André-Joseph Exaudet (1710–1762) was a French

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, best known for composing the influential 1751

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form tha ...

bearing his name. The January 1744 issue of the

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

announced the publication of six violin sonatas, mentioning that Exaudet was then first violinist of the

Académie Royale de Musique The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

de Rouen. He is also listed in the Paris Opéra archives as a violinist at the Foire St Laurent and the Foire St Germain that year. His name is among the Opéra orchestra in 1749 and the Concert Spirituel orchestra in 1751, and he remained a violinist in both until his death. In 1758 he became an ordinaire de la musique de la chambre du roi. Exaudet also served as maître de violon in the court of the

Prince of Condé A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The f ...

. As a composer, Exaudet is best remembered by a celebrated minuet (op.2 no.1, finale). Within a year of its publication Vadé had added a text and incorporated it into his opera ''Le Suffisant''. On 1 October 1763 the

announced an orchestral arrangement by

Berton Berton is a both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: As a surname *Alain Berton, (1912–1979), French chemical engineer specialized in toxicology * Annibale Berton (1936–2004), Italian Olympic canoeist * George Fre ...

and a year later another appeared by L'Abbé le fils. Its popularity was kept alive with a variety of texts; it even became the tune for a revolutionary song, Arbre heureux. It appeared in innumerable collections of airs and instrumental method books, often with variations.

Selected recordings

''Concerto à cinq instruments en Mi bémol majeur'', Ensemble Diderot. CD Audax 2021

Bibliography

* Copied fro
"André-Joseph_Exaudet"

Choral Public Domain Library The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL), also known as the ChoralWiki, is an online database for choral and vocal music. Its contents primarily include sheet music in the public domain or otherwise freely available for printing and performing ...

. * Marcelle Benoît (dir.), ''Dictionnaire de la musique en France aux xvii^e et xviii^e siècles'', Paris, Fayard, 1992, pp. 280–281. {{DEFAULTSORT:Exaudet, Andre-Joseph 1710 births 1762 deaths Musicians from Rouen 18th-century French composers French male classical violinists French classical composers French male classical composers 18th-century French violinists 18th-century French male musicians