Cherubini: Requiem / Marche Funebre

Description

Luigi Cherubini(1760-1842)Marche fun?¿bre (1820);Requiem in C minor (1816)Luigi Cherubini was born in Florence in 1760, the tenth of the twelvechildren of the theatre harpsichordist at the Teatro della Pergola, his firstteacher. As a child he had further instruction from leading Florentinecomposers and had an early composition, a Mass, performed in 1773, continuingin adolescence to write further church music and a smaller number of seculardramatic works. In 1778, after the performance of his cantata La pubblicafelicit?á ('Public Happiness') in honour of the Grand Duke Leopold ofTuscany, he was awarded by the latter the means of further study with thewell-known opera composer Giuseppe Sarti, a former pupil of Padre Martini.Cherubini's period with Sarti in Bologna and in Milan, where his teacher was maestrodi cappella at the Cathedral and distinguished at the Teatro della Scala,brought the chance to compose operas for Florence and other Italian cities. In1784 and 1785 he was in London, where he won success in the theatre, and fromthere he travelled to Paris. It was through the violinist and impresarioViotti, established in that city, that Cherubini was presented to Queen MarieAntoinette and in 1786 he settled in France, collaborating with Viotti underthe patronage of the King's brother at the The?ótre de Monsieur at theTuileries, before his great success with the opera Lodo?»ska at Viotti'snew The?ótre Feydeau, a venture curtailed at the Revolution, when Viotti tookrefuge in London and the wine-trade.After a period of retirement to the countryside, Cherubini returned toParis in 1793, eventually finding employment as an inspector at the newInstitut National de Musique, the future Conservatoire. The decade broughtsettings of texts approved by the new, secular regime and operatic success withwhat remains his best known opera, Medee ('Medea'), and with Les deuxjoumees ('The Two Days'), an opera that had its effect on Beethoven's ownlater Fidelio, the first performance of which Cherubini attended duringa successful visit to Vienna in 1805. Napoleon's occupation of the city in thatyear and the unexpected favour he now showed to Cherubini, after earliercoldness, led the composer to return to Paris, where at first he found reliefin activities other than music. The restoration of the monarchy afterNapoleon's defeat brought him appointment in 1816 as a superintendent of theKing's music under his former patron, now Louis XVIII. In these years Cherubinihad begun to turn his attention once again to church music, notably with the SolemnMass in C major and the Requiem in C minor of 1816.Further official honours followed, with significant appointment in 1822 asdirector of the Conservatoire, a position he held with distinction until a fewweeks before his death in 1842.Cherubini wrote his Requiemin C minor in 1815 and 1816 for a commemoration of the death ofLouis XVI, executed by the revolutionaries, and it was first performed in theCrypt of Saint-Denis on 21st Janu