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| In memoriam
Vincent d’Indy 1851–1931
VINCENT D’INDY, early in December, at the age of
eighty-one. His full name was Paul Marie Theodore Vincent d’Indy.
Born at Paris on March 27, 1851, he was brought up in musical surroundings,
and at an early age began to study for a musical career. A string
quartet written before 1870 came to the notice of César Franck,
from whom it drew praise and encouragement. After serving in the
Franco-Prussian war, d’Indy entered Franck’s organ class
at the Conservatoire; thenceforward his whole life was subject to
the influence of Franck as teacher, master-spirit, friend, and hero.
With this devotion as a main principle he worked out an individual
career of great distinction. Leaving the Conservatoire in 1875,
he joined the orchestra at the Châtelet as a drummer in order
to gain an orchestral technique at first hand, and soon afterwards
he was in the position of chorus-master. In 1887 he brought assistance
and inspiration to Lamoureux in the project of giving the first
performance in France of ‘Lohengrin,’ an enterprise that
led to patriotic demonstrations outside the theatre. The principal
task of his career, apart from musical composition, began in 1896,
when, in conjunction with Bordes and Guilmant, he founded the Schola
Cantorum and became its first director. This institution stood apart
from the main currents of French music. The tendency of its teaching
was to exalt the practice of the larger and more serious forms of
composition that stood for the Teutonic ideal of the period. For
this reason d’Indy was looked upon as undutiful to his country’s
music, and a harmful influence in directing the talents of young
composers into an alien channel. While paying this price for the
universality of its teaching, which ranged from Plainsong to Moussorgsky
and Debussy, the Schola Cantorum steadily gained in reputation,
and helped more than any other department of d’Indy’s
activities to make him the commanding figure that he was for over
a generation. As a composer d’Indy suffered from a lack of
inspiration, though he had everything else that goes to the making
of a great artist, including an abounding technique in all forms,
and the ability to go to great lengths in elaboration and breadth
of design. At one time he was influenced by Wagner, at all times
he was influenced by Franck; he was both romantic and classic, and
his creative imagination was never free from a conflict between
the concrete and the abstract as a guiding factor. Subject to these
distracting tendencies, he lacked the power to rise above them by
original genius. His principal work in the theatre was the opera
‘Fervaal’ (1897), in the concert-room the symphonic trilogy
‘Wallenstein’ (1873-81) and the symphony ‘Jour d’été
dans la montagne.’ He wrote copiously in the smaller forms,
a notable example being his one Pianoforte Sonata (1907). His biographical
and critical book on Franck was translated into English by Mrs.
Newmarch, and published by John Lane. He also wrote a study of Beethoven
and a text-book on composition. A critical article on d’Indy’s
music by Mr. Calvocoressi was printed in the Musical Times
for November, 1912.
Musical Times, January 1932
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