Michel-Paul-Guy de Chabanon

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Michel-Paul-Guy de Chabanon (born November 27, 1730 in Saint Domingue , † June 10, 1792 in Paris ) was a French violinist, composer, music theorist, author, translator and member of the Académie française .

life and work

From violinist to scholar

Michel-Paul-Guy de Chabanon, brother of Charles-Antoine Chabanon de Maugris (1736–1780), attended the Jesuit college Louis-le-Grand from the age of 7 . He evaded his teachers' advertising for the clergy and devoted himself to professional violin training for 8 years. Then he immersed himself intensively in the scholarship of ancient Greece and in 1759 was accepted into the Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres .

Writer and music theorist

From 1762 he excelled with stage works as well as with literary and music critical writings. He frequented the literary salons of Paris (especially that of Madame Geoffrin ) and from 1766 stayed three times longer with Voltaire in Ferney , about which he reported extensively (published posthumously). He translated the Odes of Pindar , the Idyll of Theocritus and the music-related Problemata of Aristotle (each provided with extensive discussions) and provided a pre-Romanist interpretation of Dante . He wrote the texts for three musical works by François-Joseph Gossec and tried his own tragedies, which he discussed with Voltaire. Two of his writings on music theory and one on literature theory have recently been reprinted. In 1779 he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 14). He died in 1792 at the age of 61.

Works

Stage works

  • Éponine . 1762.
  • Priam au camp d'Achille . Tragédie en 1 acte. 1764.
  • Eudoxie, tragédie en vers et en cinq actes . Paris 1769.
  • (Librettist) Sabinus, tragédie lyrique en quatre actes représentée devant Sa Majesté à Versailles le 4 décembre 1773, et pour la première fois par l'Académie royale de musique le mardi 22 février 1774. Paris 1774. (Music by François-Joseph Gossec)
  • (Librettist) Philémon et Baucis. Pastorale en 2 actes . 1775. (Music by François-Joseph Gossec)
  • La Nativité. Oratorio . (Music by François-Joseph Gossec)
  • Œuvres de théâtre et autres poésies . Paris 1788.

Music theory and literature theory writings

  • Éloge de M. Rameau . Paris 1764.
  • Sur le sort de la poésie en ce siècle philosophe . Paris 1764. Geneva 1970.
  • Vie du Dante , avec une notice détaillée de ses ouvrages. Amsterdam / Paris 1773.
  • Observations sur la musique, et principalement sur la métaphysique de l'art . Paris 1779. Geneva 1969.
  • De la Musique considérée en elle-même et dans ses rapports avec la parole, les langues, la poésie et le théâtre . Paris 1785. Geneva 1969.

translator

  • Les Odes pythiques de Pindare , traduites avec des remarques. 1772. [1]
  • Idylles de Théocrite, traduites en prose, avec quelques imitations en vers de cet auteur; précédées d'un essai sur les poëtes bucoliques. Paris 1777. (dedicated to Antoine Léonard Thomas ) [2]
  • Mémoires sur les "Problèmes" d'Aristote concernant la musique , traduits et commentés par M. de Chabanon. Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Paris 46, 1779, pp. 285-355. [3]

literature

  • Ange-François Fariau de Saint-Ange (Ed.): Tableau de quelques circonstances de ma vie. Précis de ma liaison avec mon frère Maugris. Ouvrages posthumes de Chabanon. Paris 1795, 1802. (The text contains, in addition to uninteresting private experiences, pp. 104–185, “Anecdotes sur Voltaire” from my own experience.)
  • Ghyslaine Guertin: "L'universel et le singulier. L'esthétique de Michel-Paul-Guy de Chabanon". In: Herder (1744-1803). Le clair-obscur = Horizons philosophiques 13, 2003
  • Ghyslaine Guertin and Laurine Quetin (eds.): Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon et ses contemporains . In: Musicorum 6, Tours 2008.
  • Ora Frishberg Saloman (1938–2011): "Chabanon and Chastellux on Music and Language, 1764–1773." In: International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 20, 1989, pp. 109-120.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Chabanon, Michel-Paul-Guy de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French violinist, composer, music theorist, author, translator and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1730
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint Domingue
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1792
Place of death Paris