Sujet
Léris (de), 1763, p. 617:
Objet
"LE CLAIR (M), savant Violon, connu par de fort bons morceaux de musique, a composé, en 1746, l'Opéra de Scylla & Glaucus, & ensuite Apollon & Climene."
Utilisateur
AS
Sujet
BENOIT
Objet
Dictionnaire de la Musique (1992) pp. 389-391 : "LECLAIR, Jean Marie l'ainé (n Lyon 5 X 1697-m 23 X 1764). Violoniste et compositeur. Aîné de huit enfants, il apprit le métier de la passementerie et fur reçut maître passementier. Il fut aussi danseur, et avec sa femme, avant leur mariage, il dansa à l'Opéra de Lyon ; en 1722, il fut engagé comme premier danseur et maître de ballet à l'Opéra de Turin. Il s'installa à Paris en 1723 et y publia sa première œuvre, une série de douze sonates pour violon et continuo. De nouveau à Turin en 1726-27, il prit des leçons auprès de G.B. Somis, directeur de l'orchestre. De retour à Paris en 1728, il fit ses débuts au Concert-Spirituel [… deuxième mariage avec Louise Roussel en 1730, séjour en Hollande, visite en Espagne en 1744, retour à Paris en 1744] Son opéra Scylla et Glaucus op. 11, fut représenté en 1746 avec un immense succès. [… assassiné par un inconnu… son frère, Jean Marie le cadet eut moins de succès]" (extrait de l'article par R. E. Preston)
Utilisateur
MM
Sujet
Grove Music Online
Objet
NEAL ZASLAW: 'Jean-Marie Leclair', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 4 June 2004), http://www.grovemusic.com :
"Before his 19th year, Leclair mastered violin playing, dancing and lacemaking. He was then listed among the dancers at the Lyons opera, together with Marie-Rose Casthagnié whom he married on 9 November 1716. He may also have been active as a dancer and violinist in Rouen, where according to Gerber his patron was Mme Mezangère (La Laurencie however doubted the Rouen connection).
Leclair was in Turin in 1722, where he may have been drawn by employment at royal wedding festivities; he was evidently active there as a ballet-master, though he did not hold an official position. Possibly he received violin lessons from G.B. Somis.
Going to Paris in 1723, Leclair came under the patronage of one of the richest men in France, Joseph Bonnier, while he prepared his op.1 for publication. […]
In June 1726 J.J. Quantz visited Turin where, he noted in his diary, Leclair was studying with Somis. Leclair provided ballets (now lost) as postludes to two operas at the Teatro Regio Ducale, Turin, in 1727. In Paris the following year he published a second book of violin sonatas and made his début with 12 appearances at the Concert Spirituel, where he was vigorously applauded in performances of his own sonatas and concertos. He also travelled to London, where John Walsh issued a book of his sonatas, and to Kassel, where he performed at court with Pietro Locatelli. […]
Leclair's first wife had died childless, and on 8 September 1730 he married Louise Roussel, who engraved his op.2 and all his subsequent works. Their only child, Louise, also an engraver, married the painter Louis Quenet.
Numerous performances and publications in Paris led to official recognition when late in 1733 Leclair was appointed by Louis XV ordinaire de la musique du roi. […] In his new capacity Leclair associated with some of the best French musicians of the day, including his friend the viol player Antoine Forqueray and his rival Pierre Guignon. […] This employment ended in 1737 when Leclair and Guignon quarrelled over the directorship of the king's orchestra. The two agreed to alternate monthly, with Leclair leading off; but after the first month he resigned and left Paris rather than sit second to Guignon.
Leclair next accepted an invitation to the court of Orange in the Netherlands from Anne, Princess of Orange and daughter of George II of England. […] From 1738 to 1743 Leclair spent three months each year at the court. After July 1740 the remaining nine months were spent at The Hague, where he had become maestro di cappella to a wealthy commoner, François Du Liz, who maintained an establishment of 20 musicians. This arrangement ended with Du Liz's bankruptcy in January 1743; Leclair returned to Paris to publish his fourth and final book of violin sonatas. In 1744 he spent some time in Chambéry playing for the Spanish Prince Don Philippe, to whom he subsequently dedicated op.10. He then returned to Paris, and remained there, apart from an occasional visit to Lyons.
Leclair spent the next few years in semi-retirement, on a pension from the Bonnier de la Mosson family, teaching the violin and composing. On 4 October 1746, in his 50th year, his only opera, Scylla et Glaucus, had its première at the Académie Royale de Musique. […]
In 1748 Leclair was taken into the service of a former pupil, Antoine-Antonin, Duc de Gramont, for whose private theatre at Puteaux (now a suburb of Paris) he became composer and musical director. Leclair continued to work for the duke after 1751, when the duke's financial extravagances forced the sale of the Puteaux estate and a return to Paris. […] About 1758 Leclair and his wife parted and set up separate households, Leclair buying a small house in a dangerous part of Paris. He was murdered late one evening in 1764 as he entered his house."
Utilisateur
AS