Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria
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Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

ngv.vic.gov.au
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06.04.2013 Views

CORONATION MUSIC FOR NAPOLEON I Long believed lost, the scores for the music performed at Napoleon’s Coronation were discovered in the attic of the Paris Conservatory in 1965. Restored by Jean Mongrédien with the help of the Fondation Napoléon, the Centre for Studies in French Music of the 18th and 19th Centuries and the Chaise-Dieu Festival, these scores were first performed by the Guy Touvron Brass Ensemble and the Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Capella, St. Petersburg, under the direction of Vladislav Tchernouchenko, at three successive editions of the Chaise-Dieu Festival 1993-1995. The recording playing here was made in 1995. The music prepared for Napoleon’s Coronation needed considerable planning for its performance. Two choirs, two orchestras, a military band and nine soloists were required to be placed facing each other at either end of the crossing in Notre Dame Cathedral on 2 December 1804. Situated at some distance from each other, the choirs created a stereo effect, augmented by contributions from the military percussion and brass band. The Coronation Mass and Te Deum were composed by Giovanni Paisiello, Napoleon’s favourite Italian composer. Additional music was provided by the French composer Jean-François Le Sueur, who was director of the Emperor’s Chapel in the Tuileries Palace, and one of Le Sueur’s teachers, the Abbé Roze. The combined effect was exceedingly operatic. 112 © COPYRIGHT This document remains the property of the National Gallery of Victoria and must be returned upon request. Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without written authorisation.

FRANCE Jacques Louis DAVID (after) Portrait of Pope Pius VII Portrait du Pape Pie VII 1805 etching and engraving Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, France Gift of the Marquis de Liesville, 1881 G 39017 Recognising the role played by the Catholic Church in controlling the populace, in 1801 Napoleon restored Catholicism to France, this religion having been outlawed during the French Revolution. Pope Pius VII subsequently officiated at the Coronation. Bourienne, Napoleon’s secretary, recalled how: ‘The Pope’s presence in Paris was so extraordinary ... What, indeed, could be more singular than to see the Head of the Church in a capital where four years previously the altars had been overturned, and the few faithful who remained had been obliged to exercise their worship in secret!’ 113 © COPYRIGHT This document remains the property of the National Gallery of Victoria and must be returned upon request. Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without written authorisation.

FRANCE<br />

Jacques Louis DAVID (after)<br />

Portrait <strong>of</strong> Pope Pius VII<br />

Portrait du Pape Pie VII<br />

1805<br />

etching and engraving<br />

Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, France<br />

Gift <strong>of</strong> the Marquis de Liesville, 1881 G 39017<br />

Recognising the role played by the Catholic<br />

Church in controlling the populace, in 1801<br />

Napoleon restored Catholicism to France,<br />

this religion having been outlawed during<br />

the French Revolution. Pope Pius VII<br />

subsequently <strong>of</strong>ficiated at the Coronation.<br />

Bourienne, Napoleon’s secretary, recalled<br />

how: ‘The Pope’s presence in Paris was<br />

so extraordinary ... What, indeed, could<br />

be more singular than to see the Head <strong>of</strong><br />

the Church in a capital where four years<br />

previously the altars had been overturned,<br />

and the few faithful who remained had been<br />

obliged to exercise their worship in secret!’<br />

113<br />

© COPYRIGHT<br />

This document remains the property <strong>of</strong> the <strong>National</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Victoria</strong> and must be returned upon request. Reproduction in part or in whole is prohibited without written authorisation.

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