Joseph Bodin de Boismortier

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Joseph Bodin de Boismortier

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (born December 23, 1689 in Thionville / France , † October 28, 1755 in Roissy-en-Brie ) was a French composer .

Life

Boismortier, portrayed by Jean Ranc

Boismortier received his first music lessons after the family settled in Metz in 1691 . His father was a pastry chef and a former soldier from near Berry . He followed his music teacher Joseph Valette de Montigny , a well-known motet composer, to Perpignan in 1713 , where he initially worked as a tax collector for the Royal Tobacco Society. Before that he played in 1711 in the orchestra of Duke Leopold, which was under the direction of the famous Henri Desmarest in Nancy . On November 20, 1720, he married Marie Valette, daughter of a wealthy goldsmith and niece of his teacher, in the Cathedral of Perpignan .

In 1721 his first compositions were published: Zwei airs à boire . He came to the court of the Duchess of Maine near Sceaux and finally to Paris, where he had a successful career as a ' gallant ' composer. On November 15, 1722, his daughter Suzanne Bodin de Boismortier was born. Shortly afterwards he resigned his job as a treasurer and, again on the advice of his patron d'Andrezel, set out to conquer Paris. He stopped in Agen , where he and his newborn daughter visited the family of the l'Abbé brothers, music educators of the Saint-Caparais church.

In Paris he was based in the Rue Saint-Antoine. His house was right next to the Jesuit monastery, where he lived until his wife's death.

In 1753 he withdrew from the music scene, unnerved by the Buffonist dispute, a dispute between followers of the French and the Italian tradition. He spent his retirement on the La Gâtinellerie estate near Roissy-en-Brie, where he also died.

Jean-Benjamin de La Borde characterized Boismortier in his Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne in 1780 :

Boismortier, born in 1691, came across a time when simple, undemanding music was in vogue. The talented musician knew how to take advantage of this tendency and wrote numerous airs and duets for the masses, played on flutes, violins, oboes, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, etc. (...) He took advantage of the naivety of his customers so that one could already talk about him said: 'Happy is Boismortier, from whose pen an air freely flows every month without any effort.' Boismortier had nothing to answer but: 'I make money'.

De La Borde also wrote:

if anyone took the trouble to dig in this rich mine, they would find enough gold dust in it to cast an ingot

plant

Between 1724 and 1747 he published more than 100 works with opus numbers. Boismortier wrote for flute , violin and harpsichord , but also for musette and hurdy-gurdy . Recently sonatas for treble viol have been rediscovered. He also created oratorios , cantatas , drinking songs and motets , opera ballets and other things:

