Works
Mouret composed mainly for the stage. He contributed to the emergence of the distinctively French genres of lyric tragedy and opera-ballet but his jealousy of the rising star of Jean-Philippe Rameau led to the bitterness and madness in which he ended his days:
- Les fêtes de Thalie opera-ballet for the Paris Opéra, (1714)
- Le mariage de Ragonde et de Colin for Sceaux, (1714) (1742 version: Les amours de Ragonde)
- Ariane et Thésée (1717)
- Pirithoüs Paris Opéra, (1723)
- Les amours des dieux Paris Opéra, (1727)
- Le triomphe des sens (1732)
- Les grâces héroïques (1733)
- Le temple de Gnide Paris Opéra (1741).
Mouret also wrote airs, divertissements, cantatilles, motets, and instrumental works (sonatas, fanfares). Among his other compositions, the two Suites de symphonies (1729) deserve special mention. The first suite, renowned for its Masterpiece Theatre theme, is entitled "Fanfare for trumpets, timpani, violins, and oboes" and dedicated to the son of the Duchess of Maine, the Prince of Dombes. The Concert Spirituel, conducted by Mouret himself, gave the premier performance of this suite. The second suite, scored for violins, oboes, and horns, was first played at the Hôtel de Ville before King Louis XV.
Read more about this topic: Jean-Joseph Mouret
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“Every man is in a state of conflict, owing to his attempt to reconcile himself and his relationship with life to his conception of harmony. This conflict makes his soul a battlefield, where the forces that wish this reconciliation fight those that do not and reject the alternative solutions they offer. Works of art are attempts to fight out this conflict in the imaginative world.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
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“I lay my eternal curse on whomsoever shall now or at any time hereafter make schoolbooks of my works and make me hated as Shakespeare is hated. My plays were not designed as instruments of torture. All the schools that lust after them get this answer, and will never get any other.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)