Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Napoleão (dos Santos), Artur

(b Oporto, 6 March 1843; d Rio de Janeiro, 12 May 1925). Portuguese pianist, composer and teacher. A child prodigy, he made his first concert appearance in Lisbon at the age of seven and then toured Europe, playing for kings and Napoleon III. In London he studied with Hallé, and in Paris with Herz. In Berlin Meyerbeer presented him at court in 1854 and in Weimar he was praised by Liszt. His first trip to Brazil took place in August 1857, giving four concerts at the Teatro Lírico Fluminense in Rio where he wrote the piano polka-mazurka Uma primeira impressão do Brasil. He later made another concert tour which included the USA, and finally settled in Rio de Janeiro in 1866. There he was active as a performer, piano teacher and businessman. He taught well-known Brazilian musicians such as Chiquinha Gonzaga and João Nunes. The publishing house Narciso and Artur Napoleão, later adding Leopoldo Miguéz, was founded in 1878, and provided a significant stimulation to Brazilian musical production for about a century. With the Cuban violinist José White Lafitte, Napoleão also founded the Sociedade de Concertos Clássicos. The critic Alfredo Camarate said that Napoleão resembled Chopin in the sweetness of his playing and Liszt in his bravura. He composed an opera, O remorso vivo (1866), orchestral works, songs, and piano pieces. He also wrote études of pianistic techniques based on those of Cramer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

D. Correia, Viscount of Sanches y Frias: Artur Napoleão: resenha comemorativa de sua vida pessoal e artística (Lisbon, 1913) [with list of pf works]

L.H.C. de Azevedo: 150 anos de música no Brasil: 1800–1950 (Rio de Janeiro, 1956)

M. Marcondes, ed.: Enciclopédia da música brasileira, erudita, folclórica, popular (São Paulo, 1977, 2/1998)

GERARD BÉHAGUE

Napoleon I, Emperor of France

(b Ajaccio, Corsica, 15 Aug 1769; d St Helena, 5 May 1821). French ruler and patron of music. A member of the Buonaparte family – he (and his relatives) adopted the spelling Bonaparte in the mid- to late 1790s – he was one of the most important patrons of his time, influencing several different areas of music.

1. Introduction.

Napoleon seized power in a coup d’état on 10 November 1799. As first consul, later consul à vie (2 August 1802) and finally emperor (18 May 1804), he increasingly adopted monarchist patterns of musical patronage, often modelled on late ancien régime procedures. He re-established a court musical chapel, brought theatres under closer government supervision, re-introduced a series of concerts at court and rewarded those who celebrated musically the principal events of his reign. But his was not simply a reactionary approach: astutely, as he did in other domains, Napoleon capitalized on the situation he inherited from the Revolution..\Frames/F004273.html and sought to make musical institutions and public life reflect his political and cultural agenda. Thus he continued to support strongly the Paris Conservatoire and the Beaux-Arts department at the Institut. Furthermore, he recognized the Parisian theatres’ lead in staging opera and their need to satisfy their audiences. Unlike the 1770s and 80s, no significant operas had their premières at court during his reign, and few were performed there in fully staged versions. Rather, the presence of Napoleon, or members of his family, at the Opéra or the Opéra-Comique became a highly regarded mark of official approbation.

Napoleon’s reaction to music was always positive: he enjoyed it, knew something about it and gave it a particular value within his conception of the state. He personally preferred melodious Italian music to the modern French style of Méhul, H.-M. Berton and Cherubini, and he valued good singing highly. His own taste ensured the continued absorption of Italian influences into France; nothing was done to promote German music. During his reign opera thrived, and opera attendance became increasingly fashionable. A new generation of singers was formed at the Conservatoire, and several of them later became the stars of early grand opéra. Similarly, the excellence of instruction for instrumentalists there ensured that Parisian orchestras were among the most admired in Europe for decades to come. While during the Empire symphonic music did not receive active patronage from Napoleon, this indirect legacy is not to be underestimated, as the careers of Berlioz and Habeneck attest. Finally, whatever his personal preferences, Napoleon ensured that French as well as Italian composers received substantial imperial patronage.