  • Les voyages de l'Amour (1736)
  • Don Quixote chez la Duchesse (1743)
  • Daphnis et Chloé (1747)
  • Daphné (1748)
  • Les quatre parties du monde (1752)
  • Op. 1: 6 Sonates a deux flûtes traversieres sans basse (Paris, 1724)
  • Op. 2: 6 Sonates a deux flûtes traversieres sans basse (Paris, 1724)
  • Op. 6: 6 Sonates a deux flutes traversieres sans basse (Paris, 1725)
  • Op. 7: 6 Sonates en trio pour trois flûtes traversières sans basse (Paris, 1725)
  • Op. 8: 6 Sonates a deux flûtes-traversieres sans basse (Paris, 1725)
  • Op. 10: 6 Sonates à deux violes (Paris, 1725)
  • Op. 11: 6 suites with 2 muzettes (Paris, 1727)
  • Op. 12: 6 Sonates en trio pour les flûtes-traversieres, violons, ou haubois, avec la basse (Paris, 1726)
  • Op. 13: 12 Petites Sonates a deux flûtes traversieres sans basse (Paris, 1726)
  • Op. 14: 6 Sonates à deux Bassons, Violoncelles, ou Violes (1726)
  • Op. 15: 6 Concertos Pour 5 Flûtes-Traversieres ou autres Instrumens, without bass. On peut aussy les joüer avec une Basse (Paris, 1727)
  • Op. 16: Recueil d'airs à boire et sérieux melé de vaudevilles ou brunettes suivy d'un air Italy (Paris, 1727)
  • Op. 17: 6 Suites à 2 Muzettes, qui conviennent aux viel, flûtes-a-bec, traversieres, & haubois (Paris, 1727)
  • Op. 19: 6 Sonates pour la flûte traversière avec la basse (Paris, 1727)
  • Op. 22:17 Suites: Various Pièces pour 2 Flûtes-Traversière (Paris, 1728)
  • Op. 23: 6 motets à voix seule mêlés de simphonies (Paris, 1728)
  • Op. 26: 5 Sonates pour le violoncelle, viole, ou basson, avec la basse chifree; suivies d'un concerto pour l'un ou l'autre des Instruments (Paris, 1729)
  • Op. 27: 6 Suites pour 2 Much, Musettes, Flutes-à-bec, Fluts. traversieres, & Hautbois. Suivies de 2 Sonates à Dessus et Basse (Paris, 1730)
  • Op. 28: 6 Sonates en trio pour deux haubois, flûtes-traversières ou violons avec la basse, suivies de deux concerto dont le Ier se joue sur la musette, la vièle ou la flûte-à-bec (Paris, 1730)
  • Op. 31: 5 suites: various pieces de viole avec la basse chiffrée (Paris, 1730)
  • Op. 33: 6 Gentillesses en trois parties (Paris, 1731)
  • Op. 34: 6 sonates à quatre parties différentes et égalment travailées (Paris, 1731)
  • Op. 35: 6 Suites de pièces (Paris, 1731)
  • Op. 37: 5 Sonates en trio suivies d'un concerto (Paris, 1732)
  • Op. 39: 2 Sérénades ou simphonies françaises en trois parties pour flûtes, violons et haubois (Paris, 1732)
  • Op. 40: 6 Sonates pour deux Bassons, Violoncelles, ou Violes suivies d'un nombre de pièces qui peuvent se jouer seul & facilement (1732)
  • Op. 42: 6 Pastorales (Duo)
  • Op. 44: 6 Sonates pour la flûte traversiere avec la basse (Paris, 1733)
  • Op. 45: 5 Gentilesses (other orchestral work)
  • Op. 50: 6 Sonates dont la derniere est en Trio (Paris, 1734)
  • Op. 51: 6 Sonates pour une flûte traversière et un violon par accords (Paris, 1734)
  • Op. 52: 4 Balets de Village en Trio, Pour les Musettes, Vieles, Flutes à-bec, Violons, Haubois, ou Flutes traversieres (Paris, 1734)
  • Op. 59: 4 Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (Paris, 1736)
  • Op. 66: Petites Sonates suivies d'une Chaconne pour deux Bassons, Violonceles ou Violes (1737)
  • Op. 78: 4 Sonates pour deux flûtes-traversières ou autres instruments, avec la basse (Paris, 1738)
  • Op. 91: 6 Sonates pour clavecin et une flûte traversière (Paris, 1741)
  • Op. 97: Ballet comique, Don Quichotte chez la Duchessa (Don Quixote and the Duchess) (Paris, 1743, Académie royale de musique)

Since a large part of his chamber music oeuvre is dedicated to the transverse flute , it is reasonable to assume that Boismortier played this instrument himself. This assumption, which has not yet been substantiated, is supported by the textbooks Principes de la Flute published by Boismortier in 1740 as Opus 90 , which are now considered lost. He also wrote a textbook for treble violas. He also published a harmony dictionary.

literature

  • August Gathy: Musical Conversations Lexicon - Encyclopedia of the entire music science . GW Niemeyer, Hamburg 1840, p. 49.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Essai sur la musique ancienne et modern, Part 3, Imprimerie de Ph.-D. Pierres, Paris 1780, p. 392 f. at google books .
personal data
SURNAME Boismortier, Joseph Bodin de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1689
PLACE OF BIRTH Thionville
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1755
Place of death Thionville