Henri Rabaud

Henri Rabaud (10 November 1873 – 11 September 1949) was a French conductor and composer, who held important posts in the French musical establishment and upheld mainly conservative trends in French music in the first half of the twentieth century.

Rabaud came from a musical background. He was the son of a cellist Hippolyte Rabaud (1839–1900), professor of cello at the Paris Conservatoire, while his mother was a singer who almost created the role of Marguérite at the request of Gounod. His maternal grandfather was a well-known flautist, while his great aunt was Julie Dorus-Gras.

Henri studied at the Conservatoire with André Gedalge and Jules Massenet. In 1908, he became a conductor at the Paris Opéra-Comique where he later conducted the 100th performance of his opera Mârouf, savetier du Caire, and from 1914 to 1918 he directed the Paris Opéra. In 1918 he became musical director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for only one season before returning to Paris. While in Boston, he was elected to membership in the Alpha Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music.

Following the resignation of Gabriel Fauré in 1922, Rabaud was his successor as director of the Conservatoire, where he remained until his retirement in 1941. Under the Vichy Regime, he compiled a dossier describing in detail the racial make-up of all Conservatoire students.

Rabaud's cantata Daphné won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome in 1894. His opéra comique Mârouf, savetier du Caire combines the Wagnerian and the exotic. He wrote other operas, including L'appel de la mer based on J. M. Synge's Riders to the Sea, as well as incidental music and film scores, such as the 1925 score for Joueur d'échecs (Chess Player).

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