Cambert, Robert

1628-1677

Originator of French opera and a great composer and organist. Was born in Paris, and was the first Frenchman to write operas in the French vernacular, in imitation of Peri and Caccini, who wrote Eurydice. He was regarded as the best of the French composers until the intrigues of Lully destroyed his position at the French court. He was a pupil of Chambonnieres, with whom he studied the clavichord, and later he became the organist at the Church of St. Honore, Paris. His work in imitation of Peri's opera was La Pastorale, written at the suggestion of Abbe Perrin, and performed for the first time, in 1659, at the Chateau D'Issy and afterwards repeated by command of Louis XIV. at the palace. In 1666 he was appointed superintendent of the music of Queen Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV. He became associated with Abbe Perrin, who had secured a patent giving him the right to perform opera, and for thirty-two years they were associated in the enterprise. After being driven from France by Lully, he settled in London, but his residence there was not wholly pleasant or satisfactory and the failure of his works there is believed to have hastened his death. While in England he became master of music to Charles II. Among his works are the operas La Pastorale; Adonis, which was written in 1662; Ariane, produced in 1667; and Pomona, a pastoral. The score of Adonis was lost, and was never performed. "Lully's jealousy of Cambert," says Grove, "Implies that he (Cambert) was a formidable rival." Cambert died in London.