Emile Goué (1904-1946) was a young PhD (professeur agrégé) teaching an engineering Special Mathematics class at the Lycée Montaigne of Bordeaux in 1930; but he had not abandoned music, which was his first passion. After a brief stint in Toulouse at the conservatory of music, on the advice of Canteloube and Crocé-Spinelli, he began his study of theory. From his Bordeaux period, we note especially two pianistic triptychs: Pénombres (1931) and Ambiances (1935), also a Poème symphonique (1933) and the dramatic Wanda (1934) . Step by step he developed an original musical corpus. The Trio in F minor op. 6 (1933) is also characteristic of his first style. His work draws its inspiration from César Franck, from whom Goué later diverged, feeling that Franck's approach created a unity that was “too obvious and less refined”. 1. A theme, providing a framework for the whole and also other details and formulas for accompaniment, is slowly announced in the opening. The Très animé next unfolds at a fantastic gallop. A modulated passage, Très modéré, barely interrupts the fluidity of this mobile perpetuum, which unabashedly uses consecrated formulas. 2. The monotone aspect of the Lent comes from an iteration of the rhythmic entity, from which progresses a nostalgic motif in the relative key of A flat major. The hypnotic charm succeeds through a clever handling of tensions, despite the weak development of motifs. 3. The Extrêmement vite, a frenetic race in D major in the style of Bernard Hermann, certainly constitutes one of the most beautiful pages of his juvenilia. By a bright succession of suggestive effects, it finds its place in the continuity of the romantic hunt. 4. The dynamic effect of the fifth enlivens an Animé combining variety and invention. The breath of the high plateau sweeps through this lyric finale, which at times anticipates repetitive music with a very effective Assez lent passage for strings only (precursor of the future Question sans réponse). The Coda brings back the initial theme of the first movement in combination with the last one. The relationship of the themes in the first three movements, fashioned on a trochaic rhyme, already seems typical of his style, as does the simple use of Alberti’s bass. Goué proceeds by the juxtaposition of blocks and by abrupt contrasts of nuances, accentuating the impression of overflowing energy as in his 1er Quatuor (1937). The Trio shows his practice, while in Toulouse, of cinematographic accompaniment as well as his mastery of rapid atmospheric changes. He manages to ally a very scholastic rigor with a naturally limpid melodic gift. Promoted to the Lycée Buffon in Paris in 1935, Emile Goué followed the counsel of Albert Roussel and took a course in fugue with Charles Koechlin. He acquired fame in artistic circles with his Sonate pour piano (1936) and his Trois pièces pour trio d’anches (1937). His intense production was then stopped by the war. He became a prisoner of war in June 1940, and passed the next five years in captivity at the Oflag of Nienburg an der Weser in northern Germany. The Petite suite facile, op. 28, dates from 1940, just like the Suite pour quatuor à cordes by Daniel-Lesur, composed in memory of a student killed at the beginning of the war. Composed for the amateur instrumentalists in the camp, it consists of a triptych of the nativity: Prélude, Rorate, and Noël languedocien. The Rorate Cæli desuper, a typical Advent hymn, whose refrain comes from the book of Isaiah (45, 8), precedes a famous carol (more Provençal than Languedocian!); “Li a pron de gens” (there are many people), composed in 1667 by Nicolas Saboly on the popular tune of Toulerontonton. It is a call to get on our way toward the Savior. Three years later, while still a prisoner of war, he confided to his spouse; ”I am working note by note on a new work which will probably be a quintet for piano and strings and I still strive to apply my principles; not only as far as the writing goes, but also with respect to the architectural structure which can be deduced from it”. The winter was hard and the prisoners were the victims of an infestation of fleas. Emile wandered around clothed like a lost soul since the beginning of his captivity. He worked slowly and in depth. ‘I think I have somewhat recovered my wits; I feel I am emerging from a long and grave illness which lasted several years. As such it is the same for all of us”. He reassured his spouse: “The important thing is that I know what I want in the matter of my art—and now I do know; and that I be able to apply it to works which are solid and very personal—this is what I try to do methodically. I have acquired a grand lucidity in the realm of musical composition and I believe that the next years will be fruitful, especially when I will have rejoined you”. At the end of February, while a layer of snow covered the barbed wire, “The first movement of my Quintette is practically finished. I have reworked it enormously for four months but I realize more and more how much material and moral conditions influence the making of a composition. Here at last is something monumental taken as far as it will go (16 minutes for this first part). I have needed a lot of drive, but I am happy because this is exactly what I wanted and it confirms my ideas as far as the writing and the form are concerned”. With this Quintet and its architectural breath worthy of Beethoven, we have a magisterial demonstration of the efficacy of mono-thematism. After expressing his thoughts on the art of Bach, and in light of some of his earlier compositions like the Psaume XIII, Goué had elaborated his doctrine. Recommending that the entire construction of a piece of music be based on a single theme, from which all subsidiary themes are derived, be it horizontally, by extrapolation or deformation of the generating theme, or vertically where the secondary themes are obtained as counter-subjects. As in the work of Franck or Schmitt, this ambitious Quintet is in three parts. 1) Très modéré. The long generating theme, atonal in appearance, is subdivided in several cells that are used throughout the piece. It is expressed slowly five times and shows, all through the development, all the combinations possible thanks to counterpoint. The final chord is in bimodal E. 2) Lent. Developing around B, the theme here is presented six times clothed in variegated harmonies. An impressive grandness of feeling is generated by the density of the contrapuntal weave. The last occurrence of the subject is presented by the superposed violin and alto and concludes in calm. 3) The final Rondo succeeds directly on the initial cells of the first theme. It evokes plays of rhythms, a music box, it shows the influence of jazz and echoes the communicative and unrestrained joy found in his Trio d’Anches op.14 (1937), a piece that neither Poulenc nor Millaud would have rejected. Emile Goué composed twenty-seven works during his captivity, including the Psaume CXXIII, the Concerto pour piano, and the monumental Deuxième Symphonie with principal violin. Liberated on October 10, 1945, he did not long savor his new found liberty. Assuming both the obligations of his professor at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the necessities of his musical avocation, he finished his 3rd Quatuor, as well as a Thème et variations for piano, and the Esquisse pour une inscription sur une stèle for full orchestra. He died of a lung infection on October 12, 1946. Damien Top Translation : Kathryn & Jean-Paul Klingebiel