André Cardinal Destouches (sometimes called des Touches) (baptised 6 April 1672 – 7 February 1749) was a French composer best known for the opéra-ballet Les élémens .
Born in Paris, [1] the son of Étienne Cardinal, a wealthy merchant, [2] André Cardinal was educated by Jesuits. With the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard, [3] he went on a mission to Siam for two years, [4] leaving in January 1687, and spending some time at the Cape of Good Hope, arriving in Siam in September. Coming back to France, in September 1688, he spent several months at the academy in the Manège royal, rue de Tournon. In 1692 he joined the army and participated in the invasion of Namur, discovering his musical talent while not occupied by combat. [5] When his father died in August 1694, André Cardinal added "Destouches" to his name in memory of his father's title, Seigneur des Touches et de Guilleville. He quit the army in 1696 to pursue his musical aspirations.
Destouches' opera Issé was performed for Louis XIV at the Trianon in 1697. Louis was impressed and said that he enjoyed his music as much as that of Jean-Baptiste Lully. The opera was successfully repeated at the Opéra a few weeks later. The following year found him dining with Boileau in the company of Racine. [6]
After a series of successful operas and the commencement of his successful collaboration with the librettist Pierre-Charles Roy, in 1713 the king appointed Destouches inspector general of the Académie Royale de Musique, at a stipend of 4000 livres a year; later, in 1725 Louis XV would appoint him superintendent of chamber music for the Chambre du Roi, [7] and then Director of the Académie. Under the Régence, as Destouches' operas were revived at the Opéra, Destouches was able to purchase the terroir of La Vaudoire at Sartrouville, conveniently close to Paris. [8] The young Louis XV danced in Destouches' ballet Les élémens [lower-alpha 1] at the Tuileries, 31 December 1721, [lower-alpha 2] and the aged Destouches led the musicians for his daughters' masked ball on 13 January 1744. With the beginning of the public Concerts Spirituels in Paris, Destouches performed his De Profundis (1725) and his cantata Sémélé (1728) and motet for large chorus O dulcis Jesu (also 1728); Queen Maria Leszczyńska commanded Destouches to recreate the concert series at the Tuileries. With the death of Michel Richard Delalande in 1726, Destouches assumed control of the Musique du Roi.
In 1724 he married Anne-Antoinette de Reynold de la Ferrière. [9] He was buried in the crypt of Saint-Roch, Paris.
Antoine Houdar de la Motte was a French author.
Antoine Dauvergne was a French composer and violinist.
Jean-Féry Rebel was an innovative French Baroque composer and violinist.
Médée is a tragédie mise en musique in five acts and a prologue by Marc-Antoine Charpentier to a French libretto by Thomas Corneille. It was premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on December 4, 1693. Médée is the only opera Charpentier wrote for the Académie Royale de Musique. The opera was well reviewed by contemporary critics and commentators, including Sébastien de Brossard and Évrard Titon du Tillet, as well as Louis XIV whose brother attended several performances, as did his son; however, the opera only ran until March 15, 1694, although it was later revived at Lille.
Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard was a French operatic baritone.
Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by the French composers Henri Desmarets and André Campra. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto is by Joseph-François Duché de Vancy with additions by Antoine Danchet. Desmarets had begun work on the opera around 1696 but abandoned it when he was forced to go into exile in 1699. Campra and his regular librettist Danchet took up the piece and wrote the prologue, most of Act Five, two arias in Act One, an aria for Acts Two and Three, and two arias for the fourth act. The plot is ultimately based on Euripides' tragedy Iphigeneia in Tauris.
Pierre-Charles Roy was a French poet and man of letters, noted for his collaborations with the composers François Francoeur and André Cardinal Destouches, to produce librettos for several opera-ballets, on classical subjects or pseudo-classical pastiches, for seven tragedies, and for his rivalry with the young Voltaire, who immortalised Roy with some disdainful public words.
Callirhoé is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto, by Pierre-Charles Roy, is based on a story from The Description of Greece by Pausanias. The opera was first performed on December 27, 1712, by the Académie royale de musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. Destouches reworked the score for a revival on 22 October, 1743. This version ends abruptly with the death of Corésus.
Hervé Niquet is a French conductor, harpsichordist, tenor, and the director of Le Concert Spirituel, specializing in French Baroque music.
Les Élémens, or Ballet des élémens, is an opéra-ballet by the French composers André Cardinal Destouches and Michel Richard Delalande. It has a prologue and four entrées. The libretto was written by Pierre-Charles Roy. It was styled "the third ballet danced by the king" because the 11-year-old Louis XV performed dance divertissements in it, as he had already done in the previous ballets, L'inconnu by various authors, and Les folies de Cardenio by Delalande, both staged at court in 1720.
Issé is an operatic pastorale héroïque by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches. Initially it was in three acts. The definitive revised version consists of a prologue and five acts. The libretto was by Antoine Houdar de la Motte. Although Destouches was only 25 at the time of its premiere, it is considered his best score.
Le Concert Spirituel is a French ensemble specialising in works of baroque music, played on period instruments. Founded by Hervé Niquet in 1987, it is named after the 18th-century concert series Concert Spirituel. The group performs internationally, playing mostly rarely performed sacred music and operas, and making recordings. Its focus is on French music played at the court of Versailles.
Amadis de Grèce is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique on 26 March 1699. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto, by Antoine Houdar de La Motte, is based on the medieval romance Amadis de Gaula. La Motte's text was adapted to produce the Italian-language libretto for Handel's opera seriaAmadigi di Gaula (1715).
Omphale is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique on 10 November 1701. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto is by Antoine Houdar de La Motte.
Marthésie, première reine des Amazones is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at Fontainebleau on 11 October 1699. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto is by Antoine Houdar de La Motte.
Sémiramis is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique on 4 December 1718. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto is by Pierre-Charles Roy.
Télémaque et Calypso, also Télémaque or [French: ou] Calypso, is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique on 29 November 1714. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts.
Omphale is an opera by the French composer Jean-Baptiste Cardonne, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique on 2 May 1769. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in five acts. The libretto, by Antoine Houdar de La Motte, was originally set by André Cardinal Destouches in 1701.
La toison d'or, soon revised as Médée à Colchos ou La toison d'or, is a French-language opera in three acts by the composer Johann Christoph Vogel. It was first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique on 5 September 1786, "some years after its completion". The libretto, by Philippe Desriaux, is based on the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece.
Stéphanie d'Oustrac is a French mezzo-soprano.