Jacques Féréol Mazas was a French 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...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, 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, and pedagogue.

Biography

Mazas was a brilliant pupil of Pierre Baillot

Pierre Baillot

Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot was a French violinist and composer.Baillot was born in Passy and studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti...

 at the Paris Conservatoire, from which he received the first prize in 1805. In 1808, he played a violin concerto dedicated to him by Auber

Daniel Auber

Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...

. He then performed widely across Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. In 1831, he accepted the post of first violin at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal

Théâtre du Palais-Royal

The Théâtre du Palais-Royal is a 750 seat theatre at 38, rue Montpensier in Paris. In 1637 Cardinal Richelieu began work on a theatre on the east wing of the Palais-Royal building, to break the theatre monopoly of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and it was opened in 1641...

. A short time later, he was appointed directeur des concerts in Orléans

Orléans

-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...

, where he directed that city's Opéra Comique theater. From 1837 to 1841, he was director of the conservatoire in Cambrai

Cambrai

Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...

.
His composition - Le Kiosk - had 8 performances at the Opera-Comique in Paris.

His compositions for violin are, for the most part, studies and duets for young string players of all abilities that constitute methods

Method (music)

In music, a method is a kind of textbook for a specified musical instrument or a selected problem of playing a certain instrument.A method usually contains fingering charts or tablatures, etc., scales and numerous different exercises, sometimes also simple etudes, in different keys, in ascending...

 for both violin and viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

.

Selected works

• 3 Trios for 2 violins and cello (or viola), op. 18
• La Consolation, Élégie No. 2 in G major for viola and orchestra (or piano), op. 29 (1831)
• 75 Études mélodiques et progressives (in 3 parts), op. 36

1. Études spéciales
2. Études brillantes
3. Études d'artistes (considered to be preparation for the 24 Caprices of Paganini)
   • Duets for two violins, op. 39
   • Six easy duets for two violins dedicated to his pupils, op. 61
   • Six duets for two violins, op. 71
   • Élégie in C major for viola or cello and piano, op. 73 (1838)
   • Le Songe (The Dream): Fantasy on a Theme from La favorite
     La favorite
     La favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
     
     (Donizetti) for viola or viola d'amore and piano, op. 92
   • Rondeau du Freischütz (Weber
     Carl Maria von Weber
     Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
     
     ), op. 44/1
   • Polonaise du Freischütz (Weber), op. 45/1
   • Polonaise on a theme by Rossini op. 45/2

• Opera: Coxinne au capitole
• Comic opera: Mustapha

External links