Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (August 18, 1849 – January 10, 1895) was a French violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist and Romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 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...

.

Biography

Born in Paris, Godard was a student of Henri Vieuxtemps

Henri Vieuxtemps

Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....

. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris

Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...

 in 1863 where he studied under Vieuxtemps (violin) and Napoléon Henri Reber

Napoléon Henri Reber

Napoléon Henri Reber was a French composer.He studied with Anton Reicha and Jean François Lesueur, wrote chamber music, and set to music the new poems of the best French poets...

 (harmony) and accompanied Vieuxtemps twice to Germany. He composed music with great facility.

In 1876, his Concerto romantique was performed at the Concerts Populaires, and other of his large works were also performed at these concerts. In 1878, Godard was the co-winner of the Prix de la Ville de Paris. His winning composition, a dramatic symphony entitled Le Tasso, remains among his most admired works.

From that time until his death Godard wrote a surprisingly large number of compositions. These include eight opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

s, among them: Jocelyn

Jocelyn (opera)

Jocelyn is a four-act opera by Benjamin Godard, set to a French libretto by Paul Armand Silvestre and the famous tenor Victor Capoul. Taken from the poem by Alphonse de Lamartine, the action takes place in Grenoble and the surrounding mountains during Corpus Christi at the close of the 18th century...

– the "Berceuse" from which remains Godard's most well-known composition – was given in Paris in 1888; Dante, played at the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

 two years later; and La Vivandière, left unfinished and completed by another hand. This last work was heard at the Opéra-Comique in 1895, and has been played in England by the Carl Rosa Opera Company

Carl Rosa Opera Company

The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...

. He became a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1887, and was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 in 1889.

Godard was opposed to the music of Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 and also highly critical of Wagner's antisemitism. Godard's musical style was more in tune with those of Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

 and Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

.

Godard's long list of works in other forms included three symphonies: Symphonie gothique (1883), Symphonie orientale (1884, and Symphonie légendaire (1886); Concerto romantique for violin and orchestra (1876), two piano concertos, three string quartets, four sonatas pour violin and piano, a sonata for cello and piano, two piano trios, and various other orchestral works.

Among his piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 pieces may be mentioned the 2nd Mazurka, the 2nd Valse, Au Matin, Postillon, En Courant, En Train, and Les Hirondelles. Florian's Song is also very popular in many arrangements. He wrote four sonatas for violin and piano. One of these contains a scherzo

Scherzo

A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...

 written in the unusual time signature of 5/8

Quintuple meter

Quintuple meter or quintuple time is a musical meter characterized by 5 beats in a measure. Like the more common duple, triple, and quadruple meters, it may be simple, with each beat divided in half, or compound, with each beat divided into thirds...

. He wrote more than one hundred exquisite songs.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition

The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time...

, "Godard's compositions are unequal, if only because his productivity was enormous. He was at his best in works of smaller dimensions. Among his more ambitious works, the Symphonie légendaire may be singled out as being one of the most distinctive." His music has also been noted for its charm.

Godard died in Cannes

Cannes

Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, and was buried at the family plot in Taverny

Taverny

Taverny is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Inhabitants are called Tabernacians.-History:...

.

Operas

Op.	Title	Genre	Sub­divisions	Libretto	Première date	Place, theatre	|Notes
	Les bijoux de Jeannette	opéra Opera Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...			1878	Paris
	Les Guelfes	grand opéra Grand Opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...	5 acts	L. Gallet	17 January 1902	Rouen, Théâtre des Arts	composed 1880–82
	Pedro de Zalamea	opéra	4 acts	L. Détroyat & Paul Armand Silvestre Paul Armand Silvestre Paul-Armand Silvestre , French poet and conteur, was born in Paris.He studied at the École polytechnique with the intention of entering the army, but in 1870 he entered the department of finance. He had a successful official career, was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1886, and in 1892 was... , after Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...	31 January 1884	Antwerp, Théâtre Royal
100	Jocelyn Jocelyn (opera) Jocelyn is a four-act opera by Benjamin Godard, set to a French libretto by Paul Armand Silvestre and the famous tenor Victor Capoul. Taken from the poem by Alphonse de Lamartine, the action takes place in Grenoble and the surrounding mountains during Corpus Christi at the close of the 18th century...	opéra	4 acts	Paul Armand Silvestre and Victor Capoul Victor Capoul Joseph Victor Amédée Capoul, born in Toulouse on 27 February 1839 and died in Pujaudran on 18 February 1924, was a French operatic tenor with a lyric voice and a graceful singing style.-Career:Victor Capoul began his studies in Toulouse... , after a poem by Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...	25 February 1888	Brussels, Théâtre de la Monnaie La Monnaie Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
111	Dante	drame lyrique	4 acts	E. Blau	13 May 1890	Paris, Opéra-Comique Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...  (Favart)
125	Jeanne d'Arc	drame historique	5 acts	J. Fabre	13 January 1891	Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
	Ruy Blas						composed 1891, but unperformed
	La vivandière	opéra comique Opéra comique Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...	3 acts	Henri Caïn Henri Cain Henri Caïn was a French dramatist, opera and ballet librettist. He wrote over forty librettos from 1893 to his death, for many of the most prominent composers of the Parisian Belle Epoque....	incomplete score: 21 March 1893	Brussels, Théâtre de la Monnaie	with orchestration completed by P A Vidal, 1 April 1895, Paris, Salle Favart

Discography

There are at least 90 recordings available of Godard's music, including the following CD selected in 2008 by the classical music magazine Gramophone as an "Editor's Choice":

• Benjamin Godard: Concerto for violin No. 2 in G minor, Concerto for violin "Romantique" and Scènes poétiques performed by Chloë Hanslip
  Chloe Hanslip
  Chloë Elise Hanslip is a British violinist.Chloë was born in Guildford, Surrey and has been playing the violin since she was two. At the age of four she performed solo at the Purcell Room. When she was five she performed for Yehudi Menuhin and subsequently, at his invitation, studied with Natasha...
  
   (violin) with the Kosice Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kirk Trevor (Naxos
  Naxos Records
  Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
  
   8.570554)

The most recent recording of music by Godard is The Piano Concerto No.1, Introduction & Allegro and Symphonie Orientale performed by Victor Sangiorgio (piano) with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Martin Yates

Martin Yates

Martin Yates is a British conductor.Studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe , Richard Arnell , Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands and Douglas Moore & John Burden .Conducting debut 1983 with Israel National Opera...

on Dutton Epoch CDLX 7274. It was released in June 2011.

External links

• Benjamin Godard Piano Trio No.1 in g minor, Op.32--Sound-bites and discussion of work
• Piano trio no. 1, op. 32 (1872) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Piano trio no. 2, op. 72, F major (1880) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Symphonie gothique pour orchestre, op. 23 (1890) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Troisième sonate pour piano & violon, op. 9 (1880) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
• Fantasie persane : pour piano et orchestre ou 2 pianos, op. 152 (1900) From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection