Jean-Baptiste Sebastien Bréval (November 6, 1753 – March 18, 1823) was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 cellist

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He wrote mostly pieces for his own instrument, and performed many world premières of his own pieces.

Life

Bréval was born in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and he went on to study with François Cupis (1732-1808) and Martin Berteau

Martin Berteau

Martin Berteau , cellist, cello teacher and composer, is generally regarded as the founder of the French school of cello. He numbered among his pupils Jean-Pierre Duport, "the Elder" ....

. By 1774 he was an active cello teacher. In 1775 he published his opus 1, six concertante quartets. In 1776, he became a member of the «Société Académique des Enfants d'Apollon». Kicking off his career by performing one of his sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

s at a Concert Spirituel

Concert Spirituel

The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790; later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, London and elsewhere...

 in 1778, he became a member of their orchestra from 1781 to 1791, and from 1791 to 1800 he played in the orchestra of the Théâtre Feydeau

Théâtre Feydeau

The Théâtre Feydeau, , a former Parisian theatre company, was founded in 1789 with the patronage of Monsieur, Comte de Provence , and was therefore initially named the Théâtre de Monsieur...

.

Later he became involved in the administration of the «Concerts de la rue de Cléry» and a member of the Paris Opera orchestra. He retired from the orchestra in 1814. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung states that Bréval taught at the Conservatoire although this can not be verified by Conservatoire documents. However, Bréval's compositions were definitely used for instruction at the Conservatoire. Bréval died in Colligis

Colligis-Crandelain

Colligis-Crandelain is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-References:*...

, Aisne

Aisne

Aisne is a department in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River.- History :Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Île-de-France, Picardie, and Champagne.Most of the old...

.

Compositions

Bréval compositions written between 1775 and 1805 consisted mostly of instrumental pieces. His music reflected the Parisian love for graceful melodies and energetic rhythms. Before 1784 his works were usually two or three movement compositions employing sonata and rondo

Rondo

Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...

 form, or a one movement work using variations

Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...

. His later works, such as Symphonie concertante for clarinet, horn and bassoon, Op. 38 (c1795), show diversity and experimentation. His concertos, written for his own performance, were influenced by Giovanni Battista Viotti

Giovanni Battista Viotti

Giovanni Battista Viotti was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness...

 who utilized a precise thematic

Theme (music)

In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...

 organization interjected with virtuosic passages.

Bréval is most well-known for his Sonata in C major Op. 40, No. 1, which is one of the classics of student cello literature, and often one of the first full sonatas a cello student will learn. The original version is available from several different publishers. Versions have also been published transcribed for other string instruments, including the viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

, and for bass clarinet

Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...

.

Bréval wrote symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, seven cello concerti, 4 cello sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

s, various chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 including five sets of cello duets

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

, as well as a comic opera

Comic opera

Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...

. Perhaps his most important and influential work was Traité du Violoncelle (1804), a cello method. It was probably the first systematic treatise on the cello. However, it was not well-received as it overlooked the increasing technical advances in the design of the cello that allowed for greater virtuosity on the instrument.

Orchestral

Symphonies concertantes (only solo instruments listed):

• 2 as Op. 4 (1777), No. 1, 2 violins, viola obbl, cello in Andante, No. 2, 2 violins, cello obbl;
• 2 as Op. 11 (1783), No. 1, 2 violins, No. 2, 2 violin, cello;
• 1 as Op. 30, oboe, horn (c1789), lost;
• 1 as Op. 31, flute, bassoon (c1790), ?arr. by Devienne of Op. 30;
• 1 as Op. 33, violin, viola (c1792), lost;
• 1 as Op. 38, clarinet, horn, bassoon (c1795);
• 1 for violin, cello, perf. Paris, Concert Spirituel, 1787;
• 1 for 2 cello, performance Paris Conservatoire, 1800

Cello Concertos:

• No. 1, A, Op. 14 (1784);
• No. 2, D, Op. 17 (1784);
• No. 3, F, Op. 20 (1785);
• No. 4, C, Op. 22 (1786);
• No. 5, Op. 24 (1786);
• No. 6, C, Op. 26 (1786);
• No. 7, A, Op. 35 (c1794)

Chamber

Quartets:

• 6 quatuors concertants, 2 violin, viola, bass, Op. 1 (1775);
• 6 quatuors concertants et dialogués, violin/flute, violin, viola, bass, Op. 5 (1778);
• 6 quatuors concertants et dialogués, 2 violins, viola, bass, Op. 7 (1781);
• 6 quatuors concertants et dialogués, 2 violins, viola, bass, Op. 18 (1785);
• Quatuors in dis, bassoon, viola, cello, doublebass, CZ-Pnm

Trios:

• 6 trios concertants et dialogués, violin, viola, cello, Op. 3 (1777);
• 6 for (flute, violin, cello)/(2 violins, bass), Op. 8 (1782);
• 6 trio … concertants et dialogués, violin, viola, cello, Op. 27 (c1786), ? 3 as Op. 32 (London, n.d.);
• 3 for violin, cello obbl, doublebass, Op. 39 (c1795)

Duets:

• 2 violins: 6 as Op. 6 (1780), arr. 2 violins/violin, cello (London, n.d.);
• 6 as Op. 10 (1783), arr. 2 violins/violin, cello (London, n.d.);
• 6 for 2 violins/violin, cello, Op. 19 (1785);
• 6 for 2 violins/violin, cello, Op. 23 (1786), lost, arr. 2 violins/violin, cello (London, n.d.);
• 6 as Op. 29 (c1783), lost; 6 as Op. 32 (c1791);
• 6 as Op. 34 (c1794), ?lost, arr. 2 violins/(violin, cello)/2 cello as Op. 35 (London, n.d.);
• 6 as Op. 37 (c1795), lost;
• 6 duos concertantes, 2 violins/violin, cello, Op. 41 (c1798), nos.3, 5, 6 as duets (London, n.d.)

Other duets:

• 6 for 2 cellos, Op. 2 (1783);
• 6 for violin, viola, Op. 15 (1784);
• 6 for 2 flutes, Op. 16 (1784);
• 6 duos faciles, violin, cello/bn, Op. 21 (1785), ? also as 6 duos, violin, cello, Op. 1 (Berlin, n.d.);
• 6 duos … pour faciliter l’étude des différentes clefs, 2 cellos, Op. 25 (1786)

Sonatas:

• Cello, b: 6 for cello/violin, b, Op. 12 (1783), also as Op. 2 (Berlin and Amsterdam, n.d.), ? also as 6 solos, Op. 10 (London, n.d.);
• 6 as Op. 28 (1787);
• 6 as Op. 40 (c1795)

Other works

• Inès et Léonore, ou La sœur jalouse (oc, 3, Gautier, after Caldéron), Versailles, 14 Nov 1788 (1789);
• ov. arr. pf, J.B. Cramer (1790) À ma marraine, air populaire avec paroles nouvelles, 1v unacc., F-Pn
• Airs variés: Les nocturnes, ou 6 airs variés, violin, cello, Op. 9 (1782), as 6 Favorite Airs with Variations (London, n.d.);
• Air de Marlborough (cello, doublebass)/(violin, cello) Op. 13 (1783);
• Petits airs variés, hpd, Op. 36 (c1795), lost;
• 12 petits airs, cello (1799), ?arr. of Op. 36

External links