Rodolphe, Jean Joseph (actually, Johann Joseph Rudolph)
Rodolphe, Jean Joseph (actually, Johann Joseph Rudolph)
Rodolphe, Jean Joseph (actually, Johann Joseph Rudolph) , Alsatian horn player, violinist, and composer; b. Strasbourg, Oct. 14, 1730; d. Paris, Aug. 12?, 1812. He studied horn with his father, Theodor Peter Rudolph, and took violin lessons with J.M. Leclair (c.1745); was also a violinist in Bordeaux and Montpellier. He was in Parma as a violinist in the ducal orch. by 1754, where he received instruction in counterpoint from Traetta (from 1758). As a chamber virtuoso, became a member of the Stuttgart Court Orch. (c.1760), where he completed his studies with Jommelli. With the choreographer J.G. Noverre, he brought out several ballets. He appeared in Paris as a horn virtuoso at the Concert Spirituel in 1764, but continued to work in Stuttgart until returning to Paris in 1767 as a member of Prince Conti’s orch.; became a violinist and hornist in the Opéra orch. and later was active at the royal chapel. He befriended the young Mozart during the latter’s visit to Paris in 1778. From 1784 until the Revolution, Rodolphe taught composition at the École Royale de Chant et de Déclamation; later was prof. of solfège at the Paris Cons. (1798–1802). He publ. Solfège ou Nouvelle méthode de musique (Paris, 1784; 2nd ed., rev., 1790) and Théorie d’accompagnement et de composition (Paris, c. 1785).
Works
DRAMATIC : Opera : Le Mariage par capitulation, opéra-comique (Paris, Dec. 3, 1764); L’Aveugle de Palmire, opéracomique (Paris, March 5, 1767); Isménor, opéra-ballet (Versailles, Nov. 17, 1773). Ballet : Renaud et Armide (Stuttgart, Feb. 11, 1761); Psyche et l’Amour (Stuttgart, Feb. 11, 1762); Médée et Jason (Ludwigsburg, Feb. 11, 1763; rev. by Noverre, Paris, Jan. 30, 1780); Apollon et Daphne (Kassel, c.1764; in collaboration with Délier); Télèphe et Isménie ou La Mort d’Eurite (Kassel, 1768; in collaboration with Deller); Apelle et Campaspe (Paris, Oct. 1, 1776). INSTRUMENTAL : 2 horn concertos; 24 fanfares for 3 Horns; 3 sets of violin duos; 2 sets of violin études.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire