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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Le Concert Spirituel

Composer of the Week: Le Concert Spirituel: Episode 4: Mozart Makes His Mark

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Episode 4

Episode 4: Mozart Makes His Mark

Le Concert Spirituel

Mozart Makes His Mark

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Le Concert Spirituel, Mozart Makes His Mark

Donald Macleod focuses on skullduggery and underhand negotiations at the Concerts.

Donald Macleod focuses on the skullduggery and underhand negotiations which saw the widow Royer ousted from the directorship of the Concerts.

Today's programme starts with skullduggery - the underhand negotiations which saw the widow Royer - who had been running the Concert Spirituel with partner Gabriel Capperan since the death of her husband seven years previously - ousted from the directorship and replaced with a triumvirate: Capperan; Antoine Dauvergne, superintendent of the King's Music; and Nicolas-René Joliveau, secretary of the Académie Royale de Musique. Beyond skullduggery, Dauvergne's talents extended to composition; his Concerts de Simphonies are well worth reviving. A celebrity visitor during these years was Luigi Boccherini, an internationally renowned cellist whose playing nonetheless failed to impress everyone. According to one report, he played one of his own sonatas "masterfully"; according to another, "his sounds appeared harsh to the ears and his chords very unharmonious". Approval for François Giroust, however, was unequivocal; in 1768, this maître de musique at Orléans Cathedral won both first and second prize in the Concert Spirituel's prestigious motet competition, and went on to become one of the most popular composers in the final phase of the series. Like Giroust, Henri-Joseph Rigel is no longer a household name, but in the last quarter of the 18th century he was a major figure in Parisian musical life. His oratorio La Sortie D'Egypte was performed no less than 27 times at the Concert Spirituel between 1775 and 1786. On one of these occasions - 15 August 1778 - he shared the bill with an up-and-coming young composer from Salzburg who has remained a household name: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The work in question was his 'Paris' Symphony, specially written for the Concert Spirituel.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the 18th-century concert series Le Concert Spirituel

Donald Macleod explores the 18th century's longest-running concert series, Le Concert Spirituel, with expert guides Lionel Sawkins and Beverly Wilcox

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Episode 4: Mozart Makes His Mark

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