Skip to main content

François Joseph Fétis Biography

François Joseph Fétis

(Mons, 1784-Brussels, 1871) Belgian composer, conductor and musicologist.He is the author of pieces for piano, comic operas and religious works and chamber music.He wrote a Universal Biography of Musicians and General Bibliography of Music (1837-1844) and an unfinished General History of Music (1869-1876).

François-Joseph Fétis

His father, an organist, led him to musical studies, which he carried out at the Paris Conservatoire.He stayed for some years in Douai as organist and teacher of song and harmony at the local Music School, and in 1818 he returned to the capital; There he developed his multiple activities as composer, teacher, scholar and critic for some fifteen years.From 1821 he taught counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatory.

François-Joseph Fétis was in charge of the music criticism of Le Temps and Le National , and in 1826 he founded the Revue musicale , to whose writing he dedicated himself for five years, during which time he notably favored the studies of history and music criticism.In 1833 Leopold I of Belgium appointed him director of the Brussels Conservatory; François Joseph Fétis moved to this city, where he spent the rest of his life, also serving as the master of the royal chapel.Fétis composed many works of instrumental, vocal, symphonic, theatrical and sacred music, in which he made extensive use of his knowledge as a harmonist and contrapunter; but it nevertheless revealed a rather limited and generic fantasy.

The fame of François-Joseph Fétis is linked above all to historical and theoretical texts: General History of Music (1869-1876), Universal Biography of musicians and general bibliography of music (1837-1844) and Music available to everyone (1830), works that, despite some inaccuracies and contradictions, are still useful for its wealth of information.

The Universal Biography of Musicians and General Bibliography of Music of Fétis is a musical dictionary in eight volumes, published in Paris from 1837 to 1844.Arthur Pougin wrote a two-volume supplement in 1878-1880.It is the most important work of the Belgian musicologist, and undoubtedly represents for that time a remarkable contribution to the studies of this matter.The material is excellent; Many musicians are cited, now older and younger; and their biographies are generally very extensive.

Of course, errors are also in proportion; there is a lack of true critical sense and, on the contrary, a superficial ease of judgment.However, despite its critical dilettantism, Universal Biography continues to have a certain informative value, especially in the part that refers to the Middle Ages.But perhaps his greatest interest lies in the abundance of news about minor musicians, especially French, which is still very useful today.

Music available to everyone (1830) is an essay on music theory that was reprinted several times with the addition of a small dictionary of musical terms and a bibliography of music.The popular nature of the work is already indicated in the subtitle: "Exposé succin de tout ce qui est nécessaire pour juger de cet art, et pour en parler sans l'avoir étudié".

The theoretical part (that is, excluding the dictionary) is divided into four sections: the first contains an elementary exposition of the musical system, accompanied by a few words about the origins of music; the second deals with the various branches of musical composition, namely: melody, harmony, counterpoint, composition proper, instrumentation; the third contains the rules for performance, especially for singers; in the fourth, the author talks about "the way the sensation produced by music is analyzed", that is, he tries to give an essay on musical aesthetics.

The work is worthy of its clarity and order of exposition, and at the time it was published it was useful as a popular instruction manual.In addition to the friendly ease of the speech, some particular considerations remain appreciable, for example on the existing analogy between the impression that music produces in the layman and the composer's conception at the beginning of his inspiration (like a vague flash of lightning, still devoid of details), or on the union of music and word.The limits of François-Joseph Fétis's thought are especially revealed in the chapters on aesthetics; Its fundamental idea is that music does not pursue the purpose of cheering the ear, but rather of making simple and complex ideas and feelings of the soul sensitive; Very little original idea, although it does suggest some healthy and useful rules to the author.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John couch adams Biography

John Couch Adams (Laneast, 1819-Cambridge, 1892) British astronomer.He was director of the Cambridge Observatory from 1861.He investigated, independently of Le Verrier but at the same time as him, the perturbations of the orbit of Uranus, which led him to the demonstration of the existence of Neptune.
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Ricart Matas Biography

José Ricart Matas (Barcelona, ​​1893-1978) Spanish cellist and musicologist.He studied at the Municipal School of Music in his hometown and later expanded his studies in Paris.He gave numerous recitals throughout Europe, sometimes accompanied by his mother, the pianist Carmen Matas.He was a professor of cello at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona and Director of the Museum of Instruments of that city.In addition, he was a collaborator of the Spanish Institute of Musicology in the field of folklore and musical iconography.His writings include the International Proverb of Music and Dance from 1950; the Biographical Dictionary of Music , published in 1956, and the essay entitled Musical instruments in the Hispanic iconography of the Middle Ages.
Post a Comment
Read more

