Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul (10 June 1790 – 10 March 1875) 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

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. He served as the first director of the

Royal Conservatory of Liège Royal Conservatoire of Liège The Royal Conservatoire of Liège (RCL) ( French Conservatoire royal de Liège, Dutch Koninklijk Conservatorium Luik) is one of four conservatories in the French Community of Belgium that offers higher education cou ...

from 1826–1862; having been appointed to that post by

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...

. In addition to his duties as director, he also taught courses in

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

at the school. Among his notable pupils were

Adolphe Samuel Adolphe-Abraham Samuel (11 July 1824 Liège, Belgium – 11 September 1898 Ghent, Belgium) was a Belgian music critic, teacher, conductor and composer. Biography Adolphe-Abraham Samuel was born in Liège in an artistic family. His parents en ...

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

, and Jean-Théodore Radoux, the latter of whom succeeded him as conservatory director. In 1859, he was made a Commander of the Order of Leopold.

Life and career

Born Louis-Joseph Daussoigne in

Givet Givet () (german: Gibet Walloon: ''Djivet'') is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France surrounded on three sides by the Belgian border. It lies on the river Meuse where Emperor Charles V built the fortress of Charlemont. It ...

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

, he legally changed his name to Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul on 12 August 1845 when he was 55 years old. He and his younger brother had been adopted by their uncle, the composer

Étienne Méhul Étienne Nicolas Méhul (; 16 November 1765 ~ 24 December 1817) was a French composer of the Classical period (music), classical period. He was known as "the most important opera composer in France during the French Revolution, Revolution". He wa ...

, in 1797 when he was seven years old. His brother served as a lieutenant in the French Army during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

and was killed in action. In 1799, Daussoigne-Méhul entered 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 ...

when he was just nine years old. He studied there for the next 10 years, during which time he received several academic honours and competition prizes from the Conservatoire, including first prizes in music theory (1799), composition (1803), piano (1806), counterpoint (1808), and fugue (1808). His teachers included

Louis Adam Louis Adam or Jean-Louis Adam (born Johann Ludwig Adam) (3 December 1758 – 8 April 1848) was a French composer, music teacher, and piano virtuoso.Baker, Theodore"Adam, Louis in '' A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', p. 3 (New York: G. Schi ...

(piano),

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 ...

(harmony), and his uncle (composition). In 1803, he began teaching music theory at the Conservatoire. In 1809, Daussoigne-Méhul won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

with the

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

''Agar dans le désert''. As a result, he received a scholarship to continue his studies at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...

located in the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

, within the

Villa Borghese Villa Borghese or Villa Borghese Pinciana ('Borghese family{{!Borghese villa on the Pincian Hill') is the villa built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio (and, after his death, finished by his assistant Giovanni Vasanzio), developing sketches by Scip ...

. He accordingly resigned his teaching post at the Conservatoire and went to Rome where he studied from February 1810 through late 1813. He returned to teaching at the Conservatoire in Paris in 1814, leaving there in 1826 when he became the first director of the Royal Conservatory of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. He remained in that post for the next 35 years. Daussoigne-Méhul died in Liège at the age of 84. He was married for more than 50 years to Marie-Adélaïde Bellet who was the daughter of Parisian building contractor Alexandre-Godefroy Bellet. Their son was the pianist, organist, composer, and music critic Alexandre-Gustave Daussoigne-Méhul (1830–1932).

Composer

As a composer, Daussoigne-Méhul produced several works for solo piano, some symphonic music, a few

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, and some

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 ...

. His

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

''Aspasie et Pericles'' was premiered 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 ...

in 1820. He also completed his uncle's unfinished opera '' Valentine de Milan'', which premiered at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

in 1822. He also composed new recitatives for his uncle's opera '' Stratonice'' in 1821. Although he had admirers among his contemporaries, his music had no lasting impact and fell into obscurity by the late 19th century. None of his music has survived in the concert repertoire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daussoignemehul, Joseph 1790 births 1875 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris faculty Conservatoire de Paris alumni French male classical composers French music educators French opera composers French Romantic composers Male opera composers People from Givet Prix de Rome for composition Rectors of universities in Belgium Royal Conservatory of Liège faculty