The French composer Charles Gounod is remembered chiefly for his operas, particularly Faust (1859). He lived in London for several years, staying initially at 17 Morden Road in Blackheath.

FAMOUS WORKS

Born in Paris, Gounod studied first with his mother, a distinguished pianist, and then at the Paris Conservatoire before continuing his studies in Rome. The first public performance of one of his compositions was in 1851, when extracts of his Messe solonelle were heard in London. However, he did not achieve success until 1859 when the opera Faust was performed in Paris.

Later operatic works included Philemon et Beucis (1860) and Roméo et Juliette (1867) but he later turned to oratorios, composing works such as La Rédemption (1882) and Mors et vita (1885). In his final years, he also wrote more liturgical music, including Stabat Mater and the well-known Ave Maria.

GOUNOD IN LONDON

Soon after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Gounod and his family fled to England, arriving in Liverpool in September 1870. His wife and mother returned to France in 1871 but the composer stayed on, living in London for much of the period 1870–74. During this time he conducted concerts at several leading theatres and was appointed the first conductor of the choir now known as the Royal Choral Society. Queen Victoria was among those in the Royal Albert Hall to witness the choir’s first performance in 1872.

Gounod spent most of his time in London at Tavistock House in Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, living with the singer Georgina Weldon. However, Tavistock House was demolished in 1901, and instead Gounod’s blue plaque commemorates his stay at Shirley Lodge, 15 (formerly 8) Morden Road, east of Blackheath village. The house has since been divided, and the part that bears the plaque is now numbered 17. A large villa, it was built in 1854 for the publisher and bookseller Pelham Richardson, and subsequently leased to the composer by his widow, Mary Jane.  Gounod stayed here shortly after his arrival in England, from early October until mid-November 1870.

Gounod’s relationship with Weldon at Tavistock Square was much gossiped about, and became known as the ‘Weldon affair’. When Gounod returned to his wife in Paris in 1874, Weldon refused to send on his belongings. She eventually relented, but not before she had written her name in crayon on every page of one of his manuscript scores. She then went on to sue him, unsuccessfully, for £10,000. Gounod died in St Cloud, Paris, in 1893.