(b Bescançon, bap. 13 March 1700; d Paris, 28 Oct 1768). French flautist and composer. He rose to an unrivalled position in Parisian musical life, widely admired for his tone and technique, and played often at the Concert Spirituel. Later he also served the Count of Clermont and played in the Musique du Roi and at the Opéra. Many Italian features appear in his compositions, which include 12 flute sonatas and six flute duets (1728-40), concertos, arrangements for teaching, and four stage works; the pasticcio Le jaloux corrigé (1752) was the first work with recitative of the Italian type instead of the French.
The foremost flutist of the mid eighteenth century, Michel Blavet mastered his primary instrument and the bassoon without any formal instruction. In the employ of Duke Charles-Eugène Lévis, Blavet moved to Paris in 1723. Within three years, he made his debut at the Concert Spirituel, where during the next quarter century he would appear more often than any other soloist. Acclaimed for his singing tone and brilliant technique, Blavet drew praise from Telemann, Quantz, and even Voltaire. His sometime performing partner Jean-Marie Leclair probably wrote his flute concerto and nine flute sonatas especially for Blavet. Blavet was a composer himself, noted mainly for his flute sonatas, which developed from the French violin sonata style. His first works bear some resemblance to Corelli's chamber sonatas, but his later sonatas take up the new galant style. His sole surviving flute concerto, though, smacks of Vivaldi in the outer movements. Several of Blavet's sonatas were openly pedagogical, his Recueils de pièces surveying a variety of styles at varying levels of difficulty. Blavet also wrote several songs and four major stage works, the latter for private performance at the chateau of the Count of Clermont. Blavet jettisoned the arioso recitative that had been de rigeur in French music since Lully, adopting a more Italianate manner and thus taking the Italian side in the famous Querelle des bouffons. ~ James Reel, All Music Guide
Michel Blavet (March 13, 1700 – October 28, 1768) was a French flutevirtuoso.
Blavet was born in Besançon, France. Although Blavet taught himself to play almost every instrument, he specialized in the flute (which he held to the left, the opposite of how most flutists hold theirs today) and bassoon.
The son of a wood turner, Blavet was famous for maintaining impeccable intonation, even when he played in difficult keys, and for the beauty of his tone.
By the time he was forty years old, Blavet had been both the principal flute in both Louis XV's personal musical ensemble, the Musique du Roi, and the Paris Opera orchestra. Blavet turned down a post in Frederick the Great's court (which Quantz eventually accepted after the pay had been increased significantly).
Blavet wrote primarily for the flute; his surviving works include a concerto and three books of sonatas. All of his works are written only in the easiest keys, since he wrote them for amateurs to play.
