Pessard, Émile (-Louis-Fortuné)

views updated

Pessard, Émile (-Louis-Fortuné)

French composer; b. Paris, May 29,1843; d. there, Feb. 10,1917. He studied at the Paris Cons, with Bazin (harmony), Laurent (piano), Benoist (organ), and Carafa (composition), winning the 1st harmony prize in 1862, and the Grand Prix de Rome in 1866 with the cantata Datila (1866). In 1881 he was appointed prof, of harmony at the Paris Cons. He enjoyed considerable regard as a composer of fine songs. As a student, Debussy copied Pessard’s song Chanson d’un fou, and the MS in Debussy’s handwriting was publ, erroneously as Debussy’s own.

Works

dramatic: opera(all 1st perf. in Paris): La Cruche cassée (Feb. 1870); Don Quichotte (Feb. 13, 1874); Le Char (Jan. 18, 1878); Le Capitaine Fracasse (July 2, 1878); Tabarin (Jan. 12, 1885); Tartarin sur les Alpes (Nov. 17, 1888); Les Folies amoureuses (April 15, 1891); Une Nuit de Noël (1893); Mam’zelle Carabin (Nov. 3,1893); La Dame de trèfle (May 13,1898); L’Armée des vierges (Oct. 15, 1902); L’Epave (Feb. 17, 1903). other: Orch. pieces; choral works; chamber music; songs; piano pieces.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire