31-593: Leonhardt-Consort , also known as the Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble , was a group of instrumentalists which its director, the keyboard player Gustav Leonhardt founded in 1955 to play baroque music . The Consort was active until around 1990, although some members including Leonhardt himself continued to perform after that date. The ensemble was based in the Netherlands, although it included people whom Leonhardt knew from Vienna, where he taught at
62-574: A canal house on the Herengracht dating from about 1617, the Huis Bartolotti , and was a collector of decorative arts, paintings, and engravings. In 2014, his collection was auctioned by Sotheby's . His instruments were sold to a few former students, including Skip Sempé and Pierre Hantaï . Andr%C3%A9 Gr%C3%A9try André Ernest Modeste Grétry ( French: [gʁɛtʁi] ; baptised 11 February 1741; died 24 September 1813)
93-485: A great historic event. In it occurs the celebrated romance, O Richard, O mon Roi, l'univers t'abandonne , which was sung at the banquet – "fatal as that of Thyestes ," remarks Carlyle – given by the bodyguard to the officers of the Versailles garrison on 3 October 1789. La Marseillaise not long afterwards became the reply of the people to the expression of loyalty borrowed from Grétry's opera. Richard Cœur de Lion
124-432: A pupil of Jean-Pantaléon Leclerc and later of the organist at St-Pierre de Liège, Nicolas Rennekin , for keyboard and composition and of Henri Moreau, music master at the collegiate church of St. Paul. But of greater importance was the practical tuition he received by attending the performance of an Italian opera company. Here he heard the operas of Baldassarre Galuppi , Giovanni Battista Pergolesi , and other masters; and
155-639: A short stay at Geneva (where he made the acquaintance of Voltaire , and produced another operetta) went to Paris. There for two years he had to contend with the difficulties attendant on poverty and obscurity. He was, however, not without friends, and by the intercession of Count Gustaf Philip Creutz , the Swedish ambassador, Grétry obtained a libretto from Jean-François Marmontel , which he set to music in less than six weeks, and which, on its performance in August 1768, met with unparalleled success. The name of
186-1161: A variety of solo, chamber, orchestral, operatic, and choral music from the Renaissance , Baroque and Classical periods. The many composers whose music he recorded as a harpsichordist, organist, clavichordist, fortepianist, chamber musician or conductor included Johann Sebastian Bach , Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Wilhelm Friedemann Bach , Heinrich Biber , John Blow , Georg Böhm , William Byrd , André Campra , François Couperin , Louis Couperin , John Dowland , Jacques Duphly , Antoine Forqueray , Girolamo Frescobaldi , Johann Jakob Froberger , Orlando Gibbons , André Grétry , George Frideric Handel , Jacques-Martin Hotteterre , Jean-Baptiste Lully , Claudio Monteverdi , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Georg Muffat , Johann Pachelbel , Henry Purcell , Jean-Philippe Rameau , Christian Ritter , Johann Rosenmüller , Domenico Scarlatti , Agostino Steffani , Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck , Georg Philipp Telemann , Francisco Valls , Antonio Vivaldi , and Matthias Weckmann . Central to Leonhardt's career
217-426: Is already obvious ornamentation in the notation.... my immediate reaction is often that this performance's principal message is 'Not Leonhardt'." Similarly, he says that " Bob van Asperen takes [Leonhardt's] rhythmic subtlety to a new extreme and perhaps presents the most rhythmically nuanced account of the work [The Goldberg Variations], one that will be ideal to some and mannered to others." By contrast, Butt argues,
248-511: Is not necessarily a simple, direct matter, but that some of his students consciously or unconsciously tried to play differently than he did. In comparing recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations , Butt asserts that a "classic case" of the anxiety of influence is at work in the Goldberg recording by Ton Koopman , in which "what is immediately evident is the incessant ornamentation added to virtually every measure, often regardless of whether there
279-507: The Academy of Music at the beginning of the 1950s. When it was founded the ensemble consisted of Leonhardt, his wife Marie (a violinist) and other string players. It expanded to include wind players such as Frans Brüggen . From early in the ensemble's history they collaborated with singers such as the counter-tenor Alfred Deller . The music of Johann Sebastian Bach was central to the work of Leonhardt and his ensemble. In collaboration with
310-877: The Concentus Musicus Wien , conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt , they recorded from 1971 to 1990 a complete set of Bach cantatas in historically informed performances , the Teldec set . The ensemble participated in Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Groningse Bachvereniging , conducted by Johan van der Meer . They recorded all his harpsichord concertos and the Brandenburg Concertos . They also recorded works by William Lawes and Henry Purcell . Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012)
