Jacques Marnier Companie

Jacques Marnier Companie (1730s-1785) was a French court composer of the 18th century.

Biography

Known by his contemporaries as "Jacques Marnier Companie, 'Le Grand'" he was rediscovered in the 1930s by violinist, Fritz Kreisler, and briefly popularized. His marches, suites de dances, and festive music made an impression on the famous violinist who arranged several Companie works for violin and piano. A study of two manuscript correspondence fragments and of the watermarks in the extant manuscripts raises the possibility that Companie may have lived and worked in Amsterdam c. 1760-1770. Amsterdam was the home base of the 'Maid of Dort' watermark throughout the 18th century,and Churchill's "Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France etc., in the XVII and XVIII centuries and their interconnection" records images of the watermark found in both known "Suite de Dances" mentioned in the correspondence.

His known works have been catalogued by Bernhard Schattenfreunde and are numbered as B.S.V. (Bernard Schattenfreunde Verzeichnis). Works include: "Débâcle idiot de bureau d'affaires" [B.S.Verzeichnis 12] "Air sur sonner dans mon oreille" [B.S.V. 27] , "Menuet composé tout en attendant pour faire pipi" [B.S.V. 42] .

Well known for his "sonates par le peigne" (sonatas with the comb).

Prof. Alexander Rehding of Harvard University has suggested that Companie may have performed in recital with Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges who is sometimes referred to as "Le Mozart Noir." Boulogne (1739-1799) was born in Guadeloupe to a slave and a French colonialist, and as such, apparently had early training on the makeshift comb instruments which were a standard parts of the musical life on plantations. It is likely that it was Boulogne who introduced the instrument to Companie. A recently discovered diary includes an account of the two musicians performing together on the unusual instruments and records a comic advertisement for the 1778 recital as "Le Peigne, ça vaut la peine."

The incidental music to Companie's pastoral ballet "Motdeloen en Guadaloupe" [pronounced Mow-Da-Lawn] remains only in fragmentary sketches. His first and only opera, "Un Oef est Un Oef" was tragically lost in the Covent Garden fire of 1808.

Music critic, Lloyd Schwartz (Boston Phoenix) commented in a July, 2008 interview that he thought the Boston Early Music Festival would do well to perform a reconstruction of "Motdeloen" based on the available sources.