Luigi Cherubini
Early Romantic · 1760–1842
Luigi Cherubini was born in Florence in 1760 but made his life in Paris, arriving before the Revolution and staying on through republic, empire, and restored monarchy. He wrote operas for the city's theaters and then, for two decades, ran the Paris Conservatoire, training a generation of French musicians and earning a reputation as a strict, exacting director.
Beethoven admired him openly, naming Cherubini among the living composers he valued most. Cherubini's own reputation later faded, and his opera Médée, about the terrible revenge of Medea, sat in obscurity until Maria Callas took up its title role in the 1950s and put it back on stage.
Médée is the boldest way in. For his church music, try the Requiem in C minor, a dark, dramatic setting with no vocal soloists at all, just chorus and orchestra.
45 works in the catalog, across 5 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- 6 Pas redoublés and 2 marches for Prussian Regiment, for trumpet, 3 horns and trombone
- Horn Sonata in F
- Horn Sonata no. 1 in F
- Horn Sonata no. 2 in F
- String Quartet no. 1 in E flat major
- String Quartet no. 2 in C
- String Quartet no. 3 in D minor
- String Quartet no. 4 in E
- String Quartet no. 5 in F
- String Quartet no. 6 in A minor
Keyboard
- Caprice ou etude, for piano
- Sonata for 2 Organs
Orchestral
- Funeral March
- Sonata no. 2 in F for Horn and Strings
- Symphony in D
Stage
- Médée Opera
- Anacréon ou L'amour fugitif
- Démophoon
- Faniska Opera
- Les Abencérages ou Létendard de Grenade
- Les Deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau Opera
- Lodoïska
- Lo sposo di tre, marito di nessuna
Vocal
- Requiem Mass no. 1 in C minor
- 11 Pieces for Royal Chapel, for chorus and orchestra
- Amphion, cantata
- Ave Maria
- Chant sur la mort de Haydn, for soprano, 2 tenors and orchestra
- Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn, for soprano, 2 tenors, and orchestra
- Circe, cantata
- Clytemnestre, cantata
- Duetto 2: La mia Fille, il mio bel foco, for 2 voices
- Duetto 3: Dite almeno, amiche fronde, for 2 voices
- Duetto 4: Ahi, ch'e il suon del rio che frange, for 2 voices
- Hymne et march funébre, for chorus and orchestra
- Hymne à la Victoire, for 4 voices
- In Paradisum, antiphon for chorus
- La mort de Mirabeau, cantata
- Mass no. 2 in D minor, "Messe Messe Solemnis"
- Mass no. 10 in B flat major, for chorus, "Missa Solemnis"
- Mass no. 11 in A major, for chorus and orchestra, "For the Coronation of Charles X"
- Requiem Mass no. 2 in D minor
- Requiem no. 1, for chorus and orchestra in C minor
- Sciant gentes
- Solitario bosco ombroso, nocturne for 2 voices and piano
Related composers
Keep a listening journal.
Opus is free on the App Store.