341-461: The Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble with the English countertenor Alfred Deller in a pioneering recording of two Bach cantatas . The ensemble included his wife Marie Leonhardt [ de ] , Eduard Melkus (violins), Alice Harnoncourt-Hoffelner (violin, viola), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (cello), and Michel Piguet (oboe). In 1971, Leonhardt and Harnoncourt undertook the project of recording
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#1732786703540372-591: The Musica Antiqua Bruges . He was the only jury member who had participated in all sixteen juries from 1965 to 2010. Among the awards given to him were the Medal of Honour for the Arts and Sciences from the Netherlands, presented to him by Queen Beatrix in 2009, and the 1980 Erasmus Prize, which he shared with Nicolaus Harnoncourt; it honored their recording of the complete Bach cantatas. (Leonhardt donated
403-743: The Order of the Crown in Belgium. Leonhardt gave his last public performance on 12 December 2011 at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. Thereafter, he announced his retirement due to illness and cancelled all of his 2012 engagements. He died of cancer in Amsterdam on Monday, 16 January 2012, aged 83. Two asteroids were named after him: 9903 Leonhardt and 12637 Gustavleonhardt . Leonhardt lived in
434-539: The Revolution Grétry lost much of his property, but the successive governments of France vied in favouring the composer, regardless of political differences. From the old court he received distinctions and rewards of all kinds; the republic made him an inspector of the conservatoire; Napoleon granted him the cross of the legion of honour and a pension. Grétry took students in opera composition, including his daughter Lucile and Caroline Wuiet . He died at
465-724: The complete Bach cantatas ; the two conductors divided up the cantatas and recorded their assigned cantatas with their own ensembles. The project, the first cycle on period instruments, ended up taking nineteen years, from 1971 to 1990. In addition, Leonhardt recorded Bach's St Matthew Passion , Mass in B minor , Magnificat , and the complete secular cantatas , as well as the harpsichord concertos , Brandenburg Concertos , and most of his chamber and keyboard music; he recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations (three times), Partitas (twice), The Art of Fugue (twice), The Well-Tempered Clavier , French Suites , English Suites (twice), Inventions and Sinfonias , and many other individual works for
496-598: The Hermitage in Montmorency , formerly the house of Rousseau . Fifteen years after his death Grétry's heart was transferred to his birthplace, permission having been obtained after a protracted lawsuit. In 1842 a large bronze statue of the composer was set up at Liège. His heart remains in it, while his body is buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise Cemetery . During his life, a commemorative statue
527-809: The desire of completing his own studies in Italy was the immediate result. To find the necessary means he composed in 1759 a mass which he dedicated to the canons of the Liège Cathedral , and it was at the expense of Canon Hurley that he went to Italy in March 1759. In Rome he went to the Collège de Liège . Here Grétry resided for five years, studiously employed in completing his musical education under Giovanni Battista Casali . His proficiency in harmony and counterpoint was, however, according to his own confession, at all times very moderate. His first great success
558-1402: The enormous influence [Leonhardt] held over multiple generations of music making in the Baroque field"; in this discussion, Butt spoke of how much he learned from Leonhardt when preparing a chorus for him in the early 1990s. More generally, Leonhardt significantly influenced the technique and style of many harpsichordists through his teaching, editions, and recordings; his students and collaborators included harpsichordists and keyboard players such as Robert Hill , Bob van Asperen , John Butt , Lucy Carolan, Lisa Crawford, Alan Curtis , Menno van Delft, Richard Egarr , John Fesperman , John Gibbons, Pierre Hantaï , Frederick Renz , Elaine Thornburgh , Ketil Haugsand , Siebe Henstra , Philippe Herreweghe , Christopher Hogwood , Ton Koopman , Karyl Louwenaar, Charlotte Mattax, Davitt Moroney , Jacques Ogg , Martin Pearlman (music director of Boston Baroque ), Edward Parmentier, Christophe Rousset , Louise Spizizen , Andreas Staier , Skip Sempé , Domenico Morgante , Peter Waldner, Francesco Cera , Jeannette Sorrell (music director of Apollo's Fire , The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra), Colin Tilney , Glen Wilson , and Chris Mary Francine Whittle . Butt argues that Leonhardt's influence
589-569: The harpsichord, clavichord, or organ. To the surprise of some of his associates, Leonhardt accepted the role of Johann Sebastian Bach (played in a wig) in The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach , a 1968 film by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet . Between 1974 and 1990, Leonhardt served as editor of the primary scholarly collection of the works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, which is noted as SwWV or L. The keyboardist, conductor and scholar John Butt said, "...there's absolutely no doubting
