Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)
- Concerto (I, Re mineur) a tre violini, alto e basso per organo e violoncello ... oeuvre VIIe (1737)
Performers: Orchestre de chambre de Rouen; Albert Bеaucamp (1921-1967, conductor)
Further info: Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) - Concertos Op.7 & Op.10
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French composer, violinist and dancer. His father was the master
lacemaker and cellist Antoine Leclair. He studied violin, dancing, and
lacemaking in his youth, excelling in all three. He then began his
career as a dancer at the Lyons Opera, where he met Marie-Rose
Casthagnie; they were married in 1716. About 1722 he went to Turin,
where he was active as a ballet master. During a visit to Paris in 1723
to arrange for the publication of his op.1, a distinguished set of
sonatas, he acquired a wealthy patron in Joseph Bonnier. Returning to
Turin, he wrote ballets for the Teatro Regio Ducale and also received
instruction from Giovanni Battista Somis. He then made a series of
appearances at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1728. He also visited
London, and then made a great impression when he played at the Kassel
court with Pietro Locatelli. He subsequently received additional
instruction from Andre Cheron in Paris. After the death of his first
wife, he married Louise Roussel (1700-c.1774) in 1730; she engraved all
of his works from op.2 forward. From 1733 to 1737 he served as
'ordinaire de la musique du roi' to Louis XV. He then entered the
service of Princess Anne at the Orange court in the Netherlands in 1738,
and was honored with the Croix Neerlandaise du Lion. He was active
three months of the year at the court, and, from 1740, spent the
remaining months as maestro di cappella to the commoner François du Liz
at The Hague. He returned to Paris in 1743. With the exception of a
brief period of service with the Spanish Prince Don Philippe in Chamhery
in 1744, he remained in Paris for the rest of his life. From 1748 until
his death, he was music director and composer to his former student,
the Duke of Gramont, who maintained a private theater in the Parisian
suburb of Puteaux. He separated from his wife about 1758. He was
murdered as he was entering his home. The Paris police report listed
three suspects: His gardener (who discovered his body), his estranged
wife, and his nephew, the violinist Guillaume-François Vial, with whom
he was on poor terms. The evidence clearly pointed to the nephew, but he
was never charged with the deed. As a violinist, he was the founder of
the French violin school. He was also a distinguished composer who
successfully combined the finest elements of the Italian and French
styles of his day. His brothers Jean-Marie Leclair [le cadet]
(1703-1777), Pierre Leclair (1709-1784) and Jean-Benoît Leclair
(1714-c.1759) were also violinists and composers.
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