François Devienne facts for kids
François Devienne was a very talented French musician and composer. He was born on January 31, 1759. He became well-known for playing the flute and writing beautiful music. He also taught music at a very important school in Paris.
Contents
A Musical Start
Early Life and Instruments
François Devienne was born in Joinville, France. He was the youngest of fourteen children! His father was a saddlemaker. François started his music training as a choirboy in his hometown.
As he grew up, he played in many different music groups in Paris. He was a soloist, meaning he played by himself, and also played in orchestras. He learned to play the flute from a teacher named Félix Rault. In 1780, he joined the household of Cardinal de Rohan. Devienne was active in Paris as a flutist, a bassoonist, and a composer. He even played the bassoon at the Paris Opera, which is a famous theater. In the 1790s, he wrote many successful operas. One of his most famous was Les visitandines (1792), which brought him a lot of success.
Teaching and Famous Works
Devienne was also part of the Military Band of the French Guard. He was a sergeant there and had an important job: teaching music to the children of his fellow soldiers. He taught them at the band's Free School of Music.
After the French Revolution, this Free School became the National Institute of Music. Later, in 1795, it became the famous Paris Conservatory. Devienne was chosen to be the flute professor there from 1795 to 1803. One of his students was François René Gebauer.
Devienne also wrote an important book called Méthode de Flûte Théorique et Pratique (1793). This book was reprinted many times. It helped to greatly improve the quality of French wind music in the late 1700s.
François Devienne passed away on September 5, 1803, near Paris.
Devienne's Music
What He Wrote
Devienne wrote about 300 pieces of music. Most of his music was for wind instruments. He wrote many concertos for the flute. A concerto is a piece of music for a solo instrument and an orchestra. He also wrote sinfonias for woodwind instruments.
He composed quartets and trios for different groups of instruments. A quartet is for four players, and a trio is for three. He also wrote 12 operas, 5 bassoon concertos, and 6 bassoon sonatas. A sonata is a piece for one or two instruments. He also wrote 6 oboe sonatas.
The "Mozart of the Flute"
Devienne's music for the flute became very popular again in the 1960s. This was thanks to a famous flutist named Jean-Pierre Rampal. Devienne's complete works include many educational pieces, like his Méthode book. He also wrote eight books of sonatas for flute or bassoon. He composed a lot of chamber music, which is music for small groups of instruments. He also wrote seventeen concertos.
Because of his amazing talent, François Devienne was known in his time as the "Mozart of the Flute."
His complete oboe sonatas and some of his bassoon sonatas were recorded by the Ensemble Villa Musica in 2012.
