Castil-Blaze
François-Henri-Joseph Blaze,known asCastil-Blaze(1 December 1784 – 11 December 1857), was a French musicologist, music critic, composer, and music editor.
Biography
[edit]Blaze was born and grew up inCavaillon,Vaucluse.He went to Paris to study law, but also to learn music, at theConservatoire de Paris.After having passed several more years in Vaucluse (southeastern France), Castil-Blaze moved back to Paris.
A large part of his activities consisted of adapting French and foreignoperafor different stages in French provinces. In these cases, Castil-Blaze adapted thelibrettoas well as the music. This arranging work was highly criticized, but Castil-Blaze claimed that this permitted part of the public to become familiar with opera.
Castil-Blaze is mostly known as amusic critic.Beginning on 7 December 1820, he publishedMusical Chroniclesin theJournal des débats,signing his articles, which were often very controversial, 'XXX'.[1]In these irregularly-published chronicles (about 30 per year), Castil-Blaze seemed to take certain liberties. Most of the chronicles criticized the lyric works, but others were dedicated to thoughts about music, to composers' necrologies (Weberin 1826,Beethovenin 1828), or to concert reviews. Castil-Blaze wrote for theJournal des débatsuntil 1832 (his replacement there wasHector Berlioz), when he joinedle Constitutionnel;he also collaborated inFétis'sRevue musicale(Paris, 1827), as well as other periodicals or reviews. He is, without a doubt, in France, the first music critic to have studied music.
He is the author of various books and articles on the theory of music, music history, and the history of the theater. He started a series of three works dedicated to three great lyric theaters of Paris: theOpéra National de Paris,theComédie-Italienne,and theOpéra-Comique.He was only able to finish and publish the first two before his death; the third remains in manuscript at theBibliothèque nationale de Franceand was published for the first time in 2012. Today, these works arouse the interest of historians, but also their distrust, because they contain numerous anecdotes that cannot always be verified.
As a composer, Castil-Blaze mostly made arrangements, but he was also the author of several original works, particularly of sacred music, of which there are two high masses. Finally, he worked as an editor, first for his own literary and musical works, but he was not limited to this: he was among the editors of the works of Beethoven.
He died inParis.
Literary works
[edit]- De l'Opéra en France.Paris: Janet & Cotelle, 1820.
- Dictionnaire de musique moderne,2 volumes. Paris: Au magasin de musique de la Lyre moderne, 1821. 2nd ed., 1825.
- Chapelle-musique des rois de France.Paris: Paulin, 1832.
- La Danse et les ballets depuis Bacchus jusqu'à Mlle Taglioni.Paris: Paulin, 1832.
- Le Mémorial du Grand-Opéra.Paris: Castil-Blaze, 1847.
- Molière musicien,2 volumes. Paris: Castil-Blaze, 1852.
- L'Académie impériale de musique de 1645 à 1855.Paris: Castil-Blaze, 1855.
- L'Opéra italien de 1548 à 1856.Paris: Castil-Blaze, 1856.
- L'Art des vers lyriques.Paris: Castil-Blaze, 1858 (posth.).
- Histoire de l'Opéra-Comique,unfinished, manuscript. Lyon: Symétrie, 2012 (posth.).
Musical compositions
[edit]- Trois quatuors pour deux violons, viole et violoncelle, oeuv. 17.Paris: Lyre moderne, 1810. From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
- Trio in C, Op. 17 No.2 for three bassoons
- Wind Sextet No. 1 in E flat
Notes
[edit]- ^Newark 2001.
Bibliography
[edit]- Gislason, Donald Garth (1992).Castil-Blaze, "De l'Opéra en France" and the Feuilleton of the Journal des Débats (1820-1832).Ph. D. Dissertation, U. of British Columbia.UMI.
- Klotz, Roger (1965).Recherches sur Castil-Blaze,Thesis, Faculté des Lettres d'Aix en Provence.
- Lovy, J. (1857)."Castil-Blaze" (obituary),Le Ménestrel(20 December).
- Newark, Cormac (2001). "Castil-Blaze [Blaze, François-Henri-Joseph]" inThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,2nd edition, edited byStanley Sadie.London: Macmillan.ISBN9781561592395(hardcover).OCLC419285866(eBook). See alsoOxford Music Online(subscription required).
External links
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