A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Campra, André

by Adela Harriet Sophia Wodehouse

CAMPRA, André, born Dec. 4, 1660, at Aix, in Provence, and educated in music by G. Poitevin. He gave little promise of distinction until his sixteenth year, when his talent made a sudden stride; and a motet, 'Deus noster refugium et virtus,' then composed by him, was so full of scholarly and contrapuntal writing, that his master predicted his future eminence. As early as 1679, Campra was selected to fill the place of maitre de musique in the cathedral of Toulon, where he remained until his removal to Paris in 1694. His first post there was the directorship of the music at the church of the College of the Jesuits; and from this he was soon promoted to the directorship at Notre Dame. His reputation as a composer would appear to have been already established, for we are told that crowds went to hear his motets at great church festivals; but while thus employed, Campra was also studying the dramatic works of Lully and Cambert, and discovering where his own special talent lay. In 1697 he produced his first opera, 'L'Europe galante,' and this was followed in 1699 by an operatic ballet called 'Le Carnaval de Venise,' but both these compositions appeared in his brother's name.^[1] He was deterred from publishing them in his own name by fear of losing his valuable ecclesiastical appointment. In 1700, however, he decided to abandon the church for the stage. Indeed he may have been constrained to do so, because we learn from a popular rhyme of the day—

        Quand notre archeveque saura
          l'auteur du nouvel opéra
            M. Campra decampera.
                                Alleluia.

that the true authorship of his operas had ceased to be a secret. 'Hésione,' the first opera produced under his own name, appeared in 1700; and thenceforth for forty years his works held the stage with ever-growing popularity. His last opera, 'Les Noces de Vénus,' came out in 1740. Honours and emoluments were freely bestowed on him: by a patent dated Dec. 15, 1718, the King granted him a pension of 500 livres, 'in recognition of his merits as a dramatic composer, and as an incentive to continued composition for the Académie Royale de Musique.' In 1722 he was given the title of composer and director of Music to the Prince de Conti, and in the same year he was nominated maître de chapelle to the King, as well as director of the pages at the Chapelle Royale. This last appointment he held until his death at Versailles on June 29, 1744.

Campra's historic place in the French opera was between two composers whose eminence transcended his own; he followed Lully and preceded Rameau,^[2] but his inferiority to them should not make us overlook his marked superiority to his own contemporaries, such as Colasse and Destouches. Indeed Campra's operas are the only ones besides those of Lully which kept their place on the stage during the first half of the 18th century. In the opera of 'Tancrede,' Campra rises to a very high level; it is a work full of warmth and life and genuine feeling, which was popular from its first appearance in 1702 until its last performance in 1764.^[3] Still it must be owned that Campra failed to contribute to the progressive development of the French opera, and his failure may be ascribed in part to want of originality, but even more to an excessive deference to the taste and fancies of the public. It was a time when the so-called spectacles coupés—i.e. performances in one evening of favourite acts or scenes from different operas—were in special vogue, and to Antoine Danchet, the librettist of 'Hésione' and several other operas of Campra's, is assigned the dubious distinction of having popularised this fragmentary kind of dramatic representation. Campra himself, with his 'L'Europe galante,' was one of the first composers to enter upon this debased path of art; and as a perfect type of his work in this category, we may mention the operatic ballet called 'Les Fêtes Vénitiennes,' which has been described as a lyrical kaleidoscope.

Fétis gives the following list of his works:—

'L'Europe Galante.' 1697 (with some pieces by Destouches); 'Carnaval de Venise,' 1699; 'Hésione,' 1700; 'Aréthusa,' 1701; 'Fragments de Lulli,' Sept. 1702; 'Tancrede,' Nov. 1702; 'Les Muses,' 1703; 'Iphigénie en Tauride,' May 1704 (with Desmarets); 'Télémaque.' Nov. 1704; 'Aline.' 1705; 'Le Triomphe de l'Amour,' Sept. 1705; 'Hippodamie,' 1708; 'Les Fêtes Vénitiennes,' 1710; an act of 'Laure et Petrarque,' Dec. 1711; 'Idoménée, 1712; 'Les Amours de Mars et de Vénus,' 1712; 'Télèphe.' 1713; 'Camille,' 1717; 'Les Ages,' 1718; 'Achille et Déldamie,' 1735; several acts of 'Silène et Bacchus,' Oct. 1722.

Besides these works, Campra wrote also:—

'Vénus,' 1698; 'Le destin du nouveau Siècle,' a divertissement for the year 1700; 'Les Fêtes de Corinthe,' 1717; 'La Fête de l'Ile Adam.' divertissement for the Court, 1722; 'Les Muses rassemblées par l'Amour,' 1723; 'Le Génie de la Bourgogne,' divertissement for the Court, 1732; 'Les Noces de Vénus,' a score written in 1740, at the age of 80.

as well as three books of cantatas, and five books of motets. The once celebrated air 'La Furstemberg' was also by him.

In the preface to his 'Cantates Françoises' (dated 1708) Campra states that he has attempted to combine the characteristics of the French and Italian schools, and the attention paid by him to the latter school is clearly indicated by the use of the orchestra and the more expressive treatment of the words, especially in the later collections, dated respectively 1714 and 1718. In his motets^[4] he paid special heed to the solo voice, and emancipated it from the mere declamatory phrases so prevalent in Lully's time. It is noteworthy also that Campra was the first composer who obtained permission to use other instruments besides the organ in church music; and his indications of the different instruments employed give proof of his acquaintance with them, although his study of orchestral colouring may have been very slight.^[5] Among the more beautiful of his motets is the last of the 3rd book: its brilliant and effective passages for the solo voice, and expression marks, such as affettuoso, etc., are tokens of its thoroughly Italian character. These works furnish us with the best criterion of Campra's merits as a cultivated musician, although his operas chiefly established his popular fame.

(See also A. Pougin's study of Campra and his works, which appeared in the Ménestrel, Series 47, No. 15.)

[ A. H. W. ]

1. Joseph Campra, a double-bass player at the Opera In 1699. He received a pension in 1727, and was still living in 1744.
2. For Campra's high appreciation of Rameau, see vol. iii. 70 b.
3. This opera partly owed its great success to the circumstance that the heroine (Clorinde) was taken by a contralto (Mdlle. Maupin) for the first time since the foundation of the French opera.
4. Campra's five books of motets did not appear first in 1706 (Fétis), nor in 1699 (Pougin), for Dr. W. Langhaus says he is in possession of a second edition dated 1699. They are dedicated to the Abbé of St. Sever de la Grange Trianon.
5. In the motet on the 126th Psalm, à grand Chœur, there is a group of two oboes and bassoon used for strengthening the accompaniment, and also for short solos; but written on the title-page is the remark ‘on de flûtes d'Allemagne.’