C chaminade biography
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However, both her activity and reputation declined in the 1920s.
In common with the music of contemporaries like Viardot, Bizet, Chabrier and Debussy, her music often has a Spanish flavouring. Born in Paris, she had an initially prosperous background; her father, who played the violin, worked in insurance, and her mother was a competent pianist and singer who energetically supported her gifted daughter’s career.
Recorded by TallWall Media. Only her Concertino for flute and orchestra is regularly performed.
Between 1892 to 1924, Chaminade regularly toured England, gaining enormous popularity and counting Queen Victoria among her fans. She gave the first recital of her own works the following year, and successfully performed her own music for the rest of her life.
She also toured in Belgian, German and Austrian cities, as well as Eastern Europe and the Balkans. While she had the advantage of being surrounded by music and despite her clear musical gifts, her father believed it was “improper” for a woman of her class to attend a formal conservatory and pursue a career in music.
Yet almost all her compositions were published during her lifetime, and they sold well. "Cécile Chaminade".
Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade
was born in Paris on August 8, 1857, and lived a remarkable life dedicated to music education, composition, and piano performance. Her Concertstück for piano and orchestra was criticised for being too ‘strong and virile’ but equally, her ‘daintiness’ was equated with superficiality.
Frank about the obstacles women musicians faced, she pragmatically built a dazzling career on these genres. At her American debut in 1908 she played the solo part of her Concertstück with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She allied herself with the stylistic world of the late 19th century in all its expressive and harmonic richness.
Songs like ‘L’anneau d’argent’ (1891) are exquisitely crafted and were justifiably famous (the text is by Rosemond Gérard, the wife of the writer Edmond Rostand).
Chaminade was the first woman to make a career of composing, and quickly became one of the most successful and published composers by the early twentieth century. Although her father would not permit her to study at the Conservatoire, she had private instruction and began composing by the mid-1860s.
Chaminade made her professional debut in 1877 at the Salle Pleyel.
Suffering from ill-health, she moved to Monte Carlo in 1936, where she died in 1944. In 1865, the family moved to Le Vésinet, a village of culture, artists, and musicians just west of Paris. This resolved the perceived problem of her unmarried status without greatly restricting her professional activities.
Although her piano salon music and songs won widespread popularity, her more serious works, which include an opera, a ballet, and orchestral suites, were less successful, especially among critics.