Louis-Armand Chardin, called Chardiny (1755 – 1 October 1793) was an 18th-century French composer.

Biography

Born in Fécamp, Chardin made his debut 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 1780 as

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

and was finally received the following year. He stood out for the beauty of his voice and the purity of his singing. Nevertheless, he acted coldly and never knew how to enliven the stage. The role which made him most honoured was that of Theseus in ''

Œdipe à Colone is an operatic tragédie lyrique by Antonio Sacchini first performed at Versailles on 4 January 1786 in the presence of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The libretto, by Nicolas-François Guillard, is based on the play ''Oedipus at Colonus'' b ...

''. Chardin was a composer, and we know of him several small operas that he wrote for the , such as: ''le Pouvoir de la nature'', in one act, 1786; ''la Ruse d’amour'', in one act, 1786; ''le Clavecin'', 1787; ''Clitandre et Céphise'', 1788. In 1787 he had ''l’Anneau perdu et retrouvé'' performed at the Comédie-Italienne. He is also known for the music of a melodrama entitled: ''Annette et Basile''. Chardin was one of the first to set music to Florian's romances ''Estelle'' and ''Galatée''. His oratorio ''Retour de Tobie'' was given at the Concert spirituel the same year. Chardin wrote the recitatives of Paisiello's ''Le Roi Théodore à Venise'',''Le Roi Théodore à Venise''
on Gallica when this work, translated by Moline, was performed at the Opera on 11 September 1787. It is also necessary to add to the list of his dramatic productions ''l'Amant sculpteur'',

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

in one act which was performed at the Théâtre-comique et lyrique in 1790. When in 1792, Piis and Barré established the Théâtre du Vaudeville, they hired Chardin as a "teacher" of their young artists, and as a composer and arranger of the music for their plays. This job did not prevent Chardin from continuing to be part of the Opera staff, but it did give him the ability to place a relative, perhaps his brother, J. Chardin, in the orchestra of Vaudeville, where he played the cello parts. Having warmly embraced the party of the Revolution, Chardin was captain of an armed company of the when he died at age thirty-seven. Five days after his death, the vaudevillist Piis sent these verses about Chardin to the '' Journal des Spectacles'' : ::''Opera loses a good artist,'' ::''Music, a good harmonist,'' ::''Vaudeville a good supporter,'' ::''The god Comus a good guest;'' ::''But what causes everyone a more severe pain,'' ::''The Republic, in him, loses a good citizen.''

Sources

* François-Joseph Fétis
''Biographie universelle des musiciens''
Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1881, ().

References

External links

Louis-Claude-Armand Chardin, dit Chardiny
on Gallica {{DEFAULTSORT:Chardin, Louis-Armand 1755 births 1793 deaths People from Fécamp French opera composers Male opera composers French operatic baritones 18th-century French singers