620-460: The lines of Die Entführung aus dem Serail ; premiered at Fontainebleau in 1783, it remained in the French repertory for fifty years. Grétry also made use of the mandolin in his compositions. Philip J. Bone speculated that Grétry was exposed to the instrument while in Italy, and said "he makes use of it upon various occasions, in this instance with a telling and marked impression." This instance
651-613: The money he received from the Erasmus Prize to Oudezijds 100, an ecumenical Christian charity operating "in the red-light district [of] Amsterdam" that "addresses the issues of drug-addicts, prostitutes, refugees, and the homeless."). Leonhardt was doctor honoris causa of the universities of Dallas, Amsterdam, Harvard, Metz and Padua. In 2007, he was made Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and in 2008, Commander of
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#1732786703540682-405: The opera was Le Huron . Two others, Lucile and Le tableau parlant , soon followed, and thenceforth Grétry's position as the leading composer of comic opera was safely established. Altogether he composed some fifty operas. His masterpieces are Zémire et Azor and Richard Coeur-de-lion —the first produced in 1771, the second in 1784. The latter in an indirect way became connected with
713-504: The republican enthusiasm displayed is not genuine. Little more successful was Grétry in his dealings with classical subjects. His genuine power lay in the delineation of character and in the expression of tender and typically French sentiment. The structure of his concerted pieces on the other hand is frequently flimsy, and his instrumentation so feeble that the orchestral parts of some of his works had to be rewritten by other composers, in order to make them acceptable to modern audiences. During
744-518: The younger Christophe Rousset plays the Goldberg Variations in a "meat-and-potatoes" manner with "a steady rhythm, even articulation, and a matter-of-fact presentation with little extra ornamentation," demonstrating that "certainly Rousset does not seem to count among the 'radical reactivists' [to Leonhardt] such as Koopman and van Asperen." Leonhardt served as a member of the jury for the triennial International Harpsichord Concours of
775-516: Was Johann Sebastian Bach . Leonhardt first recorded music of the composer in the early 1950s, with recordings in 1953 of the Goldberg Variations and The Art of Fugue . The latter embodies the thesis he had published the previous year arguing that the work was intended for the keyboard, a conclusion now widely accepted. The recordings helped establish his reputation as a distinguished harpsichordist and Bach interpreter. In 1954 he led
806-482: Was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (present-day Belgium ), who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his opéras comiques . His music influenced Mozart and Beethoven both of whom wrote variations on his works. He was born at Liège , his father being a poor musician. He was a choirboy at the church of St. Denis (Liège) . In 1753 he became
837-438: Was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments . Leonhardt professionally played many instruments, including the harpsichord , pipe organ , claviorganum (a combination of harpsichord and organ), clavichord , fortepiano , and piano. He also conducted orchestras and choruses. Gustav Leonhardt
868-521: Was achieved by La vendemmiatrice , an Italian intermezzo or operetta , composed for the Aliberti theatre in Rome and received with universal applause. It is said that the study of the score of one of Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny 's operas, lent to him by a secretary of the French embassy in Rome, decided Grétry to devote himself to French comic opera. On New Year's Day 1767 he accordingly left Rome, and after
899-701: Was born in 's-Graveland , near Hilversum , and studied organ and harpsichord from 1947 to 1950 with Eduard Müller at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel . In 1950, he made his debut as a harpsichordist in Vienna , where he studied musicology. He was professor of harpsichord at the Academy of Music from 1952 to 1955 and at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1954. He was also a church organist. Leonhardt performed and conducted
930-428: Was the serenade While all are sleeping from Grétry's opera L'amant jaloux . Bone called the serenade "a delicate accompaniment for two mandolins". The composer himself was influenced by the great events he witnessed, and the titles of some of his operas, such as La rosière républicaine and La fête de la raison , sufficiently indicate the epoch to which they belong; but they are mere pièces de circonstance , and
961-405: Was translated and adapted for the English stage by John Burgoyne . Grétry was the first to write for the "tuba curva", an instrument that existed from Roman times as the cornu . He used the tuba curva in music that he composed for the funeral of Voltaire . His opera-ballet La caravane du Caire , with modest turquerie exoticism in harp and triangle accompaniment, is a rescue adventure along