Jean-Marie Leclair
Encyclopedia
Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné, also known as Jean-Marie Leclair the Elder, (10 May 1697 – 22 October 1764) was a Baroque
violin
ist and composer
. He is considered to have founded the French violin
school. His brothers Jean-Marie Leclair the younger
(1703–77), Pierre Leclair (1709–84) and Jean-Benoît Leclair (1714–after 1759) were also musicians.
, but left to study dance
and the violin
in Turin
. In 1716, he married Marie-Rose Casthanie, a dancer, who died about 1728. Leclair had returned to Paris
in 1723, where he played at the Concert Spirituel
, the main semi-public music series. His works included several sonatas for flute
and basso continuo.
In 1730 Leclair married for the second time. His new wife was the engraver Louise Roussel, who prepared for printing all his works from Opus 2 onward. Named ordinaire de la musique by Louis XV
in 1733, Leclair resigned in 1737 after a clash with Guidon over control of the musique du Roy.
Leclair was then engaged by the Princess of Orange
– a fine harpsichord
ist and former student of Handel
– and from 1738 until 1743 served three months annually at her court, working in The Hague
as a private maestro di cappella for the remainder of the year. He returned to Paris in 1743. His only opera Scylla et Glaucus
was first performed in 1746 and has been revived in modern times. From 1740 until his death in Paris
, he served the Duke of Gramont.
Leclair was renowned as a violinist and as a composer. He successfully drew upon all of Europe's national styles. Many suites, sonatas, and concertos survive along with his opera, while some vocal works, ballets, and other stage music is lost.
remains a mystery, there is a possibility that his ex-wife may have been behind it – her motive being financial gain – although the strongest suspicion rests on his nephew, Guillaume-François Vial.
Whether at the hands of a relative who had not forgiven him for abandoning the family, or as the work of another musician envious of his talent, on or about October 23, 1764, Jean-Marie Leclair was killed by a stab in the back.
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...
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 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 is considered to have founded the French 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....
school. His brothers Jean-Marie Leclair the younger
Jean-Marie Leclair the younger
Jean-Marie Leclair le cadet, also known as Jean-Marie Leclair, the Younger was a French composer, and younger brother of the better-known Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné ....
(1703–77), Pierre Leclair (1709–84) and Jean-Benoît Leclair (1714–after 1759) were also musicians.
Biography
Leclair was born in LyonLyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, but left to study dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
and the 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....
in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
. In 1716, he married Marie-Rose Casthanie, a dancer, who died about 1728. Leclair had returned to 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...
in 1723, where he played at 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...
, the main semi-public music series. His works included several sonatas for flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and basso continuo.
In 1730 Leclair married for the second time. His new wife was the engraver Louise Roussel, who prepared for printing all his works from Opus 2 onward. Named ordinaire de la musique by Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
in 1733, Leclair resigned in 1737 after a clash with Guidon over control of the musique du Roy.
Leclair was then engaged by the Princess of Orange
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands...
– a fine harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
ist and former student of 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...
– and from 1738 until 1743 served three months annually at her court, working in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
as a private maestro di cappella for the remainder of the year. He returned to Paris in 1743. His only opera Scylla et Glaucus
Scylla et Glaucus
Scylla et Glaucus is a tragédie en musique with a prologue and five acts, the only full-length opera by Jean-Marie Leclair. The libretto by d'Albaret is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, books 10, 13 and 14.-Performance history:...
was first performed in 1746 and has been revived in modern times. From 1740 until his death 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...
, he served the Duke of Gramont.
Leclair was renowned as a violinist and as a composer. He successfully drew upon all of Europe's national styles. Many suites, sonatas, and concertos survive along with his opera, while some vocal works, ballets, and other stage music is lost.
Murder
In 1758, after the break-up of his second marriage, Leclair purchased a small house in a dangerous Parisian neighborhood, where he was found stabbed to death in 1764. Although the murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
remains a mystery, there is a possibility that his ex-wife may have been behind it – her motive being financial gain – although the strongest suspicion rests on his nephew, Guillaume-François Vial.
Whether at the hands of a relative who had not forgiven him for abandoning the family, or as the work of another musician envious of his talent, on or about October 23, 1764, Jean-Marie Leclair was killed by a stab in the back.
