Emmanuel Chabrier, in full Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier, was a French composer whose best works reflect the verve and wit of the Paris scene of the 1880s and who was a musical counterpart of the early Impressionist painters.
Background
Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier was born on January 18, 1841 in Ambert (Puy-de-Dôme), a town in the Auvergne region of central France. His father was an attorney; his childhood nanny Anne Delayre (whom Chabrier called "Nanine") remained close to him throughout her life.
Education
Emmanuel began his music lessons at the age of six; the earliest of his compositions to survive in the manuscript are piano works from 1849. Chabrier spent five years (from sixteen, when he moved with his family to Paris) preparing for the civil service. Allowed to study music at the same time, he took piano lessons from Edouard Wolff, who had been a friend of Chopin. He studied at the Lycée imperial and had practical and theoretical music lessons with Alexander Tarnowski, a Polish-born composer and violinist.
Career
Allowed to study music at the same time, he took piano lessons from Edouard Wolff, who had been a friend of Chopin. In 1862 he entered the Ministry of the Interior, resigning in 1880, however, to devote himself wholly to music. During the period prior to his resignation from government service Chabrier married and had his first successes in the theater with his operetta L'Etoile (1877) and the satirical light opera Une Education manquéemanquee (1879). These two pieces, together with the three-act opera Le Roi malgrémalgre lui (1887) established Chabrier's reputation as a musical wit and a composer of striking originality. This reputation was further enhanced by the publication in 1889 of his trilogy of humorous songs: Ballade des gros dindons, Vilanelle des petits canards, and Pastorale des cochons roses. It is by these and other characteristic compositions, such as the Bourrée fantasque, Joyeuse Marche, España, and the Trois valses romantiques for two pianos that Chabrier will be remembered, rather than by his opera Gwendoline (produced in Brussels in 1886). He died in Paris on September 13, 1894. Chabrier introduced into French music a note of gaiety, truculence, and exuberant high spirits. His unconventional style and bold harmonies prepared the way for Ravel, Erik Satie, and Les Six.