Victor Charles Paul Dourlen (3 November 1780 – 8 January 1864) was a French composer and music teacher at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

during the first half of the nineteenth century. He is primarily known as a theorist on account of his treatises on

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

, based on the methods of

Charles Simon Catel Charles-Simon Catel (10 June 1773 – 29 November 1830) was a French composer and educator born at L'Aigle, Orne. Biography Catel studied at the Royal School of Singing in Paris. He was the chief assistant to François-Joseph Gossec at the or ...

, which were widely used as reference works, especially his ''Traité d'harmonie'' (c. 1838), the '' Traité d'accompagnement pratique'' (c. 1840), and his ''Méthode élémentaire pour le pianoforte'' (c. 1820).

Biography

Victor Dourlen was born in

Dunkerque Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Charles-Simon Catel Charles-Simon Catel (10 June 1773 – 29 November 1830) was a French composer and educator born at L'Aigle, Orne. Biography Catel studied at the Royal School of Singing in Paris. He was the chief assistant to François-Joseph Gossec at the or ...

(harmony),

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 ...

(counterpoint), and Benoit Mozin (piano). He became a teacher of elementary singing at the institution in 1800. In 1805, he won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for musical composition with his cantata ''Cupidon pleurant Psyché''. Prevented by war to go to Rome immediately, he first had his opera ''Philoclès'' performed at the Opéra-Comique in October 1806, but with four performances only, it was not successful. He then went to Rome in 1807, where on 14 July his ''Te Deum'' for the

Battle of Friedland The Battle of Friedland (14 June 1807) was a major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars between the armies of the French Empire commanded by Napoleon I and the armies of the Russian Empire led by Count von Bennigsen. Napoleon and the French obtai ...

was performed, followed in 1808 by the ''Dies irae'', another large-scale cantata. On his return to Paris, he produced several comic operas, all public failures, including ''Linnée'' (1808), ''La Dupe de son Art'' (1809), and ''Cagliostro'' (1810). In 1816, he was appointed full professor of harmony and counterpoint, a position he held until 1842. Among his pupils were

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Lisz ...

, François Bazin, Louis Désiré Besozzi,

Alexandre Goria Alexandre Édouard Goria (21 January 1823 – 6 July 1860) was a French virtuoso pianist and composer recognised among amateurs enthusiasts for his numerous salon pieces of different styles, which enjoyed great success at their time. The number ...

Henri Herz Henri Herz (6 January 1803 – 5 January 1888) was a virtuoso pianist, composer and piano manufacturer, Austrian by birth and French by nationality and domicile. He was a professor in the Paris Conservatoire for more than thirty years. Among his ...

Félix Le Couppey Félix Le Couppey, Lithography by Marie-Alexandre Alophe ">Marie-Alexandre_Alophe.html" ;"title="Lithography by Marie-Alexandre Alophe">Lithography by Marie-Alexandre Alophe Félix Le Couppey (14 April 1811 – 4 July 1887) was a French music te ...

Antoine François Marmontel Antoine François Marmontel () (18 July 1816 – 16 January 1898) was a French pianist, composer, teacher and musicographer. He is mainly known today as an influential teacher at the Paris Conservatory, where he taught many musicians who became ...

Joseph O'Kelly Joseph O'Kelly (29 January 1828 – 9 January 1885), composer, pianist and choral conductor, was the most prominent member of a family of Irish musicians in 19th- and early 20th-century France. He wrote nine operas, four cantatas, numerous piano ...

, and

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...

. His only operatic success was ''Le Frère Philippe'' (1818) after a libretto by Auguste Duport, which was performed 91 times. His last opera, ''Le Petit souper'' (1822) became a public fiasco for the all too liberal depiction of the French king François I and was consequently banned by the French censors.Bara (2001), c. 1346. From then on, he did not write any further opera but concentrated on teaching and writing theoretical treatises. In 1838, Dourlen was made a chevalier of the

Legion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

. He died in

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 ...

