René Chesnet

[Darrel Hoffman]

Does anyone know anything at all about this French composer?  I can't even find his birth/death years, but I know he was active in the 1890's.  Information about him is extremely sparse (and flooded by the fact that actress Renée Zellweger is married to country star Kenney Chesney.  Thank you Google, that's still not what I'm looking for.)

I'm in particular interested in his Op.13 piano concerto.  IMSLP has a reduction of it (and some other works):
https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Chesnet,_Ren%C3%A9
But it's only 1 movement, and I'm not sure if that's all there is or if the other movements were lost somehow?  The one that's there is an Andante, which I'd expect to be a middle movement, so the first and last would be missing if that's the case.  But the presumably contemporary title page does indeed say just "Andante du Concerto", though it also prominently misspells his name, so it's maybe a bit of an unreliable source.

If anyone has a source for the full parts, or the other movements (if they even exist), I'd greatly appreciate it.  Also just some basic biographical info, maybe even a portrait?  I'm coming up completely empty on this one.

[tpaloj]

Well, he seems to be an elusive case. Perhaps a pseudonym for someone else?

There is this one book which appears to list some audition pieces for the year 1894. Under René Chesnet, there is an "Allegro du Concerto", in reduction for two pianos. Perhaps this is either the first or the last movement of this same concerto that you've found on IMSLP?

https://books.google.fi/books?id=mZqQztb_c4gC&pg=PA15&dq=ren%C3%A9+chesnet+concerto#v=onepage&q=ren%C3%A9%20chesnet%20concerto&f=false

[Darrel Hoffman]

There's an un-numbered Allegro in Bb available on IMSLP as well, though this seems to be piano solo, but maybe an orchestrated version exists?  Or it could be entirely unrelated.  Might also be worth checking under "Chenest" as his name appears on the cover of the Andante - I'm sure it's a misspelling, but it might be one that propagated elsewhere...

[Simon]

Well, he seems to be an elusive case. Perhaps a pseudonym for someone else?

It seems to be a pseudonym, indeed, at least according to one Parisian newspaper from 1889. On February 27th, Le Soleil reports the wedding of Mlle Caroline Bourgois and M. le capitaine Ville, at Sainte-Clotilde Church.

The last paragraph includes details regarding the music performed during the ceremony (César Franck was at the organ on this occasion!). Then it goes on :
"La Rêverie, exécutée à l'Offertoire, et le morecau de sortie sont l'œuvre de la jeune mariée, connue dans les arts sous le nom de René Chesnet. [The Rêverie performed during the Offertory and the exit piece are the work of the young bride, known in the arts circles as René Chesnet.]"

Here is the link to the newspaper:

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k49344220/f2.item.r=%2522Ren%C3%A9%2520Chesnet%2522.zoom


According to some genealogy websites, she was born Caroline Louise Bourgois, on October 13th, 1866, and died c. 1893.

https://gw.geneanet.org/garric?lang=de&p=caroline+louise&n=bourgois

[eschiss1]

Modifying IMSLP's entry accordingly, thank you.

[Darrel Hoffman]

Oh, neat!  Stumbled on another female composer and I didn't even know it.  Any information on whether there's other movements to this piece?  Or full parts somewhere?  I've already done the reduced version (currently on my Patreon).  I'd like to make it public at some point, but if I can get it into a more complete state first, that'd be better.

[Darrel Hoffman]

Another question: How certain are we that she died around 1893?  It clearly could not have been earlier, as that is the same date this concerto was published and I have no reason to believe it was posthumous.  But is it possible this is simply the date at which she stopped composing?  It would not be unusual at all particularly for a woman composer at the time to stop writing shortly after marriage (often to concentrate on raising children).  But 1893 would put her at only 27 at the time of her death, which is a bit unusual.  It's also odd that we'd have the exact day for her birth, but only an uncertain year for death - more often it's the other way around, and by that time in history, this sort of thing should be rather more well-documented.  It seems likely to me that lacking precise info about the date of death, they simply chose the year of her last known publication?

[eschiss1]

A page about her husband Gabriel Jean Louis Ville gives "died before 1895".

[Darrel Hoffman]

Well that narrows it down I guess.  I wonder if she'd have been more well-known had she lived longer?

[Simon]

A page about her husband Gabriel Jean Louis Ville gives "died before 1895".

Her husband actually remarried in November 1895.

https://gw.geneanet.org/garric?lang=de&p=gabriel+jean+louis&n=ville

[eschiss1]

I didn't mean that her husband died before 1895. The page mentioned her, and listed her death date as before 1895. Indeed, if they were Catholic, given the difficulty of annulment, that might be the evidence.

[Simon]

Eric, that was my point . He almost couldn't have remarried unless she had passed away.

[Wheesht]

MyHeritage gives her death date as 13 December 1891, location Cannes, and names the Centre Généalogique du Pays Cannois as the source. I have not been able to find this, only the Cercle Généalogique du Pays Cannois – but that's probably just an error on MyHeritage.

[Darrel Hoffman]

Okay, so that would make the 1893 date of this concerto (or Andante du Concerto) a posthumous publication?  And also bring her age at time of death to only 25.  Very tragic.  I've only had a small taste of her work from this single concerto movement, but it definitely showed potential.  Everything else I've seen is for solo piano, or 2 pianos in the case of that Etude.  I could maybe give that one the same treatment as the Andante and at least get 2 "movements" out of it...

[eschiss1]

 Cercle Généalogique du Pays Cannois seems to have no information about René Chesnet, Caroline Ville, Caroline Bourgois, Caroline Bourgeois.