Henri-Joseph Rigel was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-born composer of the Classical era

Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...

 who spent most of his working life in 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 was born in Wertheim am Main

Wertheim am Main

Wertheim is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg with a population of 24,202. It is located on the confluence of the rivers Tauber and Main.It is known for its wine, castle and medieval town centre.-Geography:...

 where his father was musical intendant to the local prince. After an education in Germany, where his teachers included Jommelli, Rigel moved to 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...

 in 1767. He quickly acquired a reputation in musical circles and published harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

 pieces, string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

s, symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 and concertos

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

. He began composing for the Concert Spirituel

Concert Spirituel

The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790; later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, London and elsewhere...

, most notably four hiérodrames

Hiérodrame

Hiérodrame [Gr. ἱερὀς, sacred and δρᾶμα, drama] is a French musical work for two or more voices,with a plot drawn from the Bible. The term was generally used as a synonym for oratorio in France in the 1750s-1780s...

 (oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

s on sacred themes): La sortie d'Egypte (1774), La destruction de Jericho (1778), Jephté (1783) and Les Macchabées (score lost). These show the influence of Gluck, and Gluck himself praised La sortie d'Egypte. Between 1788 and 1799 Rigel also wrote 14 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...

s, including the opéra comique

Opéra comique

Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...

Le savetier et le financier (1778).

Recordings

• Six quatuors dialogués, Opus 10, Quatuor Franz Joseph (Atma Records, 2005)
• La sortie d'Egypte, La destruction de Jericho, Jephté, Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles
  Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles
  The Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles is a centre for the study and performance of French Baroque music, based at the Palace of Versailles. It was founded by Philippe Beaussant and Vincent Berthier de Lioncourt, who were entrusted with the task of founding a musical establishment at...
  
  , Orchestre des Folies Françoises, conducted by Olivier Schneebeli (K617 Records, 2007)
• Symphonies, Concerto Köln (Berlin Classics, 2009)

Sources

• Booklet notes to the Schneebeli recording.