Selected works

Operas

* ''Philoclès'' (text by Justin Gensoul), 2 acts (1806) * ''Linnée, ou Le Mines de Suède'' (

Jean-Élie Bédéno Dejaure Jean-Élie Bédéno Dejaure (1766, Paris – 5 October 1799) was an 18th-century French playwright. His son, Jean-Claude Bédéno Dejaure, called ''Dejaure fils'' was also a playwright. Life When he presented his first plays to the Italian acto ...

), 3 acts (1808) * ''La Dupe de son Art, ou Les Deux amants'' ( Louis-Charles Sapey), 1 act (1809) * ''Cagliostro, ou La Séduction'' (

Emmanuel Dupaty Louis Emmanuel Dupaty (31 July 1775 – 30 July 1851) was a French playwright, naval officer, chansonnier, journalist and administrator of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. His brother was the sculptor Louis Dupaty. Works ;Theatre * ''Figaro, ...

/ Jacques-Antoine de Révéroni Saint-Cyr), 3 acts (act 1 by Dourlen, acts 2 and 3 by

Anton Reicha Anton (Antonín, Antoine) Joseph Reicha (Rejcha) (26 February 1770 – 28 May 1836) was a Czech-born, Bavarian-educated, later naturalized French composer and music theorist. A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, he is now best reme ...

) (1810) * ''Plus heureux que sage'' ( Louis Mézières-Miot), 1 act (1816) * ''Le Frère Philippe'' ( Auguste Duport), 1 act (1818) * ''Le Mariage en poste'' ( Pierre Adolphe Capelle) (1818, not performed) * ''À deux de jeu'' (Paul de Kock), 1 act (1818, not performed) * ''Marini, ou Le Muet de Venise'' ( Étienne Joseph Bernard Delrieu), 3 acts (1819) * ''La Vente après décès'' (

Charles-Guillaume Étienne Charles-Guillaume Étienne (5 January 177813 March 1845) was a 19th-century French playwright. Biography He was born in Chamouilley, Haute-Marne. He held various municipal offices under the Revolution and came in 1793 to Paris, where he prod ...

), 1 act (1821) * ''Le Petit souper, ou La Belle féronnière'' ( Jean-Baptiste-Rose-Bonaventure Violet d'Épagny), 1 act (1822)

Cantatas

* ''Scène d'Alcyone' (text by Antoine Vincent Arnault), for voices and orchestra (1804) * ''Psyché et l'amour'' (A. V. Arnault), for voices and orchestra (1805)

Sacred choral works

* ''Te Deum'', for choir and orchestra (1807) * ''Dies irae'', for choir and orchestra (1808)

Instrumental music

* ''La Bataille de Marengo. Sonate militaire'', for piano (1800) * ''Sonates'', Op. 1, for piano (n. d.) * Piano Concerto, Op. 3 * Piano Trio, Op. 4 * ''Trois Sonates'', Op. 5, for violin and piano * ''Sonates faciles'', Op. 6, for piano * ''Sonate à quatre mains'', Op. 10, for 2 pianists * ''Grande sonate à quatre mains'', Op. 12, for 2 pianists * ''Fantaisie sur "Bélisaire"'', for piano * ''Fantaisie en duo'', for harp and piano * ''Pot-pourri sur des airs de Jean de Paris'', for piano

Writings

* ''Méthode élémentaire pour le pianoforte'' (c. 1820) * ''Traité d'harmonie, contenant un cours complet tel qu'il est enseigné au Conservatoire de Paris'' (c. 1838) * ''Traité d'accompagnement'' (c. 1840) * ''Principes d'harmonie et tableau général de tous les accords, de leur origine, leur préparation, leur renversement'' (n. d.)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dourlen, Victor 1780 births 1864 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris faculty Conservatoire de Paris alumni French male classical composers French music theorists French opera composers French Romantic composers Male opera composers Musicians from Dunkirk Prix de Rome for composition