Jean Cras: Difference between revisions

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===Life and naval career===

[[Image:Navigational rules types.JPG|thumb|right|The "Cras Navigation Plotter", foreground, designed by Jean Cras.]]

Cras was born and died in [[Brest, France|Brest]]. His father was naval medical officer. He was accepted into the navy at the age of seventeen. As a midshipman cadet on the [[French cruiser Iphigénie (1881)|''Iphigénie'']], he travelled in the Americas, the West Indies and Senegal. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1908. His mathematical skills led to his proposing a number of innovations in technical practices which were adopted by the navy, including his invention of an electrical selector and a {{anchor|Cras plotter}}navigational plotter [[protractor]] known as {{lang|fr|{{ill|Cras plotter{{!}}Règle Cras|fr|Règle Cras}}}} (aka Cras ruler, Cras protractor, Cras plotter).<ref name="fleur">Michel Fleury, "Jean Cras, an exceptional destiny", ''Polyphème'', Timpani, 2003, pp. 15–17</ref> (However, it was difficult to operate by some, which inspired the later development of the [[Breton plotter]] by [[Yvonnick Gueret]].)

 

===Musical career===

[[Image:Jean Cras 2.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Jean Cras, ca. 1899]]

 

 

Cras's later work developed a more acerbic style comparable to that of [[Béla Bartók]], though formally close to [[César Franck]]. He considered chamber music to be his forte, writing that "this refined musical form has become for me the most essential".<ref>Jean Cras, Trio a Cordes Miliere, 1988</ref> The String Trio in particular integrates a wide range of styles, including North African influences. It was described as a 'miraculous' work by André Himonet in 1932, achieving "perfectly balanced sonority and a plenitude of expression between which one dare not choose."<ref>Himonet, André. "Jean Cras, musicien de la mer". ''Revue de la Société Internationale des Amis de la Musique française'', December 1932</ref> The Trio for Strings and Piano also blends African and Eastern melodic patterns with Breton musical traditions into a coherent whole. The critic Michel Fleury compares his work to the [[Japonism|Japonist]] style of the artist [[Henri Rivière (painter)|Henri Rivière]] revealing "a stylised Breton land, as though it had been passed through the sieve of his varied experiences gained in the four quarters of the globe."<ref>Michel Fleury. "A Master of Exoticism", ''Jean Cras: quatour, quintette'', timpani, 2004</ref>

===Opera===

 

Published excerpts:

 

===Vocal compositions===

* (1892–1896, numerous songs in manuscript, ''"Album de jeunesse"'')

::4. ''Le Son du cor'', poem by Paul Verlaine (''Sagesse X''), (1900)

::5. ''Rêverie'', poem by [[Alfred Droin]], (1903, 1st ed.; 1909, éd. mutuelle de la Schola Cantorum)

::6. ''Nocturne'', poem by Alfred Droin, (1903, 1st ed.; 1909, éd. mutuelle de la Schola Cantorum)

::7. ''Correspondances'', poem by [[Charles Baudelaire]] (1901)

::1. ''Kyrie'' (1907)

::2. ''Gloria'' (1907)

::3. ''Sanctus'' (1908)

::4. ''Benedictus'' (1908)

 

===Chamber music===

 

::1. ''Air varié'' (1926, Ed. Salabert)

::2. ''Habanera'' (1927, Ed. Salabert)

::3. ''Evocation'' (1928, Ed.Salabert)

::4. ''Epilogue'' (1929, Ed. Salabert)

[[File:Jean Cras - Suite en duo début.flac]]

 

===Piano works===

 

::1. ''En Islande'' (1902, Ed. Eschig)

::2. ''Preludio con fughetta'' (1902, Ed. Eschig)

::4. ''Recueillement'' (1904, Ed. Eschig)

::5. ''La maison du matin'' (1911, Ed. Eschig)

 

===Organ===

 

 

===Orchestral works===

 

 

==References==

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. Jean Cras, Polymath of Music and Letters. Farnham (UK): Ashgate, 2009; 610 pp.

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Jean Cras", ''Revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. London: MacMillan.

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "The Breton Compositions of Jean Cras", in Proceedings of the 23rd Harvard Celtic Colloquium (2003).

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "The Choral Works of Jean Cras", The Choral Journal, February 2001, Vol. 41, No. 7, pp.&nbsp;9–16.

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Love's Labours Found: Jean Cras' Pieces for Violin and Piano Rediscovered (with apologies to The Bard)", American String Teacher, November 1999, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp.&nbsp;64–74.

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Jean Cras and Albert Samain: Parallels and Paradoxes in the Genesis of Polyphème", The Opera Journal, March 1998, Vol. XXXI/1, pp.&nbsp;3–17.

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. Jean Cras, in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG), 2001.

* Bempéchat, Paul-André. "Naval Hero—Novel Voice: The Piano Works of Jean Cras", Piano & Keyboard 206, September–October 2000, pp.&nbsp;47–55.

* Cras, M. & Surchamp, Dom Angelico. "Regard sur Jean Cras". ''Zodiaque'', Numéro 123, January 1980.

* [[René Dumesnil|Dumesnil, René]]. ''Portraits de musiciens français''. Paris: 1938. Chapter on Jean Cras.

[[Category:1879 births]]

[[Category:1932 deaths]]

[[Category:French opera composers]]

[[Category:19th-century classical composers]]

[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]

[[Category:French Navy admirals]]

[[Category:French military personnel of World War I]]

[[Category:20th-century French male musicians]]

[[Category:19th-century French male musicians]]