Jean-Baptiste Davaux

Successfully modest—insisting he was just an amateur—Jean-Baptiste Davaux achieved an enviable level of public popularity and critical acclaim in his lifetime. Born in 1742, he showed early promise as a violinist, and much of his output as a composer was of instrumental music (his two comic operas failed because of poor texts). He was considered one of the most accessible symphonists of his time, and his music was widely published across Europe. Writing in a straightforward manner, he had a gift for pithy, pleasing lyricism, and always ensured that his amateur chamber music was technically approachable. His symphonies concertantes offered greater opportunities for virtuosic display, but they were still less challenging than a full solo concerto. His popular G major Sinfonie concertante of 1794 was based on patriotic songs, including “La Marseillaise”. In later life he was the inventor of an early metronome, but seems to have given up composition a couple of decades before his death in 1822.