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• Personalities
• Classical Era
• Opera

1712–78, Swiss Best known as the Swiss political philosopher with a crucial influence on Romanticism and the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also a composer, author and musicologist. In his most famous work, Le devin du village (‘The Village Soothsayer’, 1752), Rousseau’s small talent confined him to simple melodies with simple accompaniments. What was really important was ...

• Personalities
• Classical Era
• Opera

One rare quality Raaff’s voice possessed was longevity: it was still in top condition in 1787, when he was 73. Introduction | Classical Era | Opera Personalities | Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Classical Era | Opera ...

• Personalities
• Late Baroque
• Opera

temple de la gloire (‘The Temple of Glory’), both of which were collaborations with Voltaire, and the comic opera Platée. Blossoming Popularity Despite the hostility of enemies including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Rameau’s popularity blossomed to the extent that the Marquis D’Argenson forbade the theatre management to stage more than two of Rameau’s operas in any one year. But Rameau’s newest ...

• Personalities
• Early Romantic
• Opera

1760–1842, Italian The Italian composer Luigi Cherubini studied in Florence, Bologna and Milan, first writing church music, and then, in 1779, producing his first operas. By 1787, when he settled in Paris, he had written 13 operas, but nothing, as yet, that was innovatory. This changed when his Démophon (1788) ...

• Personalities
• Late Baroque
• Opera

1713–94, French The daughter of a Bordeaux organist, Marie Fel studied singing with Mme Van Loo, and gave her operatic debut in October 1734. Mentioned in Rousseau’s Confessions, Fel was one of the most famous singers of the Académie Royale de Musique, and was a regular soloist at the Concert Spirituel and the Concerts chez la ...

• Styles & Forms
• Classical
• Classical Era

Enlightenment movement emphasized the rights of the individual, and would lead to the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. One of the Enlightenment’s principal thinkers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was concerned with making music accessible to a wider audience, and defined it as ‘the art of inventing tunes and accompanying them with suitable harmonies’. Haydn’s Symphonies And String Quartets ...

• Classical
• Classical Era

to start 1775 American Revolution against the British begins 1776 Declaration of Independence in United States; the multi-volume Encyclopédie is published, edited by Diderot in collaboration with Voltaire and Rousseau 1785 The Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David, a landmark neo-classical painting 1789 French Revolution begins; the Bastille is stormed 1791 Mozart dies, leaving his Requiem unfinished ...

• Classical
• Early Baroque

still with this sense of something twisted that it was first applied – to the period between about 1600 and 1750 – in the nineteenth century. In 1768, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote: ‘a Baroque music is that in which the harmony is confused, charged with modulations and dissonances; melody is harsh and little natural, the intonation difficult, and ...

• Classical
• Early Romantic

The first half of the nineteenth century was essentially a period of insurgence in Europe, from the French Revolution in 1789 to the series of uprisings that rocked the continent around 1848. Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution was also underway, beginning in Britain, then spreading south through the rest of Europe. With these two strands of revolution came ...

• Opera
• Early Romantic

The early nineteenth century was a period of insurgence in Europe, beginning with the French Revolution in 1789 to the uprisings in 1848. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain before spreading south to the rest of Europe, was also making its mark. These two strands of revolution caused transformations in society: growing awareness of national identity, ...

• Classical
• Classical Era

and English empiricism, as well as in the new spirit of scientific enquiry. It also affected political theory in the writings of such men as François-Marie Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in France, and Thomas Paine in the US. Enlightenment thinking had its effect on music: naturalness and simplicity were watchwords for the new generation of composers. Baroque counterpoint was ...

• Opera
• Classical Era

by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) had mirrored the rejection of class divisions and religious and racial prejudice and the promotion of the ‘Brotherhood of Man’ by French philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78). Mozart’s Figaro was much closer to the French Revolution of 1789, which expressed the ideals of the Enlightenment in bloodthirsty violence. Consequently, it was controversial, even ...