2. Institutions, the Opéra and other theatres.

The consular chapel was opened on 20 July 1802, following the arrival in Paris on 25 April of Napoleon’s favourite composer, Paisiello. The two men first came into contact when Paisiello won a competition set by Napoleon in October 1797 that invited musicians from northern Italy to write music for the death of General Hoche; Napoleon himself presented Paisiello’s score to the Paris Conservatoire. The aging composer was luxuriously treated by Napoleon, and in return he provided masses, motets, coronation music (see §3 below) and the opera Proserpine (1803). When this opera failed, Napoleon suspected intrigue on the part of French factions. Paisiello returned to Naples some time after July 1804, holding membership of the Institut and the Légion d’Honneur. He later became Joseph Bonaparte’s director of chamber and chapel music. Napoleon’s chapel originally had eight singers (including castratos) and 27 players, with an annual budget of 90,000 francs. By 1812 there were 50 musicians, costing 153,800 francs annually. Premises were makeshift until the opening of a new building in February 1806. Le Sueur succeeded Paisiello – Napoleon had enjoyed his opera Ossian in July 1804 and rewarded him with 6000 francs and a gold snuffbox.

The ‘private’ music generally consisted of the leading singers of the Opéra and the Opéra-Comique, as well as virtuoso professionals from the chapel orchestra. Paisiello directed numerous evening concerts at Malmaison; he was succeeded as personal court musician by the Italian Paer, whom Napoleon removed from the Saxon court at Dresden; Paer’s contract, signed on 1 January 1807, made him official imperial composer and musical director for life. He was an ingratiating and capable courtier, singer and accompanist, but he wrote little of importance in Paris. His Italian operas Numa Pompilio (1808), Cleopatra (1808) and Didone (1810) were all given at court, not in public. In 1812 Napoleon chose him to succeed Spontini as director of the Théâtre Italien. At Malmaison the emperor’s favourite and well-rewarded singers were the soprano Catalani, the contralto Grassini, the castrato Crescentini, the tenor Elleviou and the baritone Lays. Numerous other Italian singers were heard. Occasionally, more brilliant concerts were held in the Tuileries, sometimes followed by a ballet.

Court theatres were opened at Malmaison (1802), on a domestic scale; at Saint Cloud (1803), for entertaining notables; and at the Tuileries (1808), as a showpiece. At Fontainebleau, sumptuous evenings were seen, particularly after Napoleon’s second marriage, to the Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, in 1810. By 1811 the annual theatrical budget amounted to 458,400 francs; the imperial musicians and others followed the court as necessary between the aforementioned places and of course Versailles.

In 1801–2 the Paris Conservatoire was rife with internal dissensions; already by the late 1790s the government assembly had called for economies there. The combination of circumstances led to the ousting of Le Sueur and others in an overall reduction of staff (to 38). But the institution’s position slowly improved during the Consulate and Empire. Pupils’ boarding accommodation was opened in 1806 and the concert hall in 1811. In 1803 the first music students received the Prix de Rome and went to the Villa Medici: otherwise Napoleon left the basic structure of the Conservatoire unaltered. In Italy he founded academies of music at Bologna, Bergamo and Milan. Musicians also benefited from various imperial decrees concerning copyright. The protection of authors and their families was strengthened in 1805, 1806 and 1810. Pension allowances were occasionally made by decree to musicians of long standing.

