Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
Amis Réunis . Giovanni Stich-Punto ( 1746 – 1803 ) is a horn-playing prodigy who enjoys the protection of the Count of Thun ; he begins a solo career across Europe . Paris is only an obligatory stopover between 1776 and 1788 . He plays 50 or so times at the Concert Spirituel and meets Mozart in 1778 , who writes the horn part in his Sinfonia concertante 124 for him . After a series of trips throughout Europe , he comes back to Paris between 1789 and 1798 , and in 1800 the great Beethoven composes the Sonata for Horn , op . 17 for him ! He was a member of the Neuf Sœurs lodge in 1778 , then a member of Saint-Jean d ' Ecosse du Contrat Social in 1782 . 125 Musicians originally from Bohemia seem to have been better known in Paris than their counterparts from Germany .
There are 13 Italian musicians in total . This considerable presence is not surprising at all : since the marriage of Henri IV and Maria de Medici in 1600 , fertile exchanges take place between France and the musical chapel [ chapelle musicale ] of the Medicis and the artistic circles of Florence . These exchanges multiply when Cardinal Mazarin becomes prime minister in 1643 . When the Sun King dies in 1715 , Philippe d ' Orléans , a big fan of Italian music , becomes regent of France . The Court is in Paris once again and diligently attends private concerts , which are truly hotbeds of Italianizing influence . The exorbitantly wealthy financier P . Crozat founds “ The Italian Concert ” [“ Le Concert italien ”] and then in 1725 comes the creation of Le Concert Spirituel . Italian musicians spark the enthusiasm of fans as well as French musicians . Petty quarrels will arise from the rivalry between Italian and French music . In the Quarrel of the Comic Actors [ La Querelle des Bouffons ] or the War of the Corners [ la guerre des coins ], the side in the King ' s corner favoring French music faces off against the Queen ' s camp , which favors Italian music . This Parisian controversy is between the defenders of French music , who band together behind Jean-Philippe Rameau ( siding with the King ) and the partisans in favor of openness to other musical horizons who cluster around Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( in the Queen ' s corner ), supporting the Italianization of French opera . 126 After this Quarrel , it is Queen Marie-Antoinette ’ s goodwill toward musicians from beyond the Alps that will bring Italian music and singing back to France after 1774 .
And thus the appearance in France around 1774 of the castrato singer Bucchiarelli ( known as Josephini ), member of the King ' s Music [ la Musique du roi ] from 1774 to 1792 and the Versailles lodge Le Patriotisme à l ' Orient in 1785 . Jean Joseph Cambini ( 1746- – 1825 ) is a violinist and composer ; after a life of adventures , he is held captive by the Moors between 1766 and 1769 . Once he is bought back from them , he settles in Paris around 1770 . He is a prolix composer , writing 20 operas , 144 string quartets , and 82 sinfonie concertanti ! It is not until rather late , in 1782 , that he is admitted to the lodge La Société Olympique . The two Caravoglia brothers , decent oboists , are both members of Les Neuf Sœurs .
We will not discuss Luigi Cherubini ( 1760 – 1842 ) here , who settles in Paris in 1786 and becomes a naturalized citizen right away . The year that he arrives , he becomes a member of the lodge Saint-Jean de Palestine . His compatriot Nicollo Vito Piccini ( 1728 – 1800 ) is also well known ; he accepts an invitation from Marie-Antoinette to the Court in December 1776 . Piccini enjoys an international reputation when he arrives in Paris , having moved a large portion of Europe with his scores . He is going to be the center of a new musical quarrel , this time with Gluck , a German composer . 127 On the
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 124 K9 or 297b , which was not performed . 125 H . Kling , “ Giovani Punto , Famous Hornplayer , 1748 – 1803 ,” in Bulletin français de la Société
de Musique ( 1908 ), 182 – 196 . 126 Denise Launay , La Querelle des bouffons ( Genève : Minkoff , 1988 ), 3 vol . 127 Thimothée Picard , Gluck ( Arles : Actes Sud , 2007 ), 255 p .
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