Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny |

Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny

French composer. Member Institute of France (1813). He was educated at the Jesuit College in Saint-Omer. As a child, he learned to play the violin, systematically. music received no education. From 1749 he lived in Paris, where, under the influence of the Italian opera buffa, he began to study composition with a double bassist and comp. P. Gianotti. In 1759, M. made his debut with the first comic opera Les aveux indiscrets (Fair Market in Saint-Germain, Paris), hiding his name out of caution. Only later, when the success of his work. was provided, the composer decided to speak openly. Main the operas were written in the period 1759-77 (they were staged at the fairgrounds, and after they closed, at the Comedie Italienne theater). Mn. M. created operas in collaboration with the librettist M. Zh. Seden. In 1800-02 he was an inspector of the conservatory. M., along with F. A. Philidor and E. Duny, was the creator of comic opera, a new genre that represented the advanced art of France in the Enlightenment. He departed from the traditions of the old opera theater with its conventions. Prod. M. are close to “serious comedy,” as he thought in his aesthetic. D. Diderot’s system. The composer did not abandon fairy-tale fantasy (“Beautiful Arsena”, 1773), patriarchal and idyllic. moods (“The King and the Farmer”, 1762), elements of farce or exoticism (“The Fooled Kadi”, 1761; “Alina, Queen of Golconda”, 1766), but his talent was most clearly revealed in the sensitive. family drama (“Deserter”, 1769; “Felix, or Foundling”, 1777). In its direction, M.’s work is close to the sentimentalism of that time (he gravitates, in particular, to the circle of images characteristic of the painting of J. B. S. Chardin, yielding to him, however, in artistic significance). Heroes sentiment. comic M.’s operas are ordinary people acting in everyday situations – a farmer’s family, bourgeois, peasants, soldiers. But, unlike many operas Philidor and Dunya, M. genre and comic. elements in the development of the plot fade into the background and only shade the ongoing drama. The tension of feelings is conveyed in a brightly melodic way. music filled with noble pathos and elevating the image of a modest hero in a new way when he suffers true suffering. Prod. M. testify to the educational humanism of the comic. opera, about its healthy social trend, characteristic of the pre-revolutionary. decades. New aesthetic tasks required the expansion of the muses. comic resources. operas: the importance of serious arias (which, however, did not displace romance and couplets from the opera), and dramas increased in M. ensembles, there are accompanied recitatives (in sharp collisions), colorful and depict. orc. episodes, the content of the overture and its figurative connection with the opera deepens. Ch. the power of suit-va M. – in melodic. composer’s gift; success and popularity of his opera productions. provided a clear, direct, fresh, close French. song melodic.

Compositions: 18 operas, including The Cadi Fooled (Le cadi dupe, 1761, Fair Trade Center in Saint-Germain, Paris), The King and the Farmer (Le roi et le fermier, 1762, Comedie Italienne, Paris), Rose and Cola (Rose et Colas, 1764, ibid.), Aline, Queen of Golconde (Aline, reine de Golconde, 1766, Opera, Paris), Philemon and Baucis (1766, tr. Duke of Orleans, Bagnoles), Deserter ( Le deserteur, 1769, “Comédie Italienne”, Paris), Beautiful Arsene (La belle Arsène, 1773, Fontainebleau), Felix, or Foundling (Félix ou L’entant trouvé, 1777, ibid.).

References: Laurence L. de la, French comic opera of the 1937th century, trans. from French, M., 110, p. 16-1789; Livanova T.N., History of Western European music until 1940, M., 530, p. 35-1908; Pougin A., Monsigny et son temps, P., 1955; Druilhe P., Monsigny, P., 1957; Schmid EF, Mozart und Monsigny, in: Mozart-Jahrbuch. 1957, Salzburg, XNUMX.

T. N. Livanova