Duparc, Henri

Duparc, Henri (äNrē` düpärk`), 1848–1933, French composer. Duparc studied piano with César Franck and became one of his first composition pupils. A nervous disorder caused him to cease composing in 1885. He spent the rest of his life in Switzerland. Extremely self-critical, Duparc destroyed many of his works, so that only a handful remain. His fame rests entirely on the 14 beautiful songs he wrote between 1868 and 1884.

Bibliography

See S. Northcote, The Songs of Henri Duparc (1949).

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Duparc, (Marie-Eugène-) Henri

(born Jan. 21, 1848, Paris, France—died Feb. 12, 1933, Mont-de-Marsan) French song composer. He studied music with César Franck while also studying law. His composing career lasted about 16 years; he stopped composing at age 36 for psychological reasons. Highly self-critical, he destroyed an incomplete opera and other works and acknowledged only 13 completed songs, including “L'Invitation au voyage,” “Phidylé,” “Testament,” and “Extase,” as his lifetime oeuvre. Almost all the songs, universally admired, were originally for voice and piano; he later orchestrated eight of them.