1.
Jacques Aved
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Jacques-André-Joseph Aved, also called le Camelot and Avet le Batave, was a French painter of the 18th century and one of the main French Rococo portraitists. He painted among others the Ottoman Empire ambassador to France in 1742 and his father was a physician and he was orphaned when he was a little boy. He was raised in Amsterdam by one of his uncles, who was a captain in the Dutch Army, after his training in Amsterdam with François Boitard and Bernard Picart, Jacques Aved started working in Paris for Belle in 1721. He later entered at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1731 and he was appointed councillor after graduating in 1734 and in 1759, in 1753 he became a member of the Confrerie Pictura. As an art dealer and collector, he owned one of the most important collections with works by Italian, French and this collection was sold at auction in 1766. Carle Van Loo, François Boucher, Dumont le Romain and Chardin were some of his pupils, fatma Müge Göçek East encounters West, France and the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century Oxford University Press US,1987 ISBN 0-19-504826-1
2.
Composer
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A composer is a person who creates or writes music, which can be vocal music, instrumental music or music which combines both instruments and voices. The core meaning of the term refers to individuals who have contributed to the tradition of Western classical music through creation of works expressed in written musical notation, many composers are also skilled performers, either as singers, instrumentalists, and/or conductors. Examples of composers who are well known for their ability as performers include J. S. Bach, Mozart. In many popular genres, such as rock and country. For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers interpretations of the work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others, although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st century, a culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composers written intention came to be highly valued. This musical culture is almost certainly related to the esteem in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise. In Classical music, the composer typically orchestrates her own compositions, in some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. In the development of European classical music, the function of composing music initially did not have greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In as much as the role of the composer in western art music has seen continued solidification, for instance, in certain contexts the line between composer and performer, sound designer, arranger, producer, and other roles, can be quite blurred. The term composer is often used to refer to composers of music, such as those found in classical, jazz or other forms of art. In popular and folk music, the composer is usually called a songwriter and this is distinct from a 19th-century conception of instrumental composition, where the work was represented solely by a musical score to be interpreted by performers
3.
Music theory
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Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. The term is used in three ways in music, though all three are interrelated. The first is what is otherwise called rudiments, currently taught as the elements of notation, of key signatures, of time signatures, of rhythmic notation, Theory in this sense is treated as the necessary preliminary to the study of harmony, counterpoint, and form. The second is the study of writings about music from ancient times onwards, Music theory is frequently concerned with describing how musicians and composers make music, including tuning systems and composition methods among other topics. However, this medieval discipline became the basis for tuning systems in later centuries, Music theory as a practical discipline encompasses the methods and concepts composers and other musicians use in creating music. The development, preservation, and transmission of music theory in this sense may be found in oral and written music-making traditions, musical instruments, and other artifacts. In ancient and living cultures around the world, the deep and long roots of music theory are clearly visible in instruments, oral traditions, and current music making. Many cultures, at least as far back as ancient Mesopotamia and ancient China, have also considered music theory in more formal ways such as written treatises, in modern academia, music theory is a subfield of musicology, the wider study of musical cultures and history. Etymologically, music theory is an act of contemplation of music, from the Greek θεωρία, a looking at, viewing, contemplation, speculation, theory, also a sight, a person who researches, teaches, or writes articles about music theory is a music theorist. University study, typically to the M. A. or Ph. D level, is required to teach as a music theorist in a US or Canadian university. Methods of analysis include mathematics, graphic analysis, and especially analysis enabled by Western music notation, comparative, descriptive, statistical, and other methods are also used. See for instance Paleolithic flutes, Gǔdí, and Anasazi flute, several surviving Sumerian and Akkadian clay tablets include musical information of a theoretical nature, mainly lists of intervals and tunings. The scholar Sam Mirelman reports that the earliest of these dates from before 1500 BCE. Further, All the Mesopotamian texts are united by the use of a terminology for music that, much of Chinese music history and theory remains unclear. The earliest texts about Chinese music theory are inscribed on the stone and they include more than 2800 words describing theories and practices of music pitches of the time. The bells produce two intertwined pentatonic scales three tones apart with additional pitches completing the chromatic scale, Chinese theory starts from numbers, the main musical numbers being twelve, five and eight. Twelve refers to the number of pitches on which the scales can be constructed, the Lüshi chunqiu from about 239 BCE recalls the legend of Ling Lun. On order of the Yellow Emperor, Ling Lun collected twelve bamboo lengths with thick, blowing on one of these like a pipe, he found its sound agreeable and named it huangzhong, the Yellow Bell
4.
Jean-Baptiste Lully
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Jean-Baptiste Lully was an Italian-born French composer, instrumentalist, and dancer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered a master of the French baroque style, Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in 1661, Lully was born on November 28,1632 in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to a family of millers. His general education and his training during his youth in Florence remain uncertain. He used to say that a Franciscan friar gave him his first music lessons and he also learned to play the violin. Guise took the boy to Paris, where the fourteen-year-old entered Mademoiselles service and he probably honed his musical skills by working with Mademoiselles household musicians and with composers Nicolas Métru, François Roberday and Nicolas Gigault. The teenagers talents as a guitarist, violinist, and dancer quickly won him the nicknames Baptiste, when Mademoiselle was exiled to the provinces in 1652 after the rebellion known as the Fronde, Lully begged his leave. Because he did not want to live in the country, by February 1653 Lully had attracted the attention of young Louis XIV, dancing with him in the Ballet royal de la nuit. By March 16,1653, Lully had been made royal composer for instrumental music and his vocal and instrumental music for court ballets gradually made him indispensable. In 1660 and 1662 he collaborated on performances of Francesco Cavallis Xerse. When Louis XIV took over the reins of government in 1661, in December 1661 the Florentine was granted letters of naturalization. The latter assertion was an untruth, from 1661 on, the trios and dances he wrote for the court were promptly published. When he became surintendant de la de la chambre du roi in 1661. He relied mainly on the Little Violins for court ballets and their collaboration began in earnest in 1664 with Le Mariage forcé. In 1672 Lully broke with Molière, who turned to Marc-Antoine Charpentier, having acquired Pierre Perrins opera privilege, Lully became the director of the Académie Royale de Musique, that is, the royal opera, which performed in the Palais-Royal. Between 1673 and 1687 he produced a new opera almost yearly and fiercely protected his monopoly over that new genre, after Queen Marie-Thérèses death in 1683 and the kings secret marriage to Mme de Maintenon, devotion came to the fore at court. The kings enthusiasm for opera dissipated, he was revolted by Lullys dissolute life, in 1686, to show his displeasure, Louis XIV made a point of not inviting Lully to perform Armide at Versailles. Lully died from gangrene, having struck his foot with his conducting staff during a performance of his Te Deum to celebrate Louis XIVs recovery from surgery
5.
