Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin: A Pioneer of French Music

Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin was a French composer. He left behind as many as 226 works with opus numbers alone, and along with Darius Milhaud, he spearheaded French music in the early 20th century as a pioneer of polytonality. Koechlin's handling of harmony and orchestration, similar yet distinct from his contemporaries Debussy and Ravel, led Milhaud, 25 years his junior, to remark, “It's like the music of a magician belonging to a generation after ours.” Indeed, his influence extended beyond Milhaud's generation, reaching Messiaen and even Dutilleux. His notable pupils include Poulenc and Taillefer from Les Six, members of the Arcueil School such as Henri Sauguet, and Cole Porter. He was also highly trusted by his peers as an orchestrator, and the works he arranged span a wide range, including Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande, Debussy's Khamma, and Porter's Within the Quota. Furthermore, he left countless writings, including biographies of Fauré and Debussy, seemingly covering every musical notation of his time. All of these reflect his keen sensibility and insight as a composer, and his Traité de l'orchestration (1954-9) in particular remains renowned as a masterpiece.

Early Life and Education

Koechlin was born in Paris on November 27, 1867, as a descendant of the Koechlin family with roots in Alsace. In 1887, he entered the prestigious École Polytechnique but took a leave of absence due to a lung illness. His dream of becoming an astronomer was cut short by declining grades, and during his convalescence, Koechlin began to study harmony on his own. After dropping out, he decided to pursue a career in music, overcoming his relatives' opposition. In 1890, he studied counterpoint with Charles Lefebvre and entered the Paris Conservatoire. However, Théodore Dubois refused him entry to his harmony class because he was already 23 years old, so Koechlin began attending Antoine Taudou's class as an auditor. Fortunately, he was later accepted as a regular student, and following a similar procedure, he became a student in Massenet's composition class. His studies of counterpoint and fugue under Gedalge, and of Greek modes and medieval music in Bourgault-Ducoudray's music history lectures, significantly influenced his compositional style. After Massenet's retirement in 1896, he studied with Fauré and became his assistant.

Early Career and Musical Development

During this apprenticeship at the Conservatoire, Koechlin began his career as a composer of songs and choral works. The formal characteristic of avoiding clear thematic recapitulation was already evident in his songs. However, for instrumental works, such as the Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 6 (1896), the only piano work from this period to be assigned an opus number, it appears he had not yet found a way to incorporate his formal aesthetics. The Suite for Piano Duet, Op. 19 (1898-1901), composed after leaving the Conservatoire, shows some progress, but Koechlin's musical originality began to emerge clearly after 1907. Around this time, multi-layered textures combining different chords began to form, creating a unique sound. This, however, imposed a completely different kind of difficulty on pianists compared to the traditional pianism of Chopin or Liszt. The Nocturne for Chromatic Harp or Piano, Op. 33 (1907), is replete with various nascent polytonal elements that would blossom in the 1910s.

Founding the Société Musicale Indépendante and Chamber Music

Koechlin gradually fell out of favor with the Société Nationale de Musique. In 1909, he co-founded the Société Musicale Indépendante with Ravel, Florent Schmitt, and others. Feeling his compositional technique sufficiently mature, Koechlin dedicated himself from 1911 to what he called “the dangerous realm of chamber music,” namely, serious multi-movement sonata-form works. Many of his representative chamber works were written during this period, including nine sonatas for piano and solo instrument and three string quartets. The aforementioned complexity of his piano writing is particularly evident in works completed before 1917. The Piano Quintet, Op. 80 (1908-21), the culmination of these chamber works, had to wait until 1934 for its premiere, which required considerable revisions to the piano part.

Significant Piano Works

Many of his works for piano were also created during this period. The Ballade, Op. 50 (1911-15), is a large-scale work in seven movements, existing in both piano solo and orchestral accompaniment versions (1919). The Esquisses, Op. 41 (1905-15), is a collection compiled over a long compositional period, including fragments from the Ballade. The most important works are considered to be Paysages et Marines (Landscapes and Seascapes), Op. 63 (1915-6), and Les Heures persanes (The Persian Hours), Op. 65 (1913-9). These collections employ pioneering harmony through polytonality, and the latter, being larger and more developed, also features many atonal sounds. Works titled Sonatine, Pièce, or Pastorale show a different direction. Numerous works were created, ranging from Cinq Sonatines, Op. 59 (1915-6), to Quatre Nouvelles Sonatines, Op. 87 (1923-4). All of these are simple and approachable, and some possess an educational character.

Later Works and Legacy

Even after this prolific period, until his death in Canadel on December 31, 1950, Koechlin often returned to the piano. He left notable works such as La Vieille Maison de campagne (The Old Country House), Op. 124 (1923-33), which recalls memories of his youth spent on his grandfather's land, and L'Album de Lilian, Op. 139, 149 (1934-5), reflecting on the actress Lilian Harvey. Furthermore, for the “Fauré Special Issue” of La Revue Musicale, a project where Fauré's pupils contributed pieces, he composed Choral sur le nom de Fauré, Op. 73bis (1922). In his late orchestral work Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach, Op. 187 (1942, 6), he also placed “Feuillet d'album” for piano solo as the central seventh movement of the work.