Biography
Albéric Magnard produced operas, chamber pieces, and orchestral compositions as a French creator, yet his solitary and unconventional habits kept him largely unrecognized throughout his own era.
Born to affluence in Paris during 1865, he lost his mother at age four and grew up chiefly under the guidance of his father, a noted writer who also edited Le Figaro. Formal schooling introduced him to music, though genuine engagement with the art emerged only gradually. After finishing secondary studies in 1882, he passed six months in seclusion at Ramsgate Abbey in England, followed by military duty and enrollment in law studies. A 1886 encounter with a stirring rendition of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Bayreuth ignited his musical calling; once he earned his law degree the next year, he entered the Paris Conservatory to work with Theodore Dubois, Jules Massenet, and Vincent d’Indy.
As a pupil he completed Symphony No. 1 and his initial opera, Yolande. These pieces met scant success, and the few hearings they obtained often stemmed from his father’s influence—an outcome that irritated Magnard, who rejected his privileged background and sought recognition earned solely through his own efforts. Following his father’s death in 1894, he expressed his sorrow in the orchestral Chant Funebre. Two years afterward he wed Julia Creton and began instructing in counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum, recently founded by d’Indy; around the same time he wrote Symphony No. 3, later his best-known score. Rejecting commercial publishers, he issued every subsequent work himself, a choice that curtailed circulation and helped keep his name obscure.
He continued composing and teaching until his death in France in 1914, an event that ultimately overshadowed his professional life. At the outbreak of World War I he arranged for his wife and daughters to shelter in safety while he remained to guard their home in Baron, Oise. On 3 September 1914 he fired on German troops who entered the property; in retaliation they set the house ablaze with him inside. The blaze claimed Magnard’s life and destroyed numerous manuscripts, yet the defiant stand elevated him to the status of national hero.
Born to affluence in Paris during 1865, he lost his mother at age four and grew up chiefly under the guidance of his father, a noted writer who also edited Le Figaro. Formal schooling introduced him to music, though genuine engagement with the art emerged only gradually. After finishing secondary studies in 1882, he passed six months in seclusion at Ramsgate Abbey in England, followed by military duty and enrollment in law studies. A 1886 encounter with a stirring rendition of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Bayreuth ignited his musical calling; once he earned his law degree the next year, he entered the Paris Conservatory to work with Theodore Dubois, Jules Massenet, and Vincent d’Indy.
As a pupil he completed Symphony No. 1 and his initial opera, Yolande. These pieces met scant success, and the few hearings they obtained often stemmed from his father’s influence—an outcome that irritated Magnard, who rejected his privileged background and sought recognition earned solely through his own efforts. Following his father’s death in 1894, he expressed his sorrow in the orchestral Chant Funebre. Two years afterward he wed Julia Creton and began instructing in counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum, recently founded by d’Indy; around the same time he wrote Symphony No. 3, later his best-known score. Rejecting commercial publishers, he issued every subsequent work himself, a choice that curtailed circulation and helped keep his name obscure.
He continued composing and teaching until his death in France in 1914, an event that ultimately overshadowed his professional life. At the outbreak of World War I he arranged for his wife and daughters to shelter in safety while he remained to guard their home in Baron, Oise. On 3 September 1914 he fired on German troops who entered the property; in retaliation they set the house ablaze with him inside. The blaze claimed Magnard’s life and destroyed numerous manuscripts, yet the defiant stand elevated him to the status of national hero.