Emmanuel Chabrier
Romantic · 1841–1894
Emmanuel Chabrier spent eighteen years as a civil servant at the French Ministry of the Interior, composing on evenings and holidays, before quitting at nearly forty to write music full time. Born in Ambert, in central France, he settled in Paris, where his closest friends were painters rather than musicians: he was an early buyer of Impressionist canvases, and Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère hung in his apartment.
His music has the same brightness as those paintings. A trip to Spain in 1882 produced España, an orchestral showpiece built on Spanish dance rhythms that made him famous almost overnight.
España is the obvious starting point, and it deserves to be. Follow it with the Suite pastorale, four gentle orchestral scenes drawn from his piano pieces.
38 works in the catalog, across 4 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Keyboard
- 3 Valses romantiques, for 2 pianos or orchestra
- 5 Morceaux
- 5 Pièces posthumes
- 10 Pièces pittoresques
- Air de ballet
- Bourrée fantasque
- Capriccio
- Cortege burlesque, for keyboard
- Feuillet d'album
- Habañera
- Impromptu in C
- Julia, waltz
- Marche des Cipayes
- Pas redoublé, for solo piano or piano, 4 hands
- Petite valse
- Prelude et marche francaise, for keyboard
- Prélude et Marche Française, for piano 4-hands
- Prélude pastorale, for piano 4-hands
- Souvenir d'España, for 1 Piano-6 Hands
- Souvenirs de Brunehault, waltzes
- Souvenirs de Munich, quadrille on themes from Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde,' for piano 4-hands
- Suite de valses
Orchestral
- Bourree fantasque, for orchestra
- España, rhapsody for orchestra
- Joyeuse marche
- Suite pastorale
- Fête polonaise
- Lamento
- Larghetto for Horn and Orchestra
Stage
- Gwendoline Opera
- L' Étoile, opéra-bouffe in 3 acts
- Le roi malgré lui
Vocal
- 6 Mélodies, for voice and piano
- Ballade des gros dindons
- Chanson pour Jeanne
- L'invitation au voyage, for voice and piano
- Les plus jolies chansons du pays de France, song cycle for voice and piano
- Pastorales des cochons roses
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