BRUNEAU, ALFRED , French musical com poser, was born in Paris on March 3, 1857, and was educated at the Paris Conservatoire, where he gained the 2nd Grand Prix for composition. He played the violoncello in Pasdeloup's orches tra, and soon began to compose. In 1884 his Ouverture heroique was performed and this was followed by the choral symphonies, Leda (1884), La Belle an Bois Dormant (1886) and Penthesilee. But it is as a dramatic composer that Bruneau is best known. In 1887 his first opera, Kerim, was produced and in 1891 came his successful opera Le Reve, with a libretto founded on Zola's story. This opera, a work of striking originality and power, may be said to have influenced to a great extent the subsequent development of the modern French school. Another subject from Zola resulted in the opera L'attaque du Moulin (1893) and thereafter Zola himself commenced to write libretti expressly for Bruneau. They produced together Messidor (1897), L'Ouragan and L'En fant Roi (19o5). After Zola's death Bruneau continued to draw on his works, making his own adaptations. Among Bruneau's other compositions may be mentioned his Requiem (1896), a notable work, and his two collections of songs, Lieds de France and Chansons a Danser. Although Le Reve greatly divided criti cal opinion at first, its merits subsequently won general recogni tion, no less applying to L'Attaque du Moulin, one of the most powerful and effective war operas ever written. Bruneau, who was awarded the Decoration of the Legion d'Honneur in has written admirably on his art and was one of the foremost of French musical critics.
See Octave Sere, Musiciens f rancais d'aujourd'hui (191I) and Arthur Hervey, Alfred Bruneau (1907).