Auguste Franchomme
Encyclopedia
Auguste-Joseph Franchomme (10 April 180821 January 1884) was a French
cellist and composer
.
Born in Lille
, Franchomme studied at the local conservatoire with M. Mas and Pierre Baumann, before continuing his education with Jean-Henri Levasseur and Louis-Pierre Norblin
at the Conservatoire de Paris
, where he won his first prize only after one year.
He began his career playing with various orchestra
s and was appointed solo cello
at the Sainte-Chapelle
in 1828. Along with the violin
ist Jean-Delphin Alard, teacher of Pablo de Sarasate
, and the pianist
Charles Hallé
, creator of the Hallé
symphony orchestra, he was a founder and member of the Alard Quartet. The Quartet was rare for a chamber ensemble of its time because it consisted of professional musicians. Franchomme also belonged to the founding ranks of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
.
Franchomme forged close friendships with Felix Mendelssohn
, when the latter visited Paris in 1831, and with Frédéric Chopin
. In 1833, Chopin and Franchomme collaborated to write a Grand Duo concertant
for piano
and cello, based on themes
from Giacomo Meyerbeer
's opera
Robert le diable
. Franchomme also rewrote the cello parts for Chopin's Polonaise
Brillante, Op. 3, and was the dedicatee of Chopin's Cello Sonata, Op. 65
. Franchomme was also the dedicatee of the cello sonata of Charles-Valentin Alkan
.
With the exception of a trip to England
in 1856, Franchomme hardly left Paris, where he became a central figure of the city's musical life. In 1843, he acquired the Duport Stradivarius
from the son of Jean-Louis Duport
for the then-record sum of 22,000 French franc
s. He also owned the De Munck Stradivarius
of 1730. Franchomme succeeded Norblin as the head professor of cello at the Paris Conservatory in 1846, and his class included Jules Delsart
(who succeeded his master), Louis Hegyesi, and Ernest Gillet.
Franchomme was the most celebrated cellist of his time and contributed to the refinement of the bowing
technique—elegant, sweet, and light—which distinguished the French school developed by Jean-Pierre
, and Jean-Louis Duport
. His left hand was renowned for its deft, precise, and expressive powers of execution.
As a composer, Franchomme published some fifty-five works for cello, including the Twelve Caprices
, Op. 7, and the Twelve Étude
s, with optional second cello, Op. 35; one cello concerto, Op. 33; as well as numerous other pieces with piano, orchestral, or chamber accompaniment.
For his contributions to music, he was decorated with the Légion d'honneur
in 1884.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
cellist and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Born in Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, Franchomme studied at the local conservatoire with M. Mas and Pierre Baumann, before continuing his education with Jean-Henri Levasseur and Louis-Pierre Norblin
Louis-Pierre Norblin
Louis Norblin was a French musician. He taught cello at the Paris Conservatoire, where his students included Charles Lebouc....
at the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, where he won his first prize only after one year.
He began his career playing with various orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
s and was appointed solo cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
at the Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle
La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris, France. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval...
in 1828. Along with the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist Jean-Delphin Alard, teacher of Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...
, and the pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Charles Hallé
Charles Hallé
Sir Charles Hallé was an Anglo-German pianist and conductor, and founder of The Hallé orchestra in 1858.-Life:Hallé was born in Hagen, Westphalia, Germany who after settling in England changed his name from Karl Halle...
, creator of the Hallé
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
symphony orchestra, he was a founder and member of the Alard Quartet. The Quartet was rare for a chamber ensemble of its time because it consisted of professional musicians. Franchomme also belonged to the founding ranks of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
The Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire was a symphony orchestra established in Paris in 1828. It gave its first concert on 9 March 1828 with music by Beethoven, Rossini, Meifreid, Rode and Cherubini....
.
Franchomme forged close friendships with Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, when the latter visited Paris in 1831, and with Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
. In 1833, Chopin and Franchomme collaborated to write a Grand Duo concertant
Grand Duo concertant (Chopin and Franchomme)
The Grand Duo concertant in E major, B. 70 is a composition for piano and cello, written jointly by Frédéric Chopin and Auguste Franchomme. It was written in 1832 and published in 1833....
for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and cello, based on themes
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
from Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
Robert le diable
Robert le diable (opera)
Robert le diable is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, often regarded as the first grand opera. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Casimir Delavigne and has little connection to the medieval legend of Robert the Devil. Originally planned as a three-act opéra comique, "Meyerbeer persuaded...
. Franchomme also rewrote the cello parts for Chopin's Polonaise
Polonaise
The polonaise is a slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish."The polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin....
Brillante, Op. 3, and was the dedicatee of Chopin's Cello Sonata, Op. 65
Cello Sonata (Chopin)
Frédéric Chopin wrote his Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65 in 1846. It is one of only nine works of Chopin published during his lifetime that were written for instruments other than piano . Chopin composed four sonatas, the others being all piano sonatas...
. Franchomme was also the dedicatee of the cello sonata of Charles-Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, earning many awards, and as an adult became a famous virtuoso...
.
With the exception of a trip to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1856, Franchomme hardly left Paris, where he became a central figure of the city's musical life. In 1843, he acquired the Duport Stradivarius
Duport Stradivarius
The Duport Stradivarius is a cello made in 1711 by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona. The instrument is named after Jean-Louis Duport, who played it around 1800. In 1812, Duport permitted Napoleon Bonaparte to handle it; a dent, still visible on the instrument, is said to have resulted...
from the son of Jean-Louis Duport
Jean-Louis Duport
Jean-Louis Duport , sometimes known as Duport the Younger to distinguish him from his older brother Jean-Pierre , was a cellist....
for the then-record sum of 22,000 French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
s. He also owned the De Munck Stradivarius
De Munck Stradivarius
The De Munck; Feuermann; Gardiner Stradivarius of 1730 is an antique cello crafted by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari....
of 1730. Franchomme succeeded Norblin as the head professor of cello at the Paris Conservatory in 1846, and his class included Jules Delsart
Jules Delsart
Jules Delsart was a 19th-century French cellist and teacher. He is best known for his arrangement for cello and piano of César Franck's Violin Sonata in A major...
(who succeeded his master), Louis Hegyesi, and Ernest Gillet.
Franchomme was the most celebrated cellist of his time and contributed to the refinement of the bowing
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
technique—elegant, sweet, and light—which distinguished the French school developed by Jean-Pierre
Jean-Pierre Duport
Jean-Pierre Duport was a cellist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Along with his brother, Jean-Louis Duport , he was active in the musical life of France and Germany...
, and Jean-Louis Duport
Jean-Louis Duport
Jean-Louis Duport , sometimes known as Duport the Younger to distinguish him from his older brother Jean-Pierre , was a cellist....
. His left hand was renowned for its deft, precise, and expressive powers of execution.
As a composer, Franchomme published some fifty-five works for cello, including the Twelve Caprices
Capriccio (music)
A capriccio or caprice , is a piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character...
, Op. 7, and the Twelve Étude
Étude
An étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...
s, with optional second cello, Op. 35; one cello concerto, Op. 33; as well as numerous other pieces with piano, orchestral, or chamber accompaniment.
For his contributions to music, he was decorated with the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1884.