Ludwig August Lebrun (baptized 2 May 1752 – 16 December 1790) was a German

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

and composer.

Life

Lebrun was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

. The well-known and celebrated

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

virtuoso (a contemporary described being "charmed by his divine oboe") played with the orchestra at the court of the

Prince-Elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...

Carl Theodor in

. He started playing with the orchestra at the age of 12 and became a full member at the age of 15. His father, also an oboist of probably

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

origin, worked from 1747 at the Mannheim court. He was a contemporary of

Carl Stamitz Carl Philipp Stamitz ( cs, Karel Stamic; baptized 8 May 17459 November 1801) was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School. He was the eldest son of Jo ...

and

Anton Stamitz Anton Thadäus Johann Nepomuk Stamitz (November 1750 – ) was a German composer and violinist. Anton was born during a family visit to Deutschbrod, and baptised there on 27 November 1750. He and his brother Carl received their first violin ...

, and belonged to the Mannheim school. In the summer of 1778 he married the soprano Franziska Danzi, one of the most outstanding and well-known singers of the time and the sister of composer

Franz Danzi Franz Ignaz Danzi (15 June 1763 – 13 April 1826) was a German cellist, composer and conductor, the son of the Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi (1730–1798) and brother of the noted singer Franzeska Danzi. Danzi lived at a significant time in t ...

. With her, he travelled extensively across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

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 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and

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. The couple's playing and singing complemented each other perfectly and

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

s with ''

obbligato In Western classical music, ''obbligato'' (, also spelled ''obligato'') usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ''ad libitum''. It can also be used, more specifically, to indic ...

were written for them, as for instance those in ''Günther von Schwarzburg'' (1777) by Ignaz Holzbauer, '' L'Europa riconosciuta'' (1778) by

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...

and ''Castore e Polluce'' (1787) by Georg Joseph Vogler. The music historian Charles Burney wrote about appearances of the pair: ''"Franziska Danzi and the excellent oboist Lebrun usually travel together, and it seems as though she has listened to nothing other than his instrument, for when they perform together in thirds and sixths one cannot hear which is the upper or the lower voice!"'' He died in

at the age of 38 from the effects of liver inflammation. Lebrun was the father of opera singer and actress Rosine Lebrun and pianist and composer Sophie Lebrun.

Works

*Ballet "Armida" and "Adèle de Ponthieu" *Concertos for Oboe and Orchestra No.1 in D minor, No.2 in G minor, No.3 in C major, No.4 in B-flat major, No.5 in C major, No.6 in F major *Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in B-flat major *Duos for Violin and Viola *Flute duets *Flute trios

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lebrun, Ludwig August German classical oboists Male oboists 1752 births 1790 deaths German Classical-period composers 18th-century classical composers German male classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians