Pierre-Jean Garat (25 April 1764 – 1 March 1823) was a French
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
singer and nephew of
Dominique Joseph Garat. He was born in
Ustaritz.
Garat devoted himself from an early age to the cultivation of his musical talents. Because he professed a distaste for the legal profession, which his father wished him to pursue, he was deprived of his allowance, but through the patronage of a friend he obtained the office of secretary to
Comte d'Artois, and was afterwards engaged to give musical lessons to the queen of France.
At the beginning of the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
he accompanied
Rode to England, where the two musicians appeared together in concerts. He returned to Paris in 1794. After the Revolution he became a professional singer and was thrown into prison for a song he composed about the misfortunes of the royal family.
On regaining his liberty Garat went to
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, where he at once achieved extraordinary success. By his subsequent appearances in Paris, and his visits to Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia, he made for himself a reputation as a singer unequalled by any other of his own time. In addition, he became a professor of singing for the
Conservatoire de Musique, and composed several songs. He was known as a keen partisan of
Gluck in opposition to
Handel.
Garat died on 1 March 1823 in Paris.
He had his wax portrait done by Joseph Anton
Curiger c. 1795.
[Wallace Collection]
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French bibliography
* Natalie Morel-Borotra, « Le chant et l’identification culturelle des Basques (1800–1850) », ''Lapurdum'', no 5, 2000, pp. 351–38
online
* Joann Élart, « Circulation des quatre symphonies œuvre VII de Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel de l'Allemagne à Rouen : un itinéraire singulier du goût musical entre 1770 et 1825 », ''Studien zu den deutsch-französischen Musikbeziehungen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, bericht über die erste gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung und der Société française de musicologie Saarbrücken 1999'', Hildesheim, Georg Olms Verlag, 2002, .
* Joann Élart et Patrick Taïeb, « La Complainte du Troubadour de Pierre-Jean Garat (1762–1823) », ''Les Orages'', n° 2, L'imaginaire du héros, Besançon, Apocope, mai 2003,
online
* Natalie Morel-Borotra, « Un élève de Franz Beck à Bordeaux. Quelques notes sur Pierre-Jean Garat », ''Lumières'', no 2 (« Franz Beck, un musicien des Lumières », dir. Alain Ruiz), 2003, pp. 81–96.
* Natalie Morel-Borotra, « Comment Pierre-Jean Garat est devenu un chanteur basque : de l’Histoire au(x) mythe(s) », ''Lapurdum'', no 9, 2004, pp. 159–17
online
* Joann Élart, « La mobilité des musiciens et des répertoires : Punto, Garat et Rode aux concerts du Musée », ''in'' Patrick Taïeb, Natalie Morel-Borotra et Jean Gribenski (dir.), ''Le Musée de Bordeaux et la musique 1783–1793'', Rouen, PURH, 2005, pp. 157–173.
* Joann Élart, « Les origines du concert public à Rouen à la fin de l'Ancien Régime », ''Revue de musicologie'', n° 93/1, 2007, pp. 53–73.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garat, Pierre-Jean
1764 births
1823 deaths
People from Labourd
French male singers
French operatic baritones
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
French expatriates in England
French-Basque people