French opera
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French opera is one of Europes most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Poulenc and Messiaen. Many foreign-born composers have played a part in the French tradition as well, including Lully, Gluck, Salieri, Cherubini, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Offenbach, Lully and his librettist Quinault created tragédie en musique, a form in which dance music and choral writing were particularly prominent. Lullys most important successor was Rameau, after Rameaus death, the German Gluck was persuaded to produce six operas for the Parisian stage in the 1770s. They show the influence of Rameau, but simplified and with focus on the drama. At the same time, by the middle of the 18th century another genre was gaining popularity in France, opéra comique, by the 1820s, Gluckian influence in France had given way to a taste for the operas of Rossini. Rossinis Guillaume Tell helped found the new genre of Grand opera, lighter opéra comique also enjoyed tremendous success in the hands of Boïeldieu, Auber and others. In this climate, the operas of the French-born composer Hector Berlioz struggled to gain a hearing, berliozs epic masterpiece Les Troyens, the culmination of the Gluckian tradition, was not given a full performance for almost a hundred years after it was written. At the same time, the influence of Richard Wagner was felt as a challenge to the French tradition, perhaps the most interesting response to Wagnerian influence was Claude Debussys unique operatic masterpiece Pelléas et Mélisande. Other notable 20th-century names include Ravel, Poulenc and Messiaen, the first operas to be staged in France were imported from Italy, beginning with Francesco Sacratis La finta pazza in 1645. French audiences gave them a lukewarm reception, when two Italian operas, Francesco Cavallis Xerse and Ercole amante, proved failures in Paris in 1660 and 1662, the prospects of opera flourishing in France looked remote. In 1669, Pierre Perrin founded the Académie dOpéra and, in collaboration with the composer Robert Cambert and their first effort, Pomone, appeared on stage on 3 March 1671 and was followed a year later by Les peines et plaisirs de lamour. At this point King Louis XIV transferred the privilege of producing operas from Perrin to Jean-Baptiste Lully, Lully, a Florentine, was already the favourite musician of the king, who had assumed full royal powers in 1661 and was intent on refashioning French culture in his image. Lully had an instinct for knowing exactly what would satisfy the taste of his master. He had already composed music for extravagant court entertainments as well as for the theatre, yet Molière and Lully had quarrelled bitterly and the composer found a new and more pliable collaborator in Philippe Quinault, who would write the libretti for all but two of Lullys operas. On 27 April 1673, Lullys Cadmus et Hermione – often regarded as the first French opera in the sense of the term – appeared in Paris. It was a work in a new genre, which its creators Lully and Quinault baptised tragédie en musique, a form of opera specially adapted for French taste. Lully went on to produce tragédies en musique at the rate of at least one a year until his death in 1687, as the name suggests, tragédie en musique was modelled on the French Classical tragedy of Corneille and Racine. Lully and Quinault replaced the confusingly elaborate Baroque plots favoured by the Italians with a much clearer five-act structure, each of the five acts generally followed a regular pattern
6.
Hippolyte et Aricie
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Hippolyte et Aricie was the first opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was premiered to great controversy by the Académie Royale de Musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on October 1,1733, the French libretto, by Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, is based on Racines tragedy Phèdre. The opera takes the form of a tragédie en musique with an allegorical prologue followed by five acts. Early audiences found little else conventional about the work, I have been a follower of the stage since I was 12 years old. I only began work on an opera when I was 50, I still didnt think I was capable, I tried my hand, I was lucky, I continued. Rameau was almost 50 when he wrote Hippolyte et Aricie and there was little in his life to suggest he was about to embark on a new career as an opera composer. He was famous for his works on music theory as well as books of harpsichord pieces, the closest he had come to writing dramatic music was composing a few secular cantatas and some popular pieces for the Paris fairs for his friend Alexis Piron. Yet Rameaus eagerness to write an opera is shown by a letter he wrote in October 1727 to Antoine Houdar de La Motte asking for a libretto, the turning point finally came in 1732. In February that year, Michel Montéclairs tragédie en musique Jephté premiered at the Paris Opéra, Rameau was said to be so impressed by the opera that he approached its librettist, Pellegrin, for a tragédie en musique of his own. The result was Hippolyte et Aricie, in spring 1733, the new opera was given a run-through either at the house of Rameaus patron, La Pouplinière, or at that of the Prince de Carignan. It went into rehearsal at the Opéra in July, even at this stage there were problems and Rameau had to cut the second Trio des Parques in the second act because the performers found it too hard to play. This was just a foretaste of the difficulties to come when Hippolyte et Aricie received its premiere on 1 October, Tragédie en musique had been invented as a genre by Lully and his librettist Quinault in the 1670s and 1680s. Their works had held the stage ever since and come to be regarded as a French national institution, when Hippolyte et Aricie made its debut, many in the audience were delighted, praising Rameau as the Orpheus of our century. André Campra was struck by the richness of invention, There is enough music in this opera to make ten of them, others, however, felt the music was bizarre and dissonant. They saw Rameaus work as an assault on Lullian opera and French musical tradition, then suddenly the Ramellian aesthetic played havoc with the confidence of the French in their patrimony, assaulted their national opera that they hoped was unchangeable. Structurally, Hippolyte followed the established by Lully, a French overture followed by a prologue and five acts, each with its own divertissement containing dances, solos. Musically, however, it was different, especially the orchestration. Rameau had rethought everything apart from the recitative and petits airs, the dominant feeling among those hostile to the opera was that there was an excess of music, too much accompaniment, too many symphonies and too many notes
7.
Dijon
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Dijon is a city in eastern France, capital of the Côte-dOr département and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period, Dijon later became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Population,151,576 within the city limits,250,516 for the greater Dijon area, the city has retained varied architectural styles from many of the main periods of the past millennium, including Capetian, Gothic and Renaissance. Many still-inhabited town houses in the central district date from the 18th century. Dijon architecture is distinguished by, among other things, toits bourguignons made of tiles glazed in terracotta, green, yellow and black, Dijon holds an International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn. With over 500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors every year, Dijon is also home, every three years, to the international flower show Florissimo. The historical center of the city has been registered since July 4,2015 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement called Divio, which may mean sacred fountain, saint Benignus, the citys apocryphal patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The Duchy of Burgundy was a key in the transformation of medieval times toward early modern Europe, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy now houses city hall and a museum of art. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon, the siege was extremely violent, but the town succeeded in resisting the invaders. After long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the Swiss, during the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the towns successful resistance and the subsequent withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the following the siege the inhabitants of Dijon began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir. Although a few areas of the town were destroyed, there are no signs of the siege of 1513 visible today. However, Dijons museum of arts has a large tapestry depicting this episode in the towns history. Dijon is situated at the heart of a plain drained by two small converging rivers, the Suzon, which crosses it mostly underground from north to south, farther south is the côte, or hillside, of vineyards that gives the department its name. Dijon lies 310 km southeast of Paris,190 km northwest of Geneva, the average low of winter is −1 °C, with an average high of 4.2 °C. The average high of summer is 25.3 °C with a low of 14.7 °C. Average normal temperatures are between 2.3 °C and 5.3 °C from November to March, and 17.2 to 19.7 °C from June to August, the climate is oceanic but with a greater temperature range than closer to the Atlantic coastline
8.
