Charles-Hubert Gervais (19 February 1671 – 14 January 1744) was a French composer of the

Baroque era The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

. The son of a valet to King Louis XIV's brother, Monsieur, Gervais was born at the

Palais Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal R ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and probably educated by Monsieur's musical intendants, Jean Granouillet de Sablières and Charles Lalouette. He worked as a musician for the Duc de Chartres, the future regent of France. In 1701, he married Françoise du Vivier (she died in 1723). In 1721 he was named ''sous-maître de musique'' at the Chapelle royale along with André Campra, Nicolas Bernier and

Michel Richard Delalande Michel Richard Delalande e Lalande'' (; 15 December 1657 – 18 June 1726) was a French Baroque composer and organist who was in the service of King Louis XIV. He was one of the most important composers of grands motets. He also wrote orch ...

(who had previously held the post alone). Gervais composed sacred music, 42 grans motets, 7 petits motets, cantatas, and operas, including two '' tragédies en musique''.

Works

Operas

*''Idille sur le retour du duc de Chartres'' (1692) *'' Méduse'' (''tragédie en musique'', 1697) *''Divertissement de Fontainebleau'' (1698, attributed to Gervais) *''

Hypermnestre ''Hypermnestre'' (''Hypermnestra'') is an opera by the French composer Charles-Hubert Gervais, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera) on 3 November 1716. It takes the form of a ''tragédie en musique'' in a prologue ...

'' (''tragédie en musique'', 1716) *''Les amours de Protée'' (''

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 sevente ...

'', 1720) *''Divertissement de Villers-Cotterêts'' (1722)

Discography

* ''

,'' Katherine Watson, Hypermnestre, Mathias Vidal, Lyncée, Thomas Dolié, Danaüs, Philippe-Nicolas Martin, Arcas (ombre de Gélanor, le Nil), Chantal Santon-Jeffery, (NaÏade, bergère, Coryphée), Juliette Mars, (Isis, matelote), Manuel Munez Camelino (Grand Prêtre, Coryphée), Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, conducted by Giörgy Vashegyi. 2 CD Glossa 2019. 5 Diapasons. * ''Grand motets - Exaudi Deus, O filii et filiae, Judica me Deus, Uquequo Domine, Te Deum,'' Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, conducted by György Vashegyi. CD Glossa 2022. 5 Diapasons * ''Grands motets, Jubilate Deo, Super flumina Babylon, Misere,'' Choeur du Concert Spirituel, Les Ombres, conducted by Sylvain Sartre. CD CVS 2022. 5 Diapasons

Sources

* Charles-Hubert Gervais, ''Super flumina Babilonis''. Edited by

Jean-Paul C. Montagnier Jean-Paul C. Montagnier (born September 28, 1965 at Lyon) is a French musicologist. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he received two first prizes in musical analysis (1988, professor: Claude Ballif) an ...

. “Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era” no. 84. Madison, WI: A.R. Editions, Inc., 1998. * Charles-Hubert Gervais, ''Miserere''. Ed.

. Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag, 2004 *

,"Charles-Hubert Gervais’s ''Psiché burlesque'' and the Birth of the Comic Cantate française," ''The Journal of Musicology'' 17 (1999): 520-545. *

,''Charles-Hubert Gervais (1671-1744), un musicien au service du Régent et de Louis XV''. Paris: CNRS Editions, 2001. *

, “Les deux versions du cinquième acte d’''Hypermnestre'' de Charles-Hubert Gervais,” ''Revue de musicologie'', 82 (1996), pp. 331-343. *

, “Claude Boyer librettiste: remarques sur ''Méduse'',” ''Revue d’histoire du théâtre'' 191 (1996), pp. 303–320.

Works

Operas

Discography

Sources

External links

See also