André Campra

André Campra was a French composer of the Baroque period, baptised in Aix-en-Provence on December 4, 1660, and who died in Versailles on June 29, 1744.

Chronologically situated between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, he participated in the revival of French opera. After being trained at Saint-Sauveur Cathedral in Aix-en-Provence, he rose, in a few years, to the prestigious position of maître de musique at Notre-Dame de Paris, having previously held the same role successively at Notre-Dame-de-la-Seds Cathedral in Toulon, Saint-Trophime Cathedral in Arles (which has since become, and remains, a simple Saint-Trophime church), and Saint-Étienne Cathedral in Toulouse. He then became “batteur de mesure” (time-beater) at the Académie royale de musique (the Paris Opéra), of which he would become the general inspector. He also directed the musicians and pages of the Chapelle royale (essentially adult singers – choristers – and boys in training) and was one of its two “ordinary” composers, until he retired in 1735 for health reasons. He is the author of numerous secular works, particularly in the field of opera-ballet. He also composed an equally significant number of religious scores. Some of his grand motets have remained famous (especially his Requiem).

At the height of his glory during the Regency (the period from 1715 to 1723), Campra was still adored in the last years of his life. He died in Versailles on June 29, 1744, at the age of 83. Rather curiously, his will shows him to be poor, infirm, isolated in a small Versailles apartment, in the company of his two servants. When he died, his work, very much alive and widely disseminated in the provinces, remained in the repertoire for more than twenty years.