Society of Jesus
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The Society of Jesus Latin, Societas Iesu, S. J. SJ or SI) is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in Spain. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents, Jesuits work in education, intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social justice, Ignatius of Loyola founded the society after being wounded in battle and experiencing a religious conversion. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, ignatiuss plan of the orders organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the Formula of the Institute. Ignatius was a nobleman who had a background, and the members of the society were supposed to accept orders anywhere in the world. The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and, later, in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, the Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General. The Society of Jesus on October 3,2016 announced that Superior General Adolfo Nicolás resignation was officially accepted, on October 14, the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus elected Father Arturo Sosa as its thirty-first Superior General. The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome, the historic curia of St. Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church. In 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit Pope, the Jesuits today form the largest single religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church. As of 1 January 2015, Jesuits numbered 16,740,11,986 clerics regular,2,733 scholastics,1,268 brothers and 753 novices. In 2012, Mark Raper S. J. wrote, Our numbers have been in decline for the last 40 years—from over 30,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 18,000 today. The steep declines in Europe and North America and consistent decline in Latin America have not been offset by the significant increase in South Asia, the Society is divided into 83 Provinces with six Independent Regions and ten Dependent Regions. On 1 January 2007, members served in 112 nations on six continents with the largest number in India and their average age was 57.3 years,63.4 years for priests,29.9 years for scholastics, and 65.5 years for brothers. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Arturo Sosa, the Society is characterized by its ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education. It operates colleges and universities in countries around the world and is particularly active in the Philippines. In the United States it maintains 28 colleges and universities and 58 high schools and he ensured that his formula was contained in two papal bulls signed by Pope Paul III in 1540 and by Pope Julius III in 1550. The formula expressed the nature, spirituality, community life and apostolate of the new religious order, the meeting is now commemorated in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, Montmartre
9.
Harpsichord
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A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed, Harpsichord designates the whole family of similar plucked keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet. The harpsichord was used in Renaissance and Baroque music. During the late 18th century, it disappeared from the musical scene with the rise of the piano. In the 20th century, it made a resurgence, being used in historically informed performances of music, in compositions. Harpsichords vary in size and shape, but all have the basic functional arrangement. The player depresses a key that rocks over a pivot in the middle of its length, the other end of the key lifts a jack that holds a small plectrum, which plucks the string. When the player releases the key, the far end returns to its rest position, the plectrum, mounted on a tongue that can swivel backwards away from the string, passes the string without plucking it again. As the key reaches its rest position, a felt damper atop the jack stops the strings vibrations and these basic principles are explained in detail below. The keylever is a pivot, which rocks on a balance pin that passes through a hole drilled through the keylever. The jack is a thin, rectangular piece of wood that sits upright on the end of the keylever, the jacks are held in place by the registers. These are two strips of wood, which run in the gap between pinblock and bellyrail. The registers have rectangular mortises through which the pass as they can move up. The registers hold the jacks in the location needed to pluck the string. In the jack, a plectrum juts out almost horizontally and passes just under the string, historically, plectra were made of bird quill or leather, many modern harpsichords have plastic plectra. When the front of the key is pressed, the back of the key rises, the jack is lifted, the vertical motion of the jack is then stopped by the jackrail, which is covered with soft felt to muffle the impact. When the key is released, the falls back down under its own weight. This is made possible by having the plectrum held in a tongue attached with a pivot and a spring to the body of the jack
10.
Louis Marchand
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Louis Marchand was a French Baroque organist, harpsichordist, and composer. Born into a family, Marchand was a child prodigy. He worked as organist of numerous churches and, for a few years, Marchand had a violent temperament and an arrogant personality, and his life was filled with scandals, publicized and widely discussed both during his lifetime and after his death. Despite his fame, few of his works survive to this day, nevertheless, a few pieces of his, such as the organ pieces Grand dialogue en ut majeur and Fond dorgue en mi mineur, have been lauded as classic works of the French organ school. Marchands father Jean was an organist in Lyon, at around 1707–8 he became one of court organists. Between 1713 and 1717 Marchand went on a concert tour of Germany. After his return to France Marchand once again settled in Paris and worked as organist for the Cordeliers Convent, virtually all contemporary accounts contain lavish praise of Marchands keyboard talents, yet most writers also mention that the composer had an extremely colorful and unpredictable personality. This combination of skill and bizarre temperament resulted in numerous anecdotes, scandals. Marchands married life, for example, was unhappy, he beat his wife, separated from her after 12 years of marriage, one scholar suggests that the extended German tour was an attempt to escape his ex-wifes demands. A contemporary account by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg gives a different reason, it wasnt his ex-wife Marchand was escaping from, but the French king, after an unfavorable remark made by Louis XIV about Marchands hands, the composer responded with an improper retort about the kings ears. Still another account claims that after Marchands wife had him, Louis XIV ordered half the composers salary to be withheld. Marchand, in response, broke off in the middle of a mass where he was playing and and he was apparently saved by the Jesuits, who took him in and, recognizing his talent, offered him the position of organist in the church in rue Saint-Jacques. But perhaps the most famous anecdote about Marchand is the account of the competition he was supposed to have with Johann Sebastian Bach in Dresden in September 1717. Bachs respect for Marchands abilities, however, was recorded by the same Jakob Adlung, comparatively few works by Marchand survive, most of them dating from the early stages of his career. The most numerous and arguably most important are his works, of which 12 were published posthumously. He singles out Marchands manualiter trios and non-contrapuntal works as the composers most successful pieces, all show Marchand as a skilled composer and performer, but give no indication of which style he would choose for his later works. Jean-Philippe Rameau was among Marchands admirers, and his pupils included Pierre Dumage, Dumage praised his teacher in the preface to his Premier livre dorgue, one of the most important works from the late years of the French organ school. In addition to his music, Marchand also wrote a treatise on composition, Règles de la composition, although today most of Marchands extant pieces are regarded as unimportant by most scholars, a few have expressed the opposite view
11.
Lyon
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Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
12.
Motet
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In western music, a motet is a mainly vocal musical composition, of highly varied form and style, from the late medieval era to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music, according to Margaret Bent, a piece of music in several parts with words is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond. In the early 20th century, it was believed the name came from the Latin movere. The Medieval Latin for motet is motectum, and the Italian mottetto was also used, if the word is from Latin, the name describes the movement of the different voices against one another. Today, however, the French etymology is favoured by reference books, in fact, the troped clausulas that were the forerunner of the motet were originally called motelli, soon replaced by the term moteti. The earliest motets arose in the 13th century from the organum tradition exemplified in the Notre Dame school of Léonin and Pérotin, the motet probably arose from clausula sections, usually strophic interludes, in a longer sequence of organum, to which upper voices were added. Usually the clausula represented a sequence in Latin which was sung as a discant over a cantus firmus. The motet took a definite rhythm from the words of the verse, the main exception is the conductus motet, in which the parts proceed in essentially homophonic rhythms. The practice of discant over a cantus firmus marked the beginnings of counterpoint in Western music, from these first motets arose a medieval tradition of secular motets. It is suspected that, for the sake of intelligibility, in performance the cantus firmus, among the trouvères, Robert de Reins La Chievre and Richart de Fournival composed motets. While it grew out of the isorhythmic motet, the Renaissance composers of the motet generally abandoned the use of a repeated figure as a cantus firmus. During this time, however, the use of cantus firmi in works such as the parody mass tended to stretch the cantus firmus out to great lengths compared to the multivoice descant above it. This tended to obscure the rhythm supplied by the cantus firmus that had been apparent in the medieval isorhythmic motet. The cascading, passing chords created by the interplay between multiple voices, and the absence of a strong or obvious beat, are the features that distinguish medieval, the texts of antiphons were frequently used as motet texts. This is the sort of composition that is most familiarly designated by the term motet, in essence, these motets were sacred madrigals. The language of the text was the feature, if it is Latin, it is a motet, if the vernacular. Religious compositions in vernacular languages were often called madrigali spirituali, spiritual madrigals, secular motets continued to be written, however. These motets typically set a Latin text in praise of a monarch, commemorating some public triumph, nevertheless, the themes of courtly love often found in the medieval secular motet were banished from the Renaissance motet
13.
