Clémence de Grandval, daughter of Louise Adèle du Temple de Mézière and Léonard de Reiset, was born in 1828 at the Château de la Cour du Bois, in Saint-Rémy-des-Monts (Sarthe). Friedrich von Flotow was her first teacher of composition. She is said to have composed and conducted symphonic works at age ten. She studied piano under Chopin. Her 1851 wedding to Amable Enlart de Grandval did not slow her down. They had two daughters, of which only Thérèse (born 1852) survived. Clémence de Grandval then studied composition under Camille Saint-Saëns. She was also a singer, performing her mélodies – of which over sixty remain to us – in concert. She composed many works of chamber music with piano, reflecting her activity as a chamber music pianist beginning in 1850. She was a prolific composer of symphonic works, with La Forêt (1874) for soloists, choir, and orchestra, and her Concerto for oboe and orchestra (1878) – frequently performed by famed oboist Georges Gillet – being of particular note. She found success with religious music as well: her Messe (1867), Stabat (1870), and her oratorios Sainte Agnès (1876) and La Fille de Jaïre (1880) were performed in major churches in Paris and across France. She also expressed herself through operatic works: Le Sou de Lise (1860, Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens), Les Fiancés de Rosa (1863, Théâtre-Lyrique), La Comtesse Eva (1864, Baden-Baden), La Pénitente (1868, Opéra-Comique), Piccolino (1869, Théâtre-Italien), and Mazeppa (1892, Grand-Théâtre de Bordeaux). She was awarded the Rossini prize in 1880 for her oratorio La Fille de Jaïre and the Chartier prize in 1890 for her chamber music. Unfortunately, her partitions for orchestra have nearly all disappeared, making revivals of her symphonic and operatic works impossible.
Note that several publishers and dictionaries name her Marie de Grandval, which is incorrect: her first name was indeed Clémence.

– Florence Launay –

[Traduction en anglais : Raphaël Meyer]