

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the S ...

) ::I. (Larghetto - Allegro deciso - Allegro) ::II. (Scherzando) ::III. (Larghetto, quasi marcia religiosa) ::IV. ''Finale'' (Allegro) * Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 17 (1870-73?) ::I. (Allegro moderato) ::II. (Allegretto non vivo) (B major) ::III. (Scherzando vivace) (G minor) ::IV. (Adagio - Allegro con fuoco - Molto expressivo senza rigore)

Concertante

* Piano Concerto, Op. 12 (1871) (ded. to and first performed (in 1872) by

piano) (also arr. for 2 pianos by

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 ...

) ::I. (Allegro moderato) ::II. (Molto lento) ::III. (Allegro con fuoco)

Orchestra

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

: ''Trois morceaux'', arr. for orchestra (unpublished) * ''Marche Scandinave'' (ded. to

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become ...

) (unpublished) * Symphony No. 1 (1865) (unpublished) * ''5 Airs de Danse'', suite for orchestra (1870) (unpublished) ::I. ''Introduction et Ronde'' ::II. ''Tempo di Walzer'' ::III. ''Sicilienne'' ::IV. ''Menuet'' ::V. ''Danse guerrière'' * ''Esquisses symphoniques'', Op. 15 (1872) ::I. ''Prélude'' ::II. ''Gavotte'' ::III. ''Allegretto'' ::IV. ''Retour du Prélude et Finale'' * Symphony No. 2 (1872) (unfinished) *

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

: Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 1, arr. for orchestra (1872) (unpublished) * ''3 Pièces dans le style ancien'' (1873) (orchestration of Nos. 3, 4, and 5 of Op. 9) (unpublished) ::I. ''Sarabande'' ::II. ''Air'' ::III. ''Fughette'' * ''Torquato Tasso'', Ouverture (unfinished)

Songs

* ''6 Poésies d'Armand Silvestre'', Op. 8 (1868–73) (orchestrated 1920 by

) ::I. ''Le Bûcher'' ::II. ''Le Semeur'' ::III. ''Sonnet mélancolique'' ::IV. ''La Mer'' ::V. ''Renouveau'' ::VI. ''Vendange''

Choral

* ''Paraphrase du Psaume 84'', for soloists, choir, and orchestra, on a text by

Louis Gallet Louis Gallet (14 February 1835 in Valence, Drôme – 16 October 1898) was a French writer of operatic libretti, plays, romances, memoirs, pamphlets, and innumerable articles, who is remembered above all for his adaptations of fiction —and ...

, Op. 16 (1872) * Mass (1872) (unfinished)

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillon, Alexis de 1838 births 1873 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians People from Chartres Conservatoire de Paris alumni French male classical composers French Romantic composers