Jean-François Sudre, also written Sudré (15 August 1787 – 3 October 1862), was a violinist, composer and music teacher who invented a musical language called ''la Langue musicale universelle'' or Solrésol. Sudre was born in

Albi Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albig ...

in southern France on 15 August 1787. He studied music as a child and, at the age of eighteen, was admitted to 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 ...

'' on 12 May 1806, where he studied violin under

François Habeneck François Antoine Habeneck (22 January 1781 – 8 February 1849) was a French classical violinist and conductor. Early life Habeneck was born at Mézières, the son of a musician in a French regimental band. During his early youth, Habeneck w ...

and harmony under

Charles Simon Catel Charles-Simon Catel (10 June 1773 – 29 November 1830) was a French composer and educator born at L'Aigle, Orne. Biography Catel studied at the Royal School of Singing in Paris. He was the chief assistant to François-Joseph Gossec at the or ...

. Sudre created a group of musicians who were attempting to develop a way of transmitting language through music. He devised Solrésol in 1827. He trained

Édouard Deldevez Édouard Marie Ernest Deldevez (31 May 1817 – 6 November 1897) was a French violinist, conductor at important Parisian musical institutions, composer, and music teacher. Biography Deldevez was born and died in Paris. He won many prizes as a ...

and Charles Larsonneur to play and interpret his alphabet. A given note would represent a word or a letter of the alphabet. The trio toured France, answering questions from the audience using Sudre's violin. A military application was soon suggested: a bugler on a battlefield could transmit orders to a regiment by playing an appropriate tune. This promising hypothesis came to nothing because the system was too vulnerable to wind and weather. Sudre then offered the military a set of musical

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s, but they declined the suggestion.Peter Bloom, ''Music in Paris in the eighteen-thirties'' (1987).

References

* Fétis, F. J. (1867).
Biographie Universelle des Musiciens et Bibliographie Générale de la Musique
' (Duxième ed.). Tome Huitième. Paris: Firmin-Didot. pp. 465–466. *Whitwell, David (1995). ''La Téléphonie and the Universal Musical Language''. Northridge, CA: WINDS. French musicians Constructed language creators People from Albi 1787 births 1862 deaths French male writers {{France-musician-stub