List of works
- Op. 1 No. 1 – Violin Sonata in A minor
- Op. 1 No. 2 – Violin Sonata in C major
- Op. 1 No. 3 – Violin Sonata in B flat major
- Op. 1 No. 4 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 1 No. 5 – Violin Sonata in G major
- Op. 1 No. 6 – Violin Sonata in E minor
- Op. 1 No. 7 – Violin Sonata in F major
- Op. 1 No. 8 – Violin Sonata in G major
- Op. 1 No. 9 – Violin Sonata in A major
- Op. 1 No. 10 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 1 No. 11 – Violin Sonata in B flat major
- Op. 1 No. 12 – Violin Sonata in B minor
- Op. 2 No. 1 – Violin Sonata in E minor
- Op. 2 No. 2 – Violin Sonata in F major
- Op. 2 No. 3 – Violin Sonata in C major
- Op. 2 No. 4 – Violin Sonata in A major
- Op. 2 No. 5 – Violin Sonata in G major
- Op. 2 No. 6 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 2 No. 7 – Violin Sonata in B flat major
- Op. 2 No. 8 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 2 No. 9 – Violin Sonata in E major
- Op. 2 No. 10 – Violin Sonata in C minor
- Op. 2 No. 11 – Violin Sonata in B minor
- Op. 2 No. 12 – Violin Sonata in G minor
- Op. 3 No. 1 – Sonata for 2 violins in G major
- Op. 3 No. 2 – Sonata for 2 violins in A major
- Op. 3 No. 3 – Sonata for 2 violins in C major
- Op. 3 No. 4 – Sonata for 2 violins in F major
- Op. 3 No. 5 – Sonata for 2 violins in E minor
- Op. 3 No. 6 – Sonata for 2 violins in D major
- Op. 4 No. 1 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in D minor
- Op. 4 No. 2 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in B flat major
- Op. 4 No. 3 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in D minor
- Op. 4 No. 4 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in F major
- Op. 4 No. 5 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in G minor
- Op. 4 No. 6 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in A major
- Op. 5 No. 1 – Violin Sonata in A major
- Op. 5 No. 2 – Violin Sonata in F major
- Op. 5 No. 3 – Violin Sonata in E minor
- Op. 5 No. 4 – Violin Sonata in B flat major
- Op. 5 No. 5 – Violin Sonata in B minor
- Op. 5 No. 6 – Violin Sonata in C minor
- Op. 5 No. 7 – Violin Sonata in A minor
- Op. 5 No. 8 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 5 No. 9 – Violin Sonata in E major
- Op. 5 No. 10 – Violin Sonata in C major
- Op. 5 No. 11 – Violin Sonata in G minor
- Op. 5 No. 12 – Violin Sonata in G major
- Op. 6 – Récréation de musique in D major
- Op. 7 No. 1 – Violin Concerto in D minor (1737; homotonalHomotonalHomotonal is a technical musical term pertaining to the tonal structure of multi-movement compositions. It was introduced into musicology by Hans Keller...
, with all movements in D minor) - Op. 7 No. 2 – Violin Concerto in D major
- Op. 7 No. 3 – Violin Concerto in C major
- Op. 7 No. 4 – Violin Concerto in F major
- Op. 7 No. 5 – Violin Concerto in A minor
- Op. 7 No. 6 – Violin Concerto in A major
- Op. 8 – Récréation de musique in G minor
- Op. 9 No. 1 – Violin Sonata in A major
- Op. 9 No. 2 – Violin Sonata in E minor
- Op. 9 No. 3 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 9 No. 4 – Violin Sonata in A major
- Op. 9 No. 5 – Violin Sonata in A minor
- Op. 9 No. 6 – Violin Sonata in D major
- Op. 9 No. 7 – Violin Sonata in G major
- Op. 9 No. 8 – Violin Sonata in C major
- Op. 9 No. 9 – Violin Sonata in E flat major
- Op. 9 No. 10 – Violin Sonata in F sharp minor
- Op. 9 No. 11 – Violin Sonata in G minor
- Op. 9 No. 12 – Violin Sonata in G major
- Op. 10 No. 1 – Violin Concerto in B flat major
- Op. 10 No. 2 – Violin Concerto in A major
- Op. 10 No. 3 – Violin Concerto in D major
- Op. 10 No. 4 – Violin Concerto in F major
- Op. 10 No. 5 – Violin Concerto in E minor
- Op. 10 No. 6 – Violin Concerto in G minor
- Op. 11 – Scylla et GlaucusScylla et GlaucusScylla et Glaucus is a tragédie en musique with a prologue and five acts, the only full-length opera by Jean-Marie Leclair. The libretto by d'Albaret is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, books 10, 13 and 14.-Performance history:...
, tragédie en musique with prologue and five acts (opera, fp. 1746) - Op. 12 No. 1 – Sonata for 2 violins in B minor
- Op. 12 No. 2 – Sonata for 2 violins in E major
- Op. 12 No. 3 – Sonata for 2 violins in D major
- Op. 12 No. 4 – Sonata for 2 violins in A major
- Op. 12 No. 5 – Sonata for 2 violins in G minor
- Op. 12 No. 6 – Sonata for 2 violins in B flat major
- Op. 13 No. 1 – Ouvertura for 2 violins & continuo in G major
- Op. 13 No. 2 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in D major
- Op. 13 No. 3 – Ouvertura for 2 violins & continuo in D major
- Op. 13 No. 4 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in B minor
- Op. 13 No. 5 – Ouvertura for 2 violins & continuo in A major
- Op. 13 No. 6 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in G minor
- Op. 14 – Trio for 2 violins & continuo in A major
- Op. 15 – Violin Sonata in F major