Pierre-Jean Garat

Pierre -Jean Garat ( born April 26, 1762, Bordeaux, † March 1, 1823 in Paris) was a French singer (baritone ).

The son of originating from the Basque Ustaritz lawyer Dominique Garat in 1783 came to Paris to study at the will of his father Jura. Instead, he devoted himself to musical studies, which led to a falling out with his father.

He became secretary of the Count of Artois ( and later King Charles X ), which aided him because of his musical talent and introduced to Queen Marie Antoinette, and received in 1786 a position as administrator of the royal lottery, which offered him a secure income.

The pupil of Bernardo Mengozzi who sang due to his exceptional tonal range for both the bass and tenor parts, and even soprano arias in the original key, soon earned the reputation of Orphée de la France. While he undertook the first chaos of the French Revolution with the violinist Pierre Rode a concert tour of England.

For some months he was in Rouen in prison because he had sung a song about the misfortunes of the royal family, after which he lived in Hamburg, from where he returned in 1794 to Paris. There he became a teacher at the newly opened Conservatoire de Paris.

His voice range meant that Garat was never on the opera stage, but always appeared as a concert singer. Part of his repertoire, the compositions of Christoph Willibald Gluck, which he interpreted throughout Europe were. He also composed a number of romances, who had great success in his time, including Bélisaire, Je t'aime tant, Le Ménestrel and Incantation à la nuit.

• Singer of classical music
• Baritone
• Frenchman
• Born in 1762
• Died in 1823
• Man