Salvayre, Gaston
Salvayre, Gaston
Salvayre, Gaston (actually, Gervais-Bernard) , French composer; b. Toulouse, June 24, 1847; d. St. Ague, near Toulouse, May 17, 1916. He was a pupil at the Toulouse Cons., then entered the Paris Cons., studying organ with Benoist and composition with Ambroise Thomas. After failing to win the Prix de Rome for 5 consecutive years, he finally obtained it in 1872 with the cantata Calypso. He subsequently devoted himself mainly to composition and also wrote music criticism for Gil Bias. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1880.
Works
DRAMATIC : Opera: Le Bravo (Paris, April 18, 1877); Richard III (in Italian as Riccardo III, St. Petersburg, Dec. 21, 1883; in French, Nice, Jan. 29, 1891); La Dame de Monsoreau (Paris, Jan. 30, 1888); Solange (Paris, March 10, 1909); Egmont (Paris, Dec. 6, 1886). Ba11et : Le Fandango (Paris, Nov. 26, 1877); La Fontaine des fées (Paris, 1899); L’Odalisque (Paris, 1905); also Calypso, dramatic scene (1872). ORCH .: Le Jugement dernier (Paris, Dec. 3, 1876; also known as La Résurrection and La Vallee de Josaphat); Ouverture symphonique (Paris, March 22, 1874); Air et Variations for String Orch. (1877).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire