André Grétry

André Modeste Grétry (1741–1813) was born in Liège, but he spent most of his life in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his opéras comiques. In 1753 Grétry became a pupil of Jean-Pantaléon Leclerc and later of the organist at St-Pierre de Liège, Nicolas Rennekin. But of greater importance for him was the practical tuition he received by attending the performance of an Italian opera company. Here he heard the operas of Baldassarre Galuppi, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and other masters; and the desire of completing his own studies in Italy was the immediate result. He went to Rome in 1759 and resided for five years there, studiously employed in completing his musical education under Giovanni Battista Casali. His first great success was achieved by La vendemmiatrice, an Italian intermezzo or operetta, composed for the Teatro Alibert in Rome and received with universal applause. In 1766, he went to Geneva as a music teacher. There he met Voltaire, at whose suggestion he went to Paris in 1767. His opera Le Huron was performed in August 1768 and was met with unparalleled success. Two others, Lucile and Le tableau parlant, soon followed, and thenceforth Grétry's position as the leading composer of comic opera was safely established. Altogether, he composed some fifty operas. His masterpiece, Richard Coeur de Lion (1784), is an early example of French Romantic opera. The composer himself was influenced by the great events he witnessed. During the Revolution Grétry lost much of his property, but the republic made him an inspector of the conservatoire. He was widely honoured and received a pension from Napoleon in 1802.