Lenepveu, Charles (Ferdinand)

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Lenepveu, Charles (Ferdinand)

Lenepveu, Charles (Ferdinand), French composer and pedagogue; b. Rouen, Oct. 4, 1840; d. Paris, Aug. 16, 1910. While a law student, he took music lessons from Servais, winning first prize at Caen in 1861 for a cantata. He entered Ambroise Thomas’s class at the Paris Cons, in 1863, and in 1865 took the Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata Renaud dans les jardins d’Armide (Paris, Jan. 3, 1866). His comic opera Le Florentin also won a prize, offered by the Ministry of Fine Arts (1867), and was performed at the Opéra-Comique (Feb. 26, 1874). The grand opera Velléda was produced at Covent Garden in London (July 4, 1882), with Adelina Patti in the title role. In 1891 Lenepveu succeeded Guiraud as prof, of harmony at the Cons., and in 1893 again succeeded him as prof, of composition, taking an advanced class in 1894. In 1896 he was elected to Ambroise Thomas’s chair in the Académie des Beaux-Arts. He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and an Officer of Public Instruction.

Bibliography

R. de Saint-Arroman, C. L (Paris, 1898).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire