Charles Gounod

Charles François Gounod (June 17, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was a French composer, best known for his opera Faust. Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and a draftsman father. His mother was his first piano teacher, under her tutelage Gounod first showed his musical talents. He entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied under Fromental Halévy. He won the Prix de Rome in 1839 for his cantata Ferdinand. He subsequently went to Italy where he studied the music of Palestrina. Caricature from Punch, 1882Gounod wrote his first opera, Sapho in 1851, but had no great success until Faust (1859), based on the play by Goethe. This remains his best known work, although the opera Roméo et Juliette (based on the Shakespeare play), premiered in 1867, is also performed and recorded regularly. From 1870-1875 Gounod lived in England, becoming the first conductor of what is now the Royal Choral Society. Much of Gounod's music from this time is vocal or choral in nature. Later in his life, Gounod wrote mainly religious music, including a musical setting of Ave Maria, which was based on the first prelude from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach. Gounod died in 1893 in Saint-Cloud in France. Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette was used as the theme music for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.