André Caplet was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 now known primarily through his orchestrations of works by Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

.

Biography

Caplet was born on a boat sailing between Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

 (Seine-Maritime

Seine-Maritime

Seine-Maritime is a French department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre...

) and Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...

 (Calvados

Calvados

The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...

), the youngest child of a modest family.

He exhibited a unusual talent and originality during his musical education, and won the Prix de Rome

Prix de Rome

The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...

 in 1901 ahead of Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

. He became a close friend of Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

, sometimes serving as translator, and he orchestrated part of Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien (Bernac 1978, p. 221; Orledge 2003). He also collaborated with Debussy in the orchestration of La Boîte à joujoux. In 1911, Caplet prepared an orchestration of Debussy's Children's Corner

Children's Corner

Children's Corner is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year...

, which, along with his orchestration of Clair de lune from the Suite bergamasque

Suite bergamasque

The Suite bergamasque is one of the most famous piano suites by Claude Debussy. Debussy commenced the suite in 1890 at age 28, but he did not finish or publish it until 1905.-History:...

 is probably the most widely performed and recorded example of his work.

Caplet was a composer in his own right, whose very innovative works have been sadly overlooked for the most part. Specially interesting is his instrumental use of voices, as in his Septuor à cordes vocales et instrumentales from 1909 and in the oratorio-like Le Miroir de Jésus from 1923, which features "choeur de femmes" in an accompanying role Caplet termed "voix d'accompagnement". He also wrote two works based on the short story The Mask of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

: Conte fantastique for harp and string quartet, and an orchestral symphonic study Le Masque de la mort rouge.

Caplet served as conductor of the Boston Opera from 1910 to 1914.

While serving in the military during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he was gassed, which resulted in the pleurisy

Pleurisy

Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....

 that killed him. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine

Neuilly-sur-Seine

Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...

 (Hauts-de-Seine

Hauts-de-Seine

Hauts-de-Seine is designated number 92 of the 101 départements in France. It is part of the Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris...

), a suburb of Paris at age 46.

Works for voice and piano

• Viens! ... Une flûte invisible, (Hugo), August 1900
• Myrrha, (F. Beissier) 1901
• Myrrha, cantata
  Cantata
  A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
  
  , Prix de Rome, 1901
• Green, (Verlaine), 1902
• Il était une fois, (Richepin), January 1903
• Poème de mai (Tu nous souriais), (A. Silvestre), 1902
• Dans la fontaine, (P. Gravollet), 1903
• Papillons, (P. Gravollet), February 1903
• Le Livre rose, (P.J. Pain), 1898–1901

1.) Le livre ou je veux lire

2.) Premier prix

3.) Les pleurs de bébé

4.) Le furet du bois, Mesdames

• Chanson d'automne, (A. Silvestre), 1900
• Paroles à l'absente, (G. Jean-Aubry), 1908

1.) Préludes

2.) Ce sable fin et fuyant

3.) Angoise

• Les Prières, 1914–1917, (also for harp and string quartet)

1.) Oraison dominicale

2.) Salutation angélique

3.) Symbole des apôtres

• Le Vieux coffret, (R. de Gourmont), 1914–1917

1.) Songe

2.) Berceuse

3.) In una selva oscura

4.) Forêt

• En regardant ces belles fleurs, (C. d'Orleans), October 1914
• Nuit d'Automne, (H. de Regnier), 9 March 1915
• Prière normande, (J. Hebertot), 1916
• Solitude, (J. Ochse), 1915
• Quand reverrai-je, hélas!..., (J. de Bellay), 27 August 1916, (published with harp accompaniment by Lyra)
• La Croix douloureuse, (R.P. Lacordaire), for the armed forces
• Détresse!..., (H. Charasson), 9 November 1918
• Trois Fables, (La Fontaine), 1919

1.) Le corbeau et le renard

2.) La cigale et la fourmi

3.) Le loup et l'agneau

• Le Pain quotidien, (15 exercises), 1920
• Cinq Ballades françaises, (P. Fort)

1.) Cloche d'aube

2.) La Ronde

3.) Notre chaumière en Yveline

4.) Songe d'une nuit d'été

5.) L'Adieu en barque

• L'hymne à la naissance du matin, (reduction, P. Fort), November 1920
• La Cloche felée, (C. Baudelaire), January 1922
• La Mort des pauvres, (C. Baudelaire), June 1922
• Le Miroir de Jésus, (reduction) ( H. Gheon), Summer 1923
• La Part à Dieu, (chanson populaire), 1925

