Cécile Chaminade

Warranting a scant paragraph in my 1980 New Groves, Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (the middle two names are bracketed and thus optional) was born in Paris in August 1857 and was to die in Monte Carlo in 1944. She is listed as a 'French pianist and composer', in that order: the New Groves is, in fact, quite damning about her composing skills: “Notwithstanding the real charm and clever writing of many of Chaminade's pieces, they do not rise above drawing-room music”.

Well, that may be: but it's all very tuneful, slightly chromatic, definitely Romantic and easy to listen to. She was wildly popular in her day (going so far as to record some of her works in London in 1901) and listening to anything of hers makes it obvious why. It is not challenging or intellectually demanding stuff, it is true; but it is a pleasure to listen to, nonetheless.

The New Groves dismissal of her in 1980s is symptomatic of her consignment to oblivion immediately after her death that lasted for a half century or more: her reputation has fared better since the turn of the 21st Century! As an article in the Musical Times, written on the 50th anniversary of her death, put it:

Such was the extent of the fame of this composer, spurned by the critical values of the 20th century because she unflinchingly carried forward the ideals of a certain side of music making that reflected the society, more than the lasting achievements, of the 19th century. Interest in her is not because she is an underdog. But nor is she merely an interesting phenomenon. She has craft, and she touched many a heartstring and may do still.

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