Cantata
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A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. Cantatas for use in the liturgy of church services are called church cantata or sacred cantata, several cantatas were, and still are, written for special occasions, such as Christmas cantatas. Johann Sebastian Bach composed cycles of cantatas for the occasions of the liturgical year. The term originated in the early 17th century simultaneously with opera, prior to that, all cultured music was vocal. With the rise of music the term appeared, while the instrumental art became sufficiently developed to be embodied in sonatas. From the beginning of the 17th century until late in the 18th, a cantata consisted first of a declamatory narrative or scene in recitative, held together by a primitive aria repeated at intervals. Fine examples may be found in the music of Giacomo Carissimi. With the rise of the da capo aria, the became a group of two or three arias joined by recitative. George Frideric Handels numerous Italian duets and trios are examples on a large scale. His Latin motet Silete Venti, for solo, shows the use of this form in church music. This is equally evident whether we examine the church cantatas of Bach, of which nearly 200 are extant. Cantatas were in demand for the services of the Lutheran church. Many secular cantatas were composed for events in the nobility and they were so similar in form to the sacred ones that many of them were parodied to sacred cantatas, for example in Bachs Christmas Oratorio. The term cantata came to be applied almost exclusively to choral works, Anton Bruckner composed several Name-day cantatas, a Festive Cantata and two secular cantatas. Brucknerss Psalm 146 is also in cantata form, mendelssohns Symphony Cantata, the Lobgesang, is a hybrid work, partly in the oratorio style. Robert Schumann wrote the cantata Paradise and the Peri, the full lyric possibilities of a string of choral songs were realized by Johannes Brahms in his Rinaldo, that—like the Walpurgisnacht—was set to a text by Goethe. The competition for the French Prix de Rome prescribed that each candidate submit a cantata, hector Berlioz failed in three attempts before finally winning in 1830 with Sardanapale. While almost all of the Prix de Rome cantatas have long since been forgotten, cantatas, both of the chamber variety and on a grand scale, were composed after 1900 as well
14.
Alexis Piron
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Alexis Piron was a French epigrammatist and dramatist. He was born at Dijon, where his father, Aimé Piron, was an apothecary, Piron senior wrote verse in the Burgundian language. Alexis began life as clerk and secretary to a banker, in 1719, when nearly thirty years old, he went to Paris, where an accident brought him money and notoriety. The jealousy of the regular actors produced an edict restricting the Théâtre de la Foire, or licensed booths at fair times, in 1728 he produced Les Fils ingrats at the Comédie-Française. His most intimate associates at this time were Mademoiselle Quinault, the actress and this lady was slightly older than Piron and not beautiful, but after twenty years acquaintance he married her in 1741. He was elected in 1753 to the Académie française, but his enemies raked up a certain Ode à Priape, dating from his early days, Piron was nevertheless given a pension, and during the last fifty years of his life was never in want. His best title to remembrance lies in his epigrams, friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm called him a machine a saillies. He was later elected to membership in the Académie des Sciences, Piron published his own theatrical works in 1758, and after his death his friend and literary executor, Rigoley de Juvigny, published his Œuvres completes. M. Bonhomme produced an edition in 1859, completed by Poésies choisies et pièces inédites in 1879. Piron is compared to the Elder in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Pavlovich as a compliment of wit and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Piron, Alexis
15.
Johann Stamitz
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Jan Václav Antonín Stamic was a Czech composer and violinist. His two surviving sons, Carl and Anton Stamitz, were less important composers of the Mannheim school. His music is stylistically transitional between Baroque and Classical periods, Stamitz spent the academic year 1734–1735 at the University of Prague. After only one year, he left the university to pursue a career as a violin virtuoso and his activities during the six-year period between his departure from the university in 1735 and his appointment in Mannheim around 1741 are not precisely known. He was appointed by the Mannheim court in 1741 or 1742, most likely, his engagement there resulted from contacts made during the Bohemian campaign and coronation of Carl Albert of Bavaria, a close ally of the Elector Palatine. Stamitz married Maria Antonia Luneborn on July 1,1744 and they had five children together, Carl Philipp, Maria Franziska, Anton Thadäus Nepomuk, and two children who died in infancy. His Parisian success induced him to publish his Orchestral Trios, Op.1 and he probably returned to Mannheim around the autumn of 1755, dying there in spring 1757, less than two years later, at the age of 39. The entry of his death reads, Stamitz’s most important compositions are his 58 symphonies, the orchestral trios are actually symphonies for strings, but may be played one player to a part as chamber music. His concertos include numerous ones for the violin, two for viola, two for harpsichord,12 for flute, one for oboe and one for clarinet, among the earliest concertos for the instrument. By contrast, the relationship of the names ‘Steinmetz’ and ‘Stamitz’ has caused substantial confusion, Johann Stamitzs expanded orchestration included important wind parts. His symphonies of the 1750s are scored in eight parts, four strings, horns provided not only a harmonic backdrop for strings but solo lines as well, and he was also one of the first composers to write independent lines for oboes. The chief innovation in Stamitzs symphonic works is their four-movement structure, fast - slow - minuet, while prior isolated four-movement symphonies exist, Stamitz was the first composer to use it consistently, well over half his symphonies and nine of his ten orchestral trios are in four movements. He also contributed to the development of sonata form, most often used in symphonic first movements but occasionally in finales, Stamitz also adapted and extended traits originally developed in Italian opera in his instrumental works. He added innovative dynamic devices such as extended crescendos, simple tutti chordal textures, like Italian operas, Stamitzs compositions have a strong sense of rhythmic drive and distinctive thematic material. Category, Compositions by Johann Stamitz Johann Stamitz Biography and works for viola damore Johann Stamitz, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy, <http, //www. grovemusic. com> Wolf, the Symphonies of Johann Stamitz, A Study in the Formation of the Classic Style. Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema 1981 ISBN 90-313-0346-1 Wright, Craig, Bryan Simms
16.
Voltaire
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Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 21,000 letters and over two books and pamphlets. He was an advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma. Some speculation surrounds Voltaires date of birth, because he claimed he was born on 20 February 1694 as the son of a nobleman. Two of his older brothers—Armand-François and Robert—died in infancy and his brother, Armand. Nicknamed Zozo by his family, Voltaire was baptized on 22 November 1694, with François de Castagnère, abbé de Châteauneuf, and Marie Daumard, the wife of his mothers cousin, standing as godparents. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, where he was taught Latin, theology, and rhetoric, later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English. By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father out, he sent Voltaire to study law. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies, Voltaires wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. In 1713, his father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf, at The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous affair was discovered by de Châteauneuf and Voltaire was forced to return to France by the end of the year, Most of Voltaires early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for critiques of the government and these activities were to result in two imprisonments and a temporary exile to England. One satirical verse, in which Voltaire accused the Régent of incest with his own daughter, the Comédie-Française had agreed in January 1717 to stage his debut play, Œdipe, and it opened in mid-November 1718, seven months after his release. Its immediate critical and financial success established his reputation, both the Régent and King George I of Great Britain presented Voltaire with medals as a mark of their appreciation. He mainly argued for tolerance and freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo-monarchical authority, and supported a constitutional monarchy that protects peoples rights, the author adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille
17.
