Charles Francois Gounod French composer (1819-1893), Francois Gounod free midi download

CHARLES FRANCOIS GOUNOD
17^thJune 1818 --- 18^thOctober 1893

Charles Francois Gounod was born in 1818 in Paris and died in 1893 in Paris, Ignaz Moscheles, the great pianist wrote in 1861
"In Gounod I hail a real composer". I have heard his Faust both at Leipzig and Dresden, and am charmed with the refined
piquant music. Critics may rave if they like against the mutilation of Goethe's masterpiece, the opera is sure to attract, for it is
fresh, interesting work, with a copious flow of melody and lovely instrumentation.

It is close to fifty years since that was written, (That was back in 1916, Steven) yet Faust is today the only serious rival to
Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Carmen. Gounod wrote in all departments of music, but it is by his Faust that he will live. His other
operas, with by the single exception of Romeo and Juliet, have not enjoyed any measure of popularity.

Charles François Gounod was born in Paris in 1818, and died there in 1893. Like Bizet and Berlioz, he carried off the Prix de
Rome at the Concervatoire, and his three years stay in Rome fostered in him a powerful religious sentiment. In fact he came
very near to entering upon a monastic life. The religious fervour returned to him in old age, when he produced the oratorios
The Redemption (for which a London firm paid him a £1000) and Mors et Vita.

His first operas failed completely, and this temporarily drove him back to scared music. Faust, however, written when he was
forty, changed all that. Strange to say, no manager would at first produce it, and no publisher would bring out the score. A
publisher was found at last who brought it for 10,000 francs, and by so doing laid the foundation of the fortunes of his house.
In thirty years the modest sum he timidly advanced brought in nearly three million francs. The manager who finally agree to
stage the opera was less fortunate. He had faith in its final triumph, and pushed it on to a fifty-seventh performance, at which
point he failed and the theatre was closed.

It is staggering to think that the public of that time were so long in waking up to the fact that here was a work of beauty and
charm, destined to live. But what could be expected of the public when Berlioz (jealous, of course) declared that Gounod had
not the smallest conception of the subject he sought to treat, one music critic cynically said that Faust had only a Waltz and a
Chorus, another hoped that Gounod would never repeat the experiment. We wish he had!
The above was written by Cuthbert Haddon in 1916.
Last Updated on 2017
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

(1753)"Romeo and Juliet Selection". Sequenced by Reginald Steven Ritchie

Thanks to George Pollen for the music below, please go to bookmark page for Georges Website
all the music by George below if from Gounod opera "Faust"
(1249)"Waltz and Chorus". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1250)"The King of Thule". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1234)"Soldier's Chorus, (Choer des Soldats)". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1228)"Finale". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1229)"The Village Fair, (Une Kermesse)". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1230)"Song of the Golden Calf, (Ronde du Veau d'or)". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1231)"Mephistopheles Serenade". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1218)"Overture to the opera". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1217)"Helene et les jeunes Troyennes". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1197)"Entree des jeunes Nubiennes". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1198)"Variation de Cleopatre". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1199)"Entree des Jeunes Troyennes". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1200)"Variation d'Helene". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1190)"Danse Prelude". Sequenced by George Pollen

(2086)"Ava Maria,(donated by Armando)". Sequenced by Skip D

(1196)"Soldiers Chorus, March". Sequenced by Andrew Purdam

(1195)"Marionetten Trauermarsch". Sequenced by Scott Downie

(1194)"Petite Symponie in B Flat, Adagio et Allegretto". Sequencer Unknown. "Info text" Info by John Briggs

(1193)"Unknown piece". Sequencer unknown.

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