[1] After military service and graduating from law school, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied counterpoint with Théodore Dubois and went to the classes of Jules Massenet.

In 1896, Magnard married Julie Creton, became a counterpoint tutor at the Schola Cantorum (recently founded by d'Indy) and wrote his Symphony No.

In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Magnard sent his wife and two daughters to a safe hiding place while he stayed behind to guard the estate of "Manoir de Fontaines" at Baron, Oise.

[citation needed] His use of fugue and incorporation of chorale, together with the grandeur of expression in his mature orchestral works, have caused him to be called a "French Bruckner"[by whom?].

17) are on Timpani 1C1171 (2010, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Mark Stringer) and on Naxos 8.574084 (2020, Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, Fabrice Bollon).

It features Hildegard Behrens, Nadine Denize, José van Dam, and Gary Lakes, with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse conducted by Michel Plasson.