Pierre-Montan Berton

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Pierre-Montan Berton , Le Berton for short (born January 7, 1727 in Maubert-Fontaine , Ardennes , † May 14, 1780 in Paris ), was a French composer , conductor and singer ( tenor ). He is the father of the composer Henri-Montan Berton .

Life

Pierre-Montan Berton was a young choirboy in Senlis Cathedral and studied organ, harpsichord and composition at the local choir school. He continued his studies in Paris and, encouraged by a recommendation from Jean-Marie Leclair , joined the Notre Dame choir as a tenor at the age of 16 . After two years he was hired as a singer at the Paris Opera , but asked for his dismissal on the day of his first appearance and accepted the post as first solo cellist.

From around 1746 he was bassist in Marseille for two years and then musical director at the Grand-Théâtre in Bordeaux . During this time he was also the organist at two churches and composed ballet music . In 1755 he returned to Paris, became director of the opera orchestra and began writing operas in the same year. He was less successful with this than with arrangements of works by other composers, which also included a new orchestration. At first he edited André Campra's opera Camille , later also works by Lully and Rameau . From 1767 Berton was managing director of the Paris Opera together with Jean-Claude Trial, from 1775 to 1778 its general director. His other offices included the direction of the Concert spirituel (1771–73) and the superintendent of the Musique du roi from 1775. Berton was possibly together with Étienne-Joseph Floquet and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1778 on the composition of the music for Jean-Georges Noverre's ballet Les petits riens involved. The latter position was taken over by Jean-Baptiste Cardonne after his death . From 1768 he also directed performances in the royal theater and the chapel in Versailles . He probably died of exhaustion eight days after conducting his own adaptation of Rameau's opera Castor et Pollux in May 1780.

His greatest achievements are in the direction of the Paris Opera, which he held together with Jean-Claude Trial . He had fundamentally reformed this opera orchestra before Gluck's appearance in Paris. He made it a famous orchestra at the time, able to cope with the increasing difficulties caused by the progress of symphonic music.

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personal data
SURNAME Berton, Pierre-Montan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berton, Le
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer, conductor and singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1727
PLACE OF BIRTH Maubert-Fontaine , Ardennes
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1780
Place of death Paris