Fernande Decruck
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (March 2015) |
Fernande Decruck | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 December 1896 Galliac, France |
| Died | 6 August 1954 |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, Performer |
Fernande Decruck (née Breilh) (25 December 1896 – 6 August 1954) was a French composer who composed over 40 works for the saxophone. Most well-known is her Sonata for alto saxophone, dedicated to Marcel Mule.
She was born in the village of Gaillac in France to a local merchant. She began learning piano aged eight and studied at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. She was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1918 studying organ and composition. There she won prizes in harmony, fugue, counterpoint, and piano accompaniment.[1]
Her studies in improvisation on organ led her to travel to America where she entered a competition in New York. It was in America that she met her future husband, Maurice Decruck, a clarinetist, saxophonist and double-bassist. Maurice Decruck later became a music publisher. They married in 1924 and had two children, Jeannine Decruck (born February 1925) and Michel Decruck (born March 1926). She moved to the United States with her family in 1928.[1]
In 1932, Maurice Decruck returned to Paris and began a publishing company ‘’Les Editions de Paris’’ that would go on to publish Fernande Decruck’s compositions. Fernande Decruck later rejoined her husband in Paris in 1933. There she had her third child Alain (born 1937) and began teaching harmony at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. Between 1937 and 1942 Fernande lived in Toulouse with her children apart from her husband in Paris. During this period she continued to teach, compose and perform. In 1942 she moved back to Paris and many of her works were premiered between 1943 and 1947 including her Sonate en ut#.
Fernande and Maurice Decruck divorced in 1950 after several years of separation. She died of a stroke on 6 August 1954.[1]
Works
- Sonate en ut# pour saxophone alto (ou alto) et orchestre (1943)
- Pieces Francaises pour saxophone alto et piano (1943)
Sonate en ut# pour saxophone alto (ou alto) et orchestre (1943)
Full title as published by Costallat: "Sonate en ut dièze : pour saxophone alto mi-b ou alto à corde avec accompagnement de piano ou orchestre" (OCLC 7343662)[2]
This Sonata is in four movements:
I. ‘Tres modéré, expressif’
II. Noël
III. Fileuse
IV. Nocturne et Rondel
References
- ^ a b c "Rediscovering Fernande Decruck's Sonate en ut# pour saxophone alto (ou alto) et orchestre: A Performance Analysis". UNT Digital Library. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
- ^ Approximate date 1900 given there is typical and simply means published "19xx", date unknown, not "circa 1900" when the composer was a pre-pre-teen, at Mozart's age when he wrote his first (lost) keyboard concerto.
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