Paul PIERNÉ

Cousin of the composer and conductor Gabriel Pierné, Paul was born in 1874 in Metz, which at the time was annexed to Germany. He received his first musical training from his father Charles. As Charles recovered his French nationality in 1882, Paul did his military service at the age of twenty with the 11th artillery regiment in Versailles (1894–1898). He then entered the Paris Conservatoire, studying composition and counterpoint with Lenepveu. He graduated without a prize, but won two distinctions in the Prix de Rome competition: a “mention” in 1903 and a “second” first prize in 1904. From 1905 until the end of his life, he was the titular organist at Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris. He was mobilized as an artillery lieutenant (and wounded) during the Great War. His vast œuvre reveals a composer interested in every genre, tackling the mélodie, choral music, chamber music (Sonata for cello and piano, 1905; several piano trios; String Quartet, 1922), pieces for piano and for organ, motets and masses, symphonic poems (Jeanne d’Arc, Daphné, De l’ombre à la lumière, Cléopâtre, Heures héroïques, Masque de comédie), ballet (La Libellule) and opéra comique(Le Diable galant, 1913). Towards the end of his career, he showed a marked interest in popular music and folklore research, while the Paris Conservatoire regularly asked him to write competition pieces (for the cello, oboe, clarinet and saxophone classes).