François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829)
- Dernière Messe des Vivants composée en 1813
Performers: Margot Parès-Reyna (soprano); Jacqueline Mayeur (alto); Alexandre Laiter (tenor); Michel Piquemal (bass);
Choeur Régional Vittoria d'lle de Picardie; Le Sinfonietta, Orchestre Régional de Picardie; Dominique Rouits (conductor)
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French-Belgian composer. He was born into a Walloon family. In early
childhood he displayed remarkable musical talent and reputedly possessed
a beautiful voice. From the age of six he sang at the collegiate church
of Walcourt. Shortly thereafter he was listed as a singer in the chapel
of Ste Aldegonde in Mauberge; while there he joined the chapel of St
Pierre and received instruction in the violin, harpsichord, harmony and
composition from its music director, Jean Vanderbelen. In 1742 he became
a chorister at Antwerp Cathedral, where he pursued further studies with
André-Joseph Blavier. He went to Paris in 1751 and in 1754 succeeded
Jean-Philippe Rameau as director of the orchestra of the wealthy amateur
La Pouplinière (or La Popelinière). There he came under the influence
of Johann Stamitz, the pre-Classical symphonist, who was briefly also in
La Pouplinière’s employ. In 1754 he performed the first of his 30
symphonies. Later, as musical director to the Prince de Condé, he also
composed operas, some of which were popular successes. In 1773 he became
director of the Concert Spirituel, and in 1795, on the founding of the
Paris Conservatory, he served as an inspector and teacher there until
1816. Throughout, he was in the foreground of Parisian musical activity,
founding his own orchestra and giving the first performance of a Haydn
symphony in Paris, supporting Christoph Willibald Gluck in his rivalry
with Niccolò Piccinni and writing copious amounts of music in support of
the French Revolution. He was a prolific composer, writing 48
symphonies, six sinfonia concertantes, 22 operas, four ballets, 12 trio
sonatas, six string quartets and six flute quartets, three Te Deums
(including a massive multimovement work from 1817), two oratorios, a
Requiem, three Masses, numerous smaller sacred works, a wind symphony,
and dozens of Revolutionary hymns, dirges, marches and cantatas. Gossec
was an experimenter in choral and orchestral writing. He expanded the
French orchestra to include horns and clarinets and experimented with
novel combinations of instruments and voices. His career reflects the
changing social position of the Parisian musician between the mid-18th
century and the early 19th Century. His son Alexandre François Joseph
Gossec (c.1760-after 1803) was also a composer.
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