José Melchor Gomis y Colomer (6 January 1791 – 4 August 1836) was a Spanish Romantic

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 def ...

Career

He was born in

Ontinyent Ontinyent is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Vall d'Albaida, Valencian Community, Spain. It is situated on the banks of the Clariano River, a tributary of the Xúquer, and on the Xàtiva–Alcoi railway. Ontinyent is near the Sierra d ...

, Vall d'Albaida, Valencia Province. He served as the music director for an artillery regiment during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. An early melodrame voiced by Gomis was performed in Valencia in 1817.Dowling (n.d.) He composed the music for the ''

Himno de Riego The "Himno de Riego" ("Anthem of Riego") is a song dating from the ''Trienio Liberal'' (1820–1823) of Spain and named in honour of Colonel Rafael del Riego, a figure in the respective uprising, which restored the liberal constitution of 1812. ...

'', named after the rebellious General Riego (1784-1823), which has since been used as the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

by various republican governments of Spain. Gomis's political views led him to live in exile after the accession of

Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...

in 1823, first in Paris and then in London. In both cities, he was a friend of fellow exile and composer Santiago Masarnau, whom he may have introduced to London musical life. In Paris, Gomis wrote a successful singing method, published in 1826 with dedications to

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

and François-Adrien Boieldieu. In London, his choral work ''L'inverno'' was performed in 1827. In 1830, his opera ''Aben-Humeya'' was performed in Paris. Gomis's Paris operas ''Diable à Seville'' (1831) (staged with the support of Rossini) and ''Le revenant'' (1836) gained respectful reviews from

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

. '' Le portefaix'', the most successful of his operas, had a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...

(originally offered to the composer

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...

).Letellier (2014), 1 Gomis was made a Chevalier of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

by King

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

. Gomis died in Paris in 1836 of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, leaving a number of works unfinished, including the opera ''Le comte Julien'', also to a libretto by Scribe (and eventually set in 1851 by

Sigismond Thalberg Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Family Thalberg was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. Thalberg asserted that he ...

as ''Florinda'').

Bibliography

* Berlioz, Hector (ed. Katherine Kolb): ''Berlioz on Music: Selected Criticism, 1824–1837'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015); * Dowling, John
"Gomis (y Colomer), José Melchor [Melchior
/nowiki>"">elchior">"Gomis (y Colomer), José Melchor [Melchior
/nowiki>" in ''Grove Music Online'' , accessed 23 August 2015. * Johnson, Janet: "Rossini in Bologna and Paris during the Early 1830s: New Letters", in ''Revue de Musicologie'', vol. 79 (1993) no. 1, pp. 67–83. * Letellier, Robert: ''Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots: An Evangel of Religion and Love'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014);

References

1791 births 1836 deaths 19th-century Spanish classical composers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century Spanish male musicians Knights of the Legion of Honour Spanish male opera composers People from Ontinyent Spanish opera composers Spanish Romantic composers Tuberculosis deaths in France {{Spain-music-stub