Français**
The son of Louis Touchemoulin, a professional oboist, and of Jeanne Roulot, he was baptised the same day at St George's Parish Church. The family lived at the corner of Rue aux Fèvres and Rue des Cloutiers.
In his early youth, he took up a position as a violinist at the court of the Archbishop and Elector Clemens August of Bavaria, in Bonn. The young musician appears to have attracted the attention of the art-loving Elector who sent him to Italy to further his studies with Giuseppe Tartini. There, he was encouraged by the great italian master to develop his talents as a composer.
Touchemoulin must have returned to Bonn in 1753, and in 1760 he was appointed Kapellmeister. In obtaining this post he was preferred to another applicant, the singer Ludwig van Beethoven, grandfather of the famous composer and also a member of the court's musical establishment. After the death of Clemens August in 1761, he was offered the position of violinist, composer and music director at the court of the Princes of Thurn & Taxis, in Regensburg (Bavaria), and this employment he retained until his death in 1801.
In 2004, Patrick Ayrton and Ars Burgundiae were able to establish for the first time that Touchemoulin was a native of Burgundy. They set out to rediscover the composer and his music.
An abundant correspondence reveals that he had two brothers, both musicians - Claude worked in Cologne for several years before joining their elder brother Guillaume in Santo Domingo.
In a letter sent from Bonn, on the 25th of April 1761, Joseph Touchemoulin mentions that he had spent some time in Paris, where his symphonies and concertos had earned him some acclaim. However, his career in France was cut short by his appointment in Bonn.
Unfortunately, as far as we know, none of the scores published in Touchemoulin's lifetime has survived, though most of his compositions can be found today as manuscripts in various European and American libraries. The largest collection remains in the possession of the Thurn & Taxis library in Regensburg.
The only
works currently available in a modern edition are the flute
concerto and one symphony, but there is a wealth of music
still to be discovered. So far, we have identified:
• sixteen symphonies
• five violin concertos
• one harpsichord concerto
• one flute concerto
• one divertimento
• one string quartet
• four sonatas for violin and continuo
• one opera: Orlando Furioso
• one mass
• one requiem and a number of instrumental and vocal
pieces.
Every
new discovery confirms that Touchemoulin's music is of a
consistently high standard.
Here is how the French
musicologist Gilles Cantagrel expresses his enthusiasm :
"With the
elegant and charming music of this Burgundian, we already
have a foretaste of Mozart"