Henri tomasi biography

Biography.
Henri Frédien Tomasi was a French classical composer and conductor.
1901 – August 17.

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Henri Tomasi, classical music composer

Henri Tomasi

Biography

The son of working-class parents originally from Corsica, Henri Tomasi was born on August 17, 1901in Marseille, France. He began his music lessons at the age of five, and two years later he entered the Conservatoire de Musique de Marseille. At the bidding of his father, Tomasi played for upper-class families, though he detested doing so and felt humiliated as he performed "like a trained animal." Yet, Tomasi's first love was not music. He had hopes of becoming a sailor and frequently skipped his music classes. Music, however, would ultimately become Tomasi's career.

The outbreak of World War I delayed Tomasi's plans to enter the prestigious Paris Conservatoire, and during the war he remained in Marseille performing as a means of earning a living. He began improvising and in doing so his talent as a composer began to emerge. In 1921, he finally began his studies at the Conservatoire, and continued to perform for money in his spare time. He was a "workaholic," as his friend Maurice Franck described him, and excelled i

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Henri Tomasi

French composer and conductor (1901–1971)

Henri Frédien Tomasi (pronounced[ɑ̃ʁifʁedjɛ̃tomazi]; 17 August 1901 – 13 January 1971) was a Frenchclassicalcomposer and conductor. He was noted for compositions such as In Praise of Folly, Nuclear Era and The Silence of the Sea.

Early years

Henri Tomasi was born in a working-class neighborhood of Marseille, France, on 17 August 1901. His father Xavier Tomasi and mother Josephine Vincensi were originally from La Casinca, Corsica. When he was five, the family moved to Mazargues, France where Xavier Tomasi worked as a postal worker. There, he enrolled his son in music theory and piano lessons. At the age of seven, Tomasi entered the Conservatoire de Musique de Marseille. Pressured by his father, he played for upper-class families, where he felt "humiliated to be on show like a trained animal."

In 1913, the family moved back to Marseille. Tomasi had dreams of becoming a sailor and skipped many of his music classes. During the summer, he stayed with his grandmother in Corsica and learned traditio

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Last updated: October 7, 2020

Henri Tomasi (1901-1971)

Henri Tomasi was born in Marseilles on 17 August 1901 of Corsican parents. His Mediterranean roots were the distinctive trait of both the man and the work.

In 1927 he won a Premier Second Grand Prix de Rome and a unanimous First Prize for conducting. He at once started a career as a conductor with the Concerts du Journal and also for one of France’s first radio stations, Radio-Colonial (1931). He became a member in 1932 of the contemporary music group TRITON, the Honorary Committee of which included Ravel, Roussel, Schmitt, Stravinsky, Bartok, Enesco, de Falla, Schönberg, and Richard Strauss. He abandoned his conducting career in about 1956 on account of the deafness that darkened the whole of his latter years and in order to be able to devote himself totally to composition. On 13 January 1971, while completing an a cappella arrangement of his Chants populaires de l’Ile de Corse, he died in Paris, a city that had always been a place of exile for him.

His output – about 120 opus