Les Indes galantes
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Les Indes galantes is a ballet héroïque by Jean-Philippe Rameau with libretto by Louis Fuzelier. The ballets Premier Menuet was used in the soundtrack of the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, in 1725, French settlers in Illinois sent Chief Agapit Chicagou of the Mitchigamea and five other chiefs to Paris. On 25 November 1725, they met with King Louis XV, Chicagou had a letter read pledging allegiance to the crown. They later danced three kinds of dances in the Théâtre-Italien, inspiring Rameau to compose his rondeau Les Sauvages, the premiere met with a lukewarm reception from the audience and, at the third performance, a new entrée was added under the title Les Fleurs. However, this caused further discontent because it showed the hero disguised as a woman, as a result, it was revised for the first time and this version was staged on 11 September. Nevertheless, when it was mounted again on 10 March 1736, now in something approaching a definitive form, the opera enjoyed six performances in March and was then mounted again as of 27 December. Further revivals were held in 1743-1744,1751 and 1761 for a total of 185 billings. The prologue, Les Incas and Les Sauvages were last given respectively in 1771,1772 and 1773, in the 1st Entrée, Jacqueline Brumaire sang Emilie, Jean Giraudeau was Valère and Hugo Santana was Osman, the dancers were Mlle Bourgeois and M Legrand. In the 2nd Entrée, Marisa Ferrer was Phani, Georges Noré was don Carlos, the 3rd Entrée, had Janine Micheau as Fatima, side by side with Denise Duval as Zaïre. Giraudeau was Tacmas and Jacques Jansen, the famous Pelléas, was Ali, with Mlle Bardin dancing as the Rose, Mlle Dayde as the Butterfly, Ritz as Zéphir and Renault as a Persian. The 4th Entrée, had Mme Géori Boué, as Zima, with José Luccioni as Adario, Raoul Jobin as Damon, the dancing for this act was executed by Mlles Darsonval, Lafon and Guillot and Messieurs Kalioujny and Efimoff. Scene, The palace of Hebe in the background and her gardens in the wings Hebe, goddess of youth, young French, Spanish, Italians and Poles rush to celebrate with a series of dances, including a musette. The ballet is interrupted by the noise of drums and trumpets and it is Bellona, goddess of war, who arrives on the stage accompanied by warriors bearing flags. Bellona calls on the youths to seek out military glory, Hebe prays to Cupid to use his power to hold them back. Cupid descends on a cloud with his followers and he decides to abandon Europe in favour of the Indies, where love is more welcome. Osman urges her to give up hope that her fiancé is still alive, the sky turns dark as a storm brews, Émilie sees the violent weather as an image of her despair. A chorus of shipwrecked sailors is heard, Émilie laments that they too will be taken captive. She recognises one of the sailors as her fiancé Valère and their joy at their reunion is tempered by sadness at the thought they are both slaves now
18.
Castor et Pollux
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Castor et Pollux is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 by the Académie royale de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard, whose reputation as a salon poet it made and this was the third opera by Rameau and his second in the form of the tragédie en musique. Rameau made substantial cuts, alterations and added new material to the opera for its revival in 1754, experts still dispute which of the two versions is superior. Whatever the case, Castor et Pollux has always regarded as one of Rameaus finest works. Dill notes that in contrast, the 1754 version begins with more background behind the story of Telaires love for Castor. The events in Act I of the 1737 version appear in Act II of the 1754 version, Dill claims that Voltaire was more interested in music than action in opera. Moreover, Dill notes a difference in the plots between in the two versions, in the 1737 version, the main concern is for the moral dilemma between love and duty that Pollux faces, should he pursue his love of Telaira or rescue his brother. Of course, he chooses the latter, while some scholars have assumed that the 1754 version was superior, Dill argues that Rameau made the changes of 1754 at a different point in his career. In 1737, he was testing the limits of tragedie lyrique, thus, Dill proposes that there may have been some commercial concerns behind the change in aesthetic in 1754, as the revised version conformed more to the traditional Lullian aesthetic. He comments that many see the revision as more innovative. Castor et Pollux appeared in 1737 while the controversy ignited by Rameaus first opera Hippolyte et Aricie was still raging, conservative critics held the works of the father of French opera, Jean-Baptiste Lully, to be unsurpassable. They saw Rameaus radical musical innovations as an attack on all they held dear and this controversy ensured that the premiere of Castor would be a noteworthy event. Rameau had not altered the structure of Lullys tragédie lyrique genre. He had simply expanded the resources available to French opera composers. While some welcomed Rameaus new idiom, more conservative listeners found it unappealing, on the one hand, Rameaus supporter Diderot remarked, Old Lulli is simple, natural, even, too even sometimes, and this is a defect. Young Rameau is singular, brilliant, complex, learned, too learned sometimes, on the other hand, the complaint of the Lullistes was that Rameaus musical idiom was far more expressive that Lullys and went so far as to call it distastefully Italianate. For example, where Lully has contained musical expression, Rameaus recitative style included much wider melodic leaps in contrast to Lullys more declamatory style. This can be heard clearly, for example, in the opening recitative between Phoebe and Cleone in Act I, scene 1 of the 1754 revised version, additionally, he added a richer harmonic vocabulary that included ninth chords
19.
Dardanus opera
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Dardanus is a tragédie lyrique in five acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau. The French libretto was by Charles-Antoine Leclerc de La Bruère and it was first performed by the Académie de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on 19 November 1739. It received 26 performances, mainly because of the support from Rameaus followers in the dispute between the styles of Rameau and Lully, critics accused Rameaus original opera of lacking a coherent plot. The inclusion of the sea monster also violated the French operatic convention of having a purpose for encounters with supernatural beings. In 1744, and again in 1760, Dardanus was revised extensively in an attempt to correct its shortcomings, large portions of the score were sacrificed in favour of plot but some scenes as arresting as the Prison scene were added in the process. The opera was produced in Sydney in November-December 2005, by Pinchgut Opera. In France it was revived again in October-November 2009, at Lille, Caen and Dijon, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm, the original story is loosely based on that of Dardanus. However, in the opera, Dardanus is at war with King Teucer, Dardanus and Iphise meet, through the intervention of the magician Isménor, and fall in love. Dardanus attacks a monster ravaging Teucers kingdom, saving the life of Anténor who is attempting, unsuccessfully, Teucer and Dardanus make peace, the latter marrying Iphise. 1980, Raymond Leppard recorded Dardanus with Frederica von Stade as Iphise, Leppard otherwise followed the 1744 version of the opera. Also in the cast are Christiane Eda-Pierre, Georges Gautier, José van Dam, Roger Soyer,1998, Marc Minkowski recorded Dardanus with John Mark Ainsley as Dardanus, Véronique Gens as Iphise and Laurent Naouri as Anténor. Minkowskis Musiciens du Louvre used period instruments in this recording and Minkowski followed the original 1739 version of the opera with the addition of two numbers from the 1744 version, the recording has been described as an invaluable addition to the Rameau discography. The role of Dardanus was played by British tenor Paul Agnew, with Paul Whelan as Antenor, Kathryn McCusker as Iphise, conducted by Antony Walker, the performance was the first production of a Rameau opera in Australia on period instruments. The production was recorded by ABC Classics, lajarte, Théodore, Bibliothèque Musicale du Théatre de lOpéra. Catalogue Historique, Chronologique, Anecdotique, Paris, Librairie des bibliophiles,1878, Tome I, ad nomen, pp
20.
