Alexandre Boucher (11 April 1778 – 29 December 1861)Dates fro
Alexandre Boucher
data.bnf.fr. Retrieved 17 March 2018. In Paul Nettl's ''Beethoven Encyclopedia'' the dates are 1778–1861. In George Grove's ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1900) the dates are 10 April 1770 – 30 December 1861. In ''Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture'' the date of birth is 11 April 1770. was a French violinist who performed throughout Europe; he was noted for having a resemblance to Napoleon.

Early life

Boucher was born in Paris. He had an interest in music at an early age; he was a pupil of Navoigille l'Aîné, and aged eight he played at ''les

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel () was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts with the same name occurred in multiple places including Paris, Vienna ...

s''. In 1787 he went to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, where he was solo violinist to King

Charles IV of Spain Charles IV (; 11 November 1748 – 20 January 1819) was King of Spain and ruler of the Spanish Empire from 1788 to 1808. The Spain inherited by Charles IV gave few indications of instability, but during his reign, Spain entered a series of disa ...

. During his time in Madrid he met

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and '' galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classi ...

with whom he played chamber music. He married Céleste Gallyot, a harpist and pianist to the king. After his return to Paris he became successful.Boucher, Alexandre-Jean
''Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture'', Volume 7 (Belin-Mandar 1833), p. 440. In 1808 Charles IV of Spain was forced to abdicate, and he was kept prisoner at Fontainbleu by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

; Boucher visited him there, and directed a small group of musicians that played for the former king.Boucher and the Marseillaise
Peter Sheppard Skærved. Retrieved 26 January 2018.

Performances in Europe

From about 1820 he travelled through Europe. His talent as a violinist was acknowledged, but he was regarded as a musical charlatan. The violinist and composer

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

met him in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1819; he wrote: "His face bore a remarkable likeness to Napoleon Bonaparte's, and he had evidently carefully studied the banished emperor's way of bearing himself, lifting his hat, taking 'snuff,' etc..... He played a

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

, but he added so many ornaments of bad taste, that it was impossible to derive any pleasure from it." Boucher encouraged the idea that he was exiled from France because his likeness to Napoleon might arouse sympathies for the former emperor. In 1821 the composer

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

conducted a concert in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, in which Boucher was a performer, playing Weber's Variations on a Norwegian Air, to which he added his own

cadenza In music, a cadenza, (from , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display ...

At a wave from Boucher, Weber stopped; and he and the astounded public suddenly heard tremolandos, pizzicatos and other coarser tricks... then a whole firework display.... Finally, after highly extravagant modulations, arpeggios and other pieces of tightrope walking, the good fellow lost his balance completely and could find no way of getting back to the original piece – so, as if inspired from above, he dropped his violin and leapt upon the stupified, half irritated, half amused Weber, embraced him in front of everyone and shouted with a loud voice, as if choked with tears, "Ah grand maître! que j'aime, que j'admire!"Page 254
John Warrack, ''Carl Maria von Weber'' (2nd edition 1976, Cambridge University Press); it includes a quotation from ''Carl Maria von Weber: The Life of an Artist'' by Max Maria Weber, vol. 2, p. 327.

In April 1822 he visited

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

; at the occasion, the composer wrote for Boucher a piece for two violins (

WoO Woo, or variants, may refer to: People * Wu (surname), and several variants and other transliterations ** Wu (surname 伍) ** Wu (surname 武) ** Ng (name): 吳, 伍 * Hu (surname), also pronounced Woo * Woo (Korean surname) * Woo (Korean give ...

34 in the Kinsky–Halm Catalogue).Paul Nettl. "Bouché, Alexandre" in ''Beethoven Encyclopedia''. Philosophical Library, New York, 1956
Manuscript
at the B.N. France. In 1844 he returned to France and settled in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and List of classical violinists This is a list of notable classical violinists from the Baroque music, baroque era to the 21st century. For a more comprehensive list of contemporary classical violinists, see List of contemporary classical violinists. Baroque era * Christian H ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boucher, Alexandre 1778 births 1861 deaths Musicians from Paris 19th-century French violinists 19th-century French male musicians French male classical violinists