Étienne Méhul
Étienne Nicolas Méhul (French: [meyl]; 22 June 1763 – 18 October 1817) was a French composer, "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution." He was also the first composer to be called a "Romantic".
Life
Méhul was born at Givet in Ardennes to Jean-François Méhul, a wine merchant, and his wife Marie-Cécile (née Keuly). His first music lessons came from a blind local organist, but he had innate aptitude and was sent to study with a German musician and organist, Wilhelm Hanser, at the monastery of Lavaldieu, a few miles from Givet. Here Méhul developed his lifelong love of flowers.
In 1778 or 1779 he went to Paris and began to study with Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, a harpsichord player and friend of Méhul's idol Christoph Willibald von Gluck. Méhul's first published composition was a book of piano pieces in 1783. He also arranged airs from popular operas and by the late 1780s he had begun to think about an operatic career for himself.
In 1787, the writer Valadier offered Méhul one of his libretti, Cora, which had been rejected by Gluck in 1785. The Académie royale de musique (the Paris Opéra) put Méhul's work, under the title Alonzo et Cora, into rehearsal in June 1789. However, the rehearsals were abandoned on 8 August, probably because the Opéra had been suffering severe financial difficulties throughout the 1780s, and the opera was not premiered until 1791. In the meantime, Méhul found an ideal collaborator in the librettist François-Benoît Hoffman, who provided the words to the first of Méhul's operas to be performed, Euphrosine. Its premiere in 1790 was an immense success and marked the composer out as a new talent. It was also the start of his long relationship with the Comédie Italienne theatre (soon to be renamed the Opéra-Comique).
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Think
by: MammalHeh - Yeah, I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking two more years of this,
I’m gonna chuck it in and move to an easier place,
You're thinking two dollars a litre doesn't really look
that far away,
And you're thinking as you look at your ring finger,
Hmm, was that really the right decision?
Hell yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking if I'd been given the chance to express
myself,
Develop my inner guru,
Then I could be that gorgeous, tanned, blonde 19 year
old,
Pouring sickly black holy water down my throat,
Right now, in digital widescreen perfection!
I know what you're thinking!
They don't want you thinking!
And I know what you're thinking!
I know what you're thinking!
They don't want you thinking!
But I know what you're thinking!
(So think!)
Yeah, I know what you're thinking.
I know what you're thinking, you're thinking,
Blah blah another newspaper headline,
I know what you're thinking, you're thinking,
Oh if I’d had a little more time,
I know what you're thinking, you're thinking,
If I could read I’d make sense of that sign.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, i know what you're thinkin',
You're thinking if he said yes and we said no,
And they went and did it anyway,
We must have no choice at all right?
Well you're wrong,
You gotta soup it up and walk tall, yeah,
You wanna get there?
It's just not working is it?
Well, we know what you're thinking!
You try to hide your eyes,
Make light of all the lies,
But I know,
Just what you're thinking,
You come and tie your ties,
And run away from surprise,
I know what you're thinking!
Yeah I know what you're thinking!
I know what you're thinking,
You're thinking this looks just as bad here in the shop
as it did in the catalogue,
As you look in your wallet and realise you've been
ripped off and you like it,
I know what you're thinking; you're thinking oh no, not
me, not ever,
Oh yeah? I know what you're thinking!
You try to hide your eyes,
Make light of all the lies,
But I know,
Just what you're thinking,
You come to tie your ties,
And run away from surprise,
I know what you're thinking!
Yeah I know what you're thinking!
You're thinking one more day of this,
And I'm gonna break,
Bust out and make a mistake I could regret for the rest
of my life!
Aaaaaaagh!
I don't know what I'm thinking!
I don't know what I'm thinking!
You try to hide your eyes,
Make light of all the lies,
But I know,
Just what you're thinking,
You come to tie your ties,
And run away from surprise,
I know what you're thinking!
Yeah I know what you're thinking!
I know what you're thinking,
(Fight back, think that, fight back)
I know what you're thinking,
(Fight back, think that, fight back)
Yeah I know what you're thinking,
You're thinking you're a mouse click,
A drag and a piece of autotune away from being a pop