Pierre Rode
Encyclopedia
Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode (16 February 1774 – 25 November 1830) 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...

 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...

.

Biography

Born in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

, Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

, 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...

, Pierre Rode traveled 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...

at the age of 13 and soon became a favourite pupil of the great 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 found the boy so talented that he charged him no fee for the lessons. Rode inherited his teacher's style to which he added more mildness and a more refined tone. It is also recorded that he made extensive use of portamento
Portamento
Portamento is a musical term originated from the Italian expression "portamento della voce" , denoting from the beginning of the 17th century a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used...

. He collaborated with Baillot
Pierre Baillot
Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot was a French violinist and composer.Baillot was born in Passy and studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti...

 and Kreutzer
Rodolphe Kreutzer
Rodolphe Kreutzer was a German violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer of forty French operas.-Biography:...

 on the official Violin Method of the Conservatoire of Paris, published in 1802.
WALLAH
Rode served as violin soloist to Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 and toured extensively in the Netherlands, Germany, England and Spain, staying with François-Adrien Boïeldieu
François-Adrien Boïeldieu
François-Adrien Boieldieu was a French composer, mainly of operas, often called "the French Mozart".-Biography:...

 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 for 1804-1809, and later spending much time in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

 wrote his last violin sonata (opus 96)
Violin Sonata No. 10 (Beethoven)
The Violin Sonata No. 10 of Ludwig van Beethoven in G major, his Opus 96, was written in 1812, published in 1816, and dedicated to Beethoven's pupil Archduke Rudolph Johannes Joseph Rainier of Austria, who gave its first performance, together with the violinist Pierre Rode...

 for Rode when the violinist was visiting Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. He also performed chamber music, but the backbone of his repertoire was formed by Viotti's concertos which served as models for his own concertos. These, as well as the 24 Caprices (which have been recorded by Oscar Shumsky
Oscar Shumsky
Oscar Shumsky was an American violinist and conductor born to Russian-Jewish parents.-Biography:...

), were written during 1814-1819 when he lived in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

In all, Pierre Rode composed 13 violin concertos and many other works for violin. Although Rode's violin concertos have some significance in the development of the Romantic concerto, they are nowadays rarely performed, and his major contribution to music must be seen in his influence to younger violinists, such as Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...

, who adopted his style and developed it further. He turned out to be unsuccessful for some time and Spohr found that his skill had deteriorated. He refused to touch the violin for quite a while.

Pierre Rode died at Château de Bourbon near Damazan
Damazan
Damazan is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France....

, Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot and Garonne rivers.-History:Lot-et-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, in his native Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

.

French Bibliography

  • Joann Élart, " Circulation des quatre symphonies oeuvre VII de Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel de l'Allemagne à Rouen : un itinéraire singulier du goût musical entre 1770 et 1825 ", Studien zu den deutsch-französischen Musikbeziehungen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, bericht über die erste gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung und der Société française de musicologie Saarbrücken 1999 (Hildesheim : Georg Olms Verlag, 2002), p. 266-281.
  • Joann Élart et Patrick Taïeb, " La Complainte du Troubadour de Pierre-Jean Garat (1762-1823) ", Les Orages, n° 2, L'imaginaire du héros (Besançon : Apocope, mai 2003), p. 137-168.
  • Joann Élart, " La mobilité des musiciens et des répertoires : Punto, Garat et Rode aux concerts du Musée ", Le Musée de Bordeaux et la musique 1783-1793, éd. Patrick Taïeb, Natalie Morel-Borotra et Jean Gribenski (Rouen : PURH, 2005), p. 157-173.
  • Joann Élart, " Les origines du concert public à Rouen à la fin de l'Ancien Régime ", Revue de musicologie, n° 93/1 (2007), p. 53-73.

External links

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