Maréchal Henri Charles, *22 January 1842 Paris, †12 May 1924 Paris, French composer. He studied the history of literature and only began learning music at the age of 18. He was a student of E.J.M. Chevé (solfège) and V. Massé (composition) from 1866 at the Paris Conservatoire, where he also began learning to play the organ under F. Benoist. During his studies, he was choir conductor at the Théâtre Lyrique. In 1870, he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Le jugement de Dieu, and also received positive reviews for La nativité (1875). He began his opera career in 1876, staging Les amoureux de Catherine at the Opéra-Comique, and in the same year he received the Monbinne Prize for La taverne des Trabans. His subsequent stage works, on which he collaborated with well-known librettists such as P. and J. Barbier and L. Gallet, belong to the opéra lyrique genre. They occupy a secondary position in the history of French opera due to their lack of individual characteristics. Maréchal also worked as a music critic – his reviews appeared in Le Figaro.
Literature: R. Bowman Musical information in the archives of the church of S. Maria Maggiore, Bergamo 1649–1720, in: Dart Festschrift, ed. I.D. Bent, London 1981; P.J. Everett A Roman concerto repertory: Ottoboni’s “what not?”, “Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association” CX, 1983/84; W. Apel Italian Violin Music in the 17th Century, Indiana 1990; A. Firrincieli Carlo Antonio Marino. Vita, opere ed edizione degli opera omnia, thesis, University of Pavia, 2001.
Instrumental:
orchestral:
Esquisses vénitiennes, 1894
Antar, symphonic poem, Paris 1897
Feuillets d’album for piano and orchestra
Introduction et valse
chamber:
Fantaisie for horn and piano, Paris 1899
Air de guet for wind quinet, Paris 1920
Pasquinade for piano trio
Méditation religieuse for piano trio
Elégie for violin or viola and piano
Sérénade joyeuse for cello and piano
En gondole for piano, Paris 1892
Nocturne for piano, Paris 1893
Esquisses chorégraphiques for piano, Paris 1904
5 vieilles chansons for piano, Paris n.d.
Pièces intimes for piano
Airs d’église for organ, 2 vols, Paris 1912
124 pièces d’orgue d’auteurs français, italiens, allemands … de XVe, XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, arrangements for single manual, harmonium, or piano, Paris 1912
Stage:
Les amoureux de Catherine, opéra comique, libretto by J. Barbier after E. Erckmann and A. Chatrian, staged in Paris 1876
La taverne des Trabans, opéra comique, libretto by E. Erckmann, A. Chatrian and J. Barbier, 1876, staged in Paris 1881
Déidamie, opera, libretto by E. Noël, staged in Paris 1893
Calendel, opera, libretto by P. Ferrier after F. Mistral, staged in Rouen 1894
Daphnis et Chloë, opera, libretto by J. and P. Barbier, staged in Paris 1899
Ping-Sin, drame lyrique, libretto by L. Gallet, 1895, staged in Paris 1918
Autour d’une tiare, drame lyrique, libretto by Melliet, not staged
L’étoile, idyll for solo voices and women’s choir, libretto by P. Collin, performed in Paris 1881
Le lac des Aulnes, ballet with poetic commentary by C. Mendès, 1907
L’ami Fritz music for the play by E. Erckmann, A. Chatrian and J. Barbier, 1877
Les Rantzau music for the play by E. Erckmann and A. Chatrian
Crime et châtiment music for a play after F. Dostoevsky
Vocal and vocal-instrumental:
Le jugement de Dieu, cantata, text by H. Dutheil, 1870
La nativité, sacred poem, text by E. Cicile, 1875
Le miracle de Naïm, sacred drama, text by. P. Collin, 1886
Les vivants et les morts for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, and orchestra, 1886
Cantate de Valenciennes, 1902
Les villes glorieuses, cantata, text by A. Girard, 1910
solo songs
motets
choral works
Writings:
Rome. Souvenirs d’un musicien, Paris 1904
Paris. Souvenirs d’un musicien, Paris 1907
Monographie universelle de l’Orphéon, Paris 1910
Lettres et souvenirs, Paris 1920
Souvenirs d’un musicien: Alexis Chauvet, «Menestrel» 12 VIII 1906, reprint in «L’orgue: cahiers et mémoires», XLVI (1991)
