PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Collet, Henri (1885-1951)

Fechas de existencia:

Paris 1885-11-05 - Paris 1951-11-23

History:

French composer, pianist, Hispanist, teacher and music critic.

Born on 5 November 1885 in Paris, and passed away in the same city on 23 November 1951. His parents were Alphonse Collet, an engineer, and Louise Legrand. He started out as a disciple of Daniel Beck, organist at the church of Sainte-Croix in Bordeaux, although he soon enrolled at the local Conservatory. His teachers included Pierre Georges Bonnet and Joseph Thibaud. He also took piano lessons from Déodat de Séverac in Toulouse, and composition classes from Gabriel Fauré in Paris. Between 1902 and 1912 he travelled across Spain, taking advice from Federico Olmeda, Ramón Menéndez Pidal and Felipe Pedrell, and in 1911 he published a study on the "Cántigas" of Alfonso X the Wise. He became a Doctor of Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris with a thesis titled "Le mysticisme musical espagnol au XVIe siècle" (1913).

Interested in contemporary Spanish music, Collet collaborated on various projects and befriended composers like Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla, Joaquín Turina and Joaquín Rodrigo. In 1913 he married Marcelle Baudin in Paris. He gave lectures on Spanish music, and in 1919 was hired to teach Spanish at Collège Chaptal. His compositions from this period-"Cinco canciones populares castellanas" (1923) for voice and piano, "Rapsodie castillane" (1924) for violin or viola and orchestra, and "Sept chansons populaires de Burgos" (1926) for voice and piano, among others- were clearly marked by the influence of Isaac Albéniz, Falla and other Spanish composers. He won France's National Literature Prize in 1929 for "L'Île de Barataria". Between 1929 and 1939, Collet ventured into new territory with his compositions, which always had a distinctly Spanish flair, as evidenced by the pantomime -ballet in one act- "Los toreros" (1933). The premiere of his lyrical comedy "La chèvre d'or" (1937) represented a parenthesis in his output. As a music critic, Collet wrote for magazines like "Comœdia", "Le Courrier musical", "Lyrica", "Musique et Radio", "La revue musicale", "Revue musicale S.I.M.", "Gaceta musical", "Revista Musical Catalana" and "Ritmo", and was responsible for coining the term Les Six to designate a famous group of six French composers. In addition, he published the books "L'essor de la musique espagnole au XXe siècle" (1929) and "Albéniz et Granados" (1926). He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1935.