Les Musiciens du Louvre
Encyclopedia
Les Musiciens du Louvre is a French period instrument ensemble, formed in 1982. Originally based in Paris, since 1996 it has been based in the Couvent des Minimes
in Grenoble
. The Guardian
considers it one of the best orchestras in the world.
in 1982, the ensemble was originally based in Paris
. From 1987 it gained an international reputation as one of the best Baroque
and classical
ensembles. It has also made successful forays into the works of Offenbach
, Berlioz and Bizet. In 1992 it inaugurated the Baroque music festival at the Palace of Versailles
with Armide
by Gluck
, then in 1993 took part in the inauguration of the Opéra Nouvel de Lyon
with Phaëton
by Lully
. 1993 also saw it win a Gramophone Award
for Best Baroque Vocal Recording for its recording of San Giovanni Battista by Stradella
. On its move to Grenoble in 1996 it merged with the Ensemble instrumental de Grenoble.
In 2004, on the reopening of the city's 'maison de la culture' (renamed MC2
) Les Musiciens du Louvre set up an 'atelier de création'. In 2005 they were the first French ensemble invited to play at the Salzburg Festival
(Mitridate, reprised in the Mozart complete works festival in 2006).
In 2005, Marc Minkowski
decided to set up the Atelier des musiciens du louvre, a workshop aiming to increase partnership with regional artists and cultural figures and to increase public access to the orchestra's concerts via teaching and education projects, especially to the young.
It is also well known for its rediscovery of works by Handel
(its contribution to the Handelian repertoire is recognised as one of the most important in the world), Henry Purcell
and Jean-Philippe Rameau
, as well as by Haydn and Mozart, to mention the most important. This path has naturally led to later and later repertoire, favouring 19th century French music. It has participated in projects around Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique, Nuit d'été, Harold en Italie) and Jacques Offenbach in particular (La Belle Hélène, La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein), but also around Georges Bizet
(Carmen and the music from Arlézienne) and Gabriel Fauré
(Musique de Théâtre). The 2008-2009 season also saw even later composers such as Wagner, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
and Stravinski.
Opera quickly took a major role in the orchestra's repertoire right from its foundation - they have won critical acclaim for their productions of Monteverdi ( The Coronation of Poppaea in 2000 at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence), Gluck (Armide in 1992), Mozart (The Magic Flute
at the Ruhr Triennale, The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Mitridate in 2005 for their first Salzburg Festival appearance) but above all their productions of Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck at the Opéra de Paris, Carmen by Bizet (May 2007), Die Feen by Wagner (March 2009) at the Théâtre du Châtelet
and The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. It has also toured in Eastern Europe, Asia, North America, South America and (in 2009) to Japan.
Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble
The Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble , is a former religious building constructed from 1644 by the contemplative order of the Minims, located rue du Vieux Temple in Grenoble, France....
in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
considers it one of the best orchestras in the world.
History
Founded by Marc MinkowskiMarc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. His mother is American, and his father was Alexandre Minkowski, a Polish-French professor of pediatrics and one of the founders of neonatology...
in 1982, the ensemble was originally based 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...
. From 1987 it gained an international reputation as one of the best Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
and classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
ensembles. It has also made successful forays into the works of Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
, Berlioz and Bizet. In 1992 it inaugurated the Baroque music festival at the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
with Armide
Armide (Gluck)
Armide is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck, his fifth for the Parisian stage and the composer's own favourite among his works. It was first performed in Paris at the Académie Royale on 23 September 1777....
by Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
, then in 1993 took part in the inauguration of the Opéra Nouvel de Lyon
Lyon
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....
with Phaëton
Phaëton (Lully)
Phaëton is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Philippe Quinault wrote the French libretto after a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It was premiered at Versailles on January 6, 1683, and can be read as an allegorical depiction of the punishment awaiting those...
by 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...
. 1993 also saw it win a Gramophone Award
Gramophone Award
The Gramophone Awards are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry, often referred to as the Oscars for classical music. The winners are selected annually by critics for the Gramophone magazine and various members of the industry, including...
for Best Baroque Vocal Recording for its recording of San Giovanni Battista by Stradella
Alessandro Stradella
Alessandro Stradella was an Italian composer of the middle baroque. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, collaborating with distinguished poets, producing over three hundred works in a variety of genres.-Life:Not much is known about his early life, but he...
