Joseph Touchemoulin

Joseph Touchemoulin (born October 23, 1727 in Chalon-sur-Saône , † October 25, 1801 in Regensburg ) was a French classical composer and violinist who worked mainly in Bonn and Regensburg.

Life

Joseph Touchemoulin, the son of Louis Touchemoulin, the head of the city, and his wife Jeanne Roulot, got a job as a violinist at the court of Elector Clemens August I of Bavaria in Bonn very early on . This enabled him to go on a study trip to Italy, where he was tutored by Giuseppe Tartini . It was also Tartini who encouraged Touchemoulin to further develop his compositional skills. He returned to Bonn in 1753, where his salary was increased to 1,000 florins in March 1753  . The following year, on August 15, one of his symphonies was successfully performed at the Paris Concert Spirituel . On February 4, 1761 he was given the position of Kapellmeister in Bonn, although - contrary to custom - he was preferred to the senior singer Ludwig van Beethoven , the grandfather of the composer of the same name. But the elector died just two days later. The halving of musicians' salaries by his successor Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels prompted Touchemoulin to resign and to take up a position at the court of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis in Regensburg that same year , which he retained until his death - initially as a violinist (as a colleague by František Xaver Pokorný ), after the death of Joseph Riepel in 1782 as princely conductor.

Works

Very few of Touchemoulin's works were printed and his work was forgotten after his death. Many manuscripts are scattered in European and American music libraries. The Thurn und Taxis Library in Regensburg has the most extensive collection.

Without a doubt, the following works have been assigned to Touchemoulin so far.

• 6 symphonies op.1 Bonn symphonies (Paris 1754)
• 12 symphonies
• 5 violin concertos (In the foreword to the first two concertos, Op. 2 (1775), he describes himself as a “student of the famous Tartini”.)
• a harpsichord concert
• a flute concert
• a Divertimento per la tavola di SAS il Principe della Torre e Tassis for 13 instruments
• a string quartet
• 4 sonatas for violin and B. c.
• I furori di Orlando , Dramma semigiocoso, Regensburg 1777
• Music for Annette et Lubin (A. Blaise)
• Missa solemnis in G minor, for solos, choir and orchestra
• Requiem in C minor, for solos, choir and orchestra
• some smaller instrumental and vocal works

CD recordings

• Concertos & Symphonies (Ramée 0807)

Alexis Kossenko - Flauto traverso, Daniel Sepec - violin, Les inventions, Patrick Ayrton - harpsichord and direction

Sinfonia in F major op.1 No.5 (Allegro-Andante-Presto)

Sinfonia in G major op.1 No.2 (Allegro assai-Andante-Presto)

Violin Concerto in D major (Allegro moderato-Adagio-Presto)

Flute Concerto in A major (Allegro-Largo-Presto)

Harpsichord Concerto in C major (Allegro ma non molto-Andantino-Tempo di Menuetto)

• Sonata No. 3 in B flat major for violin and basso continuo (Ars Burgundiae AB ​​001/01)

Helen Fouchères - violin; Marion Middenway - violoncello, Patrick Ayrton - harpsichord

• The six Bonn symphonies op.1 (University of Bonn 2002)

Capella academia, Walter L. Mik - direction

Sinfonia in E flat major op.1 No. 1 (Allegro-Andante-Presto)

Sinfonia in G major op. 1 No. 2 (Allegro assai-Andante-Presto)

Sinfonia in F major op. 1 no.3 (Allegro-Andante-Presto)

Sinfonia in D major op.1 No. 4 (Allegro assai-Andante-Presto)

Sinfonia in F major op. 1 No. 5 (Allegro-Andante-Presto)

Sinfonia in C major op. 1 No. 6 (Allegro moderato-Andante-Presto)

• Music at the University of Bonn (University of Bonn 1997)

Collegium musicum, Walter L. Mik - direction

therein: Symphony No. 17 in D major (approx. 1790)

• Italian Baroque Concerts (Koch Munich 1988)

Paul Meisen - flute, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Müller-Brühl - conductor

therein: Flute Concerto in A major

• Court music with the Prince of Thurn and Taxis (LP, Polydor International GmbH 1980)

Eberhard Kraus , harpsichord

therein: Chaconne in D major

literature

• Christoph Meixner: Touchemoulin, Joseph . In: The music in past and present , person part vol. 15, ed. by Ludwig Finscher, Kassel a. a. 2006, col. 969/970.
• ders .: Music theater in Regensburg in the age of the everlasting Reichstag (= music and theater 3), Sinzig 2008.

Web links

• Catalog raisonné in the international dictionary of sources RISM
• Works by and about Joseph Touchemoulin in the catalog of the German National Library
• The Touchemoulin project
• The court of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis