Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod earned lasting recognition chiefly through the operas Faust and Romeo et Juliette together with the Ave Maria that he fashioned in 1859 upon the opening Prelude from Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Although he worked across nearly every principal genre except the concerto, his instrumental efforts met with uneven results, while vocal composition—above all opera and sacred pieces—remained his natural domain. Even though his standing had already begun to decline before his death, he continues to be viewed as a central presence in nineteenth-century French music. A stylistic conservative, he nevertheless shaped the paths of Bizet, Saint-Saëns, and Massenet without himself launching any new school or movement. His scores are marked by memorable melodies, inventive vocal lines, and assured orchestral writing. Today his output, including the two symphonies and several rarely heard operas, receives occasional attention, yet Faust, Romeo et Juliette, and especially the Ave Maria remain fixtures of the concert and recording repertory.

Born on 17 June 1818, Gounod received his earliest instruction from his mother, a pianist. While still young she secured composition lessons for him with Anton Reicha. Following Reicha’s death Gounod entered the Paris Conservatory, where his cantata Fernand brought him the Grand Prix in 1839. Additional studies in Rome turned his attention to sixteenth-century sacred music, most notably the works of Palestrina, and by 1845 he was seriously considering the priesthood. Though he ultimately set that vocation aside and married, religious devotion stayed with him for life and found expression in numerous sacred scores, among them the St. Cecilia Mass of 1855, his most frequently performed setting of the ordinary. The same year saw the completion of two symphonies that attracted notice without securing a permanent place in the repertory. Lasting fame arrived instead with the 1859 opera Faust, which overcame a hesitant premiere to become Gounod’s signature work and a staple of the international stage. Subsequent operas Mireille (1864) and, most successfully, Romeo et Juliette (1867) extended his renown beyond France throughout Europe.

The Franco-Prussian War prompted Gounod to reside in England from 1870 to 1875. During those years and after his return to France he continued to produce a substantial body of music, much of it religious, yet never recaptured the acclaim that had greeted his work of the 1850s and 1860s. One of the more striking late achievements was the Petite Symphonie of 1885, written for nine wind instruments. Gounod died in St. Cloud on 18 October 1893.