. On its move to Grenoble in 1996 it merged with the Ensemble instrumental de Grenoble.
In 2004, on the reopening of the city's 'maison de la culture' (renamed MC2
MC2
MC2 is an imprint from Marvel Comics whose comic books depict an alternative future timeline for the Marvel Universe. The imprint was created out of the events of What If? #105, which was the first appearance of the character Spider-Girl, Spider-Man's daughter from an alternative...
) Les Musiciens du Louvre set up an 'atelier de création'. In 2005 they were the first French ensemble invited to play at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
(Mitridate, reprised in the Mozart complete works festival in 2006).
In 2005, Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. His mother is American, and his father was Alexandre Minkowski, a Polish-French professor of pediatrics and one of the founders of neonatology...
decided to set up the Atelier des musiciens du louvre, a workshop aiming to increase partnership with regional artists and cultural figures and to increase public access to the orchestra's concerts via teaching and education projects, especially to the young.
Activities
Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble supports the renewal of Baroque music in France and more generally the use of period instruments and period style. The projet des Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble proposes a progressive and lyrical re-evaluation, from baroque music to modern music, and programming certain works which have been neglected for unjustifiable or obscure reasons. This project makes the ensemble one of the most evolved, inventive and original music groups in the world.It is also well known for its rediscovery of works by Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
(its contribution to the Handelian repertoire is recognised as one of the most important in the world), Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
and Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...
, as well as by Haydn and Mozart, to mention the most important. This path has naturally led to later and later repertoire, favouring 19th century French music. It has participated in projects around Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique, Nuit d'été, Harold en Italie) and Jacques Offenbach in particular (La Belle Hélène, La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein), but also around Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
(Carmen and the music from Arlézienne) and Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
(Musique de Théâtre). The 2008-2009 season also saw even later composers such as Wagner, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
and Stravinski.
Opera quickly took a major role in the orchestra's repertoire right from its foundation - they have won critical acclaim for their productions of Monteverdi ( The Coronation of Poppaea in 2000 at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence), Gluck (Armide in 1992), Mozart (The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
at the Ruhr Triennale, The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Mitridate in 2005 for their first Salzburg Festival appearance) but above all their productions of Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck at the Opéra de Paris, Carmen by Bizet (May 2007), Die Feen by Wagner (March 2009) at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
and The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. It has also toured in Eastern Europe, Asia, North America, South America and (in 2009) to Japan.
Discography
- Lully (Phaëton, Acis & Galatée, les Comédies-Ballets)
- Charpentier (Le Malade imaginaire, Te Deum)
- Marais (Alcione)
- Blamont (Didon)
- Clérambault (Le Soleil vainqueur des Nuages)
- Mouret (Les Amours de Ragonde)
- Stuck (Héraclite & Démocrite)
- Rebel (Les Élémens)
- Rameau (Hippolyte & Aricie, Platée, Dardanus, Les surprises de l'Amour [suites], Anacréon, Le Berger fidèle, Une symphonie imaginaire)
- Mondonville (Titon & l'Aurore, Sonates en symphonies)
- Gluck (Armide, Iphigénie en Tauride, Orphée et Eurydice)
- Méhul (Symphonies n° 1 and 2)
- Berlioz (Symphonie fantastiqueSymphonie FantastiqueSymphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
and Herminie with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Aurélia Legay) - Offenbach (La Belle Hélène, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Concerto for cello and other instruments, gala with Anne Sofie von Otter, Orphée aux Enfers, A Concert of Music by Offenbach)
- Handel (Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, La resurrezione, Messiah, Hercules, Amadigi, Teseo, Ariodante, Giulio Cesare, Concerti Grossi opus 3, Dixit Dominus et motets romains, Delirio amoroso and cantatas with Magdalena Kozena, French cantatas, Haendel Scarlatti Caldara Opera Proibita with Cécilia Bartoli)
- Mozart (Mitridate [DVD], Die Entführung aus dem Serail [DVD], Don Giovanni [arrangement for wind octet by Triebensee], Jupiter)
- Monteverdi (L'incoronazione di Poppea [DVD])
- Stradella (San Giovanni Battista)
- Rossini (L'inganno felice [under the name Concert des Tuileries])
- Bizet (L'Arlésienne)
- Bach (Mass in B Minor)