Jean-Baptiste Matho (1663-1743) - Arion (1714)
Performers: Eric Vіgnаu (tenor); Monique Schοlte (mezzosoprano);
Stéphanie d’Oustrаc (mezzosoprano); Pierre Thіrіon-Vаllеt
(bass-baritone); Ronаld Aіjtіnk (bass);
Il Teatro Musicale; Frédériquе Chаuvеt (conductor)
Further info: Matho - Arion
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French composer. His name is first mentioned in the Mercure galant of
August 1687. In October 1699 the Mercure mentioned a performance in the
royal apartments at Fontainebleau of the opera Coronis, though ‘neither
the king nor their British Majesties heard the music which was judged to
be most beautiful’. Coronis was performed again three days later on 21
October 1699. According to the Journal du marquis de Dangeau (24 April
1700) the Duke of Burgundy provided Matho, who was teaching him to sing,
with a pension. Coronis was revived before the duke on 22 October 1702,
and was the only operatic work performed during the court’s entire stay
at Fontainebleau. Matho can next be traced to Clagny in 1703. In August
that year Philémon et Baucis was put on by Nicolas de Malezieu for the
festivities at Châtenay in honour of the Duke and Duchess of Maine. The
Mercure printed the entire text along with a laudatory commentary. Matho
is also known to have composed a motet for the offertory of the mass
for the same occasion. He continued to write musical divertissements for
comedies at Chatenay with Le Prince de Catay (1704), La Tarentole
(1705) and L’hôte de Lemnos (1707). An article in the Journal du marquis
de Dangeau (September 1714) implies that Matho acted as Lalande’s
deputy in the royal chapel: ‘When he [Lalande] is unwell and cannot
carry out his duties, Matho beats time in his place, and for this
reason, and because he is always in attendance at the musiques du roy in
the evenings, the king is increasing Matho’s pension’. Le ballet de la
jeunesse was performed on 16 February 1718 to celebrate Louis XV’s
eighth birthday the previous day. In August 1720 Matho was appointed
maître de musique du roi as well as maître de musique des enfants de
France. In 1734 he went into semi-retirement and J.-N.-P. Royer was
appointed as joint maître de musique des enfants de France. The
following year Matho resigned and Royer obtained the reversion of the
post.
Matho does, however, seem to have retained his position in the royal
chapel until his death. His daughter Andrée Denise was granted a pension
of 400 livres in consideration of his work in the king’s service.
Contemporaneous accounts of Matho’s works are unanimously positive,
sometimes overflowing with praise. The Mercure galant wrote of Tircis et
Célimène: ‘Its music is extremely graceful and in good taste, with
excellent workmanship and articulation: the singing is moving, the
symphony harmonious, and the choruses pleasing and appropriately
filled’. The same journal wrote of Philémon et Baucis: ‘all agreed that M
Mataut had surpassed himself both in the expression of the words and
the excellence of the vocal music, and in the admirable violin airs
which alternated with the singing’. The one unhappy event was the
failure of Arion, Matho’s only tragédie en musique, but as it came
during a period of general crisis at the Opéra it is not of any great
significance. It is unfortunate that a large proportion of Matho’s
output is lost. Neither his religious works nor his comédies-ballets (an
extremely rare genre at this period) have survived. Philémon et Baucis
and its airs for violin are lost as is the Ballet de la jeunesse. His
few surviving works show that he wrote in the purely French tradition,
resisting any Italian influence but paying great attention to dramatic
expression and to the quality of his orchestral writing. The tempest in
Arion, which unlike other ‘tempests’ of the period is entirely
orchestral and without choral passages, is remarkable for the
quadrupling of the bass part: bass viol, 1st and 2nd bass violin and
bassoon. The orchestral writing thus occupies eight staves, something
unique at that time, with subtle doubling and exchanging of melodic
patterns between the parts. From Coronis onwards the sophisticated
contrapuntal writing of some of Matho’s choruses breaks with the
tradition of Lully, and, with its concern for dramatic expression, his
chromaticism is very much in advance of its time.
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