Pascal, Claude

Claude Pascal

Claude Pascal was born on 19 February 1921 in Paris (France). He received piano lessons from the ago of five and entered the Paris Conservatory already at the age of 10. His musical abilities at this early age were that impressive, that Henri Rabaud - at that time director of the Paris Conservatory - recommended Claude Pascal to the conductor Walter Straram. And so a short-lived singing career started for Claude Pascal. He performed as Yniold in Debussy's "Palleas et Melisande" under Straram in 1933 and later in Schubert's "Erlkönig" with Georges Thill and Henry Etcheverry under the baton of Eugene Bigot. Claude Pascal also impressed Georges Truc, the head of the record label Columbia, who made several recordings with him of works by Debussy, Gabriel Grovlez and Robert de Fragny.

After this short intermezzo Claude Pascal continued his studies at the Paris Conservatory. His teachers were Jean Gallon (harmony), Noel Gallon (counterpoint), Henri Busser (composition), Louis Laloy (music history) and Charles Münch (conducting). He also took piano lessons with Yves Nat and conducting with Roger Desormiere and Louis Fourestier. Claude Pascal received several awards for his studies, but the breakthrough as a composer came in 1943 and 1945 when he first received the "Premier Second Grand Prix de Rome" for his cantata "Icare" and then the "Premier Premier Grand Prix de Rome" for his cantata "La Farce du Contrebandier". From 1946 to 1949 a stay at the Villa Medici in Rome followed where he became close friends with Henri Dutilleux, Raymond Gallois-Montbrun, Genevieve Joy or the architect Jean Dubuisson. The picture on the right dates from the time at the Villa Medici and shows from left to right: Raymond Gallois-Montbrun, Genevieve Joy, Claude Pascal, Gwen Rooke (the later wife of Claude Pascal) and Henri Dutilleux.

After his return to Paris Claude Pascal was first chorus master at the Opera-Comique, but already in 1952 became professor for sightreading at the conservatory and in 1965 professor for course guidance and asistant to the director Raymond Gallois-Montbrun. Claude Pascal held these positions until his retirement in 1987. From 1965 to 1967 Claude Pascal was also artist director of the recording label Club Francais du Disque. During this time he orchestrated the "Art of Fugue" in collaboration with Marcel Bitsch which was performed and recorded by the Saarland Radio Chamber Orchestra under Karl Ristenpart. This recording received the "Grand Prix de l'Académie du disque" in 1967. Thereupon Claude Pascal worked also as a music critic for the newspaper "Figaro" from 1969 to 1979 and as an expert for music copy right from 1983 to 1991 at the appellate court in Paris.

Claude Pascal died on 28 February 2017 in Paris (France).

Among the compositions by Claude Pascal are more than 100 works of nearly all genres. The autograph manuscripts for these works are archived both at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (BNF) and in my archive. Below I present a detailed work catalogue of Claude Pascal. Each composition also shows which kind of documents are in my archive. If I do not hold any manuscripts of a work, they are most likely preserved at the BNF.

Claude Pascal Archive

In my possession is the main musical estate of Claude Pascal. In the finding aid below I provide information about the documents in the archive.

Claude_Pascal_Archive.pdf

Scores

Scores for several compositions by Claude Pascal which were unpublished before. I would like to thank the Pascal family for their permission to publish these works:

Pour bercer, pour piano (1939)

Pascal_PourBercer.pdf

Sonatine pour piano et basson (1940)

Pascal_SonatineBsnPno.pdf

Prelude et Fugue, pour trio d'anches (1941)

Pascal_PreludeEtFugue.pdf

Jardin zoologique, pieces enfantines pour piano (1949)

Pascal_JardinZoologique.pdf

Trois pieces pour piano sur des themes anglais, polonais et francais

Pascal_TroisPieces.pdf

A une femme morte, piece pour 3 voix de femmes et cor anglais (1940)

Pascal_AUneFemmeMorte.pdf