Lamento henri duparc biography

The habit among composers of almost excessive self-criticism has been a curiously French phenomenon over the last century, typified by Dukas, Duruflé and his younger, more progressive contemporary Henri Dutilleux.

Lamento henri duparc biography wikipedia

 No less a perfectionist is Henri Duparc (1848-1933), whose admittance to the great pantheon of French song writers is based on sixteen solo songs and a single duet, this last conspicuous by its absence on this disc.  Perhaps his modest output was influenced by his teacher César Franck who insisted his pupils must “write little but make it extremely good”.

 By the time Duparc was in his mid-thirties he abandoned composition owing to a nervous disorder, subsequently destroying many of his unpublished manuscripts and later orchestrating a handful of his songs before dying at the age of 85.

Despite a long compositional silence, his songs (the best of which are mini masterpieces) have continued to find new audiences.

 Who cannot be stirred by ‘Extase’, the