© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Vincent D’Indy and the Development of the French Symphony
Vincent d’Indy played a central role in the development of the symphony in fin de siècle France. He lobbied the Conservatoire to add it to its curriculum and, after founding the composition programme at the Schola Cantorum, he became the first in the nation to lecture systematically on the symphony; he gave students a historical overview of the genre as well as practical lessons on how to write such works. He conducted contemporary symphonies on numerous tours both in France and abroad. Two of his own symphonies influenced future directions—the first being based on a folksong, the other by using the medium of the symphony to proclaim a philosophical message. Three notable symphonists of the next generations—Albéric Magnard, Albert Roussel, and Arthur Honegger—studied with d’Indy; each adopted a distinctive approach to the symphony, but all three bear various traces of d’Indy’s legacy as a teacher and as a composer of symphonies.