[Music & Dance of the French Court] Louis XV: Signed Court Musician Appointment

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[Music & Dance of the French Court] Louis XV: Signed Court Musician Appointment:
$6500.00

[Music & Dance of the French Court] [Rebel, Francois. (1701 - 1775)] Louis XV. (1710 - 1774) Signed Court Musician Appointment from King Louis XV
An historic document, the first court appointment of the musician who would go on to help define French operatic tradition in France through his role as Administrateur général de musique at Versailles. Autograph document on vellum, signed on behalf of the King "LOUIS [XV]", countersigned "Phélypeaux" (Louis Phélypeaux, minister for the Department of the Maison du Roi from 1749 - 1775), appointing Francois Rebel as a musician to the court, dated September 1, 1727; with an addendum dated March 6 1730 appointing Rebel as "compositeur de la musique de la chambre du Roy," with further addendums dated October 10, 1747 and 1748. 11 3/4 x 19 1/4 inches (30.5 x 49 cm); with attached wafer seal. Folds, some minor soiling, overall fine.

Francois Rebel, the son of Jean-Fery Rebel, Court Composer to Louis XIV, was also a composer, a noted violinist, and a member of the "Vingt-quatre violons du Roy." In 1744, he and François Francoeur (1698 - 1787), his lifelong colleague and friend, were appointed inspecteurs musicaux of the Paris Opéra, becoming responsible for all phases of its management in 1757. Rebel and Francœur faced numerous challenges in their joint roles, including a large financial deficit, lack of discipline, as well as handling contentious disagreements between traditionalists who favored French operatic tragedies and its mythological themes versus partisans of Italian opera's simpler lyricism and contemporary subject matter, known as the Querelle des Bouffons.

King Louis XV appointed Francœur as his Music Master in 1760 and ennobled Rebel in the same year. Disaster struck when the Paris Opéra was consumed in flames on 6 April 1763, and the two directors were forced to resign in 1767 in its aftermath. However, Louis XV asked Rebel to return to the Opéra as Administrateur général in 1772, a position he held until shortly before his death three years later.

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