Battle of Fontenoy
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The battle was one of the most important in the war and considered the masterpiece of Saxe, serving France, Louis XV, and his son, the Dauphin, were present at the battle. Saxe went on the offensive in April 1745 with a large French army and his initial aim was to take control of the upper Scheldt basin and thereby gain access to the heart of the Austrian Netherlands. To these ends, he first besieged the fortress of Tournai, in order to relieve Tournai, the allies first decided to attack Saxes position – a naturally strong feature, hinged on the village of Fontenoy and further strengthened by defensive works. Despite devastating flanking fire the allied column, made up of British and Hanoverian infantry, only when Saxe concentrated all available infantry, cavalry, and artillery was the column forced to yield. The allies retreated in order, conducting a fighting withdrawal. The battle had shown, however, the strength of a defensive force relying on firepower, casualties were high on both sides, but the French had gained the field, and Tournai fell shortly after the battle. This success was followed by an advance against the less organised and outnumbered allied army, Ghent, Oudenarde, Bruges. By the years end, the Saxon-born Saxe had completed the conquest of much of the Austrian Netherlands, the battle had established French superiority in force and high command. In 1744, France went over to the offensive in the Low Countries. King Louis XV and the Duke of Noailles scored early successes with the capture of the fortresses of western Flanders, Menin, Ypres. Opposing Saxe was the Pragmatic Army, the bulk of which was made up of British and Hanoverian troops under General George Wade, much had been expected of the allies in 1744 but the timidity of their generals had produced nothing against a numerically inferior enemy. Although Wade eventually advanced towards Lille, he did more than bicker with the Austrians about the cost of moving his siege train from Antwerp. Saxe was able to maintain his position at Courtrai and along the lines of the Lys, elsewhere, the Pragmatic Allies had scored considerable success in late 1744. A joint Austro-Saxon force under Charles of Lorraine and Count Traun drove Frederick IIs Prussian army from Bohemia, further success followed with the death in January 1745 of the French puppet emperor, Charles VII. Joseph sued for peace and gave his support for the candidacy of Maria Theresas husband, Francis Stephen, with Bavaria out of the war the Austrians could now try to win back Silesia from Frederick II. Likewise, Bavarian repudiation of its French ties meant France was freed of its German involvement, and could now concentrate on its own efforts in Italy. As early as December 1744, Saxe had prepared plans for an offensive in the Low Countries. The trio of generals was completed by Prince Waldeck, commander of the Dutch contingent in theatre and they hoped to gain the initiative by the establishment of forward magazines and an early opening of the campaign season
21.
Louis, Dauphin of France (son of Louis XV)
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Louis, Dauphin of France was the only surviving son of King Louis XV of France and his wife, Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Son of the king, Louis was styled Fils de France, as heir apparent, he became Dauphin of France. However, he died before ascending to the throne, three of his sons became kings of France, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X. French royal family, Louis was baptised privately and without a name by Cardinal Armand de Rohan. On 27 April 1737 when he was seven years old the public ceremony of the other baptismal rites took place and it was at this point that he was given the name Louis Ferdinand. His godparents were Louis, Duke of Orléans and the Dowager Duchess of Bourbon, Louis governess was Madame de Ventadour who had previously served as his fathers governess. When he was seven years old, the Duke of Châtillon was named his governor, the Count of Muy was named under-governor, from an early age Louis took a great interest in the military arts. He was bitterly disappointed when his father would not permit him to join the 1744 campaign in the War of the Austrian Succession, when his father became deathly ill with fever at Metz, Louis disobeyed orders and went to his bedside. This rash action, which could have resulted in the deaths of both Louis and his father, resulted in a permanent change in the relations between father and son, until then, Louis XV had doted on his son, but now the relationship was more distant. He was very close to his three oldest sisters, the marriage contract was signed 13 December 1744, the marriage was celebrated by proxy at Madrid 18 December 1744 and in person at Versailles 23 February 1745. Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela were well-matched and had an affection for each other. They had one daughter, Princess Marie Thérèse of France, three days after the birth of their daughter, Louiss wife, Maria Teresa Rafaela, died on 22 July 1746. Louis was only 16 years old and he grieved intensely at the loss of his wife, but his responsibility to provide for the succession to the French crown required he marry again quickly. In 1746, Louis received the Order of the Golden Fleece from his father-in-law King Philip V of Spain, a second marriage ceremony took place in person at Versailles on 9 February 1747. Marie Zéphyrine of France, died in childhood, Louis Joseph of France, Duke of Burgundy, died in childhood. Xavier of France, Duke of Aquitaine, died in infancy, Louis XVI of France, married Marie Antoinette and had issue. Louis XVIII of France, married Princess Marie Joséphine of Savoy, Charles X of France, married Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy and had issue Marie Clotilde de France, married Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia, no issue. He was well-educated, a man, cultivated, and a lover of music, he preferred the pleasures of conversation to those of hunting, balls. With a keen sense of morality, he was very committed to his wife, Marie-Josèphe
22.
Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain
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Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain was an Infanta of Spain by birth and was later the wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV of France. She died aged 20, three days after giving birth to a daughter who died in 1748, born at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in Spain, she was the second daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. Baptised María Teresa Antonia Rafaela she was an Infanta of Spain by birth and was granted the style of address of Royal Highness and she was known as María Teresa Rafaela though sometimes just Maria Teresa. Louis XV had instead married Marie Leszczyńska and by her fathered the Dauphin, under the influence of her mother Elisabeth Farnese, María Teresa Rafaela was not to go to France until she reached a more mature age. The Infanta was married to the dauphin by proxy in Madrid on 18 December 1744 and she arrived at Versailles on 21 February 1745. The official marriage took place at the Palace of Versailles on 23 February 1745 and was performed by the Cardinal de Rohan, in France she was known as Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle dEspagne or de Bourbon. The betrothal had been broken off and relations between the two countries had been cold and this latest union was meant to improve links between them both. Addressed as Madame la Dauphine at Versailles, Maria Teresa Rafaela was the highest ranking female in the kingdom after Queen Marie and she was the first Dauphine since the 1712 death of Marie Adélaïde of Savoy. On 24 February the Ball of the Clipped Yew was held in honor of the newlyweds, the event also marked the arrival of Madame de Pompadour at Versailles. The marriage did not get off on a start as it was not consummated on the first night. This was an embarrassment to the young dauphine and as a result her position at court was undermined. Despite this, she had a relationship with the king and queen. Although the dauphine was described as beautiful, dignified, pious and her shy nature further isolated her from the court and she was openly hostile to the king for his affair with Madame de Pompadour. The Dauphin and Dauphine disliked the royal mistress for the way she drew away from Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Finally, the marriage was consummated in September 1745, ending court gossip, the couple became very close and devoted to each other spending most of their time together. On 19 July 1746 at Versailles, Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle gave birth to a daughter and her death on 22 July caused an intense sorrow to the Dauphin, which persisted into his second marriage. Louis XV had to drag his son away from the death bed of his wife. To make matters worse the Dauphine´s Father King Philip V of Spain died just 13 days before her on July 9, the child was baptised Marie Thérèse and was styled as Madame Royale but died at Versailles in 1748
23.
