Jean Conte

Jean Conte (born May 12, 1830 in Toulouse , † April 1, 1888 in Paris ) was a French composer, violinist and music teacher.

Jean Conte attended the Toulouse Conservatory , which had recently been established as a branch of the Conservatoire de Paris and was directed at the time by Louis Debrucq . After excellent results in violin and solfège , he was sent to Paris, where he studied violin with Jean-Delphin Alard and Lambert Massart and composition with Michele Carafa .

Conte financed his studies as a conductor at the Théâtre des jeunes Éleves , founded by Louis Comte , whose venue Jacques Offenbach took over in 1855 and founded the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens there. That year Conte won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata Acis et Galatée after Camille du Locle . During the stay at the Villa Medici in Rome, which is traditionally associated with the award, he composed a mass solennelle (1856), the Italian opera Isabelle di Lara (1857) as well as a dies irae and a symphony.

After his return to Paris Conte became a teacher at the music school of the Frères de Passy and in 1867 violist in the orchestra of the Paris Opera and the Concerts du Conservatoire . Together with Adrien Barthe he composed a double concerto for violin and piano based on Italian songs. His opera Beppo, based on a libretto by du Locle, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1877 . He also composed a number of songs ( Où vont donc les hirondelles , Le Grand Veneur , La Marchande de plaisirs ) and published a Méthode de violon .