Concert spirituel
The Concert spiritual is the name of a concert event, which was from 1725 to 1791 in Paris and was groundbreaking for the musical tastes in France in the 18th century.
The organizers
Before the emergence of the Concerts spirituels it was difficult in Paris to organize public concerts, because of a privilege which the Royal Academy of Music ( Royal Academy of musique ) had. The concert series was created by the composer and oboist Anne Danican Philidor (1681-1728, brother of François -André Philidor Danican ) the royal chapel to life, the permission to do so by King Louis XV. and had received from the Academy, under the following conditions: . Concerts were allowed only on days on which the opera was not playing for Catholic feast days are held, these were about 30 days a year In addition, the Academy was to pay a considerable sum of money. The first concert was given on 17 March 1725 on the program was a concerto grosso by Arcangelo Corelli and two motets by Michel -Richard Delalande. The concerts took place in the concert hall ( Salle des Cent Suisses - ) of Tuilerienpalastes, a hall of 17 m width, 19 m length and a height of nine meters, in which up to 100 musicians and 1,800 attendees had space. Thus, in Paris, the first permanently usable concert hall of France was born.
Philidor teamed up with Michel Delannoy together as organizers. From 1728 concert privilege passed to Pierre -Joseph Mouret Jean and Simart. 1731 new terms were negotiated with the Academy, which presented the organizers before financial problems.
Because of these difficulties, the Academy took over in December 1734, even the management of the concerts, which she held until 1748. After directing the concerts changed hands several times. From 1755 to 1762 led Jean -Joseph de Cassanéa Mondonville the concerts in an absolutist manner. 1771, the concerts went into the hands of the city of Paris. As head of the city continued Pierre -Montan Berton, a 1773 Simon Leduc and François -Joseph Gossec, from 1777 the singer Joseph Legros. 1778 Mozart created on behalf of Legros ' his Paris Symphony for the series of events and in the same year, the German tenor Anton Raaf occurred in nine concerts.
Repertoire and musicians
According to an agreement with the Academy no French music and operas could not be listed. So contemporary sacred music and Italian music, secular cantatas and arias were beginning to show. Not until 1727 could also be given to French music.
The Concerts spirituels had the opportunity to perform the going back to Jean -Baptiste Lully Grands motets. Over time, more and more instrumental music has been performed, so musicians such as Pierre Baillot were able to make a name.
Numerous foreign composers and performers had appearances here. 1737 conducted by Georg Philipp Telemann his works on; later Joseph Haydn had with several symphonies and his Stabat mater great success, as Antonio Salieri who oratorical cantata Le dernier Jugement wrote for the institution in 1787. On March 17, 1782 Giovanni Battista Viotti made her first appearance with great success in the concert Spirituel. In contrast, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could not win the favor of the audience at his second sojourn in Paris in 1778 and even had to leave again without payment. Even Jean -Philippe Rameau's failure at the concerts was so great that he appeared here only once.
In the total of 1280 concerts in the history of Concert spiritual works have been performed around 500 today partly forgotten composer.
Presence
In 1988, the Baroque specialist Hervé Niquet founded under the name Le Concert Spirituel an ensemble that the repertoire of the French 18th-century music on period instruments brings to the performance.