Pianophilia

I'm writing to announce the availability of 5 new French composers on IMSLP: Louis Aubert, Nadia Boulanger, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Georges Migot, and Gustave Samazeuilh. Each of these composers is under copyright world-wide except for those works published here, which are free in the United States only.

Louis Aubert (1877-1968)

Aubert was a child prodigy and became known for his voice and piano skills. His compositional output included many works, mainly mélodies, sacred works, and works for solo piano. He wrote one opera, La forêt bleue, which is included at IMSLP, and some orchestral works, including the popular Habanera. He later came to the attention of Maurice Ravel and was dedicated his Valses nobles et sentimentales, which is a standard in the piano repertoire. Many of his works, especially those for piano, show influences of Ravel and Debussy. Aside from several of his mélodies, most of the works now available here represent the bulk of his US-public domain works.

Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)

Nadia Boulanger is perhaps best remembered today as a famous pedagogue who taught many composers from her studio in Paris, most famously Aaron Copland. Before turning to teaching, however, she composed, but gave up largely in disgust with her own works in 1922. She is quoted as remarking to Gabriel Fauré, her composition teacher, "If there is one thing of which I am certain, it is that my music is worthless." Most of her output included songs, many of which were short, single pieces, but one, Les heures claires, is of substantial length. The works here at IMSLP represent virtually all of her free published works.

Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht (1880-1965)

Inghelbrecht was a composer, conductor, and writer. He conducted the first performance of Florent Schmitt's remarkable La tragédie de Salomé in 1908 as his début at the Théâtre des Arts in Paris, worked closely with Debussy's compositions (and with whom he had a close friendship until Debussy's death in 1918), providing many transcriptions thereof, and was briefly the music director of the Opéra-Comique. He was also a member of the group Les Apaches along with de Falla, Ravel, Schmitt, and Stravinsky. Inghelbrecht left behind several works in many different genres including a harp quintet, two symphonic poems, and several works for piano. His style is fairly eclectic but shows influences from his friend, Debussy, and Stravinsky. Virtually all of his free works have been archived here on IMSLP.

Georges Migot (1891-1976)

Georges Migot has largely been forgotten today, but in his time he was a well-known composer who produced a large number of works, notably vocal music. Although he was primarily known as a composer, he was also a poet and painter. He was a devoutly religious man and his works are often tinged with a highly personal and introspective aura which he reflected in his behavior. Musicologist Marc Honegger has made it his mission to revive and promote the music and life of Migot. A website has been set up to bring more awareness to Migot and includes Honegger's complete catalogue d'œuvres of the composer's work. The site can be viewed at http://www.georgesmigot.info/. The works here at IMSLP represent his complete free works in the US and mostly include chamber works including his piano quintet, Les Agrestides.

Gustave Samazeuilh (1877-1967)

Samazeuilh is a little-known composer today, but in his time he worked closely with many of the leading French figures of pre-World War II Paris including d'Indy, Enesco, Fauré, and Ravel. His works are highly refined and display a delicate sensitivity. The works here include all of his pre-1923 piano compositions, chamber works, symphonic poems, some songs, and many transcriptions of works by others.

I hope that, by including these often rare works, others will have the opportunity to benefit from them. Special thanks to the other contributors who submitted some of these works, and especially to Jonathan De Peri for providing and maintaing imslp.us. Without his work and dedication, none of these contributions would have been possible.

Happy reading, studying, and performing!


Daphnis