# Jean-Joseph de Mondonville



## Boccherini

A great composer, indeed. My first intention was a request regarding Mondonville's instrumental works, but after noticing that he hasn't been so noticable here, I thought to introduce him to those who are not familiar with French Baroque in general and Mondonville's music in particular. And hopefully those who are familiar with him could help me.









Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, ca. 1746.​


> Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (December 25, 1711 (baptised) - October 8, 1772), also known as Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, was a French violinist and composer. He was a younger contemporary of Jean-Philippe Rameau and enjoyed great success in his day. Pierre-Louis Daquin (son of the composer Louis Claude Daquin) claimed: "If I couldn't be Rameau, there's no one I would rather be than Mondonville".
> 
> Mondonville was born in Narbonne in Southwest France to an aristocratic family which had fallen on hard times. In 1733 he moved to Paris where he gained the patronage of the king's mistress Madame de Pompadour and won several musical posts, including violinist for the Concert Spirituel.
> 
> His first opus was a volume of violin sonatas, published in 1733. He became a violinist of the royal chapel and chamber and performed in some 100 concerts; some of his grands motets were also performed that year receiving considerable acclaim. He was appointed sous-maître in 1740 and then, in 1744, intendant of the Royal Chapel. He produced operas and grands motets for the Opéra and Concert spirituel respectively, and was associated with the Théatre des Petits-Cabinets, all the while maintaining his career as a violinist throughout the 1740s. In 1755, he became director of the Concert Spirituel on the death of Royer. He died in Belleville near Paris at the age of sixty.


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Clarification: I don't intend to represent his operatic and sacred works, since I'm not familiar with them. However, if anyone is familiar with any of these works - feel free to share the information with us.
I would focus on Op. 3 and Op. 5 which are often considered to Mondonville's most important works.

Instrumental music

The amount of Mondonville's instrumental works is relatively small (Opus 1 to 5) as only chamber music, which was published throughout the 30s and 40s of the 18th century. Yet, greatly amazing works.

*Pièces de clavecin en sonates (Harpsichord Sonatas) Op. 3. Published in 1734.*

Opus 3 (which contains 6 sonatas) was originally written for Harpsichord, later accompanied by a violin and in 1749 was orchestrated by the composer himself, due to the great success it has recieved, and newly titled as _Sonates en symphonie_.

No. 4 in C Major with a violin accompaniment; Luc Beauséjour, harpsichord. Hélène Plouffe, violin:
Allegro; The Harpsichord is taking the dominant role. Greatly delightful and refreshing.
Aria: Andante gratioso - Gigha; The Aria (second movement) is my favourite french baroque piece over all, and one of the most beautiful and powerful tunes I've ever heard.
The orchestrated version of the above: _Sonates en symphonie_; Les Musiciens du Louvre / Marc Minkowski:
Allegro - Aria: Andante gratioso - Gigha; The texture and harmony are enormously exellent and the brilliant simplicity of the melody of the Aria is astoundingly and wonderfully performed. Perfect performance.

*Pièces de clavecin avec voix ou violon (Pieces for Harpsichord with Voice or Violin) Op. 5. Published in 1748.*

Opus 5 contains eight pieces that should be performed by two people, by which the vocal part is taken from Psalm. The high virtuosity additionally requires from the harpsichordist to perform simultaneously the vocal part as well. Mondonville himself recommend to study it seperately and in the vocal part to "distinguish phrases having a French flavour from those requiring an Italian flavour" which only adds difficulties to the performer. Mondonville, while being concious to the high requirements, offers an alternative way: "People who play the harpsichord but who have no voice could have the vocal part played on violin. In the absence of both violin and voice, the accompaniment alone will suffice." Hence the title "Pieces for harpsichord with voice or violin."

Samples; Helene Plouffe, baroque violin. Luc Beausejour, harpsichord. Shannon Mercer, soprano / Analekta.

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*Recommendations*

*Op. 3:*

- Les Musiciens du Louvre / Marc Minkowski / Archiv
- Les Musiciens du Louvre / Marc Minkowski / Brilliant - new one!

*Op. 5:*

- William Christie, harpsichord / Stanley Ritchie, violin / Judith Nelson, soprano / Harmonia Mundi

*References and Credits*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Joseph_de_Mondonville (Biography)
http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=580493 (Samples)


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## Il Seraglio

I don't know an awful lot about him, but remember enjoying his Grand Motet _Dominus Regnavit_. I might check out those recordings.


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## Boccherini

Oh, I nearly forgot my request. Does anyone know if the Op. 1 and Op. 2 sets were performed and released?


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Nice thread.

I have the Opus 3 by Minkowski (Brilliant re-issue) above. Thanks for pointing out Opus 5, which I will probably pick up at some stage. I'm not aware of Opus 1 and Opus 2 on recording.

However, I can recommend an opera by him. _Les Fetes De Paphos _, opera (1758) performed by _Les Talens Lyrqiues_/Christoph Rousset (_L'Oiseau-Lyre_ label), if you like French opera from the late Baroque. 3 CDs, nearly 3 hours long.

Also, William Christie and _Les Arts Florissants_ have a recording of his "Grand Motets". I don't have this recording (yet).


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## Boccherini

I'm aware of the Grand Motets by William Christie recording which contains only 3 grand motets (out of 9), probably the popular ones: _Dominus Regnavit_, _In exitu Israel_ and _De profundis_.

By the way, I found the Op. 3 performance with the violin accompaniment performed by Rousset and Florence Malgoire; Rousset now is really taking the dominant role as a harpsichordist, so I would believe it's more historically informed than the performance of Luc Beauséjour and Hélène Plouffe (the one that I linked in the first post) where, at least according to my ears, the violin is more dominant than the harpsichord, though I enjoyed the latter more than Rousset, but unfortunately I haven't found a recording of Luc and Plouffe yet.


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## Norse

I have the three motets with Christie etc. It's the only music I know by Mondonville. I especially like the middle one, In Exitu Israel. I find the style kind of interesting, since it doesn't sound like baroque music, but not really like "transition period" à la the Bach sons, either. I guess maybe Gluck could be closest of the well-known composers, style-wise..


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## Boccherini

Norse said:


> I have the three motets with Christie etc. It's the only music I know by Mondonville. I especially like the middle one, In Exitu Israel. I find the style kind of interesting, since it doesn't sound like baroque music, but not really like "transition period" à la the Bach sons, either. I guess maybe Gluck could be closest of the well-known composers, style-wise..


It depends. On the one hand, take _Dominus Regnavit_ for example, the opening theme is typical for the Baroque era, especially when it comes to the _Etenim firmavit_ movement. However, the last 3 movements prove slightly otherwise; The significantly dramatic opening of the 4th movement by the chorus along with the intense harmony by the violins are typical of the early classical period.

Nevertheless, most of his instrumental works (Op. 3-5; haven't had the thrilling opportunity to listen to Op. 1 and Op. 2 yet) simply remind the late French Baroque era, along with Rameau and Couperin. Hence I'm not sure about the dichotomy; whether to classify his whole oeuvre to early Classical, late Baroque or somewhere in between the transitional period. He has a charming gist of all of them.


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