François Devienne (1759-1803) - Simphonie concertante [G] pour deux flûtes avec accompagnement de deux violons, alto, basse, deux haubois et deux cors ... œuvre 76 (c.1800)
Performers: Andras Adorjan (flute); Marianne Henkel (flute); Münchener Kammerorchester;
Hans Stadlmair (1929-2019, conductor)
Further info: François Devienne (1759-1803) - Concertos pour Flute
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French flautist, bassoonist, composer and teacher. He was the seventh of
eight children born to Pierre Devienne and his second wife Marie Petit.
Following early musical education as a choirboy, he was sent to Paris
to study flute with Félix Rault. In 1780 he joined the orchestra of the
Prince de Rohan, making his debut at the Concerts spirituels in 1782.
From then until 1785 he performed there as a soloist at least 18 times,
but after 3 April 1785 he did not appear there for four years. From 1785
to 1789 his place of employment is uncertain; he may have been a member
of the Swiss Guards Band in Versailles. Devienne probably returned to
Paris in autumn or winter 1788. Thereafter he played flute and bassoon
at the Opéra until the Revolution, when he joined the military band of
the French Guards. In 1795 he was appointed as an inspector and
professor of flute at the new Conservatoire following the publication
two years earlier of his treatise 'Méthode de flûte théoretique et
pratique'. In May 1803 he entered Charenton, a Parisian home for the
mentally ill, where he died the following September after a long illness
which ended by impairing his reason. He was an extraordinarily prolific
composer of peculiar importance from the impulse that he gave to
perfecting the technique of wind instruments. He wrote 12 operas, seven
sinfonia concertantes, 14 flute and five bassoon concertos, 25 quintets
and quartets, 46 trios, 147 duos, and 67 sonatas, as well as a symphony
and two Revolutionary hymns. As a teacher, Joseph Guillou was one of his
most famous pupils. François Devienne was regarded in his lifetime as a
flute virtuoso, and his works were frequently reprinted abroad.
