Fayolles, Francois-Joseph-Marie

Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayolle received his first education in the Jesuit College of Jouy. The college set itself the task of raising the religious, spiritual and moral level of the French clergy, which was intended for young Francois. However, the turbulent events of the French Revolution undermined the authority of the church and after graduating from college, Francois enters the National School of Bridges and Roads . His future profession is an engineer, builder and supervisor of the construction of roads, bridges and canals and city planning. He receives knowledge in the fields of geometry, algebra, mechanics, hydraulics. After school, he becomes a student of the newly created Polytechnic School ^{[1] [2]} and has been studying higher mathematics for three years under the guidance of the leading teachers of the institute , Mr. Proni , Lagrange and Monge . Inspired by Lacroix, he prepares a number of mathematical publications, including on the mathematical theory of lotteries, but unexpectedly for Fayol’s mentors, his interest switches to the field of literature and poetry ^[3] .

Knowledge in the field of literature, Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayole received, according to the course of literature, Jean Pierre Louis de Fontana , at Mazarin College (College of the Four Nations) , read until the 18th year of Fructidore ^[4] . During this period of his life, he leaves his studies in mathematics, begins to write poetry and is engaged in translations.

Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayolle welcomed Napoleon's rise to power. At the end of his life, he dedicated a poem dedicated to the reburial of the ashes of the former emperor ^[5] .

Demonstrating a lively taste for poetry and probably not without the influence of Jean Pierre Louis de Fontana, he translated six of the twelve books of Aeneid . However, he suspended his work on the translation. This time, the reason for changing the subject of his work was the idea of ​​writing a historical musical dictionary. In addition to the translation of Virgil, he managed to release a poetry collection entitled “Four Seasons of Parnassus,” which appeared in sixteen volumes and was published from 1805 to 1809 and for six years has survived six editions. ^[6] . However, the subject of the collection was gradually changing. Over time, several musical articles were added, including composers' biographical information, information on which he gathered from the biographical dictionary of composers (Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler, German music theorist Johann Gottfried Walter , published back in 1732. Unfortunately, the translator hired by Fayole was not a musician and had poor knowledge of musical terminology, so the text contained many professional inaccuracies that Fayol did not correct ^[7] .

In 1809, he made a commitment to publishers to translate into French the popular in Europe Biographical Dictionary of composers and musicians of the German composer and musicologist Ernest Louis-Gerber , published since 1790 ^[8] , but the result was not limited to a simple translation.

In 1809, Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayol became aware that Alexander Coron , whom he had known at Jouy College and the Polytechnic School and was considered one of the “ most educated theorists France had ever known, ” collects material for his historical musical dictionary, and intends to publish his work.

At the end of 1809, Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayol turned to a classmate with a similar project to create a biographical dictionary of musicians and artists. The project involved "the creation, for the first time in our language, of a lifetime and compositions of famous musicians " ^[9] . Alexander Koron agreed to work together.

Soon, the health of Alexander Coron , as a result of excessive overstrain of numerous occupations, deteriorated and Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayolla fell most of the responsibility for the work and writing the text of the dictionary. He wrote most of the biographies, with the exception of the introduction and a very small number of articles. “This work became his, and it is to him that we owe our respect and gratitude,” wrote Alexander Koron in the lead to the dictionary ^[10] . As the basis of his articles, Fayolle still used the Ernest Louis-Gerber dictionary and some professional terminological errors migrated from his previous works ^[11] .

The first volume of the collection of Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayol and Alexander Coron appeared in 1810 under the title Historical Dictionary, musicians and artists, dead or alive , ^{[12] [13]} . The second volume was published in 1811. The copies dated 1817 are preserved, but they are former editions, with the changed frontispiece.

With a delicate musical taste, Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayolles takes music lessons from famous Parisian musicians. He studied harmony with the composer and musicologist François-Louis Perne , took lessons in violin and cello mastery from M. Barney - the author of many popular compositions of the time, a skilled instrumentalist and learned musicologist. Mr. Barney even dedicated one of his compositions for cello to him.

Along with the historical dictionary, Fayol decided to write the history of the violin and focused on collecting the works of all famous violinists, starting from Corelli, as well as related information. After extensive research, he began writing a book entitled “History of the violin” (“Histoire du violon”), which included notes on the most prominent violinists - virtuosos and composers, but managed to publish only a small part of his idea called “ Notes on Arcangelo Corelli , Giuseppe Tartini , Pierre Gavigne , Gaetano Pugnani and Viotti . " Paris, Dentou, 1810.

After the publication of his biographical dictionary, Fayol became famous in Europe. He received an invitation to visit England, where he went around 1815. He lived for a long time in London - until 1829, giving lessons in French literature and earning articles in London newspapers and magazines, including the fashion music magazine The Harmonicon . Returning to Paris, he continued to write musical literature. In 1830, he published a pamphlet entitled Paganini and Berio (Paganini et Bériot), which compared the performance of these two famous violinists, and provided sheet music and musicology information in addition to the 45-volume Biographie-universelle by Joseph Francois Michaud ^[14] . Several of his poetic works belong to the same period of life.

Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayolle died on February 12, 1852 in Paris.

• Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayolle was an avid collector. His collection of musical instruments and a library of musical literature were of great historical and scientific value. Among the collection items are the rarest instruments, including the vertical piano, Pfeiffer ^[15] , as well as the violin Andrea Amati , presented to him by I. Playel ^[16] .
• Among the large number of portraits of musicians that he collected, there were engraved by himself images of Jean-Baptiste Cartier, Niccolo Paganini and others. ^[17]

Fayol was a master of aphorisms. Several of his statements have reached our time.

• To foresee means to calculate the future to foresee - it means to act.
• Time does not regret what we did without it ^{[18] [19]} .

• Alexandre Étienne Choron, François Joseph M. Fayolle Dictionnaire historique des musiciens, artistes et amateurs morts ou vivans, 1810-1811, 2 t.
• http://archive.org/stream/biographieunive02pouggoog#page/n6/mode/2up/search/Fayolle FJ Fétis Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, Paris, Librairie de Fermin-Didot, 1881
• Nouvelle biographie générale: depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours , Paris, 1852-1866.
• Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne: histoire par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes - 1843, 2e édition en 45 volumes. M. Michaud .
• Riemann Musik-Lexikon . Leipzig, 1882.

• List of works by Francois-Joseph-Marie Fayol