Étienne-Joseph Floquet

Étienne-Joseph Floquet (23 November 174810 May 1785) was a French composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Aix-en-Provence and began his career by writing church music, before moving to Paris in 1767.Rushton There, Floquet made a name for himself with the requiem he wrote for the funeral of the composer Jean-Joseph de Mondonville in 1772.Dratwicki, ''Antoine Dauvergne'', p. 297 Floquet's first work for the Paris Opéra, the ''ballet héroïque'' ''L'union de l'amour et les arts,'' was a triumph, enjoying 60 performances between its premiere in September 1773 and January 1774. The audience at the premiere was so enthusiastic that the performance had to be stopped several times because of the applause and, at the final curtain, Floquet was presented on stage, the first composer in the history of the Paris Opéra to enjoy such an honour. However, the arrival of the German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck in Paris later that year changed French musical taste and Floquet's style became unfashionable. After the failure of his next opera, ''Azolan'', Floquet decided to travel to Italy to perfect his musical education. There he studied composition under Nicola Sala in Naples and counterpoint under Padre Martini in Bologna, where he turned momentarily back to church music composing a Te Deum.

Floquet returned to France in 1777 to find the Parisian public was now split between the supporters of Gluck and the partisans of the Italian Niccolò Piccinni. There was little demand for operas by native French composers and Floquet struggled to have his ''tragédie lyrique'' ''Hellé'' staged. When it eventually appeared in 1779, it was booed, despite Floquet's attempt to imitate the style of Piccinni, and ran for only three performances. Floquet had more success with the lighter ''Le seigneur bienfaisant'' and ''La nouvelle Omphale''. He turned to a tragic subject once more when he produced a new musical score for Philippe Quinault's libretto '' Alceste'', originally set by Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1674. Floquet's version was rehearsed but then rejected by the Paris Opéra. The composer was in poor health and the disappointment at his failure to have ''Alceste'' staged was said to have contributed to his early death soon afterwards. He left two unfinished operas, one of which, the "fairyland opera" ('' opéra féerie'') ''Alcindor'', was completed by Nicolas Dezède and given its unsuccessful première on 17 April 1787.Rushton. For information about the premiere of ''Alcindor'' (attributed only to Dezède), cf. Pitou, p. 21.

Operas

Notes and references

Sources

* David J. Buch, ''Magic Flutes and Enchanted Forests: The Supernatural in Eighteenth-Century Musical Theater'' (University of Chicago Press, 2009)
* Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse ''Dictionnaire des opéras'' (Paris, 1881
Available online at Open Library
* , ''Antoine Dauvergne (1713—1797): une carrière tourmentée dans la France musicale des Lumières'', Editions Mardaga, 2011.
*Benoît Dratwicki, "Foreigners at the Académie Royale de Musique" in Antonio Sacchini, ''Renaud'', Madrid, Ediciones Singulares, 2013 (book accompanying the complete recording conducted by Christophe Rousset).
* Buford Norman ''Quinault, librettiste de Lully: le poète des grâces'', Editions Madraga, 2009.
*Spire Pitou, ''The Paris Opéra. An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic, 1715–1815'', Westport/London, Greenwood Press, 1985.
*Julian Rushton, article "Floquet, Étienne-Joseph" in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Floquet, Etienne-Joseph
French male classical composers
French Classical-period composers
French opera composers
Male opera composers
People from Aix-en-Provence
1748 births
1785 deaths
18th-century classical composers
18th-century French composers
18th-century French male musicians