"André Campra" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
André Campra
December 4, 1660 - June 29, 1744
born in Aix-en-Provence, France, composed during the Baroque period
Biography
The most significant composer for the French stage between Lully and Rameau, Campra was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1660. His father, an amateur violinist, provided him with his first music lessons, and while he was a slow learner at first, he did begin to show talent, and joined the choir of St. Sauveur in 1674. At one point he nearly lost his place in the choir when he was caught giving unauthorized performances in secular theaters on the side. In August of 1681 he became the music master at the church of Ste. Trophime in Arles, and two years later moved on to the same position at the Cathedral of St. Étienne in Toulouse. In 1694 he took a leave of absence that became permanent when he became music master at Notre Dame. Until he arrived in Paris he had composed mostly sacred music, but even though he had reached a top position in the world of church music, the dramatic stage once again began to draw his creativity.

in 1697, he presented a new form of his own invention, the opéra-ballet. A loosely plotted song-and-dance spectacle, L'Europe galante was well received by its aristocratic audience. Its successors, the similar divertissements Vénus (1698) and The Venetian Carnival (1699), were likewise successful.