Nicolas Isouard
Nicolas Isouard (or Nicolò Isouard) (16 May 1773, Porto Salvo, Valletta, Malta – March 23, 1818, Paris) was a French (Maltese born) composer.
Isouard studied in Rabat or Mdina with Francesco Azopardi, in Palermo with Giuseppe Amendola, and in Naples with Nicola Sala and Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi. From 1795 he was organist at St. John de Gerusalemme in Valletta at the Conventual Church of the Order of Saint John, San Giovanni di Malta.
He moved to Paris, where he worked as a free composer and befriended composer Rodolphe Kreutzer. The pair worked together on several operas, including Le petit page ou La prison d'état (1800) and Flaminius à Corinthe (1801). Isouard adopted the pseudonym Nicolò (or Nicolò de Malte) and found rapid success in the field of opéra comique with Michel-Ange (1802) and L'intrigue aux fenêtres (1805). He composed regularly for the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique, writing some thirty works for them.
He composed masses, motets, cantatas, romances, and duos, along with over 45 operas.
Isouard had two daughters, Sophie-Nicole (1809–?), a composer of romances, and Annette-Julie (1814–1876), and pianist and composer. His brother Joseph (1794–1863) had a career as a singer and opera director before being named inspector of historic monuments in Rouen. Nicolas Isouard was buried in Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. A bust of the composer was placed on one of the facades of both the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique and the Palais Garnier, and one of the main squares in Paris was given his name.
Works
Casaciello, perseguitato da un Mago, (Opera buffa - Two-act comedy) 1793, Malta
- L'avviso a Maritati, Opera, Florence June1794
- Artaserse, re di Persia, Opera seria, Livorno August 1794. Two excerpts only survive. Edited by Richard Divall
- Il barbiere di Siviglia, Opera buffa after Pierre Beaumarchais, Malta Teatro Manoel 1796
- Rinaldo d'Asti, Dramma giocoso, Malta 1796
- L'improvvisata in campagna, Opera buffa, Malta 1796-7
- I due avari, Commedia per musica, Malta 1797
- Il bottaio, Opera comique, 1798
- Il barone d'Alba chiara, Commedia per musica, Carnevale, Malta 1798
- Ginevra di Scozia, Dramma serio eroico, 1798
- Le petit page ou La prison d'état, Opera, Paris, February 1801
- Flaminius à Corinthe, Opera, Paris February 1801
- Le tonellier' Opera-comique, Paris May 1801
- L'impromptu de campagne', Opera-comique, Paris June 1801
- La statue ou La femme avare, Opera comique, 1802
- Michel-Ange, Opera, 1802
- Les confidences, Opera, 1803
- Le baiser et la quittance ou Une aventure de garnison, Opera comique, 1803
- Le médecin turc, Opéra bouffon, 1803
- L'intrigue aux fenêtres, Opera, 1805
- La ruse inutile ou Les rivaux par convention, Opera, 1805
- Léonce ou Le fils adoptif, Opera, 1805
- La prise de Passaw, Opera comique, 1806
- Le déjeuner de garçons, Comédie mêlée de musique, 1806
- Idala ou La sultane, Opera comique, 1806
- Les rendez-vous bourgeois, Opéra bouffon, 1807
- Les créanciers ou Le remède à la goutte, Opera comique, 1807
- Un jour à Paris ou La leçon singulière, Opera comique, 1808
- Cimarosa, Opera comique, 1808
- Zélomir ou L'intrigue au sérail, Opera comique, 1809
- Cendrillon, Opéra féerie after Charles Perrault, 1810
- La victime des arts ou La fête de famille, Opera comique, 1811
- La fête de village ou L'heureux militaire, Opera comique, 1811
- Le billet de loterie, Opera comique, 1811
- Le magicien sans magie, Opera comique, 1811
- Lulli et Quinault ou Le déjeuner impossible, Opera comique, 1812
- Le prince de Catane ou Alamon, Opera, 1813
- Le français à Venise, Opera comique, 1813
- Bayard à Mézières ou Le siège de Mézières, Opera comique, 1814
- Joconde ou Les coureurs d'aventures, Opera comique, 1814
- Jeannot et Colin, Opera comique, 1814
- Les deux maris, Opera comique, 1816
- L'une pour l'autre ou L'enlèvement, Opera comique, 1816
- Les deux Capitaines de hussards' Opera-coiique, Paris March 1817
- Aladin ou La lampe merveilleuse, Opéra féerie, 1822
- Une nuit de Gustave Wasa, Opera, 1825
Sacred Works - all with orchestra and voices (In alphabetical order). Original Manuscripts - Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris Angelus Domini Credo Leg a 4 Voci 1795 De torrente in A flat major De torrente in B flat major Diffusa est Gratia Dixit Dominus a 4 Dixit Dominus Leg Dominus Deus a Terzetto Gloria in D Gratia agimus tibi in E flat Gloria Patri in E flat Kyrie in E flat Kyrie in C minor Kyrie Messa no 2 in E flat - fragment Juravit Dominus Lauda Jerusalem Laetatus sum Magnificat Missa a Quattro Voci 1790 ( attr. to another composer) Cospicua Archives Missa Pro Defunctorum - Jommelli, orchestrated by Isouard (Brussels Conservatoire Library) Nisi Dominus Panis Angelicus Qui Tollis Quoniam Tu Solus Salve Regina Sinfonia in C minor Stabat Mater (5 fragments) Suscepimus Deus Te Deum 1791 Vexilla Regis Virgam Virtutis for tenor and bass duet Virgam Virtutis for solo tenor Virtute Magna All of the above have been edited by Richard Divall and are available from the University of Divinity, Australia. Richard Divall is currently preparing a publication of a monograph and Complete Thematic Catalogue, and en edition of the opera Cendrillon.
