Jean-Baptiste Morin (2 February 1677 – 27 April 1745) was a French composer and the ''Ordinaire de la Musique'' to Philippe, Duke of Orléans before and perhaps during his regency. From 1719 to 1731 Morin was ''Maître de musique'' of

Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans (Marie Louise Adélaïde; 13 August 1698 – 10 February 1743) was the second daughter of Philippe d'Orléans and Françoise Marie de Bourbon, a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame ...

, daughter of the Duke, at the royal abbey of Chelles, near Paris.

Career

Morin was born in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s (published between 1706 and 1712). These provided a fusion of a French with the Italian style then popular at the Regent's court. Morin noted in the preface to the 1706 edition his efforts "to retain the sweetness of the French style of melody, but with greater variety in the accompaniments, and employing those tempos and modulations characteristic of the Italian cantata." Morin dedicated the volume to his royal sponsor. He also published two famous books of (petits) ''Motets'' (1704, 2nd edition 1748; 1709) and a ''Processional'' for Chelles (1726). His

divertissement ''Divertissement'' (from the French 'diversion' or 'amusement') is used, in a similar sense to the Italian 'divertimento', for a light piece of music for a small group of players, however the French term has additional meanings. During the 17th an ...

''La Chasse du cerf'' (October 1707; libretto of his friend and protector, Jean de Serré de Rieux (at the time: François-Joseph de Seré, seigneur de Rieux, near

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise Departments of France, département, in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, north of Paris. The Communes of France, commune o ...

), Parisian parliamentary, poet and "grand amateur de musique") provides the hunting call motif that

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 ...

later employed in his Symphony No. 73.Alexander L. Ringer: "The 'Chasse' as a Musical Topic of the 18th Century", in ''Journal of the American Musicological Society'', vol. 6, no. 2 (Summer 1953), pp. 148-159. Morin died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1745 (not 1754: see his "Inventaire après décès" in Paris, Archives nationales).

Bibliography

* Pierre Dole: ''Jean-Baptiste Morin et la genèse de la cantate française'', M.A. thesis, Paris-IV-Sorbonne (1989). * François Turellier: ''Jean-Baptiste Morin, compositeur français (1677–1745)'', Diss., Paris-IV-Sorbonne (1999).
James R. Anthony: ''French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morin, Jean-Baptiste 1677 births 1745 deaths 18th-century French classical composers 18th-century French male musicians French Baroque composers French male classical composers Musicians from Orléans