Louis Beydts
Encyclopedia
Louis Beydts was a French composer
, music critic and theatre director, born 29 June 1895 in Bordeaux
and died on 15 August 1953 at Caudéran in Gironde
.
, while his mother played the piano
. At 16, having finished his school studies, he went into the family business. Having learnt the piano and tried some composition, at 18 he studied harmony
, counterpoint
and fugue
with Marc Vaubourgoin. Beydts also studied with André Messager
.
During the First World War Beydts was mobilized, only returning to civilian life in 1919, picking up his much-appreciated studies with Vaubourgoin until 1924. His parents were supportive of their son’s musical ambitions.
In Paris
he had a work for voice and orchestra Le Sommeil performed at the Concerts Lamoureux in 1926. In 1927 Adieu was performed by the Concerts Colonne
, and Le Promenoir des deux amants at the Concerts Pasdeloup
.
His first attempt at operetta was Le Bourreau des cœurs (unperformed), but he went on to write others: Moineau(originally entitled La Noce, staged at the Théâtre Marigny
on 13 March 1931) with limited success. In November 1931 la S A D M P (la Société amicale des messieurs prudents) with words by Sacha Guitry
, was seen at the Théâtre de la Madeleine
, and on 22 December of the same year le Club les Canards mandarins was performed in Monte Carlo. Another collaboration with Guitry Voyage de Tchong-Li was staged in March 1932. Beydts was among the last generation of composers to conserve and develop the traditional French opérette
.
Beydts composed A l’aimable Sabine and mélodies such as La lyre et les amours (cycle, 1938), Jeux Rustiques (Joachim du Bellay, 1936), Mélancolie, Quatre Odelettes, 1929 ; Quatre Humoresques, 1932; Quatre Chansons, 1935 (Chansons pour les oiseaux (Heyse): La colombe poignardée; Le petit pigeon blue; L'oiseau bleu; Le petit serin en cage); le Coeur inutile, as well as a suite for 14 instruments. He was one of seven composers to contribute to an oratorio Jeanne d'Arc (co-sponsored by the Association Jeune-France
), first performed on 28 April 1942 conducted by Charles Munch at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
. His D’ombre et de soleil was first performed on 2 February 1947 in a Conservatoire concert, with soloist Ninon Vallin
and Beydts himself conducting.
He composed incidental music for a Paris production of Numance by Cervantes, as several other plays at the Comédie-Française
during and after the war, which led to further commissions for incidental music from other Paris theatres.
In April and May 1941 he acted as artistic director to the recording of Pelléas et Mélisande
conducted by Roger Désormière
.
He finished his career as Director of the Opéra-Comique
in Paris from 1952 to 1953, with the 50th anniversary production of Pelléas et Mélisande and the first French production of The Rake's Progress
. An important figure in Parisian musical life, Beydts was a close friend of the cellist Pierre Fournier
. He died at Caudéran in Gironde
.
His musical style has been described as traditional, classical, clear, melodic and of indisputable elegance. His favourite composers were Fauré
, followed by Debussy, Gounod, Messager
, Ravel and Pierné
.
His conducting may be heard on the recording of Messager's Isoline
and his own La Lyre et les Amours with Pierre Bernac
, and A travers Paris.
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...
, music critic and theatre director, born 29 June 1895 in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
and died on 15 August 1953 at Caudéran in Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
.
Life and career
His father was a wine-merchant who played the fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, while his mother played the 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...
. At 16, having finished his school studies, he went into the family business. Having learnt the piano and tried some composition, at 18 he studied harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
and fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
with Marc Vaubourgoin. Beydts also studied with André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
.
During the First World War Beydts was mobilized, only returning to civilian life in 1919, picking up his much-appreciated studies with Vaubourgoin until 1924. His parents were supportive of their son’s musical ambitions.
In Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
he had a work for voice and orchestra Le Sommeil performed at the Concerts Lamoureux in 1926. In 1927 Adieu was performed by the Concerts Colonne
Concerts Colonne
The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne.-History:While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead a series of popular concerts which he founded under the...
, and Le Promenoir des deux amants at the Concerts Pasdeloup
Pasdeloup Orchestra
The Pasdeloup Orchestra is the oldest symphony orchestra in France.-History:Founded in 1861 by Jules Pasdeloup with the name Concerts Populaires, it is the oldest orchestra still in existence in Paris...
.
His first attempt at operetta was Le Bourreau des cœurs (unperformed), but he went on to write others: Moineau(originally entitled La Noce, staged at the Théâtre Marigny
Théâtre Marigny
The Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny, in the 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panorama, which opened in 1883...
on 13 March 1931) with limited success. In November 1931 la S A D M P (la Société amicale des messieurs prudents) with words by Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
, was seen at the Théâtre de la Madeleine
Théâtre de la Madeleine
The Théâtre de la Madeleine is a theater in Paris built in the English style in 1924 on the site of a carousel. The first major success of the theatre came with the presentation of part one of The Merchants of Glory by Marcel Pagnol....
, and on 22 December of the same year le Club les Canards mandarins was performed in Monte Carlo. Another collaboration with Guitry Voyage de Tchong-Li was staged in March 1932. Beydts was among the last generation of composers to conserve and develop the traditional French opérette
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
.
