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1. Describe where you are from and give us information about your family.
I was born in France. Ardennes to be exact. My father, Monsieur Jean-François Méhul, and mother Marie-Cécile , were too poor to give me regular music lessons so my first music education came from a blind organist I met in Givet, Ardennes. I later became a pupil of Wilhelm Hauser. I was only ten years old when I worked with him. When I was sent to the monastery of Lavaldieu out side of Givet, I had developed a lifelong love for flowers because of the beauty that they bring to ones eye.(Winter).
A while later I was taken to Paris by a military officer and started playing the Harpsichord. When I very first attempted to write and instrumental composition, it did not succeed. I obviously needed more work, and studies (Winter). After that I had then started to write sacred and dramatic music, like operas. It had taken me awhile until I finally had gotten the writing technique of music for operas and instrumental pieces. My first published composition was a book of piano pieces (Cobourn).
2. Since you had grown up in a really interesting time, what had gotten you interested in the arts, music in your case?
That is a great question! I had always wondered what I had wanted to be. It wasn’t until I had shown great talent at the organ that I knew I had wanted to be a composer and a musician. There are a lot of different things one person can be and I think that the organ was my calling ( Winter).
I have studied with quite a few of very talented musicians and all of them have helped me further my musical education. I became very interested in the arts when I had been engaged at monastery of Lavaldieu being the pupil of Wilhelm Hauser because here I got taught music education professionally ( Winter). I was really good at the organ, but I knew that I wanted to write music also.
3. What role did your mentors play in helping you develop your amazing talents you have as an artist?
As I said before, my father was too poor to afford real music education for moi. I had received this from a local blind organist who lived in Ardennes also. Because of this poor man, my talent had grown so fast that I became organist of the convent of the Récollets . If it weren’t for my first music lessons from the poor blind organist I would of never had been where I am today. (Winter)
4. What was the world of art like in your particular art field when you had entered it?
C’est… well, when I finally started being successful in writing my operas, the French Revolution was taking place. Political conflict and economic hardship started to take off. Such as financial bankruptcy and outlaying outpaced income and There were many composers, but I was the first to be called “ Romantic,” (Winter).
You could say that there was some competition in the arts during this time period. Some composers/brilliant musicians that I was up against were Beethoven, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Gluck, my teacher. Gluck offered moi great music perspective. It was hard to find a style that actually fit you, and romantic fit moi (Winter)!
5. How did the major cultural, economical, and political of your time impact your work?
During the Revolutionary time period I had written many patriotic songs and pieces, many for Napoleon ( Winter). The Revolutionary time period in France really influenced the style of instrumental compositions and operas I wrote because there was a lot of things happening politically which effected social life. People wanted different types of music to fit their emotions
I started writing scores to honor Napoleon’s victory at the battle of Marengo and the fall of the Bastille. I presented these in the church of Les Invalides ("Symphony No. 1"). Because of the political unrest it caused me to have to change the color of my overall tone of music augmenting or diminishing chord tones to fit the fall and victory of many battles that were the outcome of the French Revolution. Also, the revolutionary leaders took music seriously. They realized it is a very useful tool for changing the way people think and feel so I used my musical aspect of life to create emotion.
6. What were some of you great accomplishments that contributed to some of your fabulous compositional methods?
My operas were my biggest contribution to music. I was the first French composer to be called “Romantic,” (Winter). I showed a use of dissonance( A certain way that the chords are placed. They give off different feeling and style) in my compositions. Another way I made my compositions more Romantic was to increase dramatic expressivity in such a way so that I could experiment with orchestration in many ways(Winter). I then began to not just use the cellos for base line purposes, but to use them in their higher registers. I started to subdivide strings changing their overall key/color ("Symphony No. 1") . In some pieces I had begun to experiment with the French Horns ("Symphony No. 1") . In La chasse du jeune Henri I created a more humorous style using an expanded horn section( Cobourn).
7. What were some key opportunities you had that led to your life in art?
Some key opportunities that led to my glorious life into the art field had to of started off by working with Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, he was a friend of my idol, Gluck. Working with him helped me to publish a composition of a book of piano pieces ( Winter). This gave me some experience about publishing my work and writing some compositions.
Another great opportunity which led to my success in the arts was the making of Cora. Because of Cora, the success was so grand that it started my relationship with the
Opéra-Comique (Winter). This opened a whole new world for me with new experiences.
8. What hardships did you have to overcome in order to become an artist?
Some hardships that I had to overcome to become an artist started off with my father being too poor to get me a good music education ( Winter). I did get music education, and lessons, but they weren’t the best, C’est if a music professor had taught moi.
When I had very first begun to start writing operas, some were rejected. I didn’t have the feel of writing yet. The works that I had submitted were rejected by my teacher, Gluck, but I had soon mastered it and began my operatic compositions( it took moi awhile). My very first opera was Euphrosine. I made it in 1790 (Winter). Once I had gotten over the rejection of my work I had created my own style of composition writing. I have also been labeled as the most important opera composer during the revolutionary time period in France (Winter).
9. Who are people that you admire in the arts? Why?
My very first idol, when I was younger, was Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck. He was a composer most noted for his operatic work. He also played the Harpsichord like moi ( Winter). He influenced me in his composition and operatic style. My teacher Jean-Frédéric Edelmann was a friend of his.
The biggest inspiration had come from the works of Beethoven. Many of my pieces reflect the same kind of instrumental composition styles similar to his. Some work with string pizzicatos, which mostly is rare in orchestral work, relate to the pizzicatos in Beethoven’s Scherzo ("Symphony No. 1"). Beethoven’s compositions really gave me an inspiration when I was writing my work. I really loved his style.
10. What personal stories best illustrate how you became successful in the arts?
You could say that I was on friendly terms with Napoleon. I wrote various compositions and composed many patriotic songs and propaganda pieces during the Revolutionary period in France. I was rewarded from this by becoming the first composer named as member of the newly founded Institute de France (Winter). This was the greatest honor to me! The most famous revolutionary war song from this time period was Chant du départ.
You could say that I was on friendly terms with Napoleon. I was one of the first Frenchman to receive the Légion d'honneur from Napoleon! The Légion d'honneur was the highest decoration in France for excellent civil conduct! Because of my operatic piece Cora, its career was an immense success and was the start of my relationship with the Opéra-Comique (Winter)!
This is Moi playing my Harpsichord. I was rather well at it indeed!
Orchestral music
Ouverture pour instruments à vent (1794)
Symphony in C (1797, only parts are surviving)
Symphony No.1 in G minor (1808/09)
Symphony No.2 in D major (1808/09)
Symphony No.3 in C major (1809)
Symphony No.4 in E major (1810)
Symphony No.5 (1810, only a first movement survives)
Vocal Music
Chant des victoires (1794)
Messe Solennelle pour soli, chœurs et orgue (1804)
Chant du retour pour la Grande Armée (1808)
Chant lyrique pour l'inauguration de la statue de Napoléon (1811)
Citations: Pictures, information, and list of pieces found from the sites below.
Winter, Von. "Étienne Nicolas Méhul." . N.p., 2012. Web. 26 Feb 2012. http://www.classiccat.net/mehul_e-n/biography.php?lang=nl.
"Étienne Nicolas Méhul ." Symphony No. 1. Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, 2012. Web. 20 Feb 2012. <http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/piece-detail.cfm?id=434
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