Etienne Henri (or Nicolas) Méhul (June 22, 1763 – October 18, 1817) was a French composer, "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution." He was also the first composer to be called a "Romantic".
Méhul was born at Givet in Ardennes, to a poor family. His first music lessons came from a blind local organist, but he had innate aptitude, and at the age of ten was appointed organist of the convent of the Récollets. In 1775 a Ger...
more
Etienne Henri (or Nicolas) Méhul (June 22, 1763 – October 18, 1817) was a French composer, "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution." He was also the first composer to be called a "Romantic".
Méhul was born at Givet in Ardennes, to a poor family. His first music lessons came from a blind local organist, but he had innate aptitude, and at the age of ten was appointed organist of the convent of the Récollets. In 1775 a German musician and organist, Wilhelm Hauser, was hired at the monastery of Lavaldieu, a few miles from Givet, and Méhul became his occasional pupil.
In 1778 or 1779 he went to Paris and began to study with Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, a harpsichord player and friend of Méhul's idol Christoph Willibald von Gluck. Méhul's first published composition was a book of harpsichord pieces in 1783. He also arranged airs from popular operas and by the late 1780s he had begun to think about an operatic career for himself.
In 1787, the writer Valadier offered...
less
