François-Joseph Fétis

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François-Joseph Fétis

François-Joseph Fétis (born March 25, 1784 in Mons ; † March 26, 1871 in Brussels ) was a Belgian composer , music critic and music biographer.

Life

Fétis came from a family of musicians and piano makers. From the age of three he received violin, piano and organ lessons from his father and began to compose. At the age of nine he wrote a violin concerto which was performed in a concert given by his father. He became familiar with the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn before leaving for Paris in 1800 to continue his studies at the local conservatory. Here he had lessons in harmony with Jean-Baptiste Rey , his piano teachers were François-Adrien Boieldieu and Louis-Barthélémy Pradher . While Rey was teaching Rameau's theory, Charles Simon Catel published his own textbook. In 1807 Fétis won the deuxième Second Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata Ariane à Naxos based on a text by Jacques Bins de Saint-Victor (1772-1858).

Through in-depth studies in counterpoint and fugue , Fétis dealt intensively with the music of Palestrina , Bach and Handel . After his studies he held several music teaching positions in northern France before he was appointed professor of composition and harmony at the Paris Conservatory in 1821 , during which time Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga was his student. Here he founded a music-critical weekly magazine in 1827, the editing of which he took over on his own. This was very time-consuming because he had to attend all concerts, ballets and operas.

In 1832, at the urging of the newly appointed King Leopold I, he returned to Belgium in order to set up the new Royal Conservatory of Brussels based on the Paris model . Over the years he was able to engage well-known soloists such as the violinists Charles de Bériot , Henri Vieuxtemps , Hubert Léonard , the organist Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens , the composer Adolphe Samuel (1824-1894), the cellist Adrien-François Servais , who to Europe's best pianists include Marie Moke-Pleyel and others.

Fétis' greatest achievement as a music historian is the biography universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique (a comprehensive repertory of all musicians known at the time) that he created. In 1860 there was a second edition and in 2001 it was reissued. Despite errors and some biases, it is still consulted by modern musicologists. Through his musicological writings, Fétis was one of the leading music researchers of the French language in the 19th century and also received great international attention. His adaptation of Giacomo Meyerbeer's posthumous opera Vasco de Gama , known under the title L'Africaine , was the basis for performance practice until the historical-critical edition was published.

Fétis brought his personal collection, which consisted of more than 7,000 books, documents, magazines and scores from three centuries, to a foundation that he bequeathed to the Royal Library of Belgium .

Works

Fonts

  • Biography universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique . Firmin Didot, Paris 1834-1835. New edition in 5 volumes ISBN 2-84575-049-8 .
  • Galerie des musiciens célèbres, compositeurs, chanteurs et instrumentistes, contenant leurs portraits lithographiés par les meilleurs artistes, des fac-similés, et leurs notices biographiques . Self-published, Paris.
  • Manuel des compositeurs, directeurs de musique, chefs d'orchestre et de musique militaire, ou Traité méthodique de l'harmonie, des instrumens, des voix et de tout ce qui est relatif à la composition, à la direction et à l'exécution de la musique , self-published, Paris.
  • Manuel des principes de musique, à l'usage des professeurs et des élèves de toutes les écoles de musique, particulièrement des écoles primaires . 2nd ed. M. Schlesinger, Paris.
  • Traité de l'accompagnement de la partition sur le piano ou l'orgue . Pleyel, Paris.
  • La musique mise à la portée de tout le monde: exposé succinct de tout ce qui est nécessaire pour juger de cet art, et pour en parler sans l'avoir étudié . Paris 1830 (2nd edition Paulin, Paris 1834).
  • Curiosities historiques de la musique, complément nécessaire de La Musique mise à la portée de tout le monde . Janet & Cotelle, Paris 1830.
  • together with Ignaz Moscheles : Méthode des méthodes de piano, ou Traité de l'art de jouer de cet instrument basé sur l'analyse des meilleurs ouvrages qui ont été faits à ce sujet . M. Schlesinger, Paris 1840.
  • Mèmoire sur l'Harmonie Simultanée des Sons Chez les Grecs et les Romains . Aubri, Paris 1859.
  • Esquisse de l'histoire de l'harmonie consideree comme art et comme science systematique . Bourgogne et Martinet, Paris 1840.
  • Traité du contrepoint et de la fugue contenant l'exposé analytique des règles de la composition musicale depuis deux jusqu'à huit parties réelles, […] . CM. Ozi, Paris.
  • Traité complet de la theory et de la pratique de l'harmonie . Schlesinger, Paris 1844 ( digitized version ).

Instrumental

  • 3 string quartets before 1800
  • Sextet for string quartet and piano four hands
  • “Grand Duo” for violin and piano
  • 3 string quintets (1860–1862)
  • Concert Overture (1854)
  • 1st Symphony in E flat major (1862)
  • 2nd Symphony in G minor (1883)
  • Fantaisie symphonique for organ and orchestra (1865)
  • Concerto in B minor for flute and orchestra (1869)

Church music

  • Mass for five voices (1810)
  • Requiem for the death of Queen Louise-Marie (1850)
  • Te Deum for the birthday of King Leopold I (1856)
  • "Domine salvum fac regem nostrum" for King Leopold II's accession to the throne (1865)

Stage works

  • L'Amant et le mari (comic opera in 2 acts, premiered June 8, 1820 Paris, Théâtre Feydeau)
  • Les Sœurs jumelles (comic opera in 1 act, premiered July 5, 1823 Paris, Théâtre Feydeau)
  • Marie Stuart en Ecosse (Lyric drama in 3 acts, premiered 30 Aug 1823 Paris, Théâtre Feydeau)
  • Phidias Opera in 2 acts (1824 Paris)
  • Le Bourgeois de Reims (comic opera, 1 act, premiered June 7, 1825 Paris, Théâtre Feydeau)
  • La vieille (Komische Oper 1 act, premiered March 14, 1826 Opéra-Comique Paris)
  • Le Mannequin de Bergame (comic opera 1 act, premiered March 1, 1832 Paris, Théâtre Ventadour)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boris Kehrmann: Rediscovery of the year. Defense of poetry. In: Oper 2013, Yearbook Opernwelt, pp. 42–43
personal data
SURNAME Fétis, François-Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian composer, music critic and music biographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Mons
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1871
Place of death Brussels