Sujet
Grove Music Online
Objet
[extrait de:] Albert LA FRANCE: 'Lorenzani, Paolo', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 10 June 2004), http://www.grovemusic.com :
"Lorenzani, Paolo (b Rome, 5 Jan 1640; d Rome, 28 Oct 1713). Italian composer. […] He succeeded Vincenzo de Grandis late in 1672 as maestro di cappella of the Jesuit Chiesa del Gesù and the Seminario Romano. […] In autumn 1675 he left his position of prestige in Rome and became maestro di cappella at Messina Cathedral. The Duke of Vivonne, brother to Mme de Montespan and Mme de Thianges, was at that time Viceroy of Sicily and in charge of the French forces. Lorenzani composed not only masses, vespers and Te Deum settings for the cathedral, but also intermedii, ballets, comédies-ballets and an opera (Il Coloandro) for the duke, who often put on sumptuous festivities and displays for the Sicilian nobility. In 1678, when Louis XIV recalled Vivonne to France and sent La Feuillade in his place to withdraw the French forces from Sicily, Lorenzani boarded La Feuillade’s ships for France; he arrived at Toulon on 7 April.
When Lorenzani reached Paris later that spring, Lully, whose career was at its height, was exercising absolute control over French opera. […] But Lorenzani soon came under the protection of his former patron Vivonne, who introduced him at court in August that year. Louis XIV heard one of Lorenzani’s motets, which so pleased him that not only did he have it sung several more times, but he gave the composer a substantial sum of money, encouraged him to remain in France, and supplied him with most of the funds necessary to purchase from Jean-Baptiste de Boësset the position of maître de musique de la reine. Lorenzani’s success and popularity grew as he continued to please the king and all his court. In June 1679 the king sent him to Italy to recruit ‘the best singers he could find’(Mercure galant, June 1679). Lorenzani returned in December with five castratos, and on 1 January 1680 he took up his new position in the service of the queen.
[…] Lorenzani continued to triumph at court in 1682: […] in November a collaboration with Lalande in another dramatic work, a sérénade en forme d’opéra, was presented before Louis XIV at Fontainebleau. But the year 1683 marked the decline of Lorenzani’s career at court. […] on 30 July the queen died after a short illness, and Lorenzani was suddenly without a position at court. However, his service to the queen was acknowledged in November when a royal declaration allowed him to keep his title and all the privileges assocated with it.
He wrote a song Tornami in petto speranza cara for a play by Fatouville performed at the Théâtre Italien on 5 March 1684, and on 20 June 1685 he was appointed director of music at the Theatine convent […]. On 23 August 1688 the Académie Royale de Musique presented his opera Oronthée at Chantilly during magnificent festivities given for the dauphin by the Prince of Condé. The score is lost (except for a fragment), as is that of a hastily prepared divertissement performed later that week which included arias from Nicandro e Fileno.
On 19 July 1694 the chapter of the Cappella Giulia elected him maestro di cappella to succeed Francesco Beretta, even though Lorenzani had not applied for the position and had been absent from Rome for nearly 20 years. He accepted the offer and left for Rome probably in spring 1695, assuming his new functions at the Vatican on 1 April that year. He must have married by then, since three daughters of his were baptized in Rome between 1695 and 1701. […] He died on 28 October 1713, at the age of ‘about 73 years’and was buried in the parish of Santo Spirito in Sassia."
Utilisateur
AS