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{{Short description|Italian composer (1760–1842)}}
{{for|the Italian footballer|Luigi Cherubini (footballer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox classical composer
| name          = Luigi Cherubini
| image         = Image:Portrait of Cherubini.jpg
| caption       = Portrait of Cherubini with a bust of his mentor [[Giuseppe Sarti]] (1792)
| birth_name    = Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini
| birth_place   = [[Florence]], Grand Duchy of Tuscany
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1760|09|08|df=y}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1842|03|15|1760|09|08|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Paris]], France
| era           = Classical, Romantic
}}

'''Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɛr|ʊ|ˈ|b|iː|n|i}} {{respell|KERR|uu|BEE|nee}}; {{IPA|it|luˈiːdʒi keruˈbiːni|lang}}; 8 or 14 September<ref name="Sadie p. 833">Willis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833</ref> 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] and [[Romantic music|Romantic]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Luigi-Cherubini|title = Luigi Cherubini &#124; Biography, Compositions, & Facts &#124; Britannica| date=10 September 2023 }}</ref><ref>"There are clearly Romantic characteristics in his opera [[Médée (Cherubini)|Médée]], e.g. in many daring harmonic progressions." Sohlmans Musiklexikon</ref> composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] regarded Cherubini as the greatest living composer of his era. Cherubini's operas were heavily praised and interpreted by [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]].<ref>Holden, p. 174</ref>

==Early years==
Cherubini was born '''Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini''' in [[Florence]] in 1760. There is uncertainty about his date of birth. Although 14 September is sometimes stated, evidence from baptismal records and Cherubini himself suggests the 8th is correct. Perhaps the strongest evidence is his first name, Maria, which is traditional for a child born on 8 September, the feast-day of the Nativity of the Virgin.<ref name=" Sadie p. 833"/> His instruction in music began at the age of six with his father, Bartolomeo, ''maestro al cembalo'' ("Master of the [[harpsichord]]", in other words, ensemble leader from the harpsichord). Considered a [[child prodigy]], Cherubini studied [[counterpoint]] and dramatic style at an early age. By the time he was thirteen, he had composed several religious works.

==Adulthood and first operas==
In 1780, he was awarded a scholarship by the [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Grand Duke of Tuscany]] to study music in [[Bologna]] and [[Milan]].<ref name="Sadie p. 833"/> Cherubini's early ''[[opere serie]]'' used libretti by [[Apostolo Zeno]], [[Metastasio]] (Pietro Trapassi), and others that adhered closely to standard dramatic conventions. His music was strongly influenced by [[Niccolò Jommelli]], [[Tommaso Traetta]], and [[Antonio Sacchini]], who were the leading Italian composers of the day. The first of his two comic works, ''Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna,'' premiered at a [[Venice|Venetian]] theatre in November 1783.<ref name="Sadie p. 833"/>

Feeling constrained by Italian traditions and eager to experiment, Cherubini travelled to London in 1785, where he produced two ''opere serie'' and an ''opera buffa'' for the [[Her Majesty's Theatre|King's Theatre]]. In the same year, he made an excursion to Paris with his friend, the violinist [[Giovanni Battista Viotti]], who presented him to [[Marie Antoinette]] and Parisian society. Cherubini received an important commission to write ''[[Démophoon]]'' to a French libretto by [[Jean-François Marmontel]] that would be his first ''[[tragédie en musique]].'' Except for a brief return trip to London and to [[Turin]] for an ''opera seria'' commissioned by King [[Victor Amadeus III]], Cherubini spent the rest of his life in France<ref name="Sadie p. 833"/> where he was initiated into [[Grand Orient de France]] "Saint-Jean de Palestine" Masonic Lodge in 1784.

==French assimilation==
[[Image:Medea Cherubini titelblad.jpg|thumb|Title page of the first edition of Cherubini's ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Médée]]'', full score, 1797]]

Cherubini adopted the French version of his name, '''Marie-Louis-Charles-Zénobi-Salvador Cherubini'''; this appears in ''all'' extant documents that show his full name after 1790,<ref name="Sadie p. 833"/> though his Italian name is now favoured. Performances of ''Démophoon'' were favourably received at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1788. With Viotti's help, the [[Théâtre de Monsieur]] in the [[Tuileries]] appointed Cherubini as its director in 1789. Three years later, after a move to the rue Feydeau and the fall of the monarchy, the company became known as the Théâtre Feydeau. This position gave Cherubini the opportunity to read countless libretti and choose one that best suited his temperament.

Cherubini's music began to show more originality and daring. His first major success was ''[[Lodoïska]]'' (1791), which was admired for its realistic heroism. This was followed by ''[[Eliza (Cherubini)|Elisa]]'' (1794), set in the [[Swiss Alps]], and ''[[Medea (opera)|Médée]]'' (1797), Cherubini's best-known work. ''[[Les deux journées]]'' (1800), in which Cherubini simplified his style, was a popular success. These and other operas were premièred at the Théâtre Feydeau or the Opéra-Comique. Feeling financially secure, he married Anne Cécile Tourette in 1794 and began a family of three children.

