Gabriel Grovlez
Gabriel Grovlez was born on 4 April 1879 in Lille (France). His grandmother was a piano student of Frederic Chopin and his mother a serious pianist as well. So Gabriel Grovlez received piano lessons from an early age. After school he enrolled at the Paris conservatory and studied first under Louis Diemer and Andre Gedalge, later under Gabriel Faure.
After his studies Gabriel Grovlez first worked as a concert pianist. He toured as a soloist, but also as accompanist to renowned violinist Henri Marteau. Between 1899 and 1909 he became piano professor at the Schola Cantorum.
Beside his piano activities Gabriel Grovlez also started a career as conductor. Between 1905 and 1908 he was choir master and conductor at the Opera Comique and from 1911 to 1913 at the Theatre des Arts. There he gave the world premiere of the orchestral version of Maurice Ravel's "Ma mere l'oye" in 1912. But he also was responsible for the revival of many baroque operas by Rameau, Lully, Monteverdi or Gluck. From 1914 to 1933 Gabriel Grovlez was director of the Paris Opera. In addition he had a international career as a conductor and worked at opera houses around the world.
Beside these main activities Gabriel Grovlez also worked as a critic for several music journals, for example Excelsior. And from 1939 till his passing he was professor for chamber music at the Paris conservatory.
In addition Gabriel Grovlez was also a composer and composed for all genres. Among his output are the notable operas "Coeur de rubis" and "Le Marquis de Carabas", several ballets, a piano concerto, orchestral works, a violin sonata, a cello sonata, other chamber music and many songs.
Gabriel Grovlez died on 20 October 1944 in Paris (France).
Le Marquis de Carabas
In my possession is the autograph piano reduction of the opera "Le Marquis de Carabas" by Gabriel Grovlez. According to the manuscript the work was composed between 1918 and 1920 on a libretto by Romain Coolus. The work is subtitled by Gabriel Grovlez as a "conte lyrique bouffe". A newspaper reported in 1922 an upcoming premiere of the work at the Opera-Comique. That turned out to be a mistake and the work had to wait until 1936 when it won the shared first prize in the composition competition of the city of Paris (the other winner was the comedie lyrique "Amphytrion 38" by Marcel Bertrand). That was followed by the world premiere of the piece through Radio-Paris under the conductor Eugene Bigot in December 1938. The critics praised the work highly:
"D'emblée l'oeuvre de MM. Romain Coolus et Gabriel Grovlez se place en premier rang des pièces lyriques bouffes du répertoire." (W. L. Landowski in: L'Art Musical, 2 December 1938, page 249)
"La musique de M. Gabriel Grovlez est, elle aussi, délicieu sement fine et aimable. [..] Et l’on comprend que le jury du Prix de la Ville de Paris ait choisi, en 1936, la partition du Marquis de Carabas. Mais on ne comprend pas du tout que, cette récompense lui ayant été justement accordée, l’ouvrage de MM. Romain Coolus et Gabriel Grovlez serait demeuré inconnu du public si le poste de Radio-Paris ne l’avait diffusé, sous la parfaite direction de M. Eugène Bigot et avec une interprétation de choix, réunissant Mme Lucienne Grovlez, Mlle Jeanne Roland, MM. Lovano, Huberty, Legrand, Prigent et les choeurs Joseph Noyon." (Mercure de France, 1 January 1939, page 211)
In addition to the autograph manuscript I also own a typewritten copy of the libretto.
