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Louis Theodore Gouvy (July 3, 1819-April 21, 1898) was a French composer born in Goffontaine, France (now Saarbrucken-Schafbrucke, Germany).
Gouvy was born into a French speaking family in the Alsatian village of Goffontaine, in the Sarre, a region on the France-Prussia border. Because this region fell under Prussian control shortly before his birth, Theodore Gouvy could not attain French citizenship until the age of 32. As a child, he showed no significant talent for music and after a normal preparatory education was sent to Paris in 1836 to study law. While there, he also continued piano lessons and became friendly with Adolphe Adam. This led to further music studies in Paris and Berlin. Unable to pursue music instruction at the Conservatoire de Paris, he took up private courses.
Gouvy was a man of two cultures, divided between France and Germany, from which he drew his inspiration, his characteristics and his force. While to a certain extent he was known and recognized in his lifetime, he fell into obscurity following his death. Gouvy, drawn toward pure instrumental music as opposed to opera, set himself the unenviable task of becoming a French symphonist. It was unenviable because the French, and especially the Parisians, throughout most of the 19th century were opera-mad and not particularly interested in pure instrumental music. It was this disdain for instrumental music in general which led to Gouvy living the last third of his life almost entirely in Germany where he was much appreciated.
During his lifetime, his compositions, and especially his chamber music, were held in high regard and often performed in those countries (Germany, Austria, England, Scandinavia, and Russia) where chamber music mattered. But in France, he never achieved real acclaim. Gouvy was universally acknowledged for being a master of form and for his deft sense of instrumental timbre. Mendelssohn and Schumann were his models and his music developed along the lines one might have expected of those men had they lived longer. Virtually all of his works show that he was a gifted melodist whose music is a joy to hear.
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Berlioz\'s favorable reviews, however, changed nothing, and Gouvy remained unknown until the end of the 20th century. It is the recent action undertaken in Lorraine and the rediscovery of his Requiem, with its vigorous Dies Ira, which allowed Gouvy\'s work to come to light once more in 1994. Requiem has been championed by the Lorraine Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Jacques Houtmann; these artists have issued a compact disc of the piece for the K617 label. Stylistically the composition owes something to Mendelssohn, something to Gounod, and something to Verdi, but remains quietly original despite these influences.
Although his work comprises more than two hundred compositions, including 90 opuses published in his lifetime, it largely remains ignored. In particular, he wrote twenty-four compositions for a full orchestra, including nine symphonies, as well as openings and variations. Chamber music comprises a large portion of Gouvy\'s work and accounts in particular for four sonatas in duet form, five trios, eleven quartets, seven quintets, an enormous piano repertoire for two and four hands and for two pianos, several scores for wind instrument ensembles, as well as many melodies and Lieder. |