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Alexandre Batta
Alexandre Batta
	Portrait by Ernest Meissonier, 1855
Born	July 9, 1816; Maastricht, Netherlands
Died	August 10, 1902 (aged 86); Versailles, France
Education	Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Occupation	Cellist
Honours	Knight of the Legion of Honour

Alexandre Batta (July 9, 1816 – August 10, 1902) was a Dutch cellist. Born to a musical family, he initially played the violin before hearing cellist Nicolas-Joseph Platel play and switching to the cello. He studied with Platel at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, winning first prize for cello in 1834. Music critic Henri-Louis Blanchard, writing in 1847, described Batta as one of the three great cellists of the time, alongside Auguste Franchomme and Adrien-François Servais. Batta was named a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1875.

Life

Alexandre Batta was born on July 9, 1816, to a Belgian musical family^[1] in Maastricht.^[2] His father, Pierre, was a cellist.^[3] He had two younger brothers: Laurent, a pianist, and Joseph, a composer and violinist.^[4] Batta initially studied the violin and his youngest brother was to study the cello. However, Alexandre developed a passion for the cello after he heard Nicolas-Joseph Platel play. When his father left the house, he secretly played his brother's cello with his violin bow, convincing his father to allow him to study the instrument.^[1]

Batta was taught by his father^[3] before he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Platel. There, he won the first prize for cello in 1834 alongside François de Munck.^[3] Batta left the Conservatory in 1835 and moved to Paris.^[1] In 1836, he bought a Stradivarius from a French dealer.^[5] The cello would later be named for him.^[6] In 1837, he played in a series of chamber concerts with Franz Liszt and Chrétien Urhan at the Salons Érard.^[7] The concerts included the Beethoven piano trios and were successful, influencing French composers.^[8] Batta played with Liszt again in 1840 in London and in 1841 in Paris.^[4] In 1847, Henri-Louis Blanchard described him as one of the three great cellists of the time, alongside Auguste Franchomme and Adrien-François Servais.^[9] From around 1849 to 1851, he participated in chamber music sessions with Achille Dien, a violinist, and Camille Saint-Saëns, who wrote an unfinished piano trio that may have been for the trio.^[10]

In his later years, Batta published musical criticisms in L'Union libérale et démocratique de Seine et Oise.^[4] In August 1875, he was named a knight of the Legion of Honour.^[11] His wife Clémentine, a composer, died of an illness in 1880.^[12] In 1893, he sold his Stradivarius to W. E. Hill & Sons.^[5] Batta died in Versailles^[2] on August 10, 1902.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Batta (Frères)". Annuaire dramatique (in French). Librairie Belge-Français. 1840. pp. 198–201.
^ ^a ^b "Nécrologie: Alexandre Batta". L'Art Moderne (in French). Vol. 22, no. 43. October 26, 1902. p. 358.
^ ^a ^b ^c Riemann, Hugo (1908). "Batta". Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Music. Translated by J.S. Shedlock. p. 61. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Haine, Malou (1995). "Franz Liszt à Alexandre Batta". 400 lettres de musiciens au Musée royal de Mariemont (in French). Mardaga. p. 179.
^ ^a ^b Trowell, T. Arnold W. (October 1905). "Celebrated Violoncellos: Their Past and Present Owners". The Strad. Vol. 16, no. 186. p. 177. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
^ "Antonio Stradivari | The Batta-Piatigorsky Violoncello". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
^ Gooley, Dana (2004). "Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso as Strategist". In Weber, William (ed.). The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700–1914. Indiana University Press. pp. 147–148.
^ Fauquet, Joël-Marie (2004). "Chamber Music in France from Luigi Cherubini to Claude Debussy". In Hefling, Stephen (ed.). Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music. Routledge Studies in Musical Genres. Translated by Hefling, Stephen; Marley, Patricia (2nd ed.). Routledge. ProQuest 2131013133.
^ Ruhlmann, Sophie (1997). "August Franchomme: Portrait d'un jeune virtuose sous le règne de Louis-Phillippe aux heures de la suprématie de l'art lyrique. Paradoxes et évolution d'une carrière". In Penesco, Anne (ed.). Défense et illustration de la virtuosité (in French). Presses universitaires de Lyon. p. 136.
^ Strasser, Michael (September 2022). "Saint-Saëns's Works for Violin and Piano". Music Library Association Notes. 79 (1): 117–118. ProQuest 2706454989.
^ Pougin, Arthur (1878). "Batta (Alexandre)". Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique (in French). Vol. 9. Firmin Didot. p. 53.
^ "Nouvelles" [News]. Revue du monde musical et dramatique (in French). Vol. 3, no. 4. January 24, 1880. pp. 63–64. Retrieved November 24, 2024.