François Devienne
François Devienne was born on 31 January 1759 in Joinville (Haute-Marne), the fourteenth and last child of a dealer in saddlery goods. At the age of ten, as a choirboy at Saint-Laurent, he wrote a mass. Devienne became proficient on all instruments, chiefly the flute and the bassoon. Somewhat later he was in the service of Cardinal de Rohan, as he himself attests in the dedication of his Op. 5. From 1784 he was a musician with the Loge Olympique, where he became familiar with Haydn’s symphonies, and until 1788 he served with the Swiss Guard.
The young flutist and composer performed at the Concert Spirituel from 1782. On 24 December 1785 a Concerto de cor de chasse was heard there, played by Jean Lebrun. Together with the musicians Hugot and Lefebvre, he performed his Symphonie concertante pour flûte, clarinette et basson on 4 May 1787. The following year Heinrich Domnich played a Concerto de cor (15 March) and Perret a Concerto de basson (8 December). On 28 January 1789 Devienne joined the Théâtre de Monsieur as principal bassoonist and remained there until his death. It was a brilliant and happy period for him: he was a highly sought-after teacher, a celebrated virtuoso and a composer of chamber music.
From 1791 he belonged, with the rank of sergeant, to the band of the National Guard. When it became the Institut national de musique, he was appointed a teacher there. Together with Gossec and Catel he took part in the great public celebrations and composed for them, besides numerous patriotic hymns, symphonic works. The most famous of these is La Bataille de Jemmappes, a pictorial piece celebrating Dumouriez’s victory (1792). As administrator and inspector of the Institut, Devienne was appointed professor of the first class for flute when the institution was renamed the Conservatoire de musique in 1795. He held this post as far as his health allowed. He died on 6 September 1803 in the asylum at Charenton.
Sinfonie concertante in F major for Horn and Bassoon
In 1785 the Paris publisher Imbault issued the Sinfonie concertante pour Cor et Basson. The title page bears the note “Executée au Concert de la Reine et au Concert Spirituel / par LeBrun et Devienne”. The Concert Spirituel took place in Paris on 13 March 1785. The performers were Devienne himself on bassoon and the hornist Jean Lebrun (1759–1809), who later went to Berlin as principal horn. Lebrun had studied horn with Giovanni Punto and Jean Joseph Rodolphe.
The concerto was apparently repeated on 29 April 1785. It was heard again on 14/15 April 1786 with Lebrun and the bassoonist Ozi, and probably also on 6 April 1790.