Name Andre Caplet | Role Composer | |
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Died April 22, 1925, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France Albums Musique de chambre pour harpe Similar People Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Isabelle Moretti, Camille Saint‑Saens, Jean Cras |
André Caplet - Panis Angelicus (1919)
Andre Caplet (23 November 1878 – 22 April 1925) was a French composer and conductor now known primarily through his orchestrations of works by Claude Debussy.
Contents
- Andr Caplet Panis Angelicus 1919
- Early life
- Career
- Death
- Works for voice and piano
- Voice and organ
- Voice and flute
- Voice harp
- Harp solo
- Voice orchestra
- A cappella chorus
- Mixed chorus orchestra
- Orchestral works
- Orchestral transcriptions
- Chamber music
- Cello piano
- Flute piano
- Piano two hands
- Piano four hands
- Reductions for piano 4 hands for 2 pianos 4 hands or 6 hands
- Songs
- References
Early life

Caplet was born on a boat sailing between Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) and Honfleur (Calvados), the youngest child of a modest family.
Career

He exhibited an unusual talent and originality during his musical education, and won the Prix de Rome in 1901 ahead of Maurice Ravel. He became a close friend of Claude Debussy, sometimes serving as translator, and he orchestrated part of Debussy's Le Martyre de saint Sebastien. He also collaborated with Debussy in the orchestration of La boite a joujoux. In 1911, Caplet prepared an orchestration of Debussy's Children's Corner, which, along with his orchestration of Clair de lune from the Suite bergamasque is probably the most widely performed and recorded example of his work.
Caplet was a composer in his own right, whose very innovative works have been sadly overlooked for the most part. Especially interesting is his instrumental use of voices, as in his Septuor a cordes vocales et instrumentales from 1909 and in the oratorio-like Le Miroir de Jesus from 1923, which features "choeur de femmes" in an accompanying role Caplet termed "voix d'accompagnement". He also wrote two works based on the short story The Mask of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe: Conte fantastique for harp and string quartet, and an orchestral symphonic study Le Masque de la mort rouge.
Caplet served as conductor of the Boston Opera from 1910 to 1914.
Death
While serving in the military during the First World War, he was gassed, which resulted in the pleurisy that killed him. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), a suburb of Paris, at the age of 46. The next year the sculptor Jacques Zwobada, a native of Neuilly, was commissioned to create a monument to Caplet. This was one of Zwobada's earliest works after he graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Works for voice and piano
Voice and organ
Voice and flute
Voice & harp
Harp solo
Voice & orchestra
A cappella chorus
Mixed chorus & orchestra
Orchestral works
Orchestral transcriptions
Chamber music
Cello & piano
Flute & piano
Piano, two hands
Piano, four hands
Reductions for piano, 4 hands & for 2 pianos, 4 hands or 6 hands
Songs
Petite Valse
Conte Fantastique
Legende
Foret
La Ronde
La cloche felee
Panis Angelicus
La Mort des pauvres
Messe a trois voix: I Kyrie eleison
Messe a trois voix: II Gloria
Messe a trois voix: III Sanctus
Messe a trois voix: VI O salutaris
Conte fantastique pour harpe et quatuor a cordes
Messe a trois voix: IV Benedictus
Messe a trois voix: V Agnus Dei