Jean-Baptiste Nôtre (4 September 1732 – 20 February 1807) was a French composer and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Biography

Born in

Toul Toul () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Toul is between Commercy and Nancy, and the river Moselle and Canal de la Marne au Rhin. Climate Toul h ...

, Jean-Baptiste Nôtre's father, Jacob Notter, from

Mels Mels is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the Seeztal, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. History Mels is first mentioned in 765 as ''Maile'' though this comes from a later copy of the original document. In ...

near

Sargans Sargans is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Sargans is known for its castle, which dates from before the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291. Sargans was also ...

in Switzerland, married in Toul in 1721 and settled there, after serving as a soldier in the Esly regiment; he became the Swiss of the cathedral, under the French name Jacques Nôtre. Jean-Baptiste Nôtre, who was initially a choirboy in the cathedral, probably received his first organ lessons from the organists Noirel et Martelet. In 1754, the canons awarded him a scholarship to train for six months in Paris by

Guillaume-Antoine Calvière Guillaume-Antoine Calvière (1695 - 18 April 1755) was a virtuoso French musician and composer who was for many years organist of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Early years Guillaume-Antoine Calvière was born in Paris around 1695, the s ...

(1695–1755), one of the organists of the Chapelle Royale and titular at

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

. When he returned, they named him organist of the

Toul Cathedral Toul Cathedral (''Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Toul'') is a Roman Catholic church in Toul, Lorraine, France. It is a classic example of late Gothic architecture in the Flamboyant style. The cathedral has one of the biggest cloisters in France. Th ...

, which had a magnificent instrument built by between 1751 and 1755. He was asked to appraise the organs of the Cistercian abbey Notre-Dame de Beaupré. (1775), the (1778), the (1779), as well as those of the

Nancy Cathedral Nancy Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Annonciation et Saint-Sigisbert; ''Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation and St. Sigisbert'') is a Roman Catholic church building, church located in the town of Nancy, France, Nancy, Lorrai ...

(1787, 1789). In 1793, he was commissioned to estimate the organs of all the churches in Toul, which became national property. Even though the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

suspended his activities for a while, he remained organist of the cathedral until his death. In 1757, he married Nancy Françoise Mangin, daughter of an innkeeper, who gave him five children. Their daughter Marguerite Nôtre (1759–1837) was an organist in the

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History Lun ...

parish of Saint-Jacques.

His ''Livre d'orgue''

Preserved at the Municipal Library of

Châlons-en-Champagne Châlons-en-Champagne () is a city in the Grand Est region of France. It is the capital of the department of Marne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims. Formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne, the city was officially renam ...

(manuscript 941), among the scores from the organist

Jean-Baptiste Charbonnier Jean Baptiste Charbonnier (23 April 1764 – 22 October 1859) was a French organist and composer. Life Born in Châlons-sur-Marne, Charbonnier was successively organist in Châlons, at the Churches of Saint-Nicaise, Notre-Dame en Vaux, Saint- ...

(1764–1859), and entitled ''Livres de piesses d'orgue par l'organiste de Toul'',Livre d'orgue
on Data.bnf.fr the collection of Nôtre's pieces contains eight suites of nine short pieces, ordered by

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

, which could in fact be verses for the

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

y soul Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or seventh ...

magnifies

he Lord He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

: * irst ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Trio. Basse de trompette. Récit. Duo. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. * econd ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Trio. Cornet. Basse de trompette. Grand jeu. Récit de cromhorne. Grand jeux. * hird ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Trio. Récit. Cornet. Trio. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. * ourth tone Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Trio. Récit. Cornet. Duo. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. * ifth ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Récit. Clairinette. Basse de trompette. Trio. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. * ixth ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Clairinette. Duo. Trio. Basse de trompette. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. * eventh ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Récit. Trompette. Trio. Basse de trompette. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. * ight ton Plein jeux. Fugue grave. Duo. Trio. Clairinette. Cornet. Récit. Grand jeux. Grand jeux. While in keeping with the great French tradition of liturgical organ books, Nôtre's book reflects the evolution of taste in the second half of the 18th century, particularly the influence of German music for the

pianoforte The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. The pieces are written without a pedal and can be played on the piano.

Modern edition of the ''Livre d'orgue''

Jean-Baptiste Nôtre, ''Livre d'orgue…'', published by Jean-Luc Gester, intr. by Jean-Luc Gester and Damien Vaisse, Hombourg-Haut
Institut Théodore Gouvy
2003, 66 p.

Bibliography

* Gustave Clanché, ''La musique, le chœur, le bas-chœur de la cathédrale de Toul (documents historiques)'', Toul, 1936. * Olivier Douchain, ''Les organistes laïques du diocèse de Toul aux XVIIe–XVIIIe'', ''Recherches sur la musique française classique'', vol. 20, 1981, (pp. 77–181), vol. 21, 1983, (pp. 43–117) and vol. 22, 1984, (pp. 164–218). * Jean-Luc Gester et Damien Vaisse, Jean-Baptiste Nôtre, organiste de Toul, et son ''Livre d'orgue'', ''Études touloises'', no. 109, 2004, (pp. 29-39); article republished with some supplements in ''La Tribune de l'orgue. Revue suisse romande'', vol. 57/1, 2005, (pp. 10-23).

Discography

* Jean-Baptiste Nôtre, ''Le Livre d'Orgue'' –

Pascal Vigneron Pascal Vigneron (born 23 June 1963) is a French classical musician, both trumpeter, organist, and conductor. Life Born in Commercy (Lorraine), Vigneron's genealogy goes back to 1841, when his ancestors lived in the town of Bruley. He has bee ...

at the large Curt Schwenkedel organs (1963) of the

and the historical organ of Charles Cachet (1720) at

Domgermain Domgermain () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department The following is a list of the 591 communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department of France. T ...

– ref. Quantum QM 7064 (2012). * The "Livres de Piesses dorgue" by Jean-Baptiste Nôtre was recorded (October 2016) by Dominique Dantand, titular of the historical Küttinger organ of Vézelise, organ received and played by J-B Nôtre in 1775. The CD is available from the Association des Amis de l'orgue de Vézelise. This is currently the only truly historical record of these pages.

Jean-Charles Ablitzer Jean-Charles Gaston Ablitzer (born 5 August 1946) is a French organist and pedagogue who specialises in music and organs of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Biography Ablitzer was born in Grandvillars in the Territoire de Belfort, a departm ...

wrote:

References

External links

Nôtre, Jean-Baptiste (1732-1807)
on IdRef
Bibliothèque de Châlons-en Champagne
* , Dominique Dantand, Küttinger organ of Vézelise (19 June 2016) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Notre, Jean-Baptiste French classical organists French Classical-period composers French male classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 19th-century French composers 1732 births 1807 deaths 19th-century French male musicians French male classical organists People from Toul