Charles LEVENS 1689 – 1764 Born in Marseille in 1689, Charles Levens was early entrusted by his family to mastering the Cathedral of the Major (Marseille Cathedral) where he received a full education a church musician. Broken to the art of singing and continuo practice, initiated the play bassoon and bass viol, exercised musical composition by contact with the works of the masters. He left the Major in 1709. After a stay in Bordeaux - which corresponds to the time of his marriage to Jeanne Sauzea - Levens stays as a musician in Toulouse. When, in 1718, the Chapter of the Vannes Cathedral offers him the place of music master, he does not hesitate to leave for Britain where he remained until 1723. It was at that Vannes he befriends a former choirboys of Psallette, Nicolas Mahé, which he made his official copyist. Before leaving St. Peter Levens runs Te Deum to celebrate the coronation of Louis XV in 1722. It will be played later in 1789 in Bordeaux, after the death of Levens and the time of the announcement of decision Bastille as a notice of appeal to the divine clemency. Back in Toulouse, Levens took charge of the control of the St. Stephens Cathedral. His fame soon spread beyond church boundaries. When the city of Toulouse decided to inaugurate the academic year, in 1724, that is to Levens has the honor of writing the Cantata circumstance. In November 1738 Charles Levens accepted the position of music teacher at Psallette of Bordeaux Cathedral. He remained there until his death in 1764. His treatise entitled Compendium of rules of harmony ... on a new project without temperament music system with no moving strings, was published in 1743. By the originality of his intuition, Levens ranks among the authors whose research has been used to determine the stages of evolution of harmonic and tonal writing. When, after a long illness, Levens goes off March 11, 1764. A Requiem Mass was sung for the repose of the soul of Cantor of St. Andrew. Probably had to Mahe heart to honor the talent of his master and friend by directing one of the two Dead Masses of which he was the copyist.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 11:15:23 +0000
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