Alexandre Georges

Alexandre Georges (25 February 1850 – 18 January 1938) was a French organist and composer.

Alexandre Georges (1903)

Life

Born in Arras, Georges studied at the local school where he became a teacher of harmony, as well as at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, directed by Gustave Lefèvre, and in which he also became a teacher. He held various positions as organist in Parisian churches, in Sainte-Clotilde and Saint-Vincent de Paul from 1899. He was a highly sought-after organ teacher and as a composer he was very interested in the Opera. Georges owes his fame to two cycles of melodies he wrote: Les chansons de Miarka (1888, on poems by Jean Richepin) and Les chansons de Leïlah (1899, after "Diwân", Persian poem by Émile Mariotte).

Georges died in Paris at age 87 (18 January 1938).[1]

Works
Operas
  • Daphnis et Chloé (1883)
  • Le Printemps (1888)
  • Charlotte Corday (6 March 1901)
  • Miarka (Opéra-Comique: 7 November 1905). Undoubtedly his greatest opera; repeated and reduced to 3 acts for the Opera (1925). The audience is seduced by the strange melancholy of this score.
  • Pulcinella (1910)
  • Sanga y sol (Nice, 23 February 1912)
  • Le Printemps (1923)
  • not represented; Le Violon de Krespel; Lycoenium; Fanny; Elssler; La Maison du Péché; Le Baz valan'n; Aucassin et Nicolette; Rivnah
  • Lyrical scenes: Balthazar; Poème d'Amour (1892); Myrrha; Peyroulou; Sapho;
  • Tarass Boulba and le Vengeur
  • stage music for Le Nouveau Monde, drama by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam performed at the Théâtre des Nations (1883); Alceste (1891); Axël (1894); Adonis (1910); La Marseillaise (1914)
Vocal and choral music
  • Don Juan et Haïdée, cantata (1877)
  • Notre-Dame de Lourdes, oratorio (1900)
  • La Passion, oratorio (1902)
  • Messe O Salutaris
  • Trois Motets
  • Chemin de Croix, oratorio
  • Femmes grecques for mezzo, choir and orchestra (1915)
  • Ode à la Paix universelle
  • De Profundis (1925)
  • Messe de Requiem (1925)
  • Messe à la gloire de Notre-Dame des Flots (1926)
  • Les chansons de Leïlah (1899)
  • Chansons champenoises à la manière de Geneviève Dévignes
Music for orchestra
  • Leïlah; La Naissance de Vénus and Paradis Perdu, symphonic poems
  • Les chansons de Miarka, various pieces
  • Monde religieux; Monde tragique; Monde passionnel, préludes
Chamber music
  • A la Kasbah! for flute and piano
  • Kosaks for violin and clarinet
  • Trio de l'ut dièse for piano, violin and cello
  • pieces for piano and organ

Sources
  • Baker, Theodore; Slonimsky, Nicolas (1995). Dictionnaire biographique des musiciens. Bouquins (in French). 1. Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont. p. 4728. ISBN 2-221-06510-7.

References
  1. 18 janvier 1938 : décès du compositeur Alexandre Georges on Archives du Pas-de-Calais
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