[n.d. c.1870.]
Lithograph. 306 x 228mm. 12 x 9".
Charles-Francois Gounod (1818-1893) was a French composer who studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where in 1893 he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. He moved to Italy where he studied the music of Palestrina and other other sacred work which formed the basis of his early compositions. As the years went on, his musical extravagance grew, as he composed symphonies and operas, moving further away from the religious toward the romantic and classical epochs. From 1870 to 1874 he lived in England and became the first conductor of what is now the Royal Choral Society, which instigated a period of vocal compositions. Some years later, Fanny Mendelssohn introduced him to the keyboard music of Bach, which influenced many of his pianoforte studies; the most famous being his keyboard version of Ave Maria. He eventually reverted back to his early religious implueses and he shortly died after the completion of his 'Requiem' from a stroke. In 1888 he was made a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur.
From the Collection of J.S. Bumpus.
[Ref: 17175]  £190.00