Auguste-Joseph Franchomme (10 April 180821 January 1884) was a French cellist and composer. For his contributions to music, he was decorated with the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1884.Culture.gouv.fr
/ref>

Life and career

Born in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

, Franchomme studied at the local conservatoire with M. Mas and Pierre Baumann, before continuing his education with Jean-Henri Levasseur and Louis-Pierre Norblin at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as 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 ...

, where he won his first prize only after one year. He began his career playing with various orchestras and was appointed solo cello at the

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Co ...

in 1828. Along with the violinist

Jean-Delphin Alard Jean-Delphin Alard (8 March 181522 February 1888) was a French violinist, composer, and teacher. He was the son-in-law of Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, and had Pablo de Sarasate amongst his students. Biography Alard was born in Bayonne, the son of an ...

, teacher of

Pablo de Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include ...

, and the pianist

Charles Hallé Sir Charles Hallé (born Karl Halle; 11 April 181925 October 1895) was an Anglo-German pianist and conductor, and founder of The Hallé orchestra in 1858. Life Hallé was born Karl Halle on 11 April 1819 in Hagen, Westphalia. After settling ...

, creator of the Hallé Orchestra, he was a founder and member of the Alard Quartet. The Quartet was rare for a

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

of its time because it consisted of professional musicians. Franchomme also belonged to the founding ranks of the

Société des Concerts du Conservatoire Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the se ...

. Franchomme forged close friendships with

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

, when the latter visited Paris in 1831, and with

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

. In 1833, Chopin and Franchomme collaborated to write a Grand Duo concertant for piano and cello, based on themes from

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...

's opera ''

Robert le diable ''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first grand o ...

''. Franchomme also rewrote the cello parts for Chopin's ''

Polonaise The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, meani ...

Brillante'', Op. 3, and was the dedicatee of Chopin's Cello Sonata, Op. 65. Franchomme was also the dedicatee of the cello sonata of

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Lisz ...

. With the exception of a trip to England in 1856, Franchomme hardly left Paris, where he became a central figure of the city's musical life. In 1843, he acquired the ''

Duport Stradivarius The ''Duport Stradivarius'' is a cello made in 1711 by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, ...

'' from the son of

Jean-Louis Duport Jean-Louis Duport (4 October 17497 September 1819), sometimes known as Duport the Younger to distinguish him from his older brother (and teacher) Jean-Pierre (1741-1818), was a cellist, pedagogue, and composer. He is perhaps best known today fo ...

for the then-record sum of 22,000

French franc The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

s. He also owned the

De Munck Stradivarius The Stradivarius of 1730, also called the De Munck-Feuermann, is an antique cello crafted by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari. It was notably owned and played by Ernest de Munck and Emanuel Feuermann. Steven Isserlis has described the instrume ...

of 1730. Franchomme succeeded Norblin as the head professor of cello at the Paris Conservatory in 1846, and his class included

Jules Delsart Jules Delsart (24 November 1844 – 3 July 1900)MacGregor, "Jules Delsart"Grove Music Online (Subscription Access)/ref> was a 19th-century French cellist and teacher. He is best known for his arrangement for cello and piano of César Franck's V ...

(who succeeded his master), Louis Hegyesi, and Ernest Gillet. He died in his sleep of heart attack on 21 January 1884 at the age of 75, four days after he received the

Legacy

Franchomme was the most celebrated cellist of his time and contributed to the refinement of the

bowing Bowing (also called stooping) is the act of lowering the torso and head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. It is most prominent in Asian cultures but it is also typical of nobility and aristocracy in many European coun ...

technique—elegant, sweet, and light—which distinguished the French school developed by Jean-Pierre and

. His left hand was renowned for its deft, precise, and expressive powers of execution. On 3 May 1856, the Weekly Chronicle and Register noted that he "carefully abstains from all abuse of the tremolo and of the exaggerated expression which are the distinguishing features in most modern violoncello playing". As a composer, Franchomme published some fifty-five works for cello, including the Twelve Caprices, Op. 7, and the Twelve

Étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidl ...

s, with optional second cello, Op. 35; one

cello concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instru ...

, Op. 33; as well as numerous other pieces with piano, orchestral, or chamber accompaniment.

Recordings

The Complete Caprices and Études (Clay Ruede, cello) Koch International 3-7226 (1994)

References

External links

''400 lettres de musiciens au Musée royal de Mariemont''
* * ttp://louise-dubin.com/Franchomme Research project on Franchomme by cellist Louise Dubinbr>''Blog Days of Auguste'' Franchomme blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franchomme, Auguste 1808 births 1884 deaths Musicians from Lille French classical cellists French male classical composers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French Romantic composers 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni Conservatoire de Paris faculty Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century cellists