Louis-August Papavoine was a French
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist and composer. His first name is uncertain, as is his birth and death information. He is believed to have been born in
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
about 1720, and probably died in
Marseilles about 1793. In 1752, he published ''Six simphonies op.1'', dedicated to "
le Marquis de la Bourdonnaye, Conseiller d’État, Intendant de Rouen." From 1756–1758, he wrote orchestral and chamber works.
In 1761, his
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 libr ...
''
Les deux amies, ou le vieux garçon'', also known as ''Le Vieux Coquet, ou les deux amies'', the earliest known operatic adaptation of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor'', premiered in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. According to
Winton Dean
Winton Basil Dean (18 March 1916 – 19 December 2013) was an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research on the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of George Frideric Handel, as detailed in his boo ...
, it was "killed by its
libretto after one performance."
[Shakespeare, William. ''The Merry Wives of Windsor''. Edited by Giorgio Melchiori. Arden Shakespeare Third Series. London: Bloomsbury, 2000, 90, also citing Dean's article "Shakespeare and Opera" in Phyllis Hartnell (ed.). ''Shakespeare and Music''. 1964, 89-175, 120.]
Personal life
About 1754, Papavoine married a musician and composer surnamed Pellecier, who became known as
Mme Papavoine
Madame Papavoine née Pellecier (born c. 1735, fl. 1755-61) was a French composer. She married violinist Louis-August Papavoine some time before 1755. Nothing else is known about Madame Papavoine; even her first name is a mystery. After 1761, he ...
. They may have been the parents of
Jean-Noël Papavoine, a ''maître des pantomimes et répétiteur'' active in
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...
and
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
.
References
Barry S. Brook, Richard Viano and Julie Anne Sadie. "Papavoine" Oxford Music Online, January 2001. https://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.20850
1720 births
1793 deaths
18th-century French male violinists
18th-century French composers
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