The fallout from the [[French Revolution]] affected Cherubini until the end of his life. Politics forced him to hide his connections with the former aristocracy and seek governmental appointments. Although [[Napoleon]] found him too complex, Cherubini wrote at least one patriotic work per year for more than a decade.<ref name="Sadie p. 833"/> He was appointed Napoleon's director of music in [[Vienna]] for part of 1805 and 1806, whereupon he conducted several of his works in that city.

In 1808 Cherubini was elected an associated member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|Royal Institute of the Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00004598 |title=Marie Louis Charles Zenobie Salvator Cherubini (1760 - 1842) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=5 October 2016}}</ref>

==From opera to church music==
[[File:Ingres cherubini.JPG|thumb|right|[[Luigi Cherubini and the Muse of Lyric Poetry|Portrait]] by [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]]. The crowning Muse displeased Cherubini and is blacked out in some copies.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}]]
After ''Les deux journées'', Parisian audiences began to favour younger composers such as [[François-Adrien Boieldieu|Boieldieu]]. Cherubini's opera-ballet ''[[Anacréon (Cherubini)|Anacréon]]'' was an outright failure and most stage works after it did not achieve success. ''[[Faniska]]'', produced in 1806, was an exception, receiving an enthusiastic response, in particular by [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and Beethoven. ''[[Les Abencérages]]'' (1813), an heroic drama set in Spain during the last days of the [[Moors|Moorish]] kingdom of [[Granada]], was Cherubini's attempt to compete with [[Gaspare Spontini|Spontini]]'s ''[[La vestale]]''; it received critical praise but few performances.

Disappointed with his lack of acclaim in the theatre, Cherubini turned increasingly to church music, writing seven [[mass (music)|masses]], two [[requiems]], and many shorter pieces. During this period (under the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|restored monarchy]]), he was appointed ''Surintendant de la Musique du Roi'', a position he would hold until the fall of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] (1830). In 1815, London's [[Royal Philharmonic Society]] commissioned him to write a symphony, an overture, and a composition for chorus and orchestra, the performances of which he went especially to London to conduct, increasing his fame.

Cherubini's [[Requiem in C minor (Cherubini)|Requiem in C minor]] (1816), commemorating the anniversary of the execution of King [[Louis XVI]], was a huge success. The work was greatly admired by Beethoven, [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]] and [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]. In 1836, Cherubini wrote a Requiem in D minor to be performed at his own funeral. It is for a male choir only, as the religious authorities had criticised his use of female voices in the earlier work.

==Later years and legacy==
[[File:Luigi Cherubini2.png|thumb|left|upright|Luigi Cherubini in old age wearing a [[Légion d'Honneur]] medal, lithograph by Marie Alexandre Alophe]]

In 1822, Cherubini became director of the [[Conservatoire de Paris|Conservatoire]] and completed his textbook, ''Cours de contrepoint et de fugue'', in 1835.<ref>{{cite book | last=Fend | first=Michael | title=Oxford Music Online | chapter=Cherubini, Luigi | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=2001 | isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 | doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.53110 | url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/documentID/omo-9781561592630-e-0000053110 | access-date=2025-08-18 | page=}}</ref> His role at the Conservatoire brought him into conflict with the young [[Hector Berlioz]], who portrayed the old composer in his memoirs as a crotchety pedant. Some critics, such as Basil Deane, maintain that Berlioz's depiction has distorted Cherubini's image in posterity.<ref>Deane, Basil. ''Cherubini''. Oxford Studies of Composers. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.</ref> There are many allusions to Cherubini's personal irritability among his contemporaries; [[Adolphe Adam]] wrote, "some maintain his temper was very even, because he was always angry". Nevertheless, Cherubini had many friends, including [[Maria Agata Szymanowska|Szymanowska]], [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] and, above all, the artist [[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres]]. The two had mutual interests: Cherubini was a keen amateur painter, and Ingres enjoyed practising the violin. In 1841, Ingres produced the most celebrated portrait of the old composer.<ref>Tinterow, Gary, and Geneviève Lacambre. ''Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch''. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Portraits_by_Ingres_Image_of_an_Epoch</ref>

Although chamber music does not make up a large portion of his output, what he did write was important. [[Wilhelm Altmann]], writing in his ''Handbuch für Streichquartettspieler'' (''Handbook for String Quartet Players'') about Cherubini's six string quartets, stated that they are first-rate and regarded Nos. 1 and 3 as masterworks. His String Quintet for two violins, viola and two cellos is also considered a first-rate work.

[[File:The grave of Cherubini, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.jpg|thumb|upright|The grave of Cherubini, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, with sculpture by [[Augustin-Alexandre Dumont|Augustin Dumont]]]]
During his lifetime, Cherubini received France's highest and most prestigious honours. These included the ''Chevalier de la [[Légion d'honneur]]'' (1814) and ''Membre de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts'' (1815).<ref>Dufourcq, Norbert. ''La musique à la cour de Louis XVIII et Charles X''. Paris: Picard, 1970.</ref> In 1841, he was made ''Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur'', the first musician to receive that title.<ref>Willis, in Sadie (ed.), p. 834</ref>

Cherubini died in Paris in 1842 at age 81 and is buried at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], just four metres from his friend Chopin. His tomb was designed by the architect [[Achille-François-René Leclère|Achille Leclère]] and includes a figure by the sculptor [[Augustin-Alexandre Dumont]] representing "Music" crowning a bust of the composer with a wreath.

