Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville

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Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (born December 25, 1711 in Narbonne , † October 8, 1772 in Belleville near Paris ) was a French violinist and composer .

Life

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, painting by Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville

The young Mondonville received his first music lessons from his father, who worked as a musician at the Saint Just Cathedral in Narbonne and from 1719 in the orchestra of the Académie de Musique in Bordeaux. His father's training must have been very extensive, because when he arrived in Paris in 1733 he was already an experienced composer and violin virtuoso. In the same year the violin sonatas op. 1 were published. Mondonville lived in Lille for a short time; there he is mentioned as concertmaster at the "Concerts de Lille". In 1734 he had his first appearance at the Concert spirituel . In 1739 he received the post of royal concert master and chamber violinist in Paris. He composed around 100 concerts. In 1740 he became " sous-maître " and in 1744 director of the royal court orchestra, succeeding André Campra . In 1747 he married the harpsichordist Anne-Jeanne Boucon, to whom Jean-Philippe Rameau had dedicated one of his "Pièces de concert". In his historical-biographical lexicon of the Tonkünstler , Ernst Ludwig Gerber writes , ... she also “did the composition and painting” .

In the same year, the performances of his operas began, his first successful stage work, " Bacchus et Erigone " he composed for the Marquise de Pompadour , who also took on the title role. Also at the suggestion of the Marquise, his most successful stage work, Titon et l'Aurore , was created in 1753 , which was intended to take the French style in the Buffonist dispute .

Mondonville made a name for itself in particular with the "Grands Motets" ( motets for two choirs ), which composers from other nations had nothing comparable to oppose, according to his contemporaries. From 1755 to 1762 he and Gabriel Capperan directed the Concert spirituel, an organization that he led successfully and with an iron hand. His active music career coincides with the reign of Louis XV.

His violin sonatas op. 3, in which the relationship between violin and piano is almost reversed compared to the baroque tradition of the primacy of the violin, are of particular genre-historical importance. The violin is an accompanying instrument for long periods. His Sonates pour clavecin voix ou violon op.5 open up the possibility of having the harpsichord part accompanied by a vocal part and a violin.

The last years of his life were not crowned with the same success as the beginning of his career. After quarrels with the Bishop of Rennes, he fell out of favor. One of his last works was the heroic ballet "Les Projets de l'Amour" performed in 1771 , which he made for the wedding of the Comte de Provence, later King Louis XVIII. composed with Maria Josepha of Savoy .

Most of his vocal works have been lost. The collections of the Paris Conservatory still have some manuscripts.

Works (selection)

  • Sonates pour le violon et la basse continue op.1 (1733)
  • 6 Trio Sonatas Op. 2 (1734) ( Sonates en trio pour deux Violons avec la basse continue, Dédiées à Monsieur le Marquis de la Bourdonnaye, gravées par Le Duc )
  • Pièces de clavecin en sonates op. 3 For harpsichord and violin (Lille 1736) The same works were published 15 years later in Paris as an orchestral arrangement under the title Six Sonates en symphonies
  • In the foreword of his sonatas op. 4, the first written instructions for playing the flageolet appear, " Les sons harmoniques " (Paris and Lille, 1738)
  • Pièces de Clavecin avec voix et violon op.5 (1748)
  • Operas:
    • Bacchus et Erigone (1747)
    • Le carnaval du Parnasse (Paris, 1749)
    • Venus et Adonis (1752)
    • Titon et l'Aurore (Paris, 1753), the most successful work during his lifetime.
    • Daphnis et Alcimadure (1754)
    • Les fêtes de Paphos (1758) was a failure.
    • Thésée (1765)
  • 17 "Grands Motets" (except for the nine following, all missing)
    • Dominus regnavit decorum (Psalm 92) (1734)
    • Jubilate Deodorant (Psalm 99) (1734)
    • Magnus Dominus (Psalm 47) (1734)
    • Cantate domino (Psalm 149) (1743)
    • Venite exultemus Domino (Psalm 94) (1743)
    • Nisi Dominus aedficavit (Psalm 126) (1743)
    • De profundis (Psalm 129) (1748)
    • Coeli enarrant gloria (Psalm 18) (1750)
    • In exitu Israel (Psalm 113) (1753)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claudia Schweitzer: Lexicon article “Boucon, Anne-Jeanne, bew. Mondonville ”from the Sophie Drinker Institute
personal data
SURNAME Mondonville, Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French violinist, composer and artistic director
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1711
PLACE OF BIRTH Narbonne
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1772
Place of death Belleville near Paris