Pierre Gaveaux

Pierre Gaveaux (6 October 1760 – 5 February 1825) was a French operatic tenor and composer, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini’s Médée and for composing Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal, the first operatic version of the story that later found fame as Fidelio. Early life Gaveaux was born in Béziers and sang in the cathedral choir there from the age of seven. Although intending to enter the priesthood, he also took lessons in composition. He next became first tenor at the Basilica of Saint-Seurin in Bordeaux, studying with Franz Ignaz Beck, and subsequently decided to follow a career in music, becoming a conductor at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux as well as continuing to sing. Career as a singer After a period in Montpellier, he moved to Paris where, on 26 January 1789, he took part in a performance of Giacomo Tritto’s Le Avventure Amorose, which marked the inauguration of the Théâtre de Monsieur company in the Salle des Machines at the Tuileries Palace. He subsequently performed with the company in operas such as Paisiello’s L’Infante de Zamora (in 1789), and on 18 July 1791 he sang the role of Floresky in the première of Cherubini’s Lodoïska. When the company moved to