Pascal Collasse (or Colasse) (22 January 1649 (

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

) – 17 July 1709) was a French composer of the Baroque era. Born in

Rheims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

, Collasse became a disciple of Jean-Baptiste Lully during the latter's domination of the French operatic stage. When Lully died in 1687 leaving his

tragédie en musique Tragédie en musique (, ''musical tragedy''), also known as tragédie lyrique (, ''lyric tragedy''), is a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully and used by his followers until the second half of the eighteenth century. Operas in ...

Achille et Polyxène ''Achille et Polyxène'' (''Achilles and Polyxena'') is a tragédie lyrique containing a prologue and five acts based on Virgil's ''Aeneid'' with a French libretto by Jean Galbert de Campistron. The opera's overture and first act were composed by ...

'' unfinished, Collasse completed the last four acts of the score. He went on to produce around a dozen operas and ballets, as well as sacred music, including settings of the ''Cantiques spirituels'' of

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

. His plan to establish his own opera house 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 ...

ended in failure when the theatre burnt down. He dabbled in

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

with even less success. His musical style is close to that of Lully.

Works

* ''

'', tragédie lyrique, (overture and first act by Jean-Baptiste Lully) 1687 * '' Thétis et Pélée'', tragédie lyrique, 1689 * '' Énée et Lavinie'', tragédie lyrique, 1690 * '' Astrée'', tragédie lyrique, 1691 * ''Le Ballet de Villeneuve-Saint-Georges'', ballet, 1692 * ''Les saisons'',

opéra-ballet ''Opéra-ballet'' (; plural: ''opéras-ballets'') is a genre of French Baroque lyric theatre that was most popular during the 18th century, combining elements of opera and ballet, "that grew out of the '' ballets à entrées'' of the early sevente ...

, 1695 * ''La naissance de Vénus'', 1696 * '' Jason ou La toison d’or'', tragédie lyrique, 1696 * '' Canente'', tragédie lyrique, 1700 * ''

Polyxène et Pirrhus ''Polyxène et Pirrhus'' (''Polyxena and Pyrrhus'') is an opera by the French composer Pascal Collasse, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opéra) on 21 October 1706. It takes the form of a ''tragédie lyrique'' in a p ...

'', tragédie lyrique, 1706

Sources

*''The Viking Opera Guide''

External links

Le magazine de l'opéra baroque by Jean-Claude Brenac (in French)
*
Musical Manuscripts Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collasse, Pascal 1649 births 1709 deaths French Baroque composers French male classical composers French opera composers French ballet composers Male opera composers Musicians from Reims 17th-century male musicians