La princesse de Navarre
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La princesse de Navarre is a comédie-ballet with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and words by Voltaire, first performed on 23 February 1745 at La Grande Ecurie, Versailles. It was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain to Louis, La princesse de Navarre opened the wedding festivities, while another new Rameau opera, Platée, closed them. The piece takes the form of a comédie-ballet, effectively a play with an amount of incidental music, recalling the collaborations of Molière. Voltaire was an admirer of Rameau, even considering him too good a composer for such a task. Nevertheless, Rameau wrote around an hour of music for the play, including an overture, little of it has much bearing on the main action of the drama which concerns the complicated love life of the eponymous mediaeval princess. Voltaire found Rameau to be a demanding and critical collaborator, leading the dramatist to declare, the production was a spectacular one, involving no less than 180 extras. Voltaire complained about the acoustics of the hall in which it was staged claiming the ceiling was so high that the actors appeared pygmies, nevertheless, the music was a critical success. Much of the material was reworked to produce another opera, Les fêtes de Ramire and she manages to escape from prison in disguise and takes refuge with Don Morillo, but she is recognised by the young Alamir. Alamir falls in love with Constance and rejects Don Morillo’s daughter Sanchette, the act ends with a divertissement in which warriors, gypsies and astrologers entertain the lords and ladies. The king demands the return of Constance but Alamir vows to protect her, Alamir’s army, in alliance with the French, defeats the Castilians. Constance feels herself falling more and more in love with Alamir but she is reluctant to hurt Sanchette, the Graces distract her from her cares with a divertissement. Alamir returns from battle in triumph and reveals his identity as the Duke of Foix. He and Constance can now marry and the ends with a divertissement led by Cupid against the backdrop of the Pyrenees. ISBN 0-14-029312-4 Sadler, Graham, The New Grove French Baroque Masters Grove/Macmillan,1988 Sawkins, Lionel, Booklet notes to the McGegan recording
24.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution, Rousseaus novel Emile, or On Education is a treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental novel Julie, or the New Heloise was of importance to the development of pre-romanticism and romanticism in fiction and his Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club and he was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794,16 years after his death. Rousseau was born in Geneva, which was at the time a city-state, since 1536, Geneva had been a Huguenot republic and the seat of Calvinism. Rousseau was proud that his family, of the order, had voting rights in the city. Throughout his life, he signed his books Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Geneva, in theory, was governed democratically by its male voting citizens, the citizens were a minority of the population when compared to the immigrants, referred to as inhabitants, whose descendants were called natives and continued to lack suffrage. There was much debate within Geneva, extending down to the tradespeople. Much discussion was over the idea of the sovereignty of the people, in 1707, a democratic reformer named Pierre Fatio protested this situation, saying a sovereign that never performs an act of sovereignty is an imaginary being. He was shot by order of the Little Council, Jean-Jacques Rousseaus father, Isaac, was not in the city at this time, but Jean-Jacquess grandfather supported Fatio and was penalized for it. The trade of watchmaking had become a tradition by the time of Rousseaus father. Isaac followed his grandfather, father and brothers into the business, Isaac, notwithstanding his artisan status, was well educated and a lover of music. A Genevan watchmaker, Rousseau wrote, is a man who can be introduced anywhere, in 1699, Isaac ran into political difficulty by entering a quarrel with visiting English officers, who in response drew their swords and threatened him. After local officials stepped in, it was Isaac who was punished, Rousseaus mother, Suzanne Bernard Rousseau, was from an upper-class family. She was raised by her uncle Samuel Bernard, a Calvinist preacher and he cared for Suzanne after her father Jacques died in his early thirties. In 1695, Suzanne had to answer charges that she had attended a street theater disguised as a peasant woman so she could gaze upon M. Vincent Sarrasin, after a hearing, she was ordered by the Genevan Consistory to never interact with him again. She married Rousseaus father at the age of 31, isaacs sister had married Suzannes brother eight years earlier, after she had become pregnant and they had been chastised by the Consistory
25.
La serva padrona
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La serva padrona is an opera buffa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi to a libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico, after the play by Jacopo Angello Nelli. The opera is only 45 minutes long and was performed as an intermezzo between the acts of a larger serious opera. La serva padrona was originally an intermezzo to Pergolesis opera seria, the two were premiered on 5 September 1733, the first performance after an earthquake in Naples had caused all theatres to be closed, and celebrated the birthday of the Empress of Habsburg. Il prigioniero superbo was unsuccessful in its day and is not a title in today’s operatic repertoire. Eventually the two pieces were separated, and La serva padrona went on to fame throughout Europe for years after its premiere. The importance of this intermezzo can hardly be overlooked in the history of opera, with a new finale, the French version played a large part in the Querelle des Bouffons. It was appealing because of its presentation of characters that were relatable to any audience, namely the cunning maid, La serva padrona is often seen as the quintessential piece that bridges the gap from the Baroque to the Classical period. Owing to its importance, over time it came to be known as more than just an intermezzo and was performed as a stand-alone work. Intermezzo 1 Dressing room Uberto, a bachelor, is angry and impatient with his maidservant, Serpina. Serpina has become so arrogant that she thinks she is the mistress of the household, indeed, when Uberto calls for his hat, wig and coat, Serpina forbids him from leaving the house, adding that from then on he will have to obey her orders. Uberto thereupon orders Vespone to find him a woman to marry so that he can rid himself of Serpina, intermezzo 2 Same dressing room Serpina convinces Vespone to trick Uberto into marrying her. She informs Uberto that she is to marry a man named Tempesta. She will be leaving his home and apologizes for her behavior, Vespone, disguised as Tempesta, arrives and, without saying a word, demands 4,000 crowns for a dowry. Uberto refuses to pay such a sum, Tempesta threatens him to either pay the dowry or marry the girl himself. Serpina and Vespone reveal their trick, but Uberto realizes that he has loved the girl all along and they will marry after all, and Serpina will now be the true mistress of the household. Nonesuch H-71043 Patricia Biccire and Donato Di Stefano, La Petite Bande cond, sigiswald Kuijken Accent ACC96123 D Gordana Minov-Jevtović and Nikola Mitić, PGP RTB Katalin Farkas and József Gregor, Pál Németh, Capella Savaria, Hungaroton The scores of the opera vary wildly. Edwin F. Kalmus has a score with massive omissions, wrong notes, boosey & Hawkes has the score in an operetta adaptation by Seymour Barab, with highly simplified accompaniment and much spoken dialogue. Casa Ricordi presents the opera as sung-through and is the version most used in performance today, norton & Company includes excerpts of the full score that has numerous melodic differences from the Ricordi edition, but that correlate with the accompanying recording by Siegmund Nimsgern
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Jean le Rond d'Alembert
