1649–1726 · France · Baroque
Michel Farinel (1649–1726) was a French violinist and composer of the Baroque era, born in Grenoble into a family of musicians. He worked and performed in several European countries. He is best known for his variations on the folia theme, which in England came to be called “Faronell’s ground”. The site has his piece “5. Faronell's Division on a Ground” for solo violin, at beginner level.
The Farinels had been musicians for more than one generation. Michel’s grandfather Gabriel served as an esquire and died in 1596, probably of the plague. His son Robert, the future composer’s father, was steered towards music by an uncle and presented at the court of Savoy. From about 1635 to 1646 he served Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy, in Turin, alongside his brother Francesco, also a musician, who stayed at that court until the end of his life in 1674.
Between 1646 and 1649 Robert returned to Grenoble and married Charlotte Raymond, daughter of François Raymond La Violette, a minstrel from Lyon who had settled in Grenoble. Michel was born into this family on 23 May 1649; he also had a brother, Jean-Baptiste, who became a musician too, and a sister, Claude. The boy was baptised in Grenoble on the same day. By his own account he began composing at the age of 11 or 12. His father probably gave him his first music lessons.
In 1667, on the recommendation of Marshal of France César de Choiseul, Count du Plessis-Praslin, Farinel entered the household of Henrietta of England, wife of Philippe, Duke of Orléans. Between 1632 and 1635 Choiseul had been the king’s ambassador in Turin and could have met Robert there. In 1668 Michel moved into the service of the Chevalier Constantin-Ignace de Bouillon and travelled with him to Lisbon. On that journey he played his first compositions before Marie-Françoise of Savoy, Queen of Portugal. In 1670 Henrietta of England and the Chevalier de Bouillon died, and Farinel went back to Grenoble.
From 1669 to 1671 Farinel was maître de chapelle at the Royal Convent of Montfleury in Corenc, a suburb of Grenoble. It was a convent for women with a fairly relaxed rule, home to girls from the region’s noble families. In his autobiography he writes that he composed several preludes and symphonies there, but none of them survives. He was also choirmaster at the Abbey of Sainte-Cécile in Grenoble.
In 1672 Farinel returned to France from Rome, where he had studied composition with Giacomo Carissimi, and came to Paris. There he became close to Guillaume Dumanoir, first violinist of the ensemble called the Twenty-four Violins of the King (Vingt-quatre violons du roi), wrote music for him and became one of the group. During a journey with the court, a small Latin opera on the story of the chaste Joseph was performed at Dijon. Dumanoir entrusted him with business in Languedoc, first at Montpellier in 1673 and then at Nîmes on 21 January 1676. In those years Farinel also set to music psalms translated by Antoine Godeau.
In Montpellier Farinel became friends with an Irish aristocrat, William O’Brien, Lord Inchiquin. In 1675 Inchiquin invited him to London and recommended him to Charles II of England. The king took Farinel on as a court musician and gave him an allowance. In 1678 Farinel married Marie-Anne Cambert, daughter of the composer Robert Cambert, who had emigrated to London. He stayed in England for only three years.
Charles II recommended Farinel to his niece Marie Louise of Orléans, the daughter of Henrietta of England. She was about to leave for Madrid to marry King Charles II of Spain. In October 1678 Farinel returned to Paris with his wife and presented several of his compositions to the royal court. At the end of 1679 the couple set out for Spain.
In Spain, with the help of the Spanish ambassador Pablo Spinola, a company of 34 musicians was put together under Henry Guichard; it included the flautist Michel de La Barre. Farinel was responsible for composing all the music, symphonies and dances for the royal entertainments, and he was also to play and accompany on the harpsichord. His pay was 440 livres tournois. The company probably did not last beyond 1680. In Madrid Farinel was appointed maître de chapelle and ballet master to Marie Louise of Orléans, who by then had become Queen of Spain.
Perhaps at about this time Farinel entered the service of Francesco Maria Spinola (1659—1727), Duke of San Pietro, Prince of Molfetta and a grandee of Spain, who was Pablo Spinola’s son-in-law. He served him in Italy, but little is known about this episode of his life.
Later Farinel returned to Grenoble. In 1691 he bought the office of assessor in the Grenoble district, and in 1692 he became paymaster to the Parliament of Dauphiné. The purchase met with some opposition: how could an artist hold an administrative post? Farinel defended his appointment in several memoranda until the Parliament confirmed it. He held the post for many years without giving up his work as a composer.
In 1696 Farinel prepared the music for a collection of sacred verses by Henry Guichard, dedicated to the nuns of Montