(Fran-swa’ Koo-per-an’) 1668–1733 French composer Couperin, known as le grand, was the most gifted member of an illustrious French musical family. He lived and worked in Paris where, at the age of 18, he inherited the post of organist at St Gervais, which had previously been held by his father and uncle. In 1693 he was appointed ...
(Fran-swa Zho-zef’ Gu-sek’) 1734–1829 Belgian (French) composer Born in what is now the French-speaking part of Belgium, Gossec spent most of his career in Paris working in the different roles of theatre composer, violinist and director of musical organizations. These organizations included the Concert Spirituel, the Ecole Royale de Chant and (after the Revolution) the band of the Garde ...
(Fran-swa An-dra’ Da-ne-kan Fe-le-dôr’) 1726–95 French composer Coming from a large family of musicians associated with the French court, Philidor was a pupil of André Campra (1660–1744). He achieved international fame as a chess player and played much in England as well as in France. His main musical contribution came in his opéras comiques; he wrote more than 20, of ...
(Dan-yel’ Fran-swa Es-pre’ O-bâr’) 1782–1871 French composer Auber is renowned for his operas and was the leading composer of opéras comiques in nineteenth-century France. He studied with Cherubini in Paris, writing concertos and vocal music before turning his attention to operas. His most important work is La muette de Portici (1828), one of many collaborations with the librettist Eugène Scribe ...
(Fran’-swa A-dre-an’ Bwald-yö) 1775–1834 French composer Boieldieu was one of the leading opera composers of the early nineteenth century, concentrating on the opéra comique tradition. He studied with Charles Broche in his home town of Rouen, and was influenced by late eighteenth-century opéra comique, especially the works of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741–1813) and Méhul. His earliest operas were encouragingly received ...
(Fri-drikh Fran’-zhek [Fra-da-rek’ Fran-swa’] Sho-pan) 1810–49 Polish composer Chopin was unique among composers of the highest achievement and influence in that he wrote all his works, with the merest handful of exceptions, for the solo piano. Leaving Warsaw, which at the time offered only restricted musical possibilities, and living most of his adult life in Paris, ...
(Zhak Fran-swa’ Fro-mon-tal A-la-ve’) 1799–1862 French composer Halévy was born in France and entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of nine. From 1811 he studied with the composer Cherubini, who was a great influence on him. Halévy won the Prix de Rome in 1819 and taught at the Paris Conservatoire from 1827 (where his pupils included Bizet and Gounod). A ...
1726–95, French Philidor was more or less forced into writing opéras comiques once his earlier, Italian, style got him banned from the Paris Opéra in 1756. Philidor adapted splendidly. He soon became a successful composer in this typically French genre, producing Blaise le savetier (‘Blaise the Cobbler’, 1759) and Le Sorcier (‘The Sorcerer’, 1764). At a performance ...
‘Ernelinde, Princess of Norway’ Composed: 1767 Premiered: 1767, Paris Libretto by Antonine Alexandre Henri Poinsinet after Francesco Silvani’s libretto La fede tradita, e vendicata Prologue The brother of Ricimer, King of the Goths (Sweden), has been killed by Rodoald, King of Norway. In revenge, Ricimer has attacked Rodoald’s capital at Nidaros (now Trondheim). Sandomir, ...
1782–1871, French The French composer Daniel Auber made a favourable impression on his teacher, Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) with his first opera, L’erreur du moment (‘The Mistake of the Moment’, 1805). However, he had to wait 15 years for popular appreciation until he established himself with two works: La bergère châtelaine (‘The Lady Shepherdess’, 1820) and Emma (1821). ...
1775–1834, French François-Adrien Boieldieu wrote his first opera, La fille coupable (‘The Guilty Girl’, 1793), when he was 18. Shortly afterwards, he left his home town of Rouen and settled in Paris. He scored quick success with his opéras comiques, but his talent did not stop at the standard ingredients of the genre. He was also capable ...
1799–1862, French Jacques-François-Fromental Halévy, who was born in Paris, studied there with several composers – of whom the most influential was Cherubini. Success at the opera house was rather long in coming, however, and Halévy had to endure rejections and failures before scoring his first success with Clari (1828), which was written for the Spanish mezzo-soprano ...
(Zhan Ba-test’ Lü-le’) 1632–87 French composer Lully was an Italian by birth, but as a youth he accompanied the Chevalier de Guise to Paris, where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1653, Lully danced with the young King Louis XIV in the Ballet de la nuit, and it was from this point that he began ...
The seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were infused with a spirit of scientific and philosophical enquiry. In 1722’s Traité de l’harmonie (‘Treatise on Harmony’), Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–64), who dominated French opera in the 1730s – Castor et Pollux (1737) – set out the rules of the tonal method that composers had long been developing in practice. At the same time, ...
The dominant style in art at the start of the classical era was the Rococo (from rocaille, ‘shellwork’). Created in early eighteenth-century France, its leading figures in the graphic arts were Antoine Watteau and François Boucher. The closest musical analogue is not Mozart (as once was traditionally argued) but François Couperin (1668–1733) – the late Baroque generation, in ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.