Royer, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace

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Royer, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace

Royer, Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace , French composer; b. Turin, c. 1705; d. Paris, Jan. 11, 1755. He was a native of Burgundy, and settled in Paris in 1725. He was maître de musique at the Opéra (1730–33), and then maître de musique des enfans de France (1734), serving with Matho; obtained the latter’s reversion as chantre de la musique de la chambre du roi (1735). In 1748 he became director of the Concert Spirituel; in 1753, obtained the reversion of maître de musique de la chambre du roi from Rebel and Bury; that same year was named director and composer at the Opéra.

Works

DRAMATIC (all 1st perf. in Paris unless otherwise given): Le Fâcheux Veuvage, opéra-comique (Aug. 1725); Crédit est mort, opéra-comique (Feb. 19, 1726); Pyrrhus, tragédielyrique (Oct. 26, 1730); Zaïde, reine de Granade, opéra-ballet (Sept. 3, 1739); Le Pouvoir de l’amour, opéra-ballet (April 23, 1743); Almasis (Versailles, Feb. 26, 1748); Myrtil et Zélie, pastorale-héroïque (Versailles, June 20, 1750); Prométhée et Pandore, opera (n.d.; not perf.). other: Vocal pieces and Pièces de clavecin 1er livre (Paris, 1746).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire