François Hippolyte Barthélemon (27 July 1741 – 20 July 1808) was a French violinist, pedagogue, and composer active in England.

Biography

François Barthélemon was born in Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

 (Gironde

Gironde

For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

), France

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...

. He received his education in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where he studied musical composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 and 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....

, and performed in the 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...

 of the Comédie-Italienne

Comédie-Italienne

Over time, there have been several buildings and several theatrical companies named the "Théâtre-Italien" or the "Comédie-Italienne" in Paris. Following the times, the theatre has shown both plays and operas...

. In 1764, he traveled to England to lead a band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 at the King’s Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...

 and at Marylebone Gardens

Marylebone Gardens

Marylebone or Marybone Gardens was a London pleasure garden sited in the grounds of the old manor house of Marylebone and frequented from the mid-17th century, when Marylebone was a village separated from London by fields and market gardens, to the third quarter of the 18th century...

 where he was received with enthusiasm. This led to a commission for his first dramatic stage work, Pelopida, an opera in three acts in the Italian style that was performed at the King’s Theatre in 1766. David Garrick

David Garrick

David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...

 of the Drury Lane Theatre

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

 engaged him to compose music to Garrick’s two-act farcical burletta

Burletta

A burletta , also sometimes burla or burlettina, is a musical term generally denoting a brief comic Italian opera...

 based on the Orpheus

Orpheus

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...

 myth, which premiered in 1768. In the same year, Barthélemon also premiered Oithona, a three-act dramatic operatic poem; La fleuve Scamandre ("The Scamander River

Karamenderes River

Karamenderes is the modern name of the river Scamander, along the lower course of which, according to the Iliad, the battles of the Trojan War were fought. It flows entirely within the Turkish province of Çanakkale....

"), a French-style comic opera based on a Greek myth

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

; and The Judgment of Paris, another two-act burletta. Further engagements lead him to decide to stay in England, where he wed soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 and composer Polly Young

Polly Young

Polly Young was an English soprano, composer and keyboard player. She was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists during the 17th and 18th centuries...

 and raised a family.He also wrote the tune of the hymn, Mighty God While Angels Bless Thee.
Barthélemon’s dashing French style of composition allowed him to produce musical entertainments in a wide range of styles. He composed salon music

Salon music

Salon music was a popular music genre in Europe during the 19th century. It was usually written for solo piano in the romantic style, and often performed by the composer at events known as "Salons". Salon compositions are usually fairly short and often focus on virtuoso pianistic display or...

 and chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, as well as volumes of popular songs, some of which were published in London in 1790. The King’s Theatre engaged him to write ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 music. Barthélemon also composed scenes for humorous English ballad opera

Ballad opera

The term ballad opera is used to refer to a genre of English stage entertainment originating in the 18th century and continuing to develop in the following century and later. There are many types of ballad opera...

s and for masque

Masque

The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...

s. The Maid of Oaks, a masque within a comedy in five acts based on Sylvain by Jean-François Marmontel

Jean-François Marmontel

Jean-François Marmontel was a French historian and writer, a member of the Encyclopediste movement.-Biography:He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin...

, enjoyed much success in 1774.

As a private teacher, Bartélemon received approval for his "scientific" technique of violin playing, however, some popular critics felt his musical compositions lacked "a clearly developed personal style."

Barthélemon died at Christ Church, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, England, aged 66.

Selected works

• Pelopida, opera in 3 acts (1766)
• Orpheus, burletta in 2 acts (1767)
• Oithona, dramatic poem in 3 acts (1768)
• The Judgment of Paris, burletta in 2 acts (1768)
• Le fleuve Scamandre, comic opera (1768)
• The Magic Girdle, burletta in 2 parts (1770)
• The Noble Pedlar, or The Fortune Hunter, burletta in 2 parts (1770)
• The Portrait, burletta in 2 parts (ca. 1771)
• The Wedding Day, burletta in 2 parts (1773)
• La zingara, or The Gypsy, burletta in 2 parts (1773)
• The Election, musical interlude (1774)
• The Maid of the Oaks
  The Maid of the Oaks
  The Maid of the Oaks is a comedy play by the British playwright and soldier John Burgoyne. It was first staged by David Garrick at Drury Lane Theatre on 5 November 1774. The set designs were by the artist Philip James de Loutherbourg. It was Burgoyne's first work, and he went on to write three...
  
  , masque with a comedy in 5 acts (1774)
• Belphagor, or The Wishes, comic opera afterpiece in 2 acts (1778)

Sources

• Sadie, Stanley (Ed.) [1992] (1994). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol. 1, A-D, chpt: "Barthelemon [Barthélemon], François Hippolyte" by Linda V. Troost, New York: MacMillan. ISBN 0-935859-92-6.