Biography
Caplet pursued studies at the Paris Conservatoire, where he earned the Prix de Rome in 1901 with his cantata Myrrha. Recognition followed for his skill on the podium, leading to an appointment at the Boston Opera that lasted from 1910 to 1914. In 1914 he enlisted for military duty, yet exposure to gas compelled him to relinquish conducting and devote himself instead to writing music. Sharing the impressionists’ aesthetic, he held Debussy’s work in high esteem, and the two men formed a close friendship. Caplet prepared the orchestration for Debussy’s Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien and led its premiere in 1911. Years of directing opera had given him intimate knowledge of vocal resources, which prompted him to create pieces designed to develop singers’ command of innovative techniques, among them the negotiation of unusually wide intervals. The mass Pain quotidien was written expressly for that training. His own scores stand out for their distinctive melodic shapes and imaginative timbres.