Background
He was the son of a cellist Hippolyte Rabaud (1839–1900), professor of cello at the Paris Conservatoire, while his mother was a singer who almost created the role of Marguérite at the request of Gounod.
composer conductor musicologist university professor
He was the son of a cellist Hippolyte Rabaud (1839–1900), professor of cello at the Paris Conservatoire, while his mother was a singer who almost created the role of Marguérite at the request of Gounod.
Henri studied at the Conservatoire with André Gedalge and Jules Massenet.
Rabaud came from a musical background. In 1908, he became a conductor at the Paris Opéra-Comique where he later conducted the 100th performance of his opera Mârouf, savetier du Caire, and from 1914 to 1918 he directed the Paris Opéra. In 1918 he became musical director of the Boston Symphony for only one season before returning to Paris.
While in Boston, he was elected to membership in the Alpha Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music
Following the resignation of Gabriel Fauré in 1922, Rabaud was his successor as director of the Conservatoire, where he remained until his retirement in 1941. Under the Vichy Regime, he compiled a dossier describing in detail the racial make-up of all Conservatoire students.