Pierre Gaveaux

Biography

Pierre Gaveaux (6 October 1760 – 5 February 1825) was a French operatic tenor and composer, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's Médée and for composing Léonore, ou L'amour conjugal, the first operatic version of the story that later found fame as Fidelio.

Early life

Gaveaux was born in Béziers and sang in the cathedral choir there from the age of seven. Although intending to enter the priesthood, he also took lessons in composition. He next became first tenor at the Basilica of Saint-Seurin in Bordeaux, studying with Franz Ignaz Beck, and subsequently decided to follow a career in music, becoming a conductor at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux as well as continuing to sing.

Career as a singer

After a period in Montpellier, he moved to Paris where, on 26 January 1789, he took part in a performance of Giacomo Tritto's Le Avventure Amorose, which marked the inauguration of the Théâtre de Monsieur company in the Salle des Machines at the Tuileries Palace.
He subsequently performed with the company in operas such as Paisiello's L’Infante de Zamora (in 1789), and on 18 July 1791 he sang the role of Floresky in the première of Cherubini's Lodoïska. When the company moved to the Théâtre Feydeau, he was involved in a "folly in verse" called Le club des bonnes gens which was banned by the censor for being unpatriotic.
He was active during the revolutionary period, composing in 1792 a hymn to the Supreme Being. On 19 January 1795, his famous anti-Jacobin song Le Réveil du peuple (The Awakening of the People), to words by Jean-Marie Souriguière de Saint-Marc, was first performed. Notwithstanding the banning of the song on 8 January 1796 by the Directoire, he continued his career in opera, appearing in François Devienne's Les visitandines, and creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's Médée on 13 March 1797.

Operas

Gaveaux's first opera, L'amour filial (1792), was a success in Paris and was performed throughout Europe: Brussels, Cologne and Rotterdam in 1795, Bern and Moscow in 1809, Berlin and Hamburg (in a German translation) in 1796.
His most famous opera, Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal, premièred in 1798, with Gaveaux himself in the role of Florestan and Julie-Angélique Scio as Léonore. It is best known today because the libretto (by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly) served as the basis for Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio. It was revived by Opera Lafayette (Season 2016-2017).
Other operas by Gaveaux that were popular in their day include Sophie et Moncars, Le bouffe et le tailleur and Monsieur Des Chalumeaux, and in 1808 he composed L'échelle de soie to a translation of the libretto which Giuseppe Maria Foppa had written for Rossini's La scala di seta.

Chronological list of operas

L'amour filial, 1792
Le paria ou La chaumière indienne, 1792
Les deux ermites, 1793
La partie carrée, 1793
La famille indigente, 1794
Sophronime ou La reconnaissance, 1795
Delmon et Nadine, 1795
La gasconnade, 1795
Le petit matelot ou Le mariage impromptu, 1796
Lise et Colin ou La surveillance inutile, 1796
Tout par hasard, 1796
Céliane, 1796
Le mannequin vivant ou Le mari de bois, 1796
Le traité nul, 1797
Sophie et Moncars ou L'intrigue portugaise, 1797
Léonore, ou L'amour conjugal, 1798
Le diable couleur de rose ou Le bonhomme misère, 1798
Les noms supposés ou Les deux jockeys, 1798
Le locataire, 1800
Le trompeur trompé, 1800
Ovinska ou Les exilés de Sibérie, 1801
Le retour inattendu, 1802
Un quart d'heure de silence, 1804
Le bouffe et le tailleur, 1804
Avis aux femmes ou Le mari colère, 1804
Trop tôt ou Le projet manqué, 1804
Le mariage inattendu, 1804
Le diable en vacances ou La suite du diable couleur de rose, 1805
L'amour à Cythère, 1805
Monsieur Des Chalumeaux, 1806
L'échelle de soie, 1808
La rose blanche et la rose rouge, 1809
L'enfant prodigue, 1811
Pygmalion, 1816
Une nuit au bois ou Le muet de circonstance, 1818

Later life

Gaveaux continued to sing until 1812, although after the company of the Théâtre Feydeau merged with that of the Théâtre Favart in 1801, his voice was in decline and he only performed secondary roles. In 1819 he entered the asylum at Charenton on the outskirts of Paris, where he died. His wife, Émilie Gavaudan (also a singer), died in 1840.