Pierre Gaveaux (9 October 1761 – 5 February 1825) was a French

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 ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's ''Médée'' and for composing '' Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal'', the first operatic version of the story that later found fame as ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...

''.

Early life

Gaveaux was born in

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

and sang in the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

there from the age of seven. Although intending to enter the priesthood, he also took lessons in composition. He next became first tenor at the Basilica of Saint-Seurin in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, studying with

Franz Ignaz Beck Franz Ignaz Beck (20 February 1734 – 31 December 1809) was a German violinist, composer, conductor and music teacher who spent the greater part of his life in France, where he became director of the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. Possibly the m ...

, and subsequently decided to follow a career in music, becoming a conductor at the

Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux is an opera house in Bordeaux, France, first inaugurated on 17 April 1780. It was in this theatre that the ballet ''La fille mal gardée'' premiered in 1789, and where a young Marius Petipa staged some of his firs ...

as well as continuing to sing.

Career as a singer

After a period in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, 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, on 26 January 1789, he took part in a performance of

Giacomo Tritto Giacomo Domenico Mario Antonio Pasquale Giuseppe Tritto (2 April 1733 – 16 September 1824) was an Italian composer, known primarily for his fifty-four operas. He was born in Altamura, and studied in Naples; among his teachers were Nicola F ...

's ''Le Avventure Amorose'', which marked the inauguration of the Théâtre de Monsieur company in the

Salle des Machines Salle is the French word for 'hall', 'room' or 'auditorium', as in: *Salle des Concerts Herz, a former Paris concert hall *Salle Favart, theatre of the Paris Opéra-Comique *Salle Le Peletier, former home of the Paris Opéra *Salle Pleyel, a Paris ...

at the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

. He subsequently performed with the company in operas such as

Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born i ...

's ''L’Infante de Zamora'' (in 1789), and on 18 July 1791 he sang the role of Floresky in the première of Cherubini's '' Lodoïska''. When the company moved to the

Théâtre Feydeau The Théâtre Feydeau (), a former Parisian theatre company, was founded in 1789 with the patronage of Monsieur, Comte de Provence (later to become Louis XVIII), and was therefore initially named the Théâtre de Monsieur. It began performing in t ...

, he was involved in a "folly in verse" called ''Le club des bonnes gens'' which was banned by the censor for being unpatriotic. He was active during the revolutionary period, composing in 1792 a hymn to the

Supreme Being In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

. On 19 January 1795, his famous anti-

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

song ''Le Réveil du peuple'' (''The Awakening of the People''), to words by Jean-Marie Souriguière de Saint-Marc, was first performed. Notwithstanding the banning of the song on 8 January 1796 by the

Directoire The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by ...

, he continued his career in opera, appearing in

François Devienne François Devienne (; 31 January 1759 – 5 September 1803) was a French composer and professor for flute at the Paris Conservatory. Career Devienne was born in Joinville, as the youngest of fourteen children of a saddlemaker. After receiving ...

's ''Les visitandines'', and creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's ''

Médée ''Médée'' is a dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Pierre Corneille in 1635. Summary The heroine of the play is the sorceress Médée. After Médée gives Jason twin boys, Jason leaves her for Creusa. Médée ...

'' on 13 March 1797.

Operas

Gaveaux's first opera, ''L'amour filial'' (1792), was a success in Paris and was performed throughout Europe:

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in 1795,

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1809,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

(in a German translation) in 1796. His most famous opera, ''Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal'', premièred in 1798, with Gaveaux himself in the role of Florestan and Julie-Angélique Scio as Léonore. It is best known today because the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

(by

Jean-Nicolas Bouilly Jean-Nicolas Bouilly (24 January 1763 – 14 April 1842) was a French playwright, librettist, children's writer, and politician of the French Revolution. He is best known for writing a libretto, supposedly based on a true story, about a woman who ...

) served as the basis for

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's only opera, ''

''. Other operas by Gaveaux that were popular in their day include ''Sophie et Moncars'', ''Le bouffe et le tailleur'' and ''Monsieur Des Chalumeaux'', and in 1808 he composed ''L'échelle de soie'' to a translation of the libretto which

Giuseppe Maria Foppa Giuseppe Maria Foppa (Venice, 12 July 1760 – Venice, 1 March 1845) was an Italian librettist. He wrote around 150 libretti, mainly for comic operas, as well as Latin oratorio texts and his memoirs.Richard Osborne ''Rossini'' 2007 0199724407 p ...

had written for

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

's ''

La scala di seta ''La scala di seta'' (''The Silken Ladder'' or ''Die seidene Leiter'') is an operatic '' farsa comica'' in one act by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa. It was first performed in Venice, Italy, at the Teatro San Moisè on ...

''.

Chronological list of operas

*''L'amour filial'', 1792 *''Le paria ou La chaumière indienne'', 1792 *''Les deux ermites'', 1793 *''La partie carrée'', 1793 *''La famille indigente'', 1794 *''Sophronime ou La reconnaissance'', 1795 *''Delmon et Nadine'', 1795 *''La gasconnade'', 1795 *''Le petit matelot ou Le mariage impromptu'', 1796 *''Lise et Colin ou La surveillance inutile'', 1796 *''Tout par hasard'', 1796 *''Céliane'', 1796 *''Le mannequin vivant ou Le mari de bois'', 1796 *''Le traité nul'', 1797 *''Sophie et Moncars ou L'intrigue portugaise'', 1797 *'' Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal'', 1798 *''Le diable couleur de rose ou Le bonhomme misère'', 1798 *''Les noms supposés'' ou ''Les deux jockeys'', 1798 *''Le locataire'', 1800 *'' Le trompeur trompé'', 1800 *''Ovinska ou Les exilés de Sibérie'', 1801 *''Le retour inattendu'', 1802 *''Un quart d'heure de silence'', 1804 *''Le bouffe et le tailleur'', 1804 *''Avis aux femmes ou Le mari colère'', 1804 *''Trop tôt ou Le projet manqué'', 1804 *''Le mariage inattendu'', 1804 *''Le diable en vacances ou La suite du diable couleur de rose'', 1805 *''L'amour à Cythère'', 1805 *''Monsieur Des Chalumeaux'', 1806 *''L'échelle de soie'', 1808 *''La rose blanche et la rose rouge'', 1809 *''L'enfant prodigue'', 1811 *''Pygmalion'', 1816 *''Une nuit au bois ou Le muet de circonstance'', 1818

Later life

Gaveaux continued to sing until 1812, although after the company of the Théâtre Feydeau merged with that of the Théâtre Favart in 1801, his voice was in decline and he only performed secondary roles. In 1819 he entered the asylum at Charenton on the outskirts of Paris, where he died. His wife, Émilie Gavaudan (also a singer), died in 1840.

References

* Fétis, François-Joseph (1862). ''Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique'', 2nd edition, vol. 3, pp. 428–429. Paris: Didot
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. * Letailleur, Paulette (1992). "Gaveaux avaux, Gaveau Pierre" in Sadie 1992, vol. 2, pp. 362–363. * Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaveaux, Pierre 1761 births 1825 deaths People from Béziers French male classical composers French opera composers category:18th-century French composers Male opera composers French operatic tenors Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 18th-century French male opera singers 19th-century French male opera singers