Guy Ropartz ‒ Nocturne No. 3

Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz, Nocturne No. 3 for solo piano (1916)

Performed by Stephane Lemelin (2002)

Composer Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz enjoyed a lifespan that cut across an enormous territory of French music. When he was born, Jacques Offenbach had just premiered La belle Hélène and the year he died, Henri Dutilleux rolled out his second symphony. Ropartz also achieved an astounding rite of passage in his own work, starting out deep inside the Franck school, but also embracing impressionist language and ultimately emerging the as the chief tone poet of his native region, Brittany; late in life Guy Ropartz flirted with neo-classicism.

As a child, he played bugle, horn, and double bass in a local orchestra, but his father desired him to prepare himself for life in a more secure profession. Therefore, he was given a Jesuit education, then studied law and literature, obtaining a degree from Rennes in 1885. Having thus satisfied his father's wishes that he prepare himself for profession, Ropartz then enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire. His early training in composition was with Theodore Dubois, then with Jules Massenet. He also wrote poetry at the time.

He lived to be 91 and wrote about 200 works during this long life. His last large-scale work was his string quartet, composed in 1951. He wrote five symphonies, other orchestral music, chamber music, choral music, stage music, and an opera, Le Pays (The Country), premiered in Nancy in 1912 and later heard in Paris. Late in life he changed his surname to "Guy-Ropartz." His music was always well regarded for its logic, clarity, and lack of excessive material. He ultimately adopted the neo-Classical style that had arisen in Paris in the period between the wars, de-emphasizing Franckian chromaticism and striving for a new leanness of sound and more concise formal ideas.

Видео Guy Ropartz ‒ Nocturne No. 3 канала Medtnaculus