The Paris Opéra became an instrument of state policy and propaganda. In 1800 Napoleon gave his Minister of the Interior the right to authorize operas for performance; in 1802–3 he reserved to himself the allocation of money for new works. By 1806 he controlled the hierarchy of theatre administration, and in 1807 he defined the scope of the repertory. His constant point of reference was the desire to make the Opéra a showpiece for France, and in the end he personally determined not only what was performed but the order in which new works went into rehearsal. By 1811 its annual grant was 750,000 francs, and up to 200,000 francs was levied from the smaller theatres. Certain operas were censored completely; others, particularly Le Sueur and Persuis’ Le triomphe de Trajan (1807), were commissioned as obvious allegories of imperial might and clemency. L’oriflamme (February 1814) was patched together by Berton, Rodolphe Kreutzer, Méhul and Paer as a hopeless call to arms even as the allies approached. (Napoleon abdicated on 11 April 1814.) Some interesting and important works, such as Le Sueur’s Ossian (1804), were mounted at this time; but neither Cherubini nor Méhul could make any artistic headway at the Opéra.

There is no clearer indication of Napoleon’s musico-cultural policy than his support for the new Théâtre Italien in October 1801. He gave the first of several grants and issued instructions to attract the best Italian actors ‘in order to perfect the taste for singing in France’. The Théâtre Italien and the Opéra-Comique subsequently encountered hard times, when Parisians frequented gayer entertainments in smaller theatres and halls. Fearlessly, Napoleon moved against public taste: in 1806 he arrogated control of the repertory of the main theatres and took away the right (established under the Revolution) of anyone to open a theatre. In August 1807 he peremptorily closed all the Paris theatres except for eight ‘official’ ones, including the Opéra, the Opéra-Comique and the Italian troupe. Over 25 companies were out of work without compensation, at a few days’ notice. The following November the office of surintendant des théâtres was created. By 1811 anyone wishing to put on a concert had to have the proposed day cleared by this functionary in consultation with the director of the Opéra.

3. Commissions and individual patronage.

The joint celebration of Bastille Day 1800 and the victory at Marengo was marked in the Invalides by Méhul’s Chant national for solo voices, three choirs and three ensembles. The concordat with the Roman Church was celebrated on Easter Day (14 April) 1802 with a Te Deum by Paisiello and a Domine salvum fac rempublicam by Méhul for two choirs and two orchestras. Napoleon’s coronation as emperor on 2 December 1804 incorporated what was probably a revised version of this Te Deum and a mass by Paisiello for similar forces plus 77 military musicians. Le Sueur wrote a motet, Accingere gladio, and a march. Berton’s cantata Trasibule was given at one of the ancillary ceremonies. In February 1806 Spontini’s cantata L’eccelsa gara was performed after Austerlitz; in 1807 Méhul’s Chant du retour; and in 1809, for Wagram, L.-S. Lebrun’s Te Deum. The marriage to Marie-Louise in 1810 was marked by works by Berton, Cherubini, Le Sueur, L.E. Jadin, J.P.G. Martini, Méhul, Paer, Paisiello and Steibelt. Most of these composers wrote again for the birth of the King of Rome (Napoleon II) in 1811. This account necessarily omits the many uncommissioned pieces written following Napoleonic incidents of all kinds whose authors were sometimes rewarded by the Emperor.

The parts played by Paisiello, Paer and Le Sueur have been described above. Spontini was the third favoured Italian. Enjoying the special patronage of Josephine – he was her particular director of music – it was rumoured that he was able to have La vestale performed in 1807 only through the empress’s insistence. Not before he had heard excerpts performed privately did Napoleon take it up (in October 1806) and recognize its importance. In its heavy classicism it was to epitomize the ‘Empire style’. Fernand Cortez (1809) was subsequently ordered by Napoleon to rouse public interest in his current Spanish campaign. The operatic public, however, were swayed by the patriotism of the Spaniards rather than by the barbarity of the priesthood, and the work was called off after 13 performances. Cherubini, too, benefited from official commissions: his Pimmalione had its première at the Tuileries (1809), and his music was quite often performed in court concerts. (Tales of Napoleon’s animosity towards him date from the Restoration and should be viewed with scepticism.) Towards Méhul, Napoleon showed respect and some affection. L’irato (1801), in a light (though not really italianate) vein, is dedicated to him, ‘your conversations regarding music having inspired me’.

