 alexis emmanuel chabrier (; january 18, 1841september 13, 1894) was a french romantic composer and pianist. although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, espaÃ±a and joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas (including l'Ã©toile), songs, and piano music. he was admired by composers as diverse as debussy, ravel, richard strauss, satie, schmitt, stravinsky, and the group of composers known as les six. stravinsky alluded to espaÃ±a in his ballet petrushka; gustav mahler called espaÃ±a "the beginnings of modern music"quoted in delage r. emmanuel chabrier. fayard, paris, 1999, p290 and alluded to the "dance villageoise" in the rondo burleske movement of his ninth symphony.kenneth woods, "expert's perspective- mahler 9, a bitter burlesque," url=http://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2010/05/21/experts-perspective-mahler-9-a-bitter-burlesque/ ravel wrote that the opening bars of le roi malgrÃ© lui changed the course of harmony in france, poulenc wrote a biography of the composer, and richard strauss conducted the first staged performance of chabrier's incomplete opera brisÃ©Ã¯s. chabrier was also associated with some of the leading writers and painters of his time. he was especially friendly with the painters claude monet and Ãdouard manet, and collected impressionist paintings before impressionism became fashionable. a number of such paintings from his personal collection are now housed in some of the world's leading art museums. ==biography== ===early life in auvergne=== alexis-emmanuel chabrier was born in ambert (puy-de-dÃ´me), a town in the auvergne region of central france. his father was an attorney; his childhood nanny anne delayre (whom chabrier called "nanine") remained close to him throughout her life. he began his music lessons at the age of six; the earliest of his compositions to survive in manuscript are piano works from 1849. his family moved to clermont-ferrand in 1852 where he prepared for a legal career, studied at the lycÃ©e imperial and had practical and theoretical music lessons with alexander tarnowski, a polish-born composer and violinist. a piano piece from th
1841_births 1894_deaths 19th-century_French_people 19th-century_classical_composers Burials_at_Montparnasse_Cemetery Chevaliers_of_the_LA(c)gion_d\'honneur French_classical_composers LycA(c)e_Saint-Louis_alumni Opera_composers Romantic_composers