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Jean-Baptiste le Rond dAlembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie, DAlemberts formula for obtaining solutions to the wave equation is named after him. The wave equation is referred to as dAlemberts equation. Born in Paris, dAlembert was the son of the writer Claudine Guérin de Tencin and the chevalier Louis-Camus Destouches. Destouches was abroad at the time of dAlemberts birth, days after birth his mother left him on the steps of the Saint-Jean-le-Rond de Paris church. According to custom, he was named after the saint of the church. DAlembert was placed in an orphanage for foundling children, but his father found him and placed him with the wife of a glazier, Madame Rousseau, Destouches secretly paid for the education of Jean le Rond, but did not want his paternity officially recognized. DAlembert first attended a private school, the chevalier Destouches left dAlembert an annuity of 1200 livres on his death in 1726. Under the influence of the Destouches family, at the age of twelve entered the Jansenist Collège des Quatre-Nations. Here he studied philosophy, law, and the arts, graduating as baccalauréat en arts in 1735, in his later life, DAlembert scorned the Cartesian principles he had been taught by the Jansenists, physical promotion, innate ideas and the vortices. The Jansenists steered DAlembert toward a career, attempting to deter him from pursuits such as poetry. Theology was, however, rather unsubstantial fodder for dAlembert and he entered law school for two years, and was nominated avocat in 1738. He was also interested in medicine and mathematics, Jean was first registered under the name Daremberg, but later changed it to dAlembert. The name dAlembert was proposed by Johann Heinrich Lambert for a moon of Venus. In July 1739 he made his first contribution to the field of mathematics, at the time Lanalyse démontrée was a standard work, which dAlembert himself had used to study the foundations of mathematics. DAlembert was also a Latin scholar of note and worked in the latter part of his life on a superb translation of Tacitus. In 1740, he submitted his second scientific work from the field of fluid mechanics Mémoire sur la réfraction des corps solides, in this work dAlembert theoretically explained refraction. In 1741, after failed attempts, dAlembert was elected into the Académie des Sciences
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Denis Diderot
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Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, Denis Diderot was born in Langres, Champagne, and began his formal education at a Jesuit collège in Langres. His parents were Didier Diderot a cutler, maître coutelier, three of five siblings survived to adulthood, Denise Diderot and their youngest brother Pierre-Didier Diderot, and finally their sister Angélique Diderot. According to Arthur McCandless Wilson, Denis Diderot greatly admired his sister Denise, in 1732 Denis Diderot earned the Master of Arts degree in philosophy. Then he entered the Collège dHarcourt of the University of Paris and he abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and decided instead to study at the Paris Law Faculty. His study of law was short-lived however and in 1734 Diderot decided to become a writer, because of his refusal to enter one of the learned professions, he was disowned by his father, and for the next ten years he lived a bohemian existence. In 1742 he befriended Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in 1743 he further alienated his father by marrying Antoinette Champion, a devout Roman Catholic. The match was considered due to Champions low social standing, poor education, fatherless status. She was about three years older than Diderot, the marriage in October 1743 produced one surviving child, a girl. Her name was Angélique, after both Diderots dead mother and sister, the death of his sister, a nun, from overwork in the convent may have affected Diderots opinion of religion. Babuti, Madeleine de Puisieux, Sophie Volland and Mme de Maux and his letters to Sophie Volland are known for their candor and are regarded to be among the literary treasures of the eighteenth century. Though his work was broad as well as rigorous, it did not bring Diderot riches, when the time came for him to provide a dowry for his daughter, he saw no alternative than to sell his library. When Empress Catherine II of Russia heard of his financial troubles she commissioned an agent in Paris to buy the library and she then requested that the philosopher retain the books in Paris until she required them, and act as her librarian with a yearly salary. Between October 1773 and March 1774, the sick Diderot spent a few months at the court in Saint Petersburg. Diderot died of thrombosis in Paris on 31 July 1784. His heirs sent his vast library to Catherine II, who had it deposited at the National Library of Russia and this idea seems to have been shelved. In 1745, he published a translation of Shaftesburys Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit, in 1746, Diderot wrote his first original work, the Philosophical Thoughts. In this book, Diderot argued for a reconciliation of reason with feeling so as to establish harmony, according to Diderot, without feeling there would be a detrimental effect on virtue and no possibility of creating sublime work
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Bohemia
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Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
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Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon
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Michel-Paul Guy de Chabanon was a violinist, composer and writer on music theory and French literature. He was elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres and the Académie française, Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon wrote poetry, elogies, plays and translations. Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon was also a musician, playing the violin in the Concert des Amateurs under the direction of Joseph Bologne. He was the author of an opera, Sémélé, tragédie lyrique and his double identity as a writer and a musician gave him a unique viewpoint on the links between music and language and in developing a philosophy of music of which his work was the expression. He also contributed to defining opera as a musical genre,1779, Observations sur la musique, et principalement sur la métaphysique de lart,1781, Ueber die Musik und deren Wirkungen, aus dem franz. übersetzt mit Anmerkungen, XIXe siècle, Leipsick,1781, notice Bnf n° De la musique considérée en elle-même et dans ses rapports avec la parole, les langues, la poésie, et le théâtre. Sabinus Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon, in Marie-Nicolas Bouillet and Alexis Chassang, Dictionnaire universel dhistoire et de géographie,1878
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Les Paladins
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Les Paladins is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau first performed on 12 February 1760 at the Paris Opera. The author of the libretto is not known for sure but was one of the Duplat de Monticourt brothers. Rameau called Les Paladins a comédie lyrique, putting it in the category as his earlier work Platée. The identity of the librettist is uncertain, in the 18th century, Charles Collé relayed the rumour that the author was Gentil-Bernard. In her 2014 biography of the composer, the Rameau specialist Sylvie Bouissou inclines slightly to the belief it was Pierre-Jacques, given his greater experience of writing for the theatre. The plot is based on a tale by La Fontaine, Le petit chien qui secoue de largent et des pierreries. Scene, An old castle near a forest Argie is in love with the paladin Atis, but her guardian, Anselme, wants to marry her himself and is holding Argie captive along with her friend Nérine. Nérine tries to charm their jailor, Orcan, into releasing them, Atis and his fellow paladins arrive disguised as pilgrims, he intends to carry Argie away with him on a pilgrimage of love. He easily overcomes Orcan, but at this moment, Anselme returns, scene, A hamlet near Anselmes castle Orcan warns Anselme about the pilgrims. Argie confesses her love for Atis to Anselme, Anselme pretends that he will give her his blessing, but once she has left, he tells Orcan to kill her. Orcan is reluctant and Nérine, realising Anselmes plan, again distracts him by pretending she is in love with him, the band of paladins, disguised as demons, give Orcan a beating. Scene, The same as Act 2 The paladins are celebrating their success when Anselme appears with a group of armed followers, Argie, Atis and their friends take refuge in the castle, which Anselme then besieges. They are saved by the fairy Manto, whom Atis once rescued, Manto magically transforms the castle into a superb palace and uses this luxury to help seduce Anselme. Argie can now point to Anselmes infidelity and he admits defeat, Argie and Atis are reunited and the opera ends with a celebration of their love. ISBN 0-14-029312-4 Sadler, Graham, The New Grove French Baroque Masters Grove/Macmillan,1988
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Tambourin (help·info)
Works written by or about Jean-Philippe Rameau at Wikisource