Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)

Ever wondered who wrote that beautiful melody ‘Ave Maria’ on Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous Prelude in C Major (Well-Tempered Clavier Book I)? Or that chirpy theme music to ‘Alfred Hitchcock presents’ on TV? They were both written by the Frenchman Charles Gounod in the nineteenth century and while these two pieces may be his biggest and most popular “hits”, they certainly do not help to portray Gounod as the influential French composer he was in his day.

In 1839, Gounod won the prestigious Prix de Rome, travelled to Italy and discovered the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and other composers of that time and was very drawn to them. He also met Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of the famous Felix Mendelssohn, who introduced him to the works of Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven; music of these composers were not performed and heard much in France during that time.

　

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