Eugène Joseph Bozza (4 April 1905 – 28 September 1991) was a French composer and violinist. He was one of the most prolific composers of chamber music for wind instruments. Bozza's large ensemble works include five symphonies, operas, ballets, large choral work, wind band music, concertos, and many works for large brass or woodwind ensembles. Outside of France, he is best known for his chamber music, rather than his larger works.
Biography
Childhood and early years (1905–1915) Bozza was born in Nice to an Italian musician and a French woman. His father, Umberto Bozza, was a violinist who made his living playing in French casinos along the Mediterranean coast. His mother's name was Honoré Molina. With a professional musician for a father, Bozza was exposed to music early on. He began studying the violin with his father when he was only five years old. Under such expert tutelage, Bozza became an outstanding young violinist and would occasionally go with his father to performances and play with the orchestra. In 1915, at the age of ten, Bozza and his father moved to Italy to avoid the turmoil of World War I.
Formative years (1915-1934) In Italy, Bozza studied violin, piano, and solfège in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He graduated in 1919 with a diploma as Professor of Violin. Bozza then returned to France and enrolled in the Conservatoire de Paris in 1922 where he studied violin with Édouard Nadaud. After two years of study, he earned the Conservatory's Premier Prix for violin and secured the chair of concert master at the Pasdeloup Orchestra in 1925. He married Juliette Arnaud, his first wife, in 1924 and had a son, Pierre, in 1925. After five years of touring Europe with the orchestra, Bozza resigned and returned to the Conservatory to study conducting with Henri Rabaud. His wife once confided that, "In fact, he was haunted by stage fright". Continuing his pattern of excellence, Bozza ended his study of conducting in 1931 by winning another Premier Prix, this time for conducting. Bozza was hired as the conductor for the Ballets Russes of Monte Carlo where he stayed for only a year before returning the Paris Conservatoire for a third and final time in 1932 to study musical composition. Following another two-year study with Henri Büsser, Bozza again won the Premier Prix for his area.
Middle years and career (1934–1950)
Bozza won the Prix de Rome in 1934 for his work La Légende de Roukmani, a one-act cantata. As part of the prize, he lived in Rome at the Villa de Medici for the following four years and five months so he could focus on growing as a composer, developing a voice, and honing his art. In Rome, Bozza composed several large-scale works such as his opera Leonidas, his Psalms, and the Introduzione and Toccata for piano and orchestra. He then returned to Paris after being appointed to conduct the Opéra-Comique from 1938 to 1948.
Academic career and later life (1950–1991) In 1950,, he was appointed the director of the École Nationale de Musique in Valenciennes and maintained the position until his retirement in 1975. The years spent at the École Nationale were extremely productive for Bozza. He composed many of his books of études and solo works during this time for students and staff at his school. Additionally, he was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1956. He divorced Juliette Arnaud in the early 1950s. Also during this time he met his second wife, a pianist named Nelly Baude, and they had a daughter, Cécile, who went on to study at the Paris Conservatory and become a harp teacher in Denain. After retirement in 1975, Bozza stayed in Valenciennes and continued to write music. He fell ill late in life and died in Valenciennes aged 86.
Compositions
See List of compositions by Eugène Bozza
Bozza was a prolific composer throughout his life. Beginning in the mid-1930s, he published at least one new work each year until just a few years before his death. Though a trained violinist, Bozza wrote an enormous amount of music for wind instruments during his life. Most of his wind music was composed and published during his time in Valenciennes. There are over 250 known published works as well as a wealth of manuscripts. During a posthumous assessment of the archives of Bozza's music over 70 unpublished manuscripts were found as well as several dozen that are no longer in print.