Alexandre-Étienne Choron (21 October 1771 – 29 June 1834) was a French
musicologist
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
. For a short time he directed the
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...
. He made a distinction between sacred and secular music and was one of the originators of French interest in musicology.
Biography
Choron studied mathematics at the
Collège de Juilly. Since his father had forbidden him to study music, he taught himself the theories of
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...
, followed by lessons in harmony from
abbé Roze and Bonesi. Bonesi familiarized him with Italian music and the treatises on
fugue
In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
and
strict counterpoint of
Nicola Sala (1713–1801). He drew from these his book ''Principes de composition des écoles d'Italie.'' He learned German, studied musical treatises in that language, then undertook to reform all branches of musical activity.
A professor of mathematics at the
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
since its founding, then a corresponding member of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts
The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect.
Background
The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...
, Choron was charged in 1811 with reorganizing the choir schools with the title of Director of Music of Religious Ceremonies.
Named director of the Paris Opéra on 18 January 1816, he instituted the reopening of the
Paris Conservatory
The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...
, which had been closed since 1815, under the name of ''École royale de chant et de déclamation.'' On 30 March 1817 he was forced to resign the directorship of the Opera, without a pension, as a result of having wanted to make too many radical changes.
In 1817, he founded and directed the ''Institution royale de musique classique et religieuse.'' Its influence was considerable. It trained or influenced some of the most important artists of this era, notably the celebrated singers
Gilbert Duprez
Gilbert-Louis Duprez (6 December 180623 September 1896) was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest (''Ut de poitrine'', as Paris audiences called it). He also c ...
and Rosine Stoltz, and the actress
Rachel Felix. It published and had performed publicly very old choral works, including those of
Palestrina
Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...
,
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
and
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.
Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
.
With the
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...
in 1830, the government withdrew his subsidies, and the institution ran into grave difficulties. Choron died soon thereafter in 1834. The institution was resuscitated under the name of ''Conservatoire royal de musique classique de France'' or ''
École Niedermeyer'' by
Louis Niedermeyer, who thus ensured the transmission of the principles and teachings of Choron.
Choron published numerous musical works. He also left behind his voluminous papers, preserved at the
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
.
Works
* 1808: ''Principes de composition des écoles d’Italie'' (based on
Nicola Sala, teacher at the Pieta dei Turchini conservatory)
* 1810–11, revised 1817: ''Dictionnaire historique des musiciens, artistes et amateurs, morts ou vivants'' (with F. Fayolle)
* 1811: ''Méthode élémentaire de musique et de plain-chant''
* 1813: Revised and augmented edition of ''Traité général des voix et des instruments d'orchestre'' by L. Francoeur
* 1814–16: translations of theoretical works of
Albrechtsberger and F. Azopardi
* 1820: ''Méthode concertante à 3 parties''
* 1820: ''Méthode de chant''
* 1836–39: ''Manuel complet de musique vocale et instrumentale, ou Encyclopédie musicale'' (with la Fage)
Bibliography
* Hutchings, Arthur and Hervé Audéon, "Choron, Alexandre(-Etienne)" in ''Grove Music Online''
* Meidhof, Nathalie, ''Alexandre Étiennes Akkordlehre. Konzepte, Quellen, Verbreitung'', Olms, Hildesheim 2016.
* Réty, Hippolyte, ''Notice historique sur Choron et son École : discours prononcé à l'Académie de Mâcon le 22 novembre 1872'', C. Douniol, Paris, 1873, 25 p.
* Simms, Bryan Randolph, ''Alexandre Choron (1771-1834) as an historian and theorist of music,'' Ph.D. Diss., Yale University, 1971.
External links
Havard de La Montagne (Denis), ''Alexandre Choron (1771-1834) ou Petite histoire de la musique religieuse depuis la Révolution''*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choron, Alexandre-Etienne
Musicians from Caen
1771 births
1834 deaths
French music theorists
French music educators
18th-century French musicologists
19th-century French musicologists
French male non-fiction writers
Directors of the Paris Opera