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Jean Cras is a French naval officer and composer, born May 22, 1879 in Brest where he died September 14, 1932.
A professor at the Naval School, he developed a rule that bears his name today: the “Cras rule”. It makes it possible to trace the route or to draw a point on a nautical chart. Captain Cras commanded the battleship Provence in particular. Promoted rear admiral in 1931, he completed his brilliant but too brief maritime career at the post of major general of the port of Brest, his hometown.
Reconciling his maritime career and his musical passion, Jean Cras was able throughout his existence to compose many pieces. His hyper sensitivity leads him to the art of suggestive expressionism. Approaching all styles, he draws the necessary material from his travels and mixes perfumes from elsewhere which sometimes sound like Breton tunes.
Jean Cras tackles all genres of chamber music, from the sonata to the quintet, but also the symphonic genre. He was inspired by his maritime universe to compose - for example his opera Polyphème refers to the legendary universe of the sea - and also the lands he knows, Brittany and the countries he visited. He is sensitive to oriental sounds (Arab and African), sometimes close to Celtic music (in particular with its pentatonic scale). For the touch of originality, he used more unusual instruments, such as the pan flute without his eponymous piece. Bretonnant by birth, he mixes a few Breton traits with his music, quotes in the play En Islande and he subtly uses dance tunes in some of his songs like Trois chansons bretonnes or Le roi Loudivic.
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