Caroline Boissier-Butini

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caroline Boissier-Butini (born May 2, 1786 in Geneva ; † March 17, 1836 ; born Caroline Butini ) was a Swiss pianist , composer , organist , singer and music promoter who was of great importance for the musical life in Geneva.

Life

Caroline Butini was the eldest child of Pierre Butini (1759–1838) and Jeanne-Pernette, née Bardin. Her father, a doctor who is renowned across Europe and a great music lover, seems to have been the most important promoter of her music making. When she was twenty, she wrote in her diary: “J'ai consacré un tiers de ma vie à la musique” (I have devoted a third of my life to music).

Due to her origins, Caroline Butini belonged to Geneva's upper class. She grew up in an environment that was also educational for girls and received a broad general education . At the age of 22 she was married to Auguste Boissier (1784-1856). At his side, she was able to develop into an independent (artist) personality. Auguste, who owned and managed several agricultural estates, supported his wife in making music and composing; he himself was a passionate violinist .

In 1810 the couple had their son Edmond , three years later their daughter Valérie. The family spent the winter in Geneva and the summer on the estate in Valeyres-sous-Rances , between Orbe and Yverdon. The two children received a lot of care and support, which was reflected in their later life's work. Edmond became a renowned botanist and Valérie became famous beyond Switzerland - under her married name de Gasparin - as the writer and founder of the first secular nursing school, "La Source" in Lausanne. Like her mother, she became an excellent pianist; in the winter of 1831–1832 she took piano lessons from Franz Liszt and composition lessons from Anton Reicha .

Caroline Boissier-Butini was - according to current research, although there are still gaps - one of the most versatile of the Swiss composers of her generation. She must have had an excellent education both as a pianist and as a composer. The only name she mentions in her writings in connection with her piano training is Mansui, which is both the father, Claude-Charles (no dates known) and the son, François-Charles (1785–1847), can act. Nicolas Bernard Scherer (1747–1821) is a candidate for composition; he was organist at Geneva Cathedral and composer.

The numerous references to independent learning, even for those over thirty, could also point to a predominantly autodidactic training. The intention with which the Butini parents supported their daughter in acquiring such a thorough musical education that allowed her to play at the highest level and to compose in the spirit of her time is also unknown. Their social affiliation precluded the exercise of a profession . Through detailed diary entries from the time before the marriage, it is known what image Caroline Butini had of a good wife and what the Geneva society expected of a woman of her class. From this it can be concluded that there was theoretically no place in the daily routine of a Geneva citizen for creative, design work, and certainly not for a sustainable occupation with the then rather disreputable art sector of music. It therefore seems all the more extraordinary that after the marriage she composed a lot and regularly over the years.

Their musical practice was reported in the Allgemeine musical newspaper on March 1, 1815. There the correspondent describes the "uncommon skill [of Mrs. Boissier] on the pianoforte ", especially in a concert from her pen. In the spring of 1818, Caroline Boissier-Butini measured her musical skills with that of the best pianists in Paris and London. She played in front of Marie Bigot , Ferdinando Paër , Friedrich Kalkbrenner and Johann Baptist Cramer and earned unqualified praise, both for her works and for her interpretations.

It has been proven that she wanted to publish her works with Ignaz Pleyel in Paris, but was unsuccessful with this intention; However, she has signed a contract with the Leduc publishing house. In Geneva she performed several times in concerts of the local Société de musique in 1825 and 1826, including with her own works.

plant

The large number of instrumental works in her surviving oeuvre is striking. The early involvement with the folk music of her own environment is also remarkable. Caroline Boissier describes in a letter from 1811 how she wrote down in Valeyre's folk songs that a woman from the village sang for her. It is possible that some of them found their way into her 6th piano concerto La Suisse . Caroline Boissier-Butini was well known throughout Switzerland as a musician during her lifetime. After her death, the family carefully kept their musical works and personal writings (diaries, letters, other documents).

In 1923, her descendants made her famous by publishing her transcript of the piano lessons her daughter Valérie received from Franz Liszt in Paris in 1831 under the title Liszt pédagogue and under the name Madame Auguste Boissier (Reprint Champion, Paris 1993; numerous translations).

The works and the circumstances of Caroline Boissier-Butini's musical practice provide an insight into the epoch of the great political, social and cultural upheavals at the beginning of the 19th century in Geneva and Switzerland, which has hardly been explored from a musical perspective.

Works

Works for piano solo

(All without opus number and cannot be precisely dated, probably before 1818)

  • Piano Sonatas No. 1, 2, and 3 (published in Bern 2011)
  • Caprice et variations sur un air bohémien, Variations sur l'air "Dormez mes chers amours", Caprice sur l'air d'une ballade écossaise, Variations sur deux airs languedociens, Fantaisie sur l'air de la belle
  • Raisin, Polonaise pour piano, 1er potpourri, 1ère Sonatine, Pas russe (all unpublished, Bibliothèque de Genève, Fonds Boissier, Ms mus 97 and Ms mus 98)
Piano concerts
  • Concerto pour piano, flûte obligée et cordes no 6, "La Suisse" (published in Bern 2008)
  • Piano Concertos No. 1–5; Piano Concerto No. 7 (unfinished)
Works for organ
  • Pièce pour l'orgue

Discography

  • Caroline Boissier-Butini: Concerto No. 6 "La Suisse", Piece for Organ, Sonata No. 1, Divertimento. VDE-GALLO.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Amadeus Ammann: The best musician in town. Review. In: Swiss music newspaper. March 6, 2014 (with details from the contents)
personal data
SURNAME Boissier-Butini, Caroline
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Butini, Caroline
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH Geneva
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1836
Place of death Geneva