Louis Vuillemin

Louis Vuillemin (19 December 1879 – 2 April 1929) was a French composer and music critic who strongly identified with his Breton heritage in his music.

Vuillemin was born in Nantes, his grandfather was the piano manufacturer M. Didion. He studied cello and composition at the conservatory of Nantes and continued at the Conservatoire de Paris, 1899–1904, with Gabriel Fauré (composition) and Xavier Leroux (harmony).

He married young; his wife Lucy was a renowned singer at the time, and he collaborated with her in writing his vocal music. In 1912, he was one of the founding members of the Paris-based Association de Compositeurs Bretons. Drafted to World War I, he was severely wounded in a gas attack which is said to have cut short his life.

As a music critic, Vuillemin wrote numerous reviews for Comœdia, Musica, Le Courrier musical, Paris-Soir, La Lanterne, etc. He also wrote biographies of Gabriel Fauré (1914), Louis Aubert (1921), and Albert Roussel (1924).

Vuillemin wrote in many genres including two operas, orchestral and chamber music, vocal and piano music. He attracted some attention for the Breton-influenced Soir armoricains for piano, one of many examples in which he attempted to capture the spirit of his native region. En Kernéo is another example which exists in a number of instrumentations. In these, he often used elements of Breton traditional music. An admirer of Debussy and Ravel, he set such melodies to an Impressionistic harmonic language.

For voice and piano, if not otherwise mentioned.