Examination of the life of Henri Duparc often leads one not to explore what he accomplished but to speculate on what he might have accomplished. While Sibelius and Copland wrote virtually nothing over their last 30 years of life, presumably because their inspiration had been tapped out after producing sizable bodies of work, Duparc simply stopped composing in 1885, at age 36, in the midst of a burgeoning career. His greatest contribution was his songs, which demonstrated a sophistication in uniting the text with the music, in using fairly elaborate contrapuntal elements in the accompaniment, and in eschewing overly sentimental moods often heard in the songs of other French composers of the time. While obviously not a major composer, he was a minor figure who clearly demonstrated talents that might have elevated him to the front rank.

As a child and teen, Henri Duparc showed an interest in many fields and possessed an extraordinary intellectual capacity. Yet he also divulged a sensitive, sometimes hesitant nature. He initially began studying for a career in law, but he concurrently took piano lessons from César Franck. Later he studied composition with Franck and soon began writing music. Duparc typically destroyed his early works, not satisfied with aspects of his style or with the entirety of the piece itself. In 1869, his Cinq Mélodies, for voice and piano, were published, marking his first major surviving song collection. Shortly afterward, he expressed doubts about three of them (Serenade, Romance de Mignon, and Le galop), though he ultimately allowed their survival. From this early period there exists a Sonata for piano and cello (1867), not published but in manuscript form, held by his daughter's estate.

Duparc received his first substantial exposure to Wagner's music in 1869 when he traveled to Munich for several performances. There he met Liszt, who introduced him to Wagner at that year's Bayreuth Festival. Wagner became a hero to Duparc, and at times a noticeable influence in his music. The composer would make numerous trips to Bayreuth over the next several decades, often with friends like Chabrier. By the early 1870s, Duparc was turning toward the orchestra. In 1874 he wrote Poéme nocturne, which was premiered in April that year at a Société National concert. Only the first of the three parts, however, has survived. Duparc composed the poem Lénore in 1875. Four years later, still in the thrall of Wagner, though not stylistically now, he began work on his opera Roussalka.

In 1885, Duparc abruptly abandoned composition, at least in part owing to a neurasthenia that may have had psychological manifestations. The composer had an acute sense of pain and other physical discomforts, but managed a reasonably normal life with his wife and family. Though he composed no new music after 1885, in the early 1900s he did revise some earlier works, like the Cinq Mélodies and the Poéme nocturne. At the same time, Duparc became blind. Always a religious man and growing more so in his later years, he traveled to the shrine known for miracles in Lourdes, France, in 1906. He seemed to accept his blindness, and toward the end of his life he suffered from paralysis. He died in 1933. ~ Robert Cummings, Rovi