The Fantaisie et variations sur l'air de la Molinara – Nel cor più non mi sento, pour cor et pianoforte, by Buziau and A. de Garaudé, was first published by Garaudé's own music publishing house.
The title page reads:
…A. de Garaudé – membre de l'École royale de musique et de la chapelle du Roi
Alexis de Garaudé (b. 21 March 1779 in Nancy – d. 23 March 1852 in Paris) belonged to the nobility, as his father served as a councillor at the Parlement of Nancy. He initially pursued music only as part of a general education, but these plans were thwarted by the Revolution, and he turned to music to earn his living. Not long afterward, he moved to Paris to take up serious music studies. He was a pupil of Cambini and later of Reicha (harmony and composition), as well as of Crescentini and Garat (singing).
In 1808 he became a singer at the Opéra – a position he lost when the company was reorganised after the Revolution of 1830. In 1816 he was appointed teacher of vocalisation and solfège at the Conservatoire, where he proved an outstanding teacher and remained until his retirement in 1841. During this time he was promoted to professor of a singing class (1835), served as a member of the Comité d'enseignement (1837–1839), and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour – an award rarely granted to artists of the time.
Alexis de Garaudé was one of the foremost representatives of the French romance. He was also a celebrated singing teacher and an unrivalled master of the solfège: his solfège exercises are still used, and still reprinted, in French music education today. Besides his musical activities, he ran a music publishing house and tried his hand as a writer and music critic; he is also the author of the texts to some of his own romances. His only opera, La lyre enchantée, was never staged, though it was performed by Nourrit, Mme Albert, and Mlle Grassari.
The horn player Buziau was presumably consulted by Garaudé for this work. Unfortunately, the editor was unable to find any further biographical information about Buziau.
