Jean-Joseph Mouret

Jean-Joseph Mouret (born April 11, 1682 in Avignon , † December 22, 1738 in Charenton-le-Pont ) was a French composer .

Life

Mouret was the son of a silk merchant who was financially able to give his children the best possible education. With Jean-Joseph it was a special talent for music that made the difference. He was a good singer and his early compositions were well received. At the age of 20 he moved to Paris, where he quickly became known. In 1708 he came into contact with the Duchess Anne-Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé and became her Kapellmeister at the court of Sceaux . In 1714 he became a member of the Académie royale de musique , the forerunner of the Paris Opera , which regulated musical life in France. As orchestra director, Mouret composed several stage works for this institution, as well as for the Comédie-Italienne, which he directed from 1717 to 1737. From 1728 to 1734 he was the director of the Concert spirituel . He spent the last years of his life confused and impoverished in the Charenton hospice .

His impressive works made him one of the leading exponents of baroque music in his country. Although most of his works are no longer performed, the name »Mouret« survived to this day, thanks to the popularity of the fanfare rondeau from his first Suite de Symphonies , which is used as the background melody for the PBS program of the Meisterwerk Theater.

Works (selection)

Stage works

Mouret has composed mainly stage works in the genre of tragedy lyrique and opéra-ballet.

• Les Fêtes de Thalie ( 1714 )
• Les Amours de Ragonde ( 1714 )
• Ariane , lyric tragedy in 5 acts and a prologue, book by François-Joseph de Chancel and Pierre-Charles Roy , represented at the Royal Academy of Music on April 6, 1717
• Pirithoüs ( 1723 )
• Les Grâces héroïques ( 1733 )
• Le Triomphe des sens ( 1732 )

Instrumental

• 6 Sonates à deux flutes traversières… premier livre (1725)
• " Fanfares avec une suitte de simphonies mêlées de cors de chasse ", livre second, for trumpets, timpani, strings, oboes, (around 1729)
• " Concert de chambre à deux et trois parties, suivi d'une suite d'airs à danser ", strings, oboes, recorders, premier livre (1734)
• Concert de chambre à deux et trois parties ... second livre (1738)

literature

• Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea World of Music - The Composers - A lexicon in five volumes . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7 , pp. 97/98, volume 4 .

Web links

• His works scenic and representative
• List of stage works by Jean-Joseph Mouret based on the MGG at Operone
• Sheet music and audio files by Jean-Joseph Mouret in the International Music Score Library Project