4. Other members of the family.

The family generally had too little individual power and permanence to be great patrons. Beethoven stated in a letter of November 1808 that Napoleon’s younger brother Jérôme, as King of Westphalia, had recently offered him the post of Kapellmeister at Kassel, but he appears to have thought of accepting the offer only as a lever against his Viennese patrons. Napoleon’s sister Pauline took Felice Blangini both as her musical director (in 1806) and as her lover; in 1809 he became Jérôme’s Kapellmeister. Elise, Napoleon’s eldest sister and wife of Prince Felice Baciocchi, employed Paganini as leader of her chamber orchestra from 1805, and he followed her to Florence when in 1809 she became Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Napoleon’s stepdaughter and sister-in-law Hortense (later Queen of Holland) was very musical. Her music master was Dalvimare; she composed songs, some of which were published. Her Le beau Dunois (‘Partant pour la Syrie’), popular during the 1809 war, subsequently became a rallying song for bonapartistes, and during the reign of her son, Napoleon III, it became a national hymn. Napoleon’s cousin Lucien was ambassador in Madrid and a patron of Boccherini.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

F.C. Lefebvre: Recueil des messes de Mr Paisiello pour le service de la Chapelle de Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi; Recueil des messes de Mr LeSueur pour le service de la Chapelle de Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi (MS, c1814, F-Pn) [autograph]

F.C. Lefebvre: Etat de la Bibliothèque du Roi (MS, c1815, F-Po) [autograph]

L. Méhul: ‘Napoléon dilettante’, France musicale, iv (1841), 250–52, 259–60

L.-H. Lecomte: Napoléon et l’Empire racontés par le théâtre (Paris, 1900)

O. Fleischer: ‘Napoleon Bonapartes Musikpolitik’, ZIMG, iii (1901–2), 431–40

L.-H. Lecomte: Napoléon et le monde dramatique (Paris, 1912)

J.-G. Prod’homme: ‘Napoleon, Music and Musicians’, MQ, vii (1921), 579–605

T. Fleischman: Napoléon et la musique (Brussels, 1965)

J. Mongrédien: ‘La musique du sacre de Napoléon 1er’, RdM, liii (1967), 137–74

J. Mistler, ed.: Napoléon et l’Empire (Paris, 1968)

J. Mongrédien: Jean-François Le Sueur: contribution à l’étude d’un demi-siècle de musique française, 1780–1830 (Berne, 1980)

J. Mongrédien: Catalogue thématique de l’oeuvre complète du compositeur J.-F. Le Sueur (1760–1837) (New York, 1980)

M.E.C. Bartlet: ‘Opera as Patriotic Ceremony: the Case of L’Oriflamme’, IMSCR XIII: Strasbourg 1982, i, 327–39

M.E.C. Bartlet: ‘A Newly Discovered Opera for Napoleon’, AcM, lvi (1984), 266–96

J. Mongrédien: La musique en France des Lumières au Romantisme (1789–1830) (Paris, 1986)

M.E.C. Bartlet: ‘Bonaparte et Méhul [première partie: Révolution et Consulat]’, Ardenne Wallonne: Cercle d’histoire régionale de la pointe de Givet et terres limitrophes, no.37 (June 1989), 57–77; ‘Bonaparte et Méhul [deuxième partie: Empire]’, ibid., no.38 (Sept 1989), 43–58

R. Schneider: The Administrative History of l’Académie Impériale de Musique in the Age of Napoleon: Opera for Gloire and Indoctrination (diss., U. of Akron, 1990)

M.F. Robinson and U. Hofmann: Giovanni Paisiello: a Thematic Catalogue of his Works (Stuyvesant, NY, 1991–4)

R. Macnutt: ‘Early Acquisitions for the Paris Conservatoire Library: Rodolphe Kreutzer’s Role in Obtaining Materials from Italy, 1796–1802’, Music Publishing & Collecting: Essays in Honor of Donald W. Krummel, ed. D. Hunter (Urbana, IL, 1994), 167–88

DAVID CHARLTON/M. ELIZABETH C. BARTLET