Composer. His music was innovative in form and highly original in orchestration and harmony. In his operas "Euphrosine et Corodin" (1790) and "Stratonice" (1792) Mehul was the first to employ spoken dialogue instead of recitative, a technique that came to be known in France as "opera comique". He expanded the use of cellos in the theatre orchestra and famously scored his opera "Uthal" (1806) without violins. Mehul's masterpiece is the Biblical opera "Joseph" (1807). The Symphony in G Minor" (1809) is considered the best of his three surviving symphonies. Mehul was born in Givet, France. During the Revolution he wrote civic pageants and songs in a republican spirit, notably the famous anthem "Le Chant du depart" (1794). His later career was hampered by tuberculosis. More than a century after his death Mehul received unwelcome notoriety when a melody from "Joseph" was appropriated for "The Horst Wessel Song" (1931), which from 1933 to 1945 was one of the official anthems of Hitler's Nazi Party. Mehul's tune has been banned in Germany since the end of World War II.
Composer. His music was innovative in form and highly original in orchestration and harmony. In his operas "Euphrosine et Corodin" (1790) and "Stratonice" (1792) Mehul was the first to employ spoken dialogue instead of recitative, a technique that came to be known in France as "opera comique". He expanded the use of cellos in the theatre orchestra and famously scored his opera "Uthal" (1806) without violins. Mehul's masterpiece is the Biblical opera "Joseph" (1807). The Symphony in G Minor" (1809) is considered the best of his three surviving symphonies. Mehul was born in Givet, France. During the Revolution he wrote civic pageants and songs in a republican spirit, notably the famous anthem "Le Chant du depart" (1794). His later career was hampered by tuberculosis. More than a century after his death Mehul received unwelcome notoriety when a melody from "Joseph" was appropriated for "The Horst Wessel Song" (1931), which from 1933 to 1945 was one of the official anthems of Hitler's Nazi Party. Mehul's tune has been banned in Germany since the end of World War II.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Advertisement
See more Méhul memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
