Michel Corrette (1707-1795)
- Concerto 'Le Phénix' (1735)
Performers: Fritz Wolken, George Zukerman, Jürgen Gode, Karl Steinbrecher (fagots); Martin Galling (clavecin)
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French organist, teacher, composer-arranger and author of methods on
performing practice; son of Gaspard Corrette. Though little is known of
his life, his works, which span nearly 75 years, provide an
extraordinarily broad view of ordinary light music in France during the
18th century, and his methods are a rich source of information about
performing practice and music of the period. He was married on 8 January
1733 to Marie-Catherine Morize. They had a daughter Marie-Anne
(1734-c1822) and a son Pierre-Michel (1744-1801), who became an
organist. Corrette first established his reputation by becoming musical
director of the Foire St Germain and the Foire St Laurent, where he
arranged and composed vaudevilles and divertissements for the opéras
comiques (1732-39). From 1737 until its closure in 1790 he was organist
at Ste Marie within the temple of the grand prieur of France, thus
serving the Chevalier d’Orléans, then the Prince de Conti (1749), and
finally the Duke d’Angoulême (1776). About a year after beginning at the
temple, he became organist at the Jesuit College in the rue St-Antoine,
a position he retained until the Jesuits were expelled in 1762. In 1734
he was styled Grand maître des Chevaliers du Pivois, from 1750
Chevalier de l’Ordre de Christ. He was well known as a teacher, though
his reputation was not always favourable. Unsympathetic people called
his pupils ‘anachorètes’ (ânes à Corrette) and in 1779 the Mercure said
of a new edition of Les amusemens du Parnasse (a harpsichord method)
that it was good in its time but contemporary students would find little
of value in it. Yet for historians his little treatises are full of
value. An anecdote in his double bass method (1773) shows that he
visited England:
"I suppose it is unnecessary to warn those who wear glasses to have some
for distance vision. I remember having been at a concert in a little
town in England where I saw a trio of spectacles at the harpsichord.
Each of the players was competing for the closest position to the music
desk. After the heads had knocked against one another, the singer, who
was a castrato newly arrived from Italy and who was having difficulty
seeing in spite of three pairs of glasses on his nose, had the idea of
sitting astride the harpsichordist’s hump-back. This advantage didn’t
last long, because the archlute player at one side of the grotesque
group had – unfortunately for him – a wooden leg; and as he was playing
standing up and in spite of the telescope that he wore on his beet-nose
saw no better than the others, he contrived through his contortions of
beating time now on the castrato’s back, now on the harpsichordist’s
hump, and of signalling the page-turn in Hebrew-fashion for the da capo,
to let his wooden leg slip causing them all to fall like Phaeton. A
spectator who appreciated novelty called out, ‘Bravo, bravo’."
The wording suggests that the trip took place well before 1773; perhaps
the contredanses angloises for flute duo published in 1740 were gathered
at first hand. These two quotations illustrate one of the most valuable
features of Corrette’s works: the bits of historical information
presented with a rare clarity and concreteness. In his violin method,
L’école d’Orphée, there are 23 pages of pieces illustrating French and
Italian styles, giving a valuable idea of what Frenchmen of the period
meant by these designations, so important for the understanding of their
explanations of performing practice. A large proportion of Corrette’s
music is based on popular tunes of all sorts and constitutes an
important source for their study. Music from, or written for, opéra
comiques is presented fully scored, sometimes with place and date of
performance. The arrangements run from simple harmonizations to
transformations of the tunes into concerto movements, as in the 25
concertos comiques.
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