Bochsa, Charles 1787-1856

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, (born August 9, 1789 in Montmédy, Meuse, France, died January 6, 1856 in Sydney, Australia) was a musician and composer.

The son of a musician, he was able to play the flute and piano by the age of seven. In 1807 he went to study in the Paris Conservatoires. He was appointed harpist to the Imperial Orchestra in 1813, and began writing operas for the Opéra-Comique. However, in 1817 he became entangled in counterfeiting, fraud, and forgery, and fled to London to avoid prosecution. He was convicted in absentia, and sentenced to branding and hard labour.

Safe from French law in London, he helped found the Royal Academy of Music in 1821, and became the director; however, he was forced to resign in 1826 when his criminal conviction was revealed. He then became Musical Director of the Kings Theatre in London. In 1839 he became involved in another scandal when he ran off with the opera singer Anna Riviere-Bishop, who was wife of the composer Henry Rowley Bishop. They performed together in America, Australia, and throughout Europe (except France). They arrived in Sydney with the gold rush in December, 1855 and gave only one concert before Bochsa died. Bishop was heartbroken and commissioned an elaborate tomb for him consisting of a figure (symbolising Anna) lying at the base of a tree with a harp laying against it in Camperdown cemetery, Sydney.

Operatic Compositions

• Le retour de Trajan, ou, Rome triomphante
• Les Héritiers Michau ou le Moulin de Lieursain
• L'Héritier de Paimpol
• Le Roi et la Ligue
• Les Noces de Gamache
• La lettre de change (English: The Promissory Note ; German: Der Wechselbrief )
• Un Mari pour étrennes

Bibliography

• Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, harpiste, compositeur, escroc by Michel Faul (editions Delatour France, 2003)
• Les tribulations mexicaines de Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, harpiste by Michel Faul (editions Delatour France, 2006)

These 2 books are presented on http://bochsa.site.voila.fr