René Challan

The following year, he won the First Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata, Le Château endormi and joined the Villa Medici.

In 1937, he married the eldest daughter of the prefect Armand Ziwès [fr] before returning to Paris at the end of the summer of 1939.

He also managed the rights and recordings of the great international composers in Pathé-Marconi's catalogue.

In addition to his numerous compositions of cantata, mélodies, symphonies, concertos and opéra bouffe, Challan made great recordings such as noëls variés by different authors with the Concerts Colonne which he conducted and the baritone Michel Dens, Chants patriotiques et cocardiers (1958) as director of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire and another disc with the Concerts Colonne and the Duclos Choirs[1] on the theme Envoi de fleurs, containing pieces by Gustave Goublier, Paul Delmet and Pierre Codini.

[2] In the early seventies, he recorded the complete works of Heitor Villa-Lobos with the Orchestre National de France.