Joseph Michel (1679–1736) was an 18th-century

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

baroque 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 t ...

chorister A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

, composer and music teacher of the Sainte Chapelle of Dijon, demolished in 1802. A contemporary of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...

, his reputation extended far beyond the boundaries of the city of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

and

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

. Born at Bay-sur-Aube, and educated at the Jesuit college of Godrans, Michel was a pupil of

Pierre Menault Pierre-Richard Menault (1642–1694) was a French Baroque composer. Menault was born at Beaune. While a provincial chapel master and priest at Dijon, he printed vespers dedicated to Père François de la Chaise, confessor of Louis XIV. He di ...

and also for a few years, of Jean-Philippe Rameau, organist at the

Church of Notre-Dame of Dijon The Church of Notre-Dame of Dijon is a Roman Catholic church in Dijon. Considered a masterpiece of 13th-century Gothic architecture, it is situated at the heart of the preserved old centre of the city. It is located in Place Notre-Dame, near the ...

. Michel became priest in 1705 and, by an agreement between him and the Chapter on 28 December 1709,

choirmaster A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

to the Sainte-Chapelle du Roi in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, where he became a

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

in 1717.

Compositional style

Michel's grand

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s like ''Dominus regnavit exultet terra,'' which came into the repertoire of the "Chapelle du Roi" in

and remained there until 1792, are characteristic of the second half of the reign of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

. They cover a large instrumental ensemble consisting of flute, bassoon and a five-part string orchestra ('' violon,'' ''

haute-contre The haute-contre (plural hautes-contre) was the primary French operatic tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera, from the middle of the seventeenth century until the latter part of the eighteenth century. History This voice ...

,'' ''

taille The ''taille'' () was a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles in ''Ancien Régime'' France. The tax was imposed on each household and was based on how much land it held, and was directly paid to the state. History Originally o ...

,'' ''

quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

'' and ''

basses Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass ...

de violon''). The upper voices consisted of two ''

dessus A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

,'' ''hautes-contres,'' ''tailles,'' and ''

basse-taille ''Basse-taille'' (bahss-tah-ee) is an enamelling technique in which the artist creates a low-relief pattern in metal, usually silver or gold, by engraving or chasing. The entire pattern is created in such a way that its highest point is lower th ...

'' for the soloists, and ''dessus,'' ''hautes-contre,'' ''tailles,'' ''basses-tailles'' and ''

'' for the choir. His ''

Leçons de ténèbres Leçons de ténèbres ( 'lessons of darkness'; sometimes spelled Leçons des ténèbres) is a genre of French Baroque music which developed from the polyphonic lamentations settings for the tenebrae service of Renaissance composers such as Serm ...

'' (Lessons of Darkness) were the last examples to be printed during the first half of the 18th century, although the bulk of his compositions were destroyed in a fire at his printer in 1735, the year before his death. In his later works, one can clearly see the emerging galant style in his music. From a letter in the archives of Versailles, it is clear that Michel intended to become ''

kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

'' for the royal court, but his premature death prevented this.

Works, editions and recordings

* ''Domine in virtute tua'' * ''Miserere'' * ''Leçons de Jérémie'' (1935) * ''Dominus regnavit exultet terra'' * ''Quid retribuam tibi'' * ''Leçons de ténèbres'' - recorded by (1)

Hervé Niquet Hervé Niquet (born 28 October 1957) is a French conductor, harpsichordist, tenor, and the director of Le Concert Spirituel, specializing in French Baroque music. Biography Born on 28 October 1957, Hervé Niquet was raised at Abbeville in the ...

and Le Concert Spirituel for Naxos in 1997, (2) Hervé Lamy, Mundo Corde 2012.

Additional informations

Sources

References

;Attribution *''This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the German Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there at the'
History
''section.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Michel, Joseph 1679 births 1736 deaths French musicians French Baroque composers Jesuit education 18th-century classical composers French male classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 17th-century male musicians

Compositional style

Works, editions and recordings

See also

Additional informations

Sources

References