Francesca Lebrun

Francesca Lebrun
Francesca Lebrun
	Francesca Lebrun, in the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia
Background information
Birth name	Franziska Dorothea Danzi
Born	24 March 1756; Mannheim, Electoral Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire
Died	14 May 1791 (aged 35)
Occupation(s)	Singer and composer
Instrument(s)	Keyboard

Francesca Lebrun (

sonatas. As a singer, she was renowned for her vocal dexterity and was highly sought after by such notable composers as Anton Schweitzer, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Antonio Salieri to sing the lead roles in their most challenging operas. As a composer, her twelve sonatas for piano or harpsichord with violin accompaniment, six each in opus 1 and opus 2, were first published in London, England, in 1779–1781, with further editions in London, Paris, and several German centers.^[1] The opus 1 sonatas

are available in commercial recordings.

Early life

She was born Franziska Dorothea Danzi in Mannheim, Electoral Palatinate (present-day Germany), the eldest child of Italian-born cellist Innocenz Danzi and dancer Barbara Sidonia Margaretha Toeschi, the core of the elite elector Mannheim court performers in the late 1750s. Her two brothers, the cellist Franz Ignaz (1763–1826) and the violinist Johann Baptist, were successful composers. The violinist, composer and conductor Karl Joseph (Carlo Giuseppe) Toeschi was her maternal uncle.

Career

She made her first public appearance as a singer at the age of 16 and the following year was engaged by the Mannheim Opera. There seems to be some debate whether she first performed in

J. C. Bach

and Sacchini.

In 1778, she married the

King's Theatre. In 1780 the celebrated English artist Thomas Gainsborough

painted her portrait.

A celebrated coloratura soprano, she sang on major operatic and concert stages through Europe, including England, Germany and Italy, to great acclaim. The musician and writer C.F.D.

Schubart noted that she could sing A, three octaves above middle C with "clarity and distinctness". Charles Burney

wrote that when she and her husband performed divisions of thirds and sixths it was impossible to discover who was uppermost of the interval.

Family

Francesca's family flourished as well, she gave birth to her daughter

Mozart

.

Her daughters also became well-known. Rosine Lebrun (1783–1855) was a successful opera singer and actress and was a member of the Munich theatre company, 1801–1830. Sophie [Dülken] (1781–1863) became a well-known pianist and composer, and her daughters and granddaughters also became musicians.

Discography

Six Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin, Op. 1. Monica Jakuc (piano), Dana Maiben (violin). Dorian Discovery, 1996.
Sonata for Piano and Violin, Op. 1, no 2, in E-flat Major. Jaroslav Sveceny (violin), Fine Zimmermann (harpsichord). Women Composers at the Courts Of Europe (Cybele Records, 2000). Both available at CD Universe.
Sonata for Violin and Piano, op. 1, no. 6 in D Major; Aleksandra Maslovaric (violin), Tania Fleischer (piano). Feminae in Musica, Feminae Records 2007. Available at Arkiv Music.

References

^ New editions have been published of both op. 1 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1990) and op. 2 (Fayetteville, AR: ClarNan Editions, 2003).

External links

Free scores by Francesca Lebrun at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

[1] New editions have been published of both op. 1 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1990) and op. 2 (Fayetteville, AR: ClarNan Editions, 2003).

[1]

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