Pierre Desvignes

Pierre Desvignes (27 September 1764 – 27 January 1827) was a French composer.

Life

Born in

Jean-François Lesueur, who had himself been trained in chœurs d'église (in Picardy) before the French Revolution

in 1789. It was there that Desvignes composed his first major work in 1780, a 4-part Mass. Resolutely modern in inspiration, this small piece (a four-part choir and four soloists, without instruments) requires high level performers: for centuries, all members of the church choirs were professional, until the brutal suppression of the ecclesiastical chapters in 1790.

Lesueur then had him appointed

sacred music

. The dispersal of the cathedral chapters and their staff by the Revolution in 1790, followed by the closure of the churches in 1793, ended this first career.

Desvignes then moved to Paris and converted to opera. He composed several patriotic tunes for the Théâtre de la Cité.

Appointed professor in 1793 at the newly founded

Ancien Regime had not been resurrected), Desvignes then worked to restore the educational establishment abolished by the Revolution (the Christian religion and all its manifestations had been banned in 1793, under the Reign of Terror, while the cathedral had been transformed into a Temple of Reason). In this position, Desvignes trained quite a few young people who played a role in the development of French music of that time. Some of them were the double bassist and professor at the Conservatoire, Armand Durier; the Grand prix de Rome Albert Guillon; the organist and composer Alphonse Gilbert, second Grand Prix de Rome; the librarian of the Conservatoire Auguste Bottée de Toulmon; the harpist François-Joseph Naderman and, of course, the composer Émile Bienaimé

, also second Grand Prix of Rome, whom Desvignes appointed as music master, i. e. conductor and master of the choir of Notre-Dame de Paris.

In 1811, Desvignes became deputy head of the musical chapel of

Napoléon Ier at the Tuileries Palace. He became a member of the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon

in 1820.

Throughout his career, Desvignes has tried both sacred and secular music, especially lyrical music. Among his most striking creations, the Lamentations de Jérémie (text taken from the Bible is worth mentioning, quite often set to music), his Te Deum and, particularly, a Funeral March for 5-part choir and orchestra, curiously written from the liturgical Pie Jesu. It was composed on the occasion of the service celebrated at Notre-Dame-de-Paris in 1806 to commemorate the dead of the Battle of Austerlitz. His contemporary, the critic Albert Gilbert, considered it "as one of his most remarkable inspirations". The composer took it over in 1808 on the occasion of the death of cardinal de Belloy, the Archbishop of Paris. The audience was impressed and attributed it to Mozart, whose Mass of Requiem was performed during the same service.^[1]

Pierre Desvignes died in 1827 in Paris and it was his student Émile Bienaimé who was chosen to succeed him.

Works

Desvigne's work was manifold. He composed four opéras comiques, two serious operas, eleven masses, ninety-five motets, eleven psalm settings and four cantatas, as well as two practice pieces.

Messe à quatre parties, volume 91 of editions of the
Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
, Patrimoine musical bourguignon, 2005, 40 pages – in Latin.
La Fête de l'égalité, pantomi-lyrical melodrama, in one act and in verse – First edition published in 1793 in French.
Pie Jesu Domine, in the form of a
Funeral March for choir and orchestra, composed in 1806 for the first anniversary service celebrated at Notre-Dame de Paris in memory of the dead of the Battle of Austerlitz and given again for the burial of His E. the Cardinal of Belloy, Archbishop of Paris (1808). By P. Desvignes, music master of the Notre-Dame Basilica. Reduced with organ or piano accompaniment. By Adrien de La Fage
and Pierre Desvignes – 3 editions published in 1808 en Latin.

Sigismond III. in Kraków. Heroic drama in two acts, mingled with songs and preceded by a prologue.

Cantate en l'honneur de Napoléon 1er.

Te Deum laudamus – in Latin. [Voice (3), 4-part choir, orchestra. D major.] Publication: [between 1782 and 1804] Imprimeur/fabricant: M. Perrier; François Marie Andrieu.
Messe à Grand Chœur avec Symphonie (in F minor) – in Latin.
Magnus Dominus, Motet à G[ran]d Orchestre – in Latin.
De Profundis with harmony accompaniment – 2 editions published in 1806 in Latin.

References

^ An anecdote told by Albert Gilbert in the biographical note "Pierre Desvignes" that he published in the Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, 7th year, 1840. issue 38, 31 May 1840, pages. 322–23.

Sources

A.-P.-M. Gilbert, in Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, 7th year, 1840. N°38, 31 May 1840, pages. 322–23. [1]
Joseph Dietsch, Souvenirs musicaux de la Sainte-Chapelle du Roy à Dijon. Pierre Desvignes, Dijon, Impr. de l'Union typographique, Mersch, 1884.
Messe à 4 parties on
Centre de musique baroque de Versailles

External links

Life on Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
Notice in the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris on Google Books, page 322 and following.

[1] An anecdote told by Albert Gilbert in the biographical note "Pierre Desvignes" that he published in the Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, 7th year, 1840. issue 38, 31 May 1840, pages. 322–23.

[1]

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