François Victor Antoine Magnien (21 November 1802 – 8 June 1885) was a French violinist, guitarist, conductor, teacher and composer.Philip J. Bone: ''The Guitar and Mandolin. Biographies of Celebrated Players and Composers'' (London: Schott & Co., 1914; second edition, 1954), pp. 216–218. Not born in 1804 as indicated in some sources; see BnF Data in Authority control. Bone is the main source for Magnien; other guitar-related reference works copied their information from Bone, including Josef Zuth: ''Handbuch der Laute und Gitarre'' (Vienna: Verlag der Zeitschrift für Gitarre, 1926), p. 184, and Józef Powroźniak: ''Gitarren-Lexikon'' (Berlin: Verlag Neue Musik, 1979, 3rd ed., 1986), p. 130.
Life
Magnien was born in
Épinal
Épinal (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department.
Geography
The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, so ...
, in the French department of
Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...
. According to Bone (1914/54), Magnien's father was an administrator of the province of
Haute-Marne
Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.Bourbon Restoration. From 1817, he studied for two years in Paris: violin with
Rodolphe Kreutzer
Rodolphe Kreutzer (15 November 1766 – 6 January 1831) was a French violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer of forty French operas, including '' La mort d'Abel'' (1810).
He is probably best known as the dedicatee of Beethoven's Violin Son ...
Colmar
Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...
where "he commenced a career as clerk in the municipal offices",Bone (1914/1954, p. 217) but his father's association with Colonel Augustin Joseph Caron who was executed for conspiracy in 1822 again led to him losing his job and throwing the family into financial difficulties. This caused the young musician to teach violin and guitar in order to support his family, soon gaining the benevolence of influential families in Colmar.
After a few years he continued teaching in
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
. From there, he spent three months a year in Paris to continue his own studies in Paris: violin now with Pierre Baillot and Charles Philippe Lafont, the guitar again with Carulli, and composition with
. His first compositions were duos for violin and guitar, published from 1827 in Paris with Richault who remained his publisher throughout his career.
During the
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...
on 14 August 1869, confirmed in a second document of 29 January 1872, he was still director of the conservatory.
Magnien died in
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
, aged 82.
Music
The majority of compositions by Victor Magnien is written for the two instruments he initially studied, the violin and the guitar, including several duets for both instruments (opus 1, 5 and 6). He published at least 11 works for guitar solo, including several multi-movement works or albums of several pieces, as well as at least two guitar duos (opus 10 and 35). His violin music includes several duos for violin and piano, a ''Fantaisie'', Op. 14 for two violins, and one work for violin solo (Op. 41).
His music is eminently suited for his chosen instruments. It includes technically ambitious and melodically attractive works in the contemporary Romantic style. After long neglect, some guitar works have been revived and recorded in recent years.
Selected works
Unfortunately, in the case of Richault, the publisher's plate numbers do not give an indication of the dates of publication, nor does the online catalogue of the
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
give many dates. Bone indicates 1827 to 1831, but this period must in fact have been much longer.
* ''Duos concertants'', Opp. 5 and 6, performed by Gilles Colliard (violin) and Agustin Maruri (guitar) (EMEC Records E 041, 2012).
* Guitar works Opp. 8, 16, 17, 28, performed by Pascal Valois (Centaur CRC 3469, CD 2016).Reviewe here retrieved 14 January 2021
* ''Andante'', Op. 17 No. 1, performed by David Jacques (ATMA Classique ACD2 2806, CD 2020).