Scan 126
The New Grove Dictionary Of Music And Musicians 5 Ed. 2nd, 1904
61 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1He appeared with Guignon and Blavet at the Concert Spirituel in 1738, 1739 and 1742. The Mercure de France of 1 June 1738 compared Cupis favourably with his contemporaries, predicting that his playing would unite the tenderness and feeling of Leclair with the fire and brilliance of Guignon. Cupis contributed to the evolution of violin playing through his use of 8th position, fourth-finger extensions and new bowing methods with extended phrases on a single bow. His violin sonatas (with one exception) each contain four movements, a slow movement followed by three faster ones. The allegro movements are characteristically monothematic and careful attention to dynamic nuance is evident throughout. The first sonata of op.2 contains the famous 'menuet de Cupis'.
3Numerous anecdotes concerning his horsemanship exist in private journals, he assumed his father's title of écuyer until he was made a baron in 1773. He retired to Montreuil where he spent the rest of his life growing peaches
5WORKS
6(all published in Paris)
76 sonates, vn, bc, op 1 (1738)
87 sonates, vn, bc, op 2 (before 1742), menuet from sonata no 1 pubd in numerous 18th-century anthologies
96 symphonia a 4 parties, op 3 ('1742-5)
11(4) François Cupis [le jeune] [Cupis de Renoussard] (b Paris, 10 Nov 1732; d Paris, 13 Oct 1808). Cellist, composer and teacher, youngest son of (1) Ferdinand-Joseph Cupis. He was apparently a wild youth. In 1751 when he was a cello student under Bertea at the Collège des Quatre Nations, his parents petitioned to have him arrested for stealing linen from his father and selling it, and in 1759 action was again brought against him (and his brother Charles, a horn player and ordinaire of the Académie Royale de Musique) for habitual drunkenness. But he became a creditable cellist and composer
13According to Spectacles de Paris Cupis was a member of the Concert Spirituel orchestra, 1764-71 and 1774-7, and a member of the Académie Royal de Musique orchestra, 1767-70. In 1770 two Cupis were listed as cellists, 'l'aîné' and 'le cadet', but only one appears on the registers of 1771 and 1772; Cupis signed a renunciation of the theatre on 3 November 1770 (drawn up by his parish priest) in order to marry, so could not be the Cupis named on the post-1770 lists. On the 1773 dedication on his op.5 duos he is described as 'professeur de violoncelle'
15WORKS
16(all published in Paris)
176 sonates, vc, b, op 1 (c1761)
186 duos, 2 vc, op 2 (c1767), lost
196 duos, 2 vc, op 3 (c1770)
20[3] Duos, 2 vc, op 5 (1773), nos 1 and 3 also for vn, vc
21Concerto, D, vc, orch (1783)
222 concertos, vc (n d), lost, cited in FétisB and GerberNL
23Numerous pieces in 18th-century anthologies
25EDITIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS
26Recueil d'airs choisis des meilleurs auteurs, vc (1761)
27Air de l'Aveugle de Palmire, et Menuet de Fischer, 2 vc (c1784)
28• Recueil de petits airs variés et dialogués, 2 vc, op 9 (c1800), ?same as Petits airs variés cited in FétisB
29Lost works Recueil de jolis airs, vc (1761), Ariettes d'Opéra-comiques, 2 vc (1777); Petits airs, 2 vc (c1778), Airs de Marlborough et de Lindor avec variations, vc, orch ad hb (1783)
31METHODS
32Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée pour apprendre à jouer du violoncelle (Paris, 1772)
33Méthode d'alto précédé d'un abrégé des principes de musique de différents airs nouveaux dont plusieurs avec variations et terminée par un long caprice ou étude (Paris, 1803)
35BIBLIOGRAPHY
36FétisB
37Spectacles de Paris (1766 77) [esp 'Eloge historique de Mademoiselle de Camargo', 1771]
38Revue rétrospective ou Bibliothèque historique, 1 (1833), 401ff
39A Jal Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d'histoire (Paris, 2/1872), 307f
40T de LaJarte Bibliothèque musicale du théâtre de l'Opéra (Paris, 1876)
41F Campardon L'Académie royale de musique au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1884), 1, 1571
