Louis Emmanuel Jadin

From Wind Repertory Project
Louis Emmanuel Jadin

Biography

Louis Emmanuel Jadin (21 September 1768, Versaille, France - 11 April 1853, Montfort-l'Amaury, France) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He began his music study with his father, Jean B. Jadin, who taught him music fundamentals and violin. He continued his musical training by attending the royal choir school as a page in the household of Louis XVI; he later studied piano for a time with his younger brother, Hyacinthe Jadin.

Some of his early works were performed at the Concert Spirituel in 1788; he appeared there as a pianist the following year. For the next three years he was a keyboard player at the new Theâtre de Monsieur. During this period France was undergoing a political and social change, but the revolutionary leaders encouraged almost every type of music except the “aristocratic” opera. Robespierre especially realized the value of the gigantic band and choir festivals in building esprit de corps among the people. Jadin, along with François-Joseph Gossec, Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, Charles-Simon Catel, and other leading French composers, wrote music for wind band as well as for the more traditional instrumental, keyboard, and choral media.

In 1789, Bernard Sarrette assembled a highly select 45-member National Guard Band which became one of the great all-time bands. Jadin, impressed by the musicianship of the players (many of whom were virtuoso instrumentalists from the opera orchestras), joined the famous group in 1792 and composed many excellent pieces for various combinations of wind instruments—some of which have only recently been discovered. Jadin taught solfege at the Paris Conservatory from 1796 to 1798; from 1802 until 1816 he taught piano classes (succeeding his brother) and preparatory singing. Most of the other teachers at the conservatory (headed for a time by Sarrette) were former members of the National Guard Band. Jadin also began conducting the orchestra at the Theatre Moliere in 1806 and served as gouverneur des pages-master of the pages at the royal music chapel from 1814 until the Revolution of 1830

Jadin was a prolific composer. While at the Théâtre de Monsieur, he produced the comic opera Joconde (1790), followed by 37 others (mostly comic). Unfortunately, many of the scores have been lost. Other compositions include music for piano, organ, harp, and orchestra; a book of quintets for wind instruments and piano; masses, hymns, songs, canzonettas, romances, and numerous marches. Many vocal works have instrumental accompaniment; the Hymne à J. J. Rousseau is with wind band. Jadin’s orchestral overture La Bataille d’Austerlitz was extremely popular during the Napoleonic wars. His best-known compositions for band include: Symphonie in F, Overture in C, Marche, and Pas de Manoeuvre. All were written in 1794.


Works for Winds


Resources