Antoine Dauvergne (3 October 1713 – 11 February 1797) was a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist. Dauvergne was born in

Moulins, Allier Moulins (; oc, Molins) is a Communes of France, commune in central France, capital of the Allier Departments of France, department. It is located on the river Allier (river), Allier. Among its many tourist attractions are the Maison Mantin, t ...

. He served as master of the ''Chambre du roi'', director of the

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...

from 1762 to 1771, and director of the ''Opéra'' three times between 1769 and 1790. Dauvergne contributed both as a performer and composer to the classical music at the court at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. He is most famous as the composer of '' Les troqueurs'', a work which had a major influence on the development of French ''

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

''. He died, aged 83, in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. In addition to

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s and opera-ballets, Dauvergne composed a number of other works including

violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed form ...

s (1739), trio sonatas,

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s, and what he called ''Concerts de Simphonies'' (1751). The name Dauvergne is sometimes written D'Auvergne. It means "from

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

," the region in the center of France covered by the volcanic

Massif Central The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,00 ...

mountain range.

List of works

Operas and ballets

*''Les amours de Tempé'',

ballet héroïque This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most ...

(1752, Paris) *'' Les troqueurs'',

intermède Intermède (also intermédie, intramède, entremets) is a French term for a musical or theatrical performance involving song and dance, also an 18th-century opera genre. The context in which the 'intermède' was performed has changed over time. ...

(1753, Paris) *''La coquette trompée'', comédie lyrique (1753,

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

) *''La sibylle'', ballet (1753, Fontainebleau) *'' Énée et Lavinie'',

tragédie lyrique This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

(1758, Paris) *''Les fêtes d'Euterpe'',

opéra-ballet ''Opéra-ballet'' (; plural: ''opéras-ballets'') is a genre of French Baroque lyric theatre that was most popular during the 18th century, combining elements of opera and ballet, "that grew out of the '' ballets à entrées'' of the early seven ...

(1758, Paris) *''Le rival favorable'', additional entrée for ''Les fêtes d'Euterpe'' (1760, Paris) *'' Canente'', tragédie (1760, Paris) *'' Hercule mourant'', tragédie lyrique (1761, Paris) *''Alphée et Aréthuse'', ballet (1762, Paris) *''

Polixène ''Polixène'' (''Polyxena'') is an opera by the French composer Antoine Dauvergne, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera, Paris Opéra) on 11 January 1763. It takes the form of a ''tragédie en musique, tragédie lyri ...

'', tragédie lyrique (1763, Paris) *''Le triomphe de flore, ou Le retour de printemps'', ballet-héroïque (1765, Fontainebleau) *''La vénitienne'', comédie-ballet (1768, Paris) *''La tour enchantée'', ballet figuré (1770, Paris) *''Le prix de la valeur'', ballet héroïque (1771, Paris) *''La sicilien, ou L'amour peintre'', comédie-ballet (1780,

) *''La mort d'Orphée'', tragédie (unperformed) *''Sémiramis'', tragédie (unperformed)

Discography

*Musique à Versailles - Dauvergne: Concerts de Simphonies. Performed by the Concerto Cologne. (Virgin Classics 2029-08-31 EMI 615422)

References

Sources

*
List of Dauvergne's staged works with comments (in German)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dauvergne, Antoine People from Moulins, Allier 1713 births 1797 deaths French male classical composers French Baroque composers French Classical-period composers French opera composers Male opera composers Directors of the Paris Opera 18th-century French male classical violinists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 17th-century male musicians