Concert Spirituel
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The Concert Spirituel (English: Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in
Original series (1725–1790)
The first concert took place on March 18, 1725. Two of Delalande's motets and Corelli's Christmas Concerto were performed.
The series was managed by a succession of director-entrepreneurs, who paid a license fee in order to obtain a royal privilege which granted them an exception to the monopoly on public performance of music held by the Paris Opera (Académie Royale de Musique). The first director was Anne Danican Philidor, brother of the composer and chess master François-André Danican Philidor. Philidor went bankrupt within two years. His successors, Pierre Simart and Jean-Joseph Mouret (1728–1733), expanded the operation with a series of "French Concerts," but met the same unhappy fate. These early concerts helped to establish the career of violinist Jean-Marie Leclair.[1]
Because no one was willing to take their place, the series was administered by the Académie Royale de Musique for the next fourteen years (1734–1748). During this period, the works of French composers (particularly
The series was soon profitable. In 1762 a well-connected royal functionary,
From 1777 the Concert Spirituel was directed by
The final concert took place on 13 May 1790.
The 19th century
During the Napoleonic era concerts were occasionally held in Paris under the title "Concerts Spirituel", particularly after 1805 as religious feeling revived in France. During the Restoration (1814–1830), the Théâtre-Italien and Académie Royale de Musique gave 6 to 9 Concerts Spirituels per year, but only during Holy Week. They became a regular feature at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire shortly after it was founded in 1828, and remained so for most of the nineteenth century. They were frequently performed as benefit performances featuring notable soloists; for example, Charles-Valentin Alkan led one of the three Concerts Spirituels in 1828.
The 20th century
In 1988 Hervé Niquet, a specialist in Baroque music, founded an early-music ensemble called Le Concert Spirituel in order to perform the repertoire of French music composed in the eighteenth century on period instruments.
References
- ^ Butterfield, Adrian (June 2022). Leclair: Violin Sonatas Book 3, op. 5, Nos 9-12 (CD). Naxos. Naxos Catalog No. 8.574381.
Sources
- Entry on Le Concert Spirituel Archived 2006-01-27 at the Wayback Machine on the Naxos.com website
Bibliography
- Heartz, D. (1993). The Concert Spirituel in the Tuileries Palace. Early Music, 21(2), 241–248. JSTOR 3128222
- Michel Brenet, Les Concerts en France sous l'Ancien Régime, Paris, Fischbacher, 1900, réimprimé à New York, Da Capo Press, 1970.
- Joann Élart, Musiciens et répertoires de concert en France à la fin de l'Ancien Régime, thèse de doctorat dir. Patrick Taïeb, université de Rouen, 2005.
- Les derniers feux des concerts spirituels parisiens (1816-1831); summary of thesis by Olivier Morand
- ISBN 2-85357-007-X.
- Beverly Wilcox, The Music Libraries of the Concert Spirituel: Canons, Repertoires, and Bricolage in Eighteenth-Century Paris, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Davis, 2013.
