Ernest Chausson Photo: P. Frois (Bibliothèque nationale de France) Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Chausson's bourgeois upbringing trained him well in the arts, but left him without the company of people his own age. He would become a serious man, perhaps partly due to a youth spent without peers. He was not, however, a loner.
In the Paris season, his house became a gathering place for artists, philosophers and musicians to discuss their works and ideas.
Some of his guests were promoters of the Symbolist movement and as Frances Moore describes, Chausson became interested in the musical possibilities of Symbolism as well as in the advancement of French mélodie.
Music Details:
CHAUSSON: Le Temps des lilas - Sandrine Piau (sop), Susan Manoff (pno) (Naïve V 5063)
CHAUSSON: Trio in G minor - M844 - Dalia Ouziel (pno), Jerrold Rubenstein (vln), Alexander Dmitriev (cello) (Talent DOM 3810 06)
CHAUSSON: Papillons - Gérard Souzay (bar), Jacqueline Bonneau (pno) (Decca 425 975)
CHAUSSON: Interlude, Poème de l'amour et de la mer - Monte Carlo Phil/ Armin Jordan (Erato 2292 45368)
CHAUSSON: Paysage - Jean Hubeau (pno) (Erato 4509 96221)
CHAUSSON: Poème - Nicola Benedetti (vln), London SO/ Daniel Harding (DG 987 057)
CHAUSSON: Ballade from Trois Lieder de Camille Mauclair, Op. 27 - Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano) (Sourced from itunes)
CHAUSSON: Les Heures - Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto), Inger Södergren (pno) (RCA 09026 68342)
CHAUSSON: Le Temps des lilas - Sandrine Piau (sop), Susan Manoff (pno) (Naïve V 5063)