42A Pougim Pierre Jelyotte et les chanteurs de son temps (Paris, 1905), chap 6, 122ff one of two readings
43A Pougin Pierre Jelyotte et les chanteurs de son temps (Paris, 1905), chap 6, 122ff one of two readings
44G Letanturier-Fradin La Camargo, 1710-1770 (Paris, 1908/R1973)
45I. de La Laurencie L'école française de violon de Lully à Viotti (Paris, 1922 4/R1971), 11, 78ff
46L Vallas Un siècle de musique et de théâtre a Lyon 1688-1789 (Lyons, 1932)
47E J F Barbier Journal historique et anecdotique du règne de Louis XV (Paris, 1947), 1, 3511
48N Dufourcq 'Nouvelles de la cour et de la ville (1734 1738)', RMFC, x (1970), 103
49J Gribenski 'Cupis', MGG
51JULIE ANNE VERTREES
52Cupo (lt. 'gloomy', 'dejected', 'sepulchral', 'hollow') A direction used particularly by Verdi both in instrumental parts and in vocal parts at moments of extreme quietness Cupo ed allargando also appears
54Cuppi [Cuppis] de Camargo. See CUPIS DE CAMARGO family
56Curioni, Alberico (b Milan, 1785. d Torno, March 1875) Italian tenor. The early years of his career were spent in Naples, where he sang in the first performance of Rossini's La gazetta in 1816. In the following year he appeared at La Scala, and in June 1818 he sang in the special performances of La gazza ladra in Pesaro (inaugurating the rebuilt opera house), rehearsed by Rossini himself. In 1821 he was engaged at the King's Theatre, London, he returned there frequently during the next 12 seasons. He sang in La clemenza di Tito and Cosi fan tutte, in several Rossini operas (including Otello) and in Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto. He created the part of Orombello in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda at La Fenice, Venice, on 16 March 1833. He also sang Pollione in Norma in Venice with Pasta, in Bologna with Giuditta Grisi and in London with Giulia Grisi. one of two readings
57Curioni, Alberico (b Milan, 1785. d Torno, March 1875) Italian tenor The early years of his career were spent in Naples, where he sang in the first performance of Rossini's La gazetta in 1816. In the following year he appeared at La Scala, and in June 1818 he sang in the special performances of La gazza ladra in Pesaro (inaugurating the rebuilt opera house), rehearsed by Rossini himself. In 1821 he was engaged at the King's Theatre, London, he returned there frequently during the next 12 seasons. He sang in La clemenza di Tito and Cosi fan tutte, in several Rossini operas (including Otello) and in Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto. He created the part of Orombello in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda at La Fenice, Venice, on 16 March 1833. He also sang Pollione in Norma in Venice with Pasta, in Bologna with Giuditta Grisi and in London with Giulia Grisi. one of two readings
59ELIZABETH FORBES
60Curioni, Rosa (fl 1753 62). Italian mezzo-soprano. She sang in Perez's Merope and Latilla's Antigona at Modena in 1753 and in Cocchi's Antigono at Bergamo in 1754. That autumn she was engaged as seconda donna for the King's Theatre in London and made her début on 9 November in Ipermestra by Lampugnani and Hasse. She remained for two seasons, singing in Italian and English works. She specialized in male roles, playing the Emperor Valentiniano in Hasse's Ezio in 1755. The part of Lysander in J. C. Smith's The Fairies (Drury Lane, 3 February 1755) was written for her, but sung by Guadagni; she did however create Ferdinand in Smith's second Shakespeare opera, The Tempest, at the same theatre on 11 February 1756. She sang in oratorios under Handel at Covent Garden in the early months of 1756, appearing in Athalia, Israel in Egypt, Deborah, Judas Maccabaeus (Israelite Man), Jephtha (Storge) and Messiah. Her name in the Tenbury score of Messiah has sometimes been mistaken for Cuzzoni's. She sang the title role in Tractta's Didone abbandonata at Venice in 1757. She was back in London for the 1761-2 season; the libretto of the pasticcio Alessandro nell'Indie de-
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