ABSTRACT
Although Augusta Holmès (1847–1903) was born five years after the death of Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842), their careers were parallel in several respects. The two enjoyed considerable renown in their lifetimes and were esteemed by their peers: Beethoven called Cherubini the greatest living composer, and Holmès was championed by Saint-Saëns as France’s muse. Both had international credentials and were French by choice. A native of Florence, Cherubini moved to Paris in the 1780s, took French citizenship, and led the Paris Conservatoire from 1822 until his death. Holmès, born in Paris of Irish parentage, became naturalized French and added the accent to her name as a young adult. In their choral music, they responded to the political exigencies of the day: the Revolution and the Restoration for Cherubini, nationalist movements and a renewed interest in the Revolutionary era for Holmès. Their reputations suffered posthumously, but for different reasons. Cherubini did not fit neatly into a national school or a historiographic periodization. Much of Holmès’s music, despite its vitality and beauty, was too closely bound to the cultural milieu of the Third Republic to have lasting appeal. Yet both composers left a profound impression on their contemporaries, and their choral works shed revealing light on musical life in nineteenth-century France.
