1844–1926 · France · 20th century
Émile Paladilhe (1844–1926) was a French composer born in Montpellier. In 1860 he won the Prix de Rome at a younger age than anyone before him, and his most successful work was the opera Patrie! of 1886. He wrote operas, an oratorio, sacred music, a symphony, piano pieces and about a hundred songs; the site has two of his editions for voice and piano.
Émile Paladilhe was born on 3 June 1844 in Montpellier, in the south of France. His father taught him music from an early age, and the organist of Montpellier cathedral taught him the organ. The boy's talent was so evident that he left for Paris and entered the Conservatoire.
At the Conservatoire, Antoine François Marmontel taught him piano, François Benoist the organ, and Fromental Halévy composition and counterpoint. Paladilhe became an accomplished pianist, and among his friends was Georges Bizet.
In 1860 Paladilhe won the Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata Ivan IV. No one had won the prize so young before; he is the youngest winner in its history. His victory owed much to the patronage of Charles Gounod and the sympathy of Camille Saint-Saëns.
By the rules, the prize-winner spent three years at the Villa Medici in Rome. Other prize-winners were there at the same time, among them Georges Bizet, Ernest Guiraud and Théodore Dubois. Guiraud later taught harmony, orchestration and composition at the Conservatoire, and Dubois became its director. Paladilhe formed a friendship with the elderly Gounod.
After returning from Rome, Paladilhe turned to music for the stage and had considerable success. His one-act opéra-comique Le passant was first performed at the Opéra-Comique on 24 April 1872, the two-act L'amour africain on 8 May 1875, the three-act Suzanne on 30 December 1878, and Diana on 23 February 1885.
Paladilhe's greatest operatic success was Patrie!, a grand opera in five acts to a libretto by Victorien Sardou and Louis Gallet. It was first shown at the Paris Opéra (Palais Garnier) on 16 December 1886, and it numbers among the final grand operas first performed there.
The opera was composed to mark a special event, an evening celebrating the French community of Monaco, though its subject has Flemish nationalist overtones. Close to it in success is named the oratorio Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, which appeared in 1892.
On 16 April 1887 in Paris, Paladilhe married Georgina Lefebvre Desvallières, the sister of the painter Georges Desvallières. They had two children: Marie-Jeanne in 1888 and Jean in 1890. The composer was later the grandfather of Dominique Paladilhe.
On 6 May 1892 the composer Ernest Guiraud, a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, died, and his seat fell vacant. In June 1892 Paladilhe and Erik Satie competed for it. Paladilhe was chosen, and in that same year, 1892, he became a member of the Academy in Guiraud's place.
This gave Paladilhe weight and standing in professional circles for the rest of his life, and a steady income unconnected with writing music. Satie, recalling the episode years later, wrote that he had put himself forward for the Academy three times and each time others were preferred — Paladilhe, Dubois and Lenepveu. He admitted that this caused him much suffering.
In 1905 Paladilhe sat on the Music Council of the Academy of Arts together with Xavier Leroux, Jules Massenet, Ernest Reyer, Charles Lenepveu and the director of the Conservatoire, Théodore Dubois. The council refused Maurice Ravel admission to the Prix de Rome competition, citing the age limit, although by then it had not yet been reached. It also came out that all the admitted candidates were pupils of Lenepveu.
The affair caused a storm of indignation among musicians and in the press. As a result Dubois had to leave his post as director of the Conservatoire, and Gabriel Fauré was appointed in his place. Paladilhe died on 6 January 1926 in Paris.
Paladilhe's output is large. He wrote for the stage, composed a symphony, about a hundred songs (in French, mélodies), piano pieces and a great deal of sacred music: cantatas, motets, masses, chorales and an oratorio. Some of the songs are still sung today.
Sacred music makes up a large part of the legacy. He wrote masses, motets, cantatas and chorales, and his works include three masses, an oratorio, a symphony, piano pieces and about a hundred songs. The oratorio Les Saintes Maries de la Mer stands out among them as a notable work.
Of the operas, the greatest success was Patrie! of 1886. His stage works also include two operas that were written but never performed: Vanina in four acts (composed in 1890, to a libretto by Ernest Legouvé and Louis Gallet) and Dalila in three acts (1896, to a libretto by Feuillet and Gallet).
Some of his pieces for a solo woodwind instrument or a solo voice remain in concert repertoire today. The most notable is the Solo pour hautbois, which also goes by the name Solo de concert; Paladilhe wrote it in 1898.
The Dana Piano site has two Paladilhe editions, both for voice and piano. Les roses d’Ispahan is marked at the “Advanced” level, Psyché at “Intermediate+”. You can begin with Psyché and move on to Les roses d’Ispahan when you have more experience.