Henri Duparc studied piano with César Franck and became one of his first composition students; in 1888 Franck dedicated his Symphony in D minor to him. In 1870 he took part in the Franco-Prussian War and the following year, on 9 November 1871, he married the Scottish Ellen MacSwinney. The same year, with Camille Saint-Saëns and Romain Bussine, Duparc was among the founders of the Société Nationale de Musique, of which he was also secretary, a company whose aim was to promote contemporary music in France, both chamber and orchestral.
Many of his compositions for voice are based on texts by Jean Lahora and Charles Baudelaire (what a coincidence! 😉 ). Affected by a serious nervous disease, he destroyed much of its production; the one that remains is all prior to 1885.
Lénore is a symphonic poem written in 1874-1875, based on the ballad by Gottfried August Bürger (1747-1794) and dedicated to César Franck.
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