Nicolas Capron (ca. 1740 – 14 September 1784) was a French classical violinist and composer.

Biography

Nicolas Capron was a student of

Pierre Gaviniès Pierre Gaviniès (11 May 1728 – 8 September 1800) was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer. Life Born in Bordeaux as the son of a luthier, Gaviniès was taken to Paris by his father in 1734. At age 13, he made his debut at the Concert Spi ...

and one of the most famous French violinists of his time. His career began in 1756 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 ...

and in the private orchestra of the general farmer, Alexandre Le Riche de La Pouplinière. From 1765, he became

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

at the

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...

. Capron attended the most important musical fairs of the city where he met renowned musicians, philosophers and writers. In addition to being a virtuoso, Capron was an appreciated teacher, and among his students were Marie-Alexandre Guénin and Mlle Deschamps, known as a

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

, who at the age of 11 played two violin concertos at the Concert spirituel. Nicolas Capron was a member of the Masonic lodge ''Société Académique des Enfants d'Apollon''.Nicolas Capron
(Encyclopédie Larousse)

Works

Capron composed mainly works for his instrument and appears next to

François-Joseph Gossec François-Joseph Gossec (17 January 1734 – 16 February 1829) was a French composer of operas, string quartets, symphonies, and choral works. Life and work The son of a small farmer, Gossec was born at the village of Vergnies, then a French e ...

and

Pierre Vachon Pierre Vachon (3 June 1738 – 7 October 1803) was a French composer. Vachon was born in Avignon, France. He wrote around thirty string quartets, various chamber works, operas, and orchestral pieces. He studied the violin with Carlo Chiab ...

among the creators in France of the

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

. In his compositions he generally uses the three-movement structure, the use of a double theme in the early Allegros movements; he also uses the

appoggiatura An appoggiatura ( , ; german: Vorschlag or ; french: port de voix) is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord. By putting the non-chord tone on a strong beat, (ty ...

s in the style of the Mannheim School. He is one of the first French violinists who used the

mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

. * First Book of Sonatas for Solo and Bass Violin Op. 1 (1768) * Sei quartetti Op. 2 (1772), dédiés au Duc de Laval * Six Duos for 2 violins Op. 3 (1777) * Two concertos for violin, Op.2 * several violin concertos, now missing

References

Bibliography

* dir Marcelle Benoit, ''Dictionnaire de la musique en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles'',

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayard ...

, 1992,

External links

Nicoals Capron
(Musicalics)
Nicolas Capron: Sonata IV in D Major, II. Adagio - Ann Roux, Lionel Desmeules & Marieanne Lee
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Capron, Nicolas 1740s births 1784 deaths 18th-century French male classical violinists French Freemasons French male classical composers