Composer. Born Pierre-Louis Deffes in Toulouse, France, he spent eight years at the Paris Conservatory and won its prestigious Prix de Rome in 1847. His Solemn Mass (1857), for orchestra and a chorus of 500, was hailed as a masterpiece by Berlioz, but because of the mammoth forces required it has rarely been performed since. "La Clef des champs" (1857) and "Jessica" (1898) were the most successful of his 20 operas. He was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and elected to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in 1885. Despite these official honors, Deffes' career was fraught with difficulties. He struggled for years to get his operas staged in Paris and for much of his life his compositions were better appreciated in Germany. Disgusted with the musical politics in the French capital, he returned to Toulouse in 1883 and served as director of its Conservatory until his death. The expressive restraint and delicate scoring of Deffes' style had some influence on Delibes, Massenet, and Faure. Today his fame rests largely on the vocal number "Toulouse" (1845), adopted by his hometown as its official song. Part of its lyrics are engraved on his tomb.
Composer. Born Pierre-Louis Deffes in Toulouse, France, he spent eight years at the Paris Conservatory and won its prestigious Prix de Rome in 1847. His Solemn Mass (1857), for orchestra and a chorus of 500, was hailed as a masterpiece by Berlioz, but because of the mammoth forces required it has rarely been performed since. "La Clef des champs" (1857) and "Jessica" (1898) were the most successful of his 20 operas. He was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and elected to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in 1885. Despite these official honors, Deffes' career was fraught with difficulties. He struggled for years to get his operas staged in Paris and for much of his life his compositions were better appreciated in Germany. Disgusted with the musical politics in the French capital, he returned to Toulouse in 1883 and served as director of its Conservatory until his death. The expressive restraint and delicate scoring of Deffes' style had some influence on Delibes, Massenet, and Faure. Today his fame rests largely on the vocal number "Toulouse" (1845), adopted by his hometown as its official song. Part of its lyrics are engraved on his tomb.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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See more Deffes memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
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