==Works==

===Orchestral music===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|rules=yes}}
* [[Overture in G major (Cherubini)|Overture in G]] (1815)
* Symphony in D major (1815)
* Marche funèbre (1820)
{{Div col end}}

===Chamber music===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|rules=yes}}
* String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat (1814)
* String Quartet No. 2 in C (1829) - transcription of Symphony in D major with new second movement
* String Quartet No. 3 in D minor (1834)
* String Quartet No. 4 in E (1835)
* String Quartet No. 5 in F (1835)
* String Quartet No. 6 in A minor (1837)
* String Quintet (2 violins, viola, 2 cellos) in E minor (1837)
{{Div col end}}

===Masses and sections of the Mass===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|rules=yes}}
* Five masses (written 1773–1776, lost)
* ''Messe solennelle brève'' in B-flat (1805, dubious)
* Credo ''a capella'' for eight voices and organ (1806)
* Mass in A for three voices (1809, dubious)
* ''Messe de Chimay'' in F (1809)
* {{ill|Messe solenelle No. 2 (Cherubini)|de|Missa solemnis d-Moll (Cherubini)|lt=''Messe solenelle'' No. 2}} in D minor (1811) ''per il [[Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy|Principe Esterházy]]''
* Mass (4th messe solennelle) in C (1816)
* Credo in D (1816)
* [[Requiem in C minor (Cherubini)|Requiem in C minor]] for mixed chorus (1816) in memory of Louis XVI
* ''Missa solemnis'' in E (1818)
* Mass in G (1819) for the Coronation of Louis XVIII
* Mass in B-flat (1821, dubious)
* ''Messe solennelle'' in A for the [[Coronation of Charles X of France]] (1825)
* Requiem in D minor for male chorus (1836) written for his own funeral<ref>Deane p. 30</ref>
{{Div col end}}

===Motets and other choral works===
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|rules=yes}}
* Cantata ''Amphion'' (1786)
* Cantata ''Circé'' (premiered 1789)
* ''Trois chœrs'': Incidental music for the play ''La Mort de Mirabeau'' by [[Jean-Baptiste Pujoulx]] (1791)
* Cantata ''Clytemnestra'' (1794)
* Cantata ''Hymne au printemps'' ("Hymn to Spring") (1815)
* ''Hymne du Panthéon'' (1794) <ref>''Hymne du Panthéon: Grand Chœur à la gloire des martyrs de la liberté et de ses défenseurs'', lyrics by [[Joseph Chénier|Marie-Joseph Chénier]], composed in 1794 in to celebrate Marat's death (Cf. ''Cherubini'' in Dictionnaire de la musique, by Gérard Pernon, page 57).</ref>
* 38 motets
{{Div col end}}

===Operas===
* See [[List of operas by Luigi Cherubini]]

=== Teaching manuals ===
* ''[[iarchive:treatiseoncounte002279mbp|A treatise on counterpoint and fugue]]'' (1841)

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Altmann, Wilhelm, ''Handbuch für Streichquartettspielers'', Amsterdam: Hinrichtshofen, 1972
* Cherubini, Luigi (with [[Fromental Halévy]], ''Cours de contrepoint et de fugue'', Paris: M. Schlesinger, 1835 OCLC 11909698
* Deane, Basil, ''Cherubini'' (Oxford Studies of Composers, 1965)
* Cobbett, W.W. (Ed.), ''Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music'', Oxford University Press, 1963.
* [[Amanda Holden (writer)|Holden, Amanda]] (Ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. {{ISBN|0-14-029312-4}}.
* [[Stephen Willis (musicologist)|Willis, Stephen C.]], "Cherubini, (Maria) Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore)" in Sadie, Stanley (Ed.), ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Vol. 1, A-D,  New York: MacMillan, 1994. {{ISBN|0-935859-92-6}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03648a.htm Entry for Luigi Cherubini in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'']
* [http://www.editionsilvertrust.com/music-c-to-d.htm Luigi Cherubini String Quartet Nos.1 & 3,  and String Quintet--sound-bites and discussion of works]
* {{IMSLP|id=Cherubini, Luigi|cname=Luigi Cherubini}}
* {{ChoralWiki}}

{{Luigi Cherubini}}
{{Classical period (music)}}
{{Romanticism}}
{{Romantic music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherubini, Luigi}}
[[Category:1760 births]]
[[Category:1842 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian male musicians]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:Catholic liturgical composers]]
[[Category:Italian classical composers of church music]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris]]
[[Category:Directors of the Conservatoire de Paris]]
[[Category:Italian Classical-period composers]]
[[Category:Italian music theorists]]
[[Category:Italian opera composers]]
[[Category:Italian male opera composers]]
[[Category:Italian string quartet composers]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Composers from Florence]]