Voice and organ

• Pie Jesu, March 1919
• Panis angelicus, 21 June 1919
• Pater noster, November 1919
• Tu es sacerdos, 27 July 1920
• Les Prières, 1914-1917

Voice and flute

• Corbeille de fruits, (R. Tagore), September 1924
• Écoute mon coeur, 19 September 1924

Voice & harp

• Sonnet : "Doux fut le trait", (Ronsard), 8 April 1924, published with Quand reverraije... by Lyra

Harp solo

• Deux Divertissements (1. à la française, 2. à l'espagnole'), 1924, published 1925, Durand

Voice & orchestra

• Myrrha, scène lyrique, (1er Grand Prix de Rome), (F. Beissier), 1901
• Il était une fois, (J. Richepin)
• Paroles a l'absente, (G. Jean-Aubry), 1908

1.) Préludes

2.) Angoisse

• Le Vieux Coffret, (R. de Gourmont)
• La Croix douloureuse, (R.P. LaCordaire)
• Détresse!..., (H. Carasson)
• Hymne à la naissance du matin, (P. Fort), November 1920
• Les Prières (voice, harp, string quartet) (see under voice and piano)

A capella chorus

• Messe à trois voix, 1919-1920

1.) Kyrie eleison

2.) Gloria

3.) Sanctus

4.) Agnus Dei

5.) O Salutaris

• "Inscriptions champêtres, (R. de Gourmont), August 1914

Orchestral works

• Suite d'orchestre (sur des mélodies populaires persanes),1900
• Légende (suite symphonique pour harpe chromatique et instruments à cordes), 1905 (precursor to Conte Fantastique)
• Étude symphonique
• Le Masque de la mort rouge pour harpe chromatique principale, 1908
• Marche solennelle pour le centenaire de la Villa Medicis, 1903
• Salammbô, (poème symphonique) 1902
• Marche heroïque de la Ve Division, pour musique militaire, 1917
• Epiphanie", fresque musicale pour violoncelle principal et orchestre, 1923

Orchestral transcriptions

• Children's Corner
  Children's Corner
  Children's Corner is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was given its world première in Paris by Harold Bauer on December 18 of that year...
  
   (Debussy)
• Pagodes (Debussy)
• Clair de Lune from Suite bergamasque
  Suite bergamasque
  The Suite bergamasque is one of the most famous piano suites by Claude Debussy. Debussy commenced the suite in 1890 at age 28, but he did not finish or publish it until 1905.-History:...
  
  (Debussy)
• Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, Fragments Symphoniques (Debussy)

Chamber music

• "Quintette" pour piano, flute, hautbois, clarinette et basson, 1898

1.) Allegro

2.) Adagio

3.) Scherzo

4.) Finale

• "Suite persane" pour 2 flutes, 2 hautbois, 2 clarinettes, 2 bassons, et 2 cors, 1900, version originale

1.) Scharki, (allegretto)

2.) Nihavend, (andantino)

3.) Iskia Samaisi, (vivo)

• "Septuor", pour quatour a cordes et 3 voix feminines, 1909
• "Sonate" pour piano, voix, violoncelle, 1919
• "Conte Fantastique (The Masque of Red Death)" d'après Poe pour harpe à pedales et quatour à cordes, (published 1924)
• "Le Miroir de Jesus" pour voix principale, 3 voix accompagnantes, quatour a cordes et harpe, (original version: Été), 1923
• "Sonata da chiesa" pour violon et orgue, 1924

1.) Quiet

2.) Interieur

3.) Alleluia

Flute & piano

• Feuillets d'album, 1901
• Rêverie et Petite Valse, 1897
• Viens! Une flûte invisible, 1900, voice, flute, piano

Reductions for piano, 4 hands & for 2 pianos, 4 hands or 6 hands

• Images (Debussy)

1.) Rondes de Printemps

2.) Gigues

3.) Iberia

• La Mer (Debussy)
• Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, voix et piano (Debussy)
• La Mer, 2 pianos, 6 mains (Debussy)

External links

• Le martyre de Saint-Sébastien: mystère en cinq actes, music by Debussy, transcribed by Caplet Score from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• The Masque of Red Death Score from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• ResMusicca.com: André Caplet
• André-Caplet.fr
• Musicologie.org: André Caplet