Henri Quittard

Henri Quittard (16 May 1864 – 21 July 1919) was a French composer, musicologist and music critic. Biography A musician, composer, musicologist and music critic, Quittard was both the cousin of Emmanuel Chabrier (Quittard being the grandson of Aunt Zélie dear to Chabrier) and Roger Désormière who he chaperoned when, at the age of 15, the future conductor left Vichy to enter the Conservatoire de Paris (the maternal grandmother of Désormiere was a Quittard). He obtained his baccalauréat in the early 1880s in Clermont-Ferrand where he began studying literature at the faculty, obtaining a bachelor’s degree. At the instigation of Chabrier, he went to Paris, where he lived by giving lessons and trying to become a composer, following classes with César Franck. He also studied at the Oriental Languages (then École des langues orientales vivantes) where he met Louis Laloy. On 21 May 1891, the unique theatre play by Paul Verlaine, Les Uns et les Autres, in one act and in verse, was premiered at the Théâtre des Variétés, performed by the troupe du Théâtre d’Art. The music was by Quittard, like that of Cherubin by Charles Morice, in the same program. This “symbolist” evening had to be for the b