Basic Facts
Born: December 16, 1847, Paris, France
Died: January 1903, Paris, France
Type of Composer: Composer
About Augusta Holmès
Augusta Holmès was born in 1847 in Paris. She was born to Irish parents but spent most of her life in France, near Versailles. She began studying music at age 11, after her mother's death, and she spent the next decade taking private lessons, studying music theory, harmony, and counterpoint, and performing in salons and recitals. She gave her first public performance at age 20. From 1870-1871, she served as a nurse during the Franco-Prussian War before receiving her French citizenship; despite her Parisian birth, she had been considered a foreign national until that pont. She inherited her father's fortune after his death, so she was able to publish her music under her own name. She reached wider notoriety in Paris around the same time and quickly became popular.
Beginning in 1875, Holmès took lessons with Cesar Franck, during which time she began writing more symphonic literature; she was especially fond of Wagner's style. Shortly after, she began to introduce more nationalistic themes into her music. In 1880, her symphonic poem, Les Argonautes, won an honorable mention at a Paris competition, and in 1889, she was commissioned to write a piece for Paris' World's Fair, which resulted in Ode triomphale for 300 musicians and 900 singers. In 1895, her final opera, La Montagne Noire, was produced at the Paris Opera; she wrote the music and libretto. In total, she wrote twelve symphonic poems, four operas, and over 100 songs, and she wrote the lyrics to most of her songs. She continued to compose until her death in 1903.
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Irlande
La nuit et l'amour
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