|
|
|
|
Alexandre Etienne Choron
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Enlarged 1825 postmark |
Enlarged signature |
TRANSCRIPTION
Ministére
de la
Maison Roi
+++++++++++++
Institution
(___________)
du Musique
Religieuse
Rue de Vaugiraud
No. 69
À Monsieur et Monsieur Freuttal Wurtz
Libraires
Rue de Bourbon, no 03
Paris
Je prie Monsieur et Monsieur Freuttal
et Wurtz des
bien vouloir demander pour moi l’ouvrage
dont je joins ici la note.
Gerber, (E[rnst] L[udwig])
Neuer
Historisch-biographisches
Lexicon der Tonkunstler.
Ausgabe Leipzig : J.G.I. Breitkopf
Leur bien humble serviteur,
A. Choron
1825
TRANSLATION
Ministére
de la
Maison Roi
+++++++++++++
Institution
(___________)
du Musique
Religieuse1
Rue de Vaugiraud2
No. 69
To Mr. Freuttal and Wurtz
Librarians
Rue de Bourbon, no 03
Paris
I pray Mr. And Mr. Freuttal
and Wurtz to kindly ask for
me the book of which I
include the note
Gerber, (E[rnst] L[udwig])
Neuer
Historisch-biographisches
Lexicon der Tonkunstler.
Published in Leipzig : J.G.I. Breitkopf
Their very humble servant
A[lexander] Choron3
1825
NOTES:
1) According to Mongrédien, a year earlier, the institution had a slightly different name: "In 1824...Choron and the Church of the Sorbonne made an agreement that mass in the church would be sung every Sunday by the choir of his school, then called Institution royale de musique religieuse de France (the French Royal Institution of Sacred Music). --Source: Jean Mongredien, French Music from the Enlightenment to Romanticism 1789 - 1830, (Portland: 1986) p. 200.
N.B. [This is not exactly where this note belongs, but it is somewhat associated with Choron's educational goals concerning religious music in France, so with that said...] With respect to the state of religious music in France: "Troche declares that 'although it should not be considered a secondary object in church, the organ nevertheless dominates in all the services; but only rarely does it cause the pure plainsong to be heard, and the reason for this is very simple: the artist id not acquainted with it.'" Benjamin Van Wye claims that the reason for this deficiency is that "during thee first half of the 19th century there was no French institution offering specialized training for church musicians." He explains that "for hundred's of years before the Revolution, France's organists had been trained in the choir schools and, during the 18th century, in the École Royale de Chant as well. The suppression of the former in 1791 and discontinuation of the organ class of the latter four years later were severe blows to an already declining tradition of church music." (Source: Benjamin Van Wye, "Gregorian Influences in French Organ Music," Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol.XXVII, No. 1, Spring 1974, p. 7) [Also see Fromental Halevy]
2) In the 6th Arrondissment, near present-day St. Placide Metro station. An interesting, but irrelevant note: This address was made famous in French comic books of the 1950's about the adventures of Professeur Labrousse ( who lived at No. 69) and the French Secret Service.
3)A bookseller's
description of the dictionary of musicians by
Choron translated into English:
A DICTIONARY OF
MUSICIANS, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE
PRESENT TIME. COMPRISING OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BIOGRAPHICAL
CONTENTS OF THE WORKS OF GERBER, CHORON, AND FAYOLLE,
COURT ORLOFF, DR. BURNEY, SIR JOHN HAWKINS, ETC, ETC, TOGETHER
WITH UPWARDS OF A HUNDRED ORIGINAL MEMOIRS OF THE MOST EMINENT
LIVING MUSICIANS AND A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
London : Sainsbury and Co., 1827. Second edition. 2 volumes. 12mo.
Professionally rebound in quarter calf with marbled-paper covered boards.
Five raised bands. Compartments decorated with stamped thistle centered
in scallop shell boarder. Gilt stamped titles set on red leather inlay. Edges
marbled. 963 pp. in toto. “Summary of the History of Music” by
Alexander Choron,
translated from the French.
4) "...the Marseillaise, banned before the July Revolution (1830) (and banned many times subsequently), was struck up at all hours of the day and night. Choron performed it between excerpts from Samson and Judas Maccabaeus at an oratorio concert at his School of Church Music." (Source: David Cairns, Berlioz, Volume I, p. 398).
5) Choron was not only a teacher and composer, but one of the first true music historians in France (other than J.B. de la Borde) in the second half of the 18th century. Irritated by the stronghold that opera had on contemporary French music, Choron wanted to return to the more traditional and sedate forms of sacred music. He was also opposed to the theatrical influences on church music. This opposition spurred him him to write an essay in 1825 (same year as this document) titled Mémoire sur la situation actuelle de la musique religieuse et sur les moyens d'en operer la restauration (Memoir on the present situation of church music and the means of restoring it). In it, he dared write that "France is the only European country without its religious music." Source: Jean Mongredien, French Music from the Enlightenment to Romanticism 1789 - 1830, (Portland: 1986) p. 198.
REV. 02/16/2006
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Alexandre
Étienne Choron (b. Caen, Oct. 12, 1771-- d. Paris, June 29, 1834)
Choron studied mathematics, but became a largely self-taught musician, theorist,
teacher and composer. From 1805 he was active as an author and music teacher.
Louis XVIII appointed him to reorganize the choir schools. Choron was the
director
of the Académie Royale de Musique during 1816-1817. He started the
Ecole Royale
de Chant et de Déclamation. In 1820, he began publishing music. He started his
school--Institution royale de musique religieuse de France (located at No. 69
Rue de Vaugirard)
and in 1824 held concerts with students of the Sorbonne.
Rev. 2/11/04
|
The contents and use of this website are
protected by copyright law. |
