An artist put to the test of his century. Correspondence of Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (Vincent Hadot)
Pour moi, il me semble que le peuple doit chanter, et que c’est à l’opéra à adopter le chant du peuple.* (Letter to Payan-Dumoulin, June 1794)
Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817), born at Givet (Ardennes), made his mark as one of the great French composers of the post-revolutionary period. As the composer in 1794 of the Chant du départ, the revolutionary song nicknamed “the brother of La Marseillaise”, Méhul was able to avoid the horrors of the Reign of Terror, before embracing the destiny of General Bonaparte as he rose to political prominence. Appointed inspector of the Paris Conservatoire and made a member of the recently founded Institut de France, the composer gravitated to the centre of power, but without yielding to the temptation to compose only music that was to the liking of Napoleon; he was to pave the way for the first French Romantic composers.
Méhul’s fame brought him acclaim but also controversy, so much so that he finally decided to retire to his house in Pantin and devote himself to his flower garden – he was particularly fond of tulips. He was saddened by what happened, but he had no intention of giving in to the harassment and criticism of his detractors at a time when the powers that be were under threat. Ill health prevented him from continuing his career as a composer for the theatre. Suffering from consumption, later known as tuberculosis, Méhul sought the warm climate of the Côte d’Azur and spent several months at Hyères, writing extensively from there to his friends back in Paris, keeping abreast of the latest news in the music world, and stating frankly his opinion of his contemporaries.
A composer of sonatas, revolutionary songs, operas and symphonies, Étienne-Nicolas Méhul moved among the most famous artists of that pivotal period in history, and he described its troubles and its joys, as well as the attitudes of the time. His correspondence presented here, comprising more than 140 documents, enables the reader to step into the shoes of one of the most glorious artistic personalities of the Consulate and the First French Empire. His writings reveal not only the principles that shaped the personality and the work of this extraordinary composer, but also the friendships and enmities that were part and parcel of the French artistic community in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
*Méhul felt that ordinary people should be represented in opera.
Vincent Hadot has been heritage curator at the Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau since 2021. An archaeologist and historian, his interests include the musical history of the post-revolutionary period in France; he has recently published several essays on the musical tastes of the French nobleman, statesman, and military commander Eugène de Beauharnais. Related to the Méhul family, Vincent Hadot took an early interest in the history of the composer of the Chant du départ, and here he presents the results of more than ten years’ research.
Scientific publications
Articles
Méhul's Uthal
Articles
Qui a composé la Messe de Méhul ?
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Adrien
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Les Amazones ou La Fondation de Thèbes
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Ariodant
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Les Deux Aveugles de Tolèdes
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Euphrosine ou Le Tyran corrigé
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L' Irato ou L'Emporté
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Le Jeune Henri
Étienne-Nicolas MÉHUL
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Joseph
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La Journée aux aventures
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Stratonice
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Une folie
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Uthal
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/Jacques-Maximilien-Benjamin Bins de SAINT-VICTOR
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publication date : 14/12/23