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Pierre Dupont

Pierre Dupont (23 April 1821 – 25 July 1870) was a French songwriter.

Dupont was born in Lyon as the son of a blacksmith. His mother died before he was five years old, and he was brought up in the country by his godfather, a village priest. He was educated at the seminary of L'Argentière, and was afterwards apprenticed to a notary at Lyon. In 1839 he found his way to Paris, and some of his poems were inserted, in the Gazette de France and the Quotidienne. Two years later he was saved from the conscription and enabled to publish his first volume – Les Deux Anges – through the exertions of a kinsman and of Pierre Lebrun.

In 1842 he received a prize from the Academy, and worked for some time on the official dictionary. Gounod's appreciation of his peasant song, Les Bœufs (1846), settled his vocation as a songwriter. He had no theoretical knowledge of music, but he composed both the words and the melodies of his songs, the two processes being generally simultaneous. He himself remained so innocent of musical knowledge that he had to engage Ernest Reyer to write down his airs.

He sang his own songs, as they were composed, at the workmen's concerts in the Salle de la Fraternité du Faubourg Saint-Denis; the public performance of his famous "Le chant du pain" was forbidden; "Le chant des ouvriers" (1846) was even more popular; and in 1851 he paid the penalty of having become the poet laureate of the socialistic aspirations of the time by being condemned to seven years of exile from France.

The sentence was cancelled, and the poet withdrew for a time from participation in politics. He died at Lyon, where his later years were spent, on 25 July 1870.

His songs have appeared in various forms:

  • Chants et chansons (3 vols., with music, 1852–1854)
  • Chants et poesies (7th edition, 1862)

Among the best-known are "Le Braconnier", "Le Tisserand", "La Vache blanche", "La Chanson du blé", but many others might be mentioned of equal spontaneity and charm. His later works have not the same merit.

Birth and Death Data: Born 1821 (Lyon), Died July 24, 1870 (Lyon)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1905 - 1929

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, lyricist

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor C-2353 12-in. 3/1/1905 Les boeufs Marcel Journet Bass vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-19111 10-in. 1/22/1917 Les boeufs Marcel Journet Bass vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WLX963 12-in. 4/3/1929 Les boeufs Louis Guénot Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL1124 10-in. 6/4/1928 La chanson de la soie M. Jacques Male vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL1625 10-in. 5/4/1929 Les sapins Armand Bernard ; Louis Guénot Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra composer, lyricist  
Columbia (U.K.) WL1951 10-in. 12/13/1929 La musette neuve Armand Bernard ; Louis Lynel Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble composer  
Columbia (U.K.) CL9001 10-in. 6/25/1951 Les bœufs Albert Lasry ; Charles Trenet Male vocal solo, with piano lyricist  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Dupont, Pierre," accessed November 25, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106510.

Dupont, Pierre. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 25, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106510.

"Dupont, Pierre." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 25 November 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/106510

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