JEAN-BAPTISTE DAVAUX AND HIS SYMPHONIES CONCERTANTES

The term symphonie concertante refers to a multi-movement orchestral work of symphonic genre for two or more solo instruments and an orchestra. The symphonie concertante emerged in Paris around 1770, and during first two decade of its existence the genre was primarily a French one. This genre flourished during the second half of the eighteenth century and satisfied the public demand for solo instruments in the symphonies as well as the growing taste for virtuosity that audiences favored. The earliest composers were Mannheimers and Parisians, and the first symphonies concertantes published were mostly by French composers. The principal Parisian symphonie concertante composers were Giovanni Guiseppe Cambini, Jean-Baptiste Davaux, François Devienne, François-Joseph Gossec, Ignace Pleyel and Chevalier Joseph de Saint-Georges. Jean-Baptiste Davaux (1742-1822), a native of La Cote-St André, was first in popularity during the 1770s and 1780s. His earliest work dates from about 1772 and his reputation grew immeasurably during the years followed. Davaux’s fame persisted well into the nineteenth-century because of his symphonie