Beydts composed A l’aimable Sabine and mélodies such as La lyre et les amours (cycle, 1938), Jeux Rustiques (Joachim du Bellay, 1936), Mélancolie, Quatre Odelettes, 1929 ; Quatre Humoresques, 1932; Quatre Chansons, 1935 (Chansons pour les oiseaux (Heyse): La colombe poignardée; Le petit pigeon blue; L'oiseau bleu; Le petit serin en cage); le Coeur inutile, as well as a suite for 14 instruments. He was one of seven composers to contribute to an oratorio Jeanne d'Arc (co-sponsored by the Association Jeune-France
La Jeune France
La jeune France was the name of two related French societies in the 1930s and 1940s.- Musical organization :Jeune France was founded in 1936 by André Jolivet along with composers Olivier Messiaen, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, Pierre Schaeffer and Yves Baudrier, who were attempting to re-establish a...
), first performed on 28 April 1942 conducted by Charles Munch at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini....
. His D’ombre et de soleil was first performed on 2 February 1947 in a Conservatoire concert, with soloist Ninon Vallin
Ninon Vallin
Ninon Vallin was a French soprano who achieved considerable popularity in opera, operetta and classical song recitals during an international career which lasted for more than four decades. [Note: Vallin's birthday is sometimes given as September 7 or September 9.]-Career:Ninon Vallin was born...
and Beydts himself conducting.
He composed incidental music for a Paris production of Numance by Cervantes, as several other plays at the Comédie-Française
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....
during and after the war, which led to further commissions for incidental music from other Paris theatres.
In April and May 1941 he acted as artistic director to the recording of Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
conducted by Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière was a French conductor.Désormière was born in Vichy in 1898. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his professors included Philippe Gaubert , Xavier Leroux and Charles Koechlin , and Vincent d'Indy...
.
He finished his career as Director of 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...
in Paris from 1952 to 1953, with the 50th anniversary production of Pelléas et Mélisande and the first French production of The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
. An important figure in Parisian musical life, Beydts was a close friend of the cellist Pierre Fournier
Pierre Fournier
Pierre Fournier was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists," on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound....
. He died at Caudéran in Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
.
His musical style has been described as traditional, classical, clear, melodic and of indisputable elegance. His favourite composers were Fauré
Faure
Faure or Fauré is a French family name and may refer to:People:* Edgar Faure, French politician* Élie Faure, French art historian and essayist* Émile Alphonse Faure, lead battery pioneer* Cédric Fauré, French football striker...
, followed by Debussy, Gounod, Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
, Ravel and Pierné
Gabriel Pierné
Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné was a French composer, conductor, and organist.-Biography:Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz in 1863. His family moved to Paris to escape the Franco-Prussian War. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, gaining first prizes for solfège, piano, organ, counterpoint and fugue...
.
His conducting may be heard on the recording of Messager's Isoline
Isoline (opera)
Isoline is an opera, described as a 'conte de fées' in three acts and ten tableaux, on a text by Catulle Mendès, with music by André Messager.-Background:...
and his own La Lyre et les Amours with Pierre Bernac
Pierre Bernac
Pierre Bernac was a French baritone.Born Pierre Bertin in Paris on January 12, 1899, he studied with Reinhold von Wahrlich in Salzburg. he came to music relatively late and gave his first recital in 1921....
, and A travers Paris.
Composer
- La Kermesse héroïque (1935)
- Le Comédien (1948)
- Le Colonel Chabert (1943)
- L'Affaire du courrier de Lyon (1937)
- Le Baron fantôme (1943)
- La Loi du nordLa Loi du nordLa Loi du nord is a 1939 French adventure drama film directed by Jacques Feyder who co-wrote screenplay with Alexandre Arnoux and Charles Spaak, based on novel "Telle qu'elle était de son vivant" by Maurice Constantin-Weyer. The films stars Michèle Morgan, Pierre Richard-Willm and Charles Vanel...
(1939) - Deburau (1951)
- La Malibran (1944)
- Les Miracles n'ont lieu qu'une foisLes Miracles n'ont lieu qu'une foisLes Miracles n'ont lieu qu'une fois is a 1951 Italian film....
(1951) - Parade en 7 nuits (1941)
- La Valse de ParisLa Valse de ParisThe Paris Waltz or La Valse de Paris is a 1950 French and Italian musical film directed by Marcel Achard.-Cast:*Yvonne Printemps ... Hortense Schneider*Pierre Fresnay ... Jacques Offenbach*Jacques Charon ... Jean-François Berthelier...
(1950) - Pontcarral, colonel d'empire (1942)
- La Dame de Malacca (1937)
- La Piste du nord (1939)
- Le Diable boiteux (1948, tr. The Lame Devil)
- Le Secret de Mayerling (1949)
- La Belle Image (1951)
- L'Appel du destinL'Appel du destinL'Appel du destin is a French comedy drama film from 1953, directed by Georges Lacombe, written by Jacques Viot, starring Georgette Anys and Jean Marais...
(1953)
Musician
- LouiseLouise (film)Louise is a 1939 French musical film directed by Abel Gance. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the opera of the same name by Gustave Charpentier.-Cast:* Grace Moore - Louise* Georges Thill - Julien...
(1939) - La Malibran (1944)
- La Vie de bohème (1945)
- La Valse de ParisLa Valse de ParisThe Paris Waltz or La Valse de Paris is a 1950 French and Italian musical film directed by Marcel Achard.-Cast:*Yvonne Printemps ... Hortense Schneider*Pierre Fresnay ... Jacques Offenbach*Jacques Charon ... Jean-François Berthelier...
(1950)