Louis-Nicolas Clérambault

Portrait of Nicolas Clerambault, engraving by Louis-Simon Lempereur

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault or just Nicolas Clérambault (born December 19, 1676 in Paris , † October 26, 1749 ibid) was a French composer and organist .

Life

The son of Dominique Clérambault (1644–1704), one of the Vingt-quatre Violons du Roy at the court of Louis XIV, began learning the violin and the harpsichord at an early age. He received organ lessons from André Raison and composition from Jean-Baptiste Moreau (1656–1733). At the age of thirteen he composed his first Grand Motet . He then became organist at the Church of the Grands-Augustins and in 1710 at Saint-Sulpice .

In 1705 Clérambault came into the courtly service, where he organized concerts and wrote cantatas . After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the court moved to Paris. Clérambault worked as the successor to Guillaume Gabriel Nivers with the Demoiselles de Maintenon at the royal establishment Maison Royale de Saint-Louis in Saint-Cyr-l'École , a refuge for daughters from impoverished high nobility. This school was founded by Madame de Maintenon , the king's lover and later wife. Here Clérambault gave music lessons, played the organ and conducted several choirs.

From a compositional point of view, he developed the typically French cantata during this time. Under Clérambault, this resembled a kind of miniature opera, mostly for voice with harpsichord and viol accompaniment, occasionally also with violin and flute. The topics mostly came - according to the taste of the time - from Greek mythology.

In 1719 he followed his teacher André Raison as organist at the Church of the Grands-Jacobins in Rue Saint-Jacques . The family lived on rue du Four in the St. Germain-des-Prés district and their neighbors were fellow musicians Marc-Antoine Charpentier , André Campra , Jean-Philippe Rameau and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier . His two sons, César and Évrard, both became organists and composers.

On March 23, 1737 he was initiated in the Masonic Lodge Coustos-Villeroy , the flautist Jacques-Christophe Naudot vouched for him.

After Clérambault's death, his son César-François Nicolas (around 1705–1760) took over the position of organist, after his death the younger brother Évrard-Dominique Clérambault (1710–1790).

Works

List of manuscripts and published works from the “Bibliothèque Nationale de France” in Paris. (Note: when parts for flute are used, the flûte allemande , i.e. the transverse flute, is often meant)

Undated works

Sagesse éternelle
Pour la sainte Vierge , motet
Domine for four voices and instruments
Domine for three voices and two violins
Prière pour le roy ("Prayer for the King")
Sept Sonates et Symphonies for one or two violins and bass (Italian style)
Five volumes of motets

Dated works

1697–1714: Eight arias, published in various editions of the Recueils d'Airs sérieux et à boire de différents auteurs , ed. by Christophe Ballard, including:
- C'en est fait, j'ay brisé ma chaine , air à boire ("drinking song"; November 1701)
- Vuol parlar il mio cuore , for one voice and two instruments ( Recueil des meilleurs airs italiens qui ont été publics [ sic! ] Depuis quelques années , 1708)
- Hélas, la pauvre fille, elle a le mal de tout , Ariette for two voices and figured bass (February 1709)
- Jugez de ma peine extrême (July 1710)
- Reparons l'honneur de la treille (September 1711)
- Amis, le dieu du vin s'empresse (February 1714)
1701: Te Deum in three parts
1702: Premier livre de pièces de clavecin ( harpsichord )
1704: Magnificat for three voices and figured bass
1708: Saint Sacrement , motet for three voices
1710: Premier livre d'orgue, contenant deux suites du I. et du II. Tone (first organ book with two suites in the first and second tone)
1710: Cantates françoises, à I. et II. Voix. Avec simphonie, et sans simphonie (French cantatas for one and two voices, with and without instrumental accompaniment, first book of cantatas ), therein:
- L'Amour piqué par une abeille , for soprano and figured bass;
- Poliphême , for bass, flute, violin and figured bass;

1713: Cantates françoises, mellées de simphonies. Livre IIème (French cantatas with instrumental accompaniment, second book), therein:

Alphée et Aréthuse , for soprano, flute or obbligato viol and figured bass;

Léandre et Héro , for soprano, violin, obbligato viol and figured bass;

La musette , for soprano, musette or violin and figured bass;

Pirâme et Tisbé , for haute-contre, flute, violin and figured bass;

Pigmalion , for bass, violin and figured bass;

Le triomphe de la paix , for two sopranos, bass, violin and figured bass.

1714: Le bouclier de Minerve , cantata for soprano, violin, flute or treble viol and basso continuo

1715: Abraham , cantata for soprano and figured bass

1716: Cantates françoises mellées de simphonies. Livre IIIe (French cantatas with instrumental accompaniment, third book), therein:

Apollon , for soprano pour flute or violin, violin and figured bass;
Zéphire et Flore , for soprano flute or treble viol and figured bass;
L'Isle de Délos , for soprano, violin and figured bass;
La Mort d'Hercule , for bass, violin and figured bass.

1716: La Muse de l'Opéra ou les Caractères lyriques , cantata for two sopranos, two violins, flute, oboe, obbligato viol, trumpets, timpani and figured bass

1720: Cantates françoises mellées de simphonies. Livre IVe (French cantatas with instrumental accompaniment, fourth book), therein:

L'Amour, guéri par l'amour , for soprano, flute, violin and figured bass;

Apollon et Doris , for soprano, haute-contre, violin and figured bass.

1721: Le soleil vainqueur des nuages , cantata for soprano, oboe , flute, violin, bassoon and figured bass

1723: Le triomphe de la vertu , Divertissement

1723: Choeurs et intermèdes de "L'idile de Saint-Cyr"

1725: Motets à une ou deux voix (motets for one or two voices), for choir, figured bass and organ

1726: Cinquième livre de cantates (fifth book of cantatas), therein:

Clitie , for soprano, obbligato viol and figured bass;

Les Forges de Vulcain , for bass, violin, flute and figured bass.

1730: Fables sur de petits airs et des Vaudevilles choisis avec une Basse en Musette. 1er recueil

1730–1731: 14 airs spirituels et moraux in two anthologies, Nouvelles poésies spirituelles et morales sur les plus beaux airs de la musique françoise et Italiennes , based on texts by Jean Desessartz

1733: Chants et motets à l'usage de l'église et communauté des Dames de la Royale Maison de St. Louis à St. Cyr. Tome premier, contenant les messes, vespres, cérémonies, avec toutes les litanies. Le tout composé par Mr. Nivers et mis en ordre et augmenté de quelques motets par Mr. Clérambault.

1733: Motets for one or two voices and figured bass À l'usage de l'église et communauté des Dames et Demoiselles etc. Tome second, contenant tous les motets, qui se chantent au salut, composés par Mrs Nivers et Clérambault.

1743: Les francs masçons (“The Freemasons”), motet for bass, one or two voices

1745: Divertissement sur la naissance du Sauveur du Monde ("On the Birth of the Redeemer")

1747: Hymn to St. Louis

1748: Divertissement Le retour du printemps ou l'Ouverture de la campagne

Audio sample

Basse et dessus de trompette ^{? / i} from thePremier Livre d'Orgue

literature

Catherine Cessac : Nicolas Clérambault . Fayard, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-213-60175-5 .

Web links

Commons : Louis-Nicolas Clérambault - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ This is the international form of name used by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) ( Notice de personne at the BnF).

personal data
SURNAME	Clérambault, Louis-Nicolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French violinist and Baroque composer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 19, 1676
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	October 26, 1749
Place of death	Paris

[1] This is the international form of name used by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) ( Notice de personne at the BnF).