A Swiss composer. He was born in Allaman (a village near from the lake Geneve) on 13th of November, 1868. In his boyhood, he was inspired to listen Meyerbeer's 'L'Africaine' and decided to be a composer. Because his father had doubt of his ability, he should study privately at first. Therefore, He initially studied harmony under Hugo de Senger when he was 17. Then he went Sututtgart (Germany) under the teacher's avdice and studied harmony under Percy Goetschius for one year. After his back to his home country, he entered Geneve Conservatory to study harmony and counterpoint under Jean Jaques-Dalcroze. at that time, he also became a bank clerk to cover the school fees. His enthusiasm made his father to be convinced. Then he could go to Paris Conservatory for studying composition under Massenet, orchestration under Fauré, harmony under Lavignac, whereas fugue and counterpoint under Gédalge. After his graduation in 1899, he went back to his country and became a famous opera composer. Despite of his weak health, he devoted himself to compose many stage works. His compositional diction can be characterised as a stream-follower of his teacher, Massenet in form and stage-work relying tendency although of many progressions in harmonic content. He died in Genf (=Geneve) on 25th of December, 1936. Text source : Wikipedia (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
