André Cardinal Destouches
André Cardinal Destouches (baptized April 6, 1672 in Paris ; † February 3, 1749 there ) was a French composer .
Life
André Cardinal, son of a wealthy businessman and country nobleman, led an eventful life at a young age. From 1681 to 1686 he attended the Jesuit college on rue Saint-Jacques in Paris with the intention of studying theology. With his teacher, a father, he traveled to Siam to become a missionary there. In 1688 he re-entered French soil in Brest and joined the cavalry. In 1692 he joined the "2ie Compagnie des mousquetaires du Roi", with which he took part in the siege and conquest of the fortress of Namur in the same year . He began composing during his military service, which earned him the respect of important generals who introduced him to the Parisian salons.
After the death of his father in 1694 he inherited the title of Lord of Destouches, a name that he continued to bear. He began training as a composer with André Campra , who in 1697 entrusted him with the composition for three arias of his opera L'Europe galante . He received the commission for his first opera Issé through the mediation of Prince Grimaldi; it was performed in concert at Fontainebleau Castle in October of the same year in the presence of King Louis XIV. The king saw in him the appointed successor to the late Jean-Baptiste Lully . As a result, Destouches received numerous commissions for stage works that were performed in Versailles or Fontainebleau in the following years. No new stage works were created between 1704 and 1711. In December 1712 a second creative period began with the performance of the opera Callirhoé .
In 1713 Destouches was appointed inspector général de l'Académie royale de musique by a patent letter , with a remuneration of 4,000 livres, which would later be paid to him for life. In 1727 he became maître de musique de la chambre du roi and in 1728 director of the Paris Opera . After the death of André Campra in 1744, he was on a par with François Colin de Blamont for you surintendant de la musique roi transported.
Works
In addition to the operas, Destouches composed numerous airs , 2 secular cantatas and some sacred cantatas, the latter are considered lost.
Stage works
- Issé , Pastorale héroïque (1697)
- Amadis de Grèce , Tragédie lyrique (1699)
- Marthésie, première reine des Amazones , Tragédie lyrique (1699)
- Omphale , Tragédie lyrique (1701)
- Le Carnaval et la Folie , Comédie-ballet (1704)
- Callirhoé , Tragédie lyrique (1712; revision 1743)
- Télémaque et Calypso , Tragédie lyrique (1714)
- Sémiramis , Tragédie lyrique (1718)
- Les Éléments , Opéra-ballet (1721)
- Les Stratagèmes de l'Amour , Ballet héroïque (1726)
Web links
- List of stage works by André Cardinal Destouches based on the MGG at Operone
- CV and list of works (in French)
- Sheet music and audio files by André Cardinal Destouches in the International Music Score Library Project
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Destouches, André Cardinal |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | baptized April 6, 1672 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 3, 1749 |
| Place of death | Paris |