Ysaÿe, Théophile (1865 – 1918)

[grewtw]

Théophile Ysaÿe was born in Verviers in 1865. He studied at the Liège Conservatoire from 1876 to 1880, and in 1881 joined his brother Eugène in Berlin, where he studied with Kullak at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst. In 1885 the Ysaÿe brothers settled in Paris, where Théophile studied composition with Franck.

His music is close to Debussy's in detail and to Franck's in conception. His symphonic poem Les abeilles was inspired by Maeterlinck’s "La vie des abeilles". Its style is impressionist in the flowing melodic lines, the play of sonorities and the poetic atmosphere that predominates in all three movements.

what he left us:

Piano Concerto in E flat, opus 9 (1904)

http://youtu.be/zlPBFDNEvQ4

Variations for two Pianos opus 10 (circa 1910)

http://youtu.be/3Z8rTCyfbc4

Symphony no. 1 in F, opus 14 (1904)

Les abeilles, symphonic poem opus 17 (1910)

Le cygne, symphonic poem opus 15 (1911)

La forêt et l’oiseau, symphonic poem opus 18 (1911)

Piano Quintet in B minor, opus 5 (1913)

http://youtu.be/pvrE9fd2vPI

String Quartet in B flat minor

a second symphony was left unfinished in 1915.

[Beresford]

Then there are the six violin sonatas - Presto has recordings by many excellent violinists.

[Serial_Apologist]

What little I have heard of his music seemed more post-Franck than Debussy-influenced, similarly to Chausson and early Roussel, so I shall enjoy listening to the above clips.

[grewtw]

Some unknown person has altered my post to show the year of the composer's death, and I cannot delete that alteration. If I wanted to show the date of some one's death I would post it, but it is very much against my principles to draw attention to sad occurences.

Any one who is interested in such things has the option of looking them up and posting them in their own reply to the thread; that way my original post would not be spoiled.

The heading I posted was simply:

Ysaÿe, Théophile

I will be greatly obliged if the offensive alteration is removed and the original heading is restored.

Thank you.