François Devienne (; 31 January 1759 – 5 September 1803) 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 professor for

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

at the

Paris Conservatory 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 ...

Career

Devienne was born in

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

, as the youngest of fourteen children of a saddlemaker. After receiving his first musical training as a choirboy in his hometown, he played in various Parisian ensembles as soloist and orchestra player. He studied the flute with Félix Rault; in 1780 he joined the household of

Cardinal de Rohan Louis René Édouard de Rohan known as Cardinal de Rohan (25 September 1734 – 16 February 1803), ''prince de Rohan-Guéméné'', was a French Bishop of Strasbourg, politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and cadet of the Rohan f ...

. He was active in Paris as a flutist,

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

ist and composer, and played bassoon at 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 ...

. He wrote successful

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 in the 1790s, including (1792) which brought him much success. He was also a member of the Military Band of the French Guard, where he was given the rank of sergeant with the duty of teaching the children of his colleagues in the military band in its Free School of Music. After the Revolutionary period, when the Free School became the National Institute of Music, later chartered as the

in 1795, Devienne was appointed as flute professor (1795–1803); among his students was François René Gebauer. He wrote (1793), which was reprinted several times and did much to improve the level of French wind music in the late 18th century. Like many other musicians, he joined the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and Concert de la Loge Olympique orchestra. Devienne died in Charenton-Saint-Maurice near Paris on September 5, 1803.

Works

His output comprises approximately 300 instrumental works that are mostly written for

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

s. There are a dozen flute

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s (plus two posthumously published works, one of them a flute arrangement of G. B. Viotti's violin concerto No 23),

sinfonia Sinfonia (; plural ''sinfonie'') is the Italian word for symphony, from the Latin ''symphonia'', in turn derived from Ancient Greek συμφωνία ''symphōnia'' (agreement or concord of sound), from the prefix σύν (together) and ϕωνή (sou ...

s for woodwinds,

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

s and trios for different ensembles, 12 operas, 5

bassoon concerto A bassoon concerto is a concerto for bassoon accompanied by a musical ensemble, typically orchestra. Like bassoon sonatas, bassoon concerti were relatively uncommon until the twentieth century, although there are quite a few bassoon concerti from ...

s, 6 bassoon

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

s and 6 oboe sonatas (Opp. 70 and 71). Devienne's compositions for flute, revived by

Jean-Pierre Rampal Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th century." Biography Ea ...

in the 1960s, became well-known among flutists. His collected work comprises extensive educational work, including the , and eight books of sonatas for flute or bassoon, a variety of

chamber music 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 numb ...

, and no less than seventeen concertos. He became known in his day as the "

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

of the Flute". Devienne's complete oboe sonatas (opp. 70 and 71) as well as three of his bassoon sonatas (op. 24) were recorded by the Ensemble Villa Musica (

Ingo Goritzki Ingo Goritzki (born 22 February 1939 in Berlin, Germany) is a German oboist, pianist, and flautist.Sergio Azzolini Sergio Azzolini (born 1967, in Bolzano) is an Italian bassoonist and music conductor. Early life Azzolini was born in Bolzano, Italy in 1967 and learned bassoon after his mother suggested being a musician would provide a long term job for him. ...

, bassoon, Ilze Grudule, cello, Ai Ikeda, bassoon, Diego Cantalupi, lute, Kristian Nyquist, fortepiano) and published on the MDG label (MDG 304 1749-2) in 2012.

References

External links

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

article (subscription).
List of stage works of Francois Devienne

Article in Michael Haydn page
*

Interpretations

* performed by Helen Neeves, voice and Samantha Carrasco, piano {{DEFAULTSORT:Devienne, Francois 1759 births 1803 deaths French Classical-period composers French male classical composers French classical bassoonists French classical flautists 18th-century French people 18th-century classical composers Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 19th-century French male musicians