d'INDY (VINCENT)

Vincent d'Indy (1851 - 1931)

• French composer, he was born and died in Paris, but kept a great attachment all his life to the Cévennes and the Ardèche, family cradle. Having received a very serious musical training he becomes the pupil and the disciple of César Franck at the Conservatory.
• He attended the creation of Carmen by Georges Bizet and the premiere of Tétralogie by Richard Wagner in Bayreuth. Vincent d'Indy, conductor (having been timpanist) of the Pasdeloup Concerts orchestra in Paris, founded in 1894 with Charles Bordes and Alexandre Guilmant the Schola Cantorum in 1894 (rival of the Paris Conservatory). An ardent defender of order and the rigor of the "Franckist" school, he opposes sensual and flexible debussysm.
• Although a fervent Catholic, his compositions contain few religious works. He has written several symphonies and symphonic poems, chamber music (quartets, piano sonatas, ...) and five operas.
• Among his students are Eric Satie, Déodat de Séverac, Paul Le Flem, Arthur Honneger.