Jean-Féry Rebel
Encyclopedia
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...
Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
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...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist.
Biography
Rebel , a son of the singer Jean Rebel, a tenor in Louis XIV's private chapel, was a child violin prodigy. He became, at the age of eight, one of his father's most famous musical offspring. Later, he was a student of the great composer Jean-Baptiste LullyJean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
. He was a violinist, harpsichordist, conductor and composer.
By 1699, at age 33, Rebel had become first violinist of the Académie royale de musique
Académie Royale de Musique
The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...
(Royal Academy of Music) and at the Opéra. He traveled to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1700. Upon his return to France
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...
in 1705, he was given a place in the prestigious ensemble known as the Vingt-quatre violons du roy
Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi
The Vingt-quatre Violons du Roy were a famous five-part string orchestra at the French royal court, existing from 1626 to 1761.-History:...
. He was chosen Maitre de Musique in 1716, and also conducted the Concert Spirituel during the 1734-35 season. His most important position at court was Chamber Composer, receiving the title in 1726. Rebel served as court composer to Louis XIV and maître de musique at the Académie, and directed the 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...
.
Rebel was one of the first French musicians to compose sonatas in the Italian style. Many of his compositions are marked by striking originality that include complex counter-rhythms and audacious harmonies that were not fully appreciated by listeners of his time. His Les caractères de la danse combined music with dance, and presented innovative metrical inventions. The work was popular and was performed in London in 1725 under the baton of George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
. In honor of his teacher, Rebel composed Le tombeau de M. Lully (literally, "The Tomb of Monsieur Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
"; figuratively, "A Tribute to Lully"). Some of Rebel's compositions are described as choreographed "symphonies." Among his boldest original compositions is Les élémens ("The Elements") which describes the creation of the world.
His son François Rebel
François Rebel
François Rebel was a French composer of the Baroque era. Born in Paris, the son of the leading composer Jean-Féry Rebel, he was a child prodigy who became a violinist in the orchestra of the Paris Opera at the age of 13...
(1701-1775) also was a composer, noted violinist, and member of the "Vingt-quatre violons du roy." He co-wrote and co-directed operas with François Francœur
François Francoeur
François Francœur was a French composer and violinist.-Biography:He was born in Paris, the son of Joseph Francœur, a basse de violon player and member of the 24 violons du roy. Francœur was instructed in music by his father and joined the Académie Royale de Musique as a violinist at age 15...
.
The Rebel Baroque Orchestra, formed in 1991, was named in his honor.
Selected compositions
- Book of twelve sonatas in 2 or 3 parts (composed in 1695, published in Paris in 1712)
- Ulysse, tragédie lyrique (1703)
- Receuils d’airs sérieux et à boire, airs for voice (1695-1708)
- Caprice, ballet d'action (ballet-pantomime) (1711)
- 12 sonatas for violin solo mixed with récits for viol, (Paris 1713)
- Les caractères de la danse, ballet (1715)
- La Terpichore, ballet (1720)
- Les plaisirs champêtre, ballet (1724)
- Boutade, ballet
- Fantaisie, ballet (1729)
- Les élémens, ballet (1737)
External links
- EarlyMusic.com: Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747), biography
- Pandora: Jean-Féry Rebel, biography from All Music Guide
- Les Élémens: Le Cahos at youtube.com