Prince Felipe Biography

After having told you about the Biography of King Juan Carlos de Borbon, on the occasion of the news of his abdication we want to tell you now what is his son's biography and next King of Spain.In Overhistory, Prince Felipe's Biography. Prince Felipe Biography The Prince Felipe de Borbon is the firstborn of Don Juan Carlos de Borbon and Sofia of Greece, Reyes de Espana so the is the crown heir and next King of Spain. The prince was born in Madrid on January 30, 1968 being the first son of the future kings of Spain (Juan Carlos he is not proclaimed king until 1975) and heir to the crown. He was baptized r receiving the names of Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbon y Grecia ; Felipe, is the name he receives for Felipe V, the first Borbon who occupied the throne of Spain; Juan, for his paternal grandfather, Don Juan de Borbon, count of Barcelona, ​​Pablo for his maternal grandfather, King Paul of Greece, Alfonso for his great grandfather,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Earl of Estaing Biography

Count of Estaing (Charles Henri, Count of Estaing; Ravel, Auvergne, 1729-Paris, 1794) French admiral.He participated with a French squad in the US war of independence, defeating Admiral Byron (1779).He also took part in the siege of Gibraltar (1780) under the command of the Franco-Spanish squad.In 1792 he was appointed admiral, but two years later he was executed under the Terror, despite his republican ideas.
Post a Comment
Read more

Celtic culture: history and symbols

All current cultures have a very enriching past and it is necessary to discover to understand many of the traditions that are used today.This happens with the Celtic culture: history and symbols that characterize it , many times we are not aware of the influence of what we do today with ancient cultures. Who were the Celts Despite the uncertainty, it is recognized that the Celts had their peak moments and were actually considered a civilization during the Iron Age. The basis of this Celtic civilization was the union of different peoples with autonomy and that they shared certain cultural and symbolic values, in addition to the Celtic language. The Celts were a people considered warrior and that, due to this part of their personality, there were many m Omentos in which they had quite deadly battles among themselves.This may be one of the main reasons why the Celtic civilization did not have a political projection or a common goal. Origin of the Celts The doubts that ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Francisco Defilippis Novoa Biography

Francisco Defilippis Novoa (Paraná, 1889-Buenos Aires, 1930) Argentine playwright who harmonized a grotesque vein with avant-garde and mystical elements.He worked in Entre Ríos as a rural teacher, then he moved to Rosario and dedicated himself to journalism. In his beginnings he manifested a tendency towards romantic realism, but, influenced by avant-garde readings, he later moved on to an expressionist style, to finally lead to one of the most characteristic genres of theater in his country : the grotesque.He translated pieces, among others, by authors such as Luigi Pirandello, which allowed him to get to know the avant-garde theater that was taking place in the world. His work includes Saturday (1913), The old man's house (1914), The little mother (1920), The storm (1922), The Samaritan woman (1923), The ways of the world (1925), I I was twenty years old (1926), Maria the fool (1926), Your honor and mine (1926), Wake up Cipriano (1929) and three other t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Enric Clarasó Biography

Enric Clarasó (Sant Feliu del Racó, 1857-Barcelona, ​​1941) Spanish sculptor.He was a disciple of Chapu in Paris.His style combines elements of naturalism and modernism.His works include Eva , Monument to King Jaime I the Conqueror (Palma de Mallorca) and Forger of the 13th century (Cau Ferrat ).
Post a Comment
Read more

Apartheid

In the history of Africa, one of the most significant moments and periods was that of Apartheid, and that consisted of a racial segregation lived in the twentieth century that lasted until the early 90s in South Africa. It is hard to believe that in a country like Africa , and specifically in Sufafrica , the colonialism of the first white powers, will end up in a period of segregation in which the black population barely had rights and that I ended up separating them from everything. Article index How it was born and what is Apartheid: In the mid-twentieth century and although the black population was mostly over the white, appears what we know as Apartheid , derived in fact from a certain white supremacy that had been imposed since the beginning of this Century (In fact in 1910 only the whites could access the Parliament and a 1913 law on indigenous lands limited the land that could be in the hands of blacks to 21 million acres. This word is translated from African...
Post a Comment
Read more