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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
This week's composer, Augusta Holmès (1847-1903), was born in Paris to an Irish father and an English mother; her last name at birth was Holmes, but in 1871 she became a French citizen and added the accent to her name. She was rather fortunate in comparison to other female composers of her era: as an only child, she was sole heir to her father's fortune, and thus was able to finance her own education and career. She was a student of Cesar Franck, and by 1891 was prominent enough that she led the group of Franck's students who commissioned the a bust of their late mentor from Rodin. Like many other female composers of her era, Holmès published under a male pseudonym, "Hermann Zenta," only composing under her own name after achieving some success under Zenta's name.
This week may be an especially fitting time to present music by Holmès, because her most notable work was the Ode Triomphale that she was commissioned to write for the 1889 celebration of the centennial of the French Revolution, a work that required a chorus of 900 singers and an orchestra of 300. Holmès accepted no payment for the piece, directing instead that her fee and her share of the proceeds be donated to assist victims of flooding in Antwerp.
The Ode Triomphale was never recorded, and would probably be rather difficult to record properly -- but some of her other works have, including this symphonic poem, Andromède. Composed in 1883, Andromède was one of the earliest pieces that Holmès published under her own name.
This week's composer, Augusta Holmès (1847-1903), was born in Paris to an Irish father and an English mother; her last name at birth was Holmes, but in 1871 she became a French citizen and added the accent to her name. She was rather fortunate in comparison to other female composers of her era: as an only child, she was sole heir to her father's fortune, and thus was able to finance her own education and career. She was a student of Cesar Franck, and by 1891 was prominent enough that she led the group of Franck's students who commissioned the a bust of their late mentor from Rodin. Like many other female composers of her era, Holmès published under a male pseudonym, "Hermann Zenta," only composing under her own name after achieving some success under Zenta's name.
This week may be an especially fitting time to present music by Holmès, because her most notable work was the Ode Triomphale that she was commissioned to write for the 1889 celebration of the centennial of the French Revolution, a work that required a chorus of 900 singers and an orchestra of 300. Holmès accepted no payment for the piece, directing instead that her fee and her share of the proceeds be donated to assist victims of flooding in Antwerp.
The Ode Triomphale was never recorded, and would probably be rather difficult to record properly -- but some of her other works have, including this symphonic poem, Andromède. Composed in 1883, Andromède was one of the earliest pieces that Holmès published under her own name.