Ernest Fanelli

He gained renown when his symphonic poem Thèbes premiered in Paris; this was a work incorporating elements associated with music ahead of its time, such as unique harmonies, extended chords, and polytonality.

Upon applying to work as a copyist for Gabriel Pierné in 1912, his music—a manuscript of Thèbes, composed in 1883—astonished the latter, and a performance led to wide publicity and critical assessment of Fanelli's music and of the roots of the Impressionist style, especially that of Claude Debussy.

[1] Ernest Fanelli was born on 29 June 1860 in Paris to a family which emigrated from Bologna, Italy; his father was a bank clerk.

[2] After refusing to attend the classes of a teacher he disliked, Fanelli was expelled from the conservatoire, following which he earned his income by playing timpani for small orchestras.

[1][note 1] A balance between working and studying proved arduous, and Fanelli progressed slowly;[2] he later quit due to financial issues.

[1] It was the manuscript of Fanelli's symphonic poem Thèbes,[2] the first part of Tableaux Symphoniques, which he said was composed 29 years prior.

[3] There were performances of Impressions pastorales on 23 February 1913 and Fête dans le palais du Pharaon (the second set of Tableaux Symphoniques) on 30 May, conducted by Pierné respectively.

[7] The music critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi argues that this discouraged performances of his works, but that it highlights Fanelli's capability of "abundant invention" without redundancy.

[7] The musicologist William Rosar notes that wind band timbres appealed to Fanelli, who in some orchestral compositions used sarrusophones and saxhorns.

[1] Calvocoressi characterized the work's content as being in "flagrant contradiction" to Impressionism but that it "reveals in M. Fanelli a touch of romantic spirit".

[1] In a review of the 1912 performance, Maurice Ravel criticized Thèbes, perceiving it as having overloaded textures and effects that lasted too long.

[10] Ravel was impressed with "the most picturesque orchestration" that Fanelli created but decried the Colonne Orchestra's performance, feeling that they did not do it justice.

[12] The musicologist Jean d'Udine did not consider Tableaux Symphoniques a masterwork, but praised it as being highly modern, harmonically and formally, emphasizing Fanelli's genius with regards to him composing the piece at such a young age.