Nicolas Isouard (also known as ''Nicolò'', ''Nicolò Isoiar'' or ''Nicolò de Malte''; 18 May 1773 – 23 March 1818) was a Maltese-born French composer.

Biography

Born in Porto Salvo,

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, Isouard studied in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

or Mdina with

Francesco Azopardi Francesco Azopardi (or Azzopardi) (May 5, 1748 – February 1809) was a Maltese composer and music theorist.Spiridion Vincent Buhagiar, ''Francesco Azopardi (1748–1809): A Maltese Classical Composer, Theorist, and Teacher'', Mediterranean Inst ...

, in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

with

Giuseppe Amendola Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Giuse ...

, and in

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 ...

with

Nicola Sala Nicola Sala (7 April 1713 – 31 August 1801) was an Italian composer and music theorist. He was born in Tocco Caudio and died in Naples. He was chapel-master and professor at Naples, having devoted himself to the collection of the finest m ...

and

Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi (9 December 1728 – 19 November 1804) was an Italian opera composer of the classical period. Biography Guglielmi was born into the Guglielmi family of musicians in Massa. His father, Jacopo Guglielmi, was a comp ...

. From 1795 he was organist at ''St. John de Gerusalemme'' in

at the Conventual Church of the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, ''San Giovanni di Malta''. He moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he worked as a free composer and became friends with

Rodolphe Kreutzer Rodolphe Kreutzer (15 November 1766 – 6 January 1831) was a French violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer of forty French operas, including '' La mort d'Abel'' (1810). He is probably best known as the dedicatee of Beethoven's Violin S ...

. The pair worked together on several operas, including ''Le Petit page, ou La Prison d'état'' (1800) and ''Flaminius à Corinthe'' (1801). Isouard adopted the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Nicolò (or Nicolò de Malte) and found rapid success in the field of

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 ...

with ''Michel-Ange ''(1802) and ''L'Intrigue aux fenêtres'' (1805). He composed regularly for the ''Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique'', writing some thirty works for it. He composed

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

es,

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 ...

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s, romances, and duos, along with over 45

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 librett ...

Family and legacy

Isouard had two daughters, Sophie-Nicole (1809–1885), a composer of romances, and Annette-Julie (1814–1876), a pianist and composer. His brother Joseph (1794–1863) had a career as a singer and opera director before being named inspector of historic monuments in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. Nicolas Isouard died in Paris and was buried in Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. A bust of the composer was placed on one of the facades of both the ''Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique'' and the ''

Palais Garnier The Palais Garnier (, Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (, Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from ...

'', and one of the main squares in Paris was given his name.

Works

* ''Casaciello, perseguitato da un Mago'', Opera buffa - Two-act comedy 1793, Malta * ''L'avviso a Maritati'', Opera, Florence June1794 * ''Artaserse, re di Persia'', Opera seria, Livorno August 1794. Two excerpts only survive. Edited by Richard Divall * ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', Opera buffa after

Pierre Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist ...

, Malta Teatro Manoel 1796 * ''Rinaldo d'Asti'', Dramma giocoso, Malta 1796 * ''L'improvvisata in campagna'', Opera buffa, Malta 1796-7 * ''I due avari'', Commedia per musica, Malta 1797 * ''Il bottaio'', Opera comique, 1798 * ''Il barone d'Alba chiara'', Commedia per musica, Carnevale, Malta 1798 * ''Ginevra di Scozia'', Dramma serio eroico, 1798 * ''Le Petit page, ou La Prison d'état'', Opera, Paris, February 1801 * ''Flaminius à Corinthe'', Opera, Paris February 1801 * ''Le Tonellier' Opera-comique, Paris May 1801 * ''L'Impromptu de campagne', Opera-comique, Paris June 1801 * ''La Statue, ou La Femme avare'', Opera comique, 1802 * ''Michel-Ange'', Opera, 1802 * ''Les Confidences'', Opera, 1803 * ''Le Baiser et la quittance, ou Une Aventure de garnison'', Opera comique, 1803 * ''Le Médecin turc'', Opéra bouffon, 1803 * ''L'Intrigue aux fenêtres'', Opera, 1805 * ''La Ruse inutile, ou Les Rivaux par convention'', Opera, 1805 * ''Léonce, ou Le Fils adoptif'', Opera, 1805 * ''La Prise de Passaw'', Opera comique, 1806 * ''Le Déjeuner de garçons'', Comédie mêlée de musique, 1806 * ''Idala, ou La Sultane'', Opera comique, 1806 * '' Les Rendez-vous bourgeois'', Opéra bouffon, 1807 * ''Les Créanciers, ou Le Remède à la goutte'', Opera comique, 1807 * ''Un Jour à Paris, ou La Leçon singulière'', Opera comique, 1808 * ''Cimarosa'', Opera comique, 1808 * ''Zélomir, ou L'Intrigue au sérail'', Opera comique, 1809 * ''

Cendrillon ''Cendrillon'' (''Cinderella'') is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale. It had its premiere performance on 24 ...

'', Opéra féerie after

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

, 1810 * ''La Victime des arts, ou La Fête de famille'', Opera comique, 1811 * ''La Fête de village, ou L'Heureux militaire'', Opera comique, 1811 * ''Le Billet de loterie'', Opera comique, 1811 * ''Le mMagicien sans magie'', Opera comique, 1811 * ''Lulli et Quinault, ou Le Déjeuner impossible'', Opera comique, 1812 * ''Le Prince de Catane, ou Alamon'', Opera, 1813 * ''Le Français à Venise'', Opera comique, 1813 * ''Bayard à Mézières, ou Le Siège de Mézières'', Opera comique, 1814 * ''Joconde, ou Les Coureurs d'aventures'', Opera comique, 1814 * ''Jeannot et Colin'', Opera comique, 1814 * ''Les Deux maris'', Opera comique, 1816 * ''L'Une pour l'autre, ou L'Enlèvement'', Opera comique, 1816 * ''Les Deux capitaines de hussards'' Opera-coiique, Paris March 1817 * ''Aladin, ou La Lampe merveilleuse'', Opéra féerie, 1822 * ''Une Nuit de Gustave Wasa'', Opera, 1825 Sacred works - all with orchestra and voices (In alphabetical order). Original Manuscripts - Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris * Angelus Domini * Credo Leg a 4 Voci 1795 * De torrente in A flat major * De torrente in B flat major * Diffusa est Gratia * Dixit Dominus a 4 * Dixit Dominus Leg * Dominus Deus a Terzetto * Gloria in D * Gratia agimus tibi in E flat * Gloria Patri in E flat * Kyrie in E flat * Kyrie in C minor * Kyrie Messa no 2 in E flat - fragment * Juravit Dominus * Lauda Jerusalem * Laetatus sum * Magnificat * Missa a Quattro Voci 1790 ( attr. to another composer) Cospicua Archives * Missa Pro Defunctorum - Jommelli, orchestrated by Isouard (Brussels Conservatoire Library) * Nisi Dominus * Panis Angelicus * Qui Tollis * Quoniam Tu Solus * Salve Regina * Sinfonia in C minor * Stabat Mater (5 fragments) Suscepimus Deus * Te Deum 1791 * Vexilla Regis * Virgam Virtutis for tenor and bass duet * Virgam Virtutis for solo tenor * Virtute Magna All of the above have been edited by Richard Divall and are available from the University of Divinity, Australia. Richard Divall is currently preparing a publication of a monograph and complete thematic catalogue, and an edition of the opera ''Cendrillon''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Isouard, Nicolas 1775 births 1818 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians Composers for piano French male classical composers French opera composers Male opera composers Maltese classical composers Maltese opera composers People from Valletta

Biography

Family and legacy

Works

Further reading

References

External links