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celebrating three hundred years of music by women |
Julie Candeille (1767-1834)
Amélie Julie Candeille was prolific from an early age as composer and performer, actress and author. She appeared before the King aged thirteen,
at fourteen was engaged to sing at the Opéra, and a year later took the title role in Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide. Next she
became an actress and made her début at the Comedie Française in 1785, and after five years there, joined the Théâtre Française. She created a
sensation there in 1792 as star performer, playright and composer in 154 performances of her operetta Catherine, ou la belle fermière. She was good-looking; Candeille described herself in her Mémoires as having "bright blonde hair, brown eyes, white, fine and clear skin, [and] a soft and laughing air"; she was often criticised for her vanity.Candeille lived in Brussels from 1798, and in 1803, she and her former friend Mme Lejay were in charge of the welcome in Brussels for Napoléon and his wife Joséphine. She made two unsuccessful marriages, and took to leaving France when politics made life difficult (to London in July 1815, during the Hundred Days). As well as her theatre music, she composed three Concertos, including two for several instruments (lost), and various piano works (Sonatas Op 1, Op 5, Op 8), some dedicated to other women composers. In her music, she focussed on melody with simple harmonies. Some of her historical novels were published; such as La jeune Hôtesse. The Romance de Catherine is included in Hildegard.com. Click on these works for more details below:
Back to Contents Piano Concerto in D, Op 2, 1787 1. Allegro Maestuoso, D major. 2. Andante gratioso con espressione, G minor. 3. Rondo: Allegro spirituoso, D major 2 ob, 2 hn, string, solo piano. 18 mins This is her only surviving Concerto, and it was published in her lifetime with the quaint spelling of the movement titles listed above. It dates from the year of Haydn's 'Paris' symphonies, and the slow movement suggests she knew her Haydn. It alternates, then varies sections in the minor and major. The outer movements are quite economical with orchestral ideas, though more expansive when the solo has the field to itself. The rondo theme has a happy way of returning in the 'wrong' key, but all is neatly balanced by the end. The whole has a brilliant D major feel, as characteristic in the classical era. Score Hildegard.com Back to Contents Trio ou Nocturne pour Piano, Violon et Violoncelle, Op 11 1. Allegro spirito, D major. 2. Romanza, B flat. 3. Adagio molto maestoso, D major. 4. Thema Allego, F major; Andantino con motto, D major; 3 Variations; Thema. 15 mins An attractive, short Trio, with fine filigree elaborations in the variations. Her Op 11 is also listed as Arsenne, ou L'épître dédicatoire, Trois Romances et une Chansonnette avec accompagnement de piano BnF. She is not the only composer to have two listings for the same opus number. Back to Contents Troi Sonatas pour le Fortepiano avec accompagnement de Violon, Op 1; BnF, 1786. No 3: Allegro un poco presto, E flat. Andante agitato, C minor. Rondo: Allegretto, E flat It would be possible to play this work as a piano sonata, though more interesting as a duo. The Andante alternates minor and major episodes (similar to the Concerto slow movement). The Finale is a very perky Rondo. Back to Contents Catherine, ou la belle fermière, 1792 Candeille wrote the text and the music to this comic opera. It became the longest-running operatic work by a woman in history, playing virtually uninterruptedly between 1792 and 1839. In the 154 performances at the Théâtre de la République she sang the title part and played the harp. Le Journal de Paris praised her warmly, and the work was frequently revived over the next 35 years. It received a modern première in Indiana, USA in 2023 by Bloomington Opera. Romances Bibliotèque nationale de France. Overture Hildegard.com Three Arias from Catherine. Back to Contents Cantique des Parisiens, one, two, or three voices with piano or harp, 1814; BnF Blue Eyed Bessie Lee, 1814, song download Connecticut College Digital Commons, Historic Sheet Music Collection. Writing: Women Writing Opera, University of California Press by Jacqueline Letzter and Robert Adelson. Biographical Sketch: Amélie-Julie Candeille (1767-1834); Vanishing Acts: Women Art Critics in 19th-Century France; (Newark: University of Delaware, 2013): pp 279-86; Edited Guentner. Le clavecin bien mal tempéré de Julie Candeille Humanisme 2019/2 by Jean Kriff, pp 114-119. Musiciennes of the Ancien Régime, Julie-Anne Sadie, 1987, in 'Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950', University of Illinois Press. Revue des Deux Mondes, Vol 33, No 2, Charles Terrin, 1936 Julie Candeille, Actrice, Musicienne, Femme de Lettres. There are nine scores on IMSLP. Cyprien Katsaris included her Tambourin on his Piano 21 Vol 2 (P21024) of French music de Louis XIII á Boulez. Selma Epstien gift to Library of Congress included recordings of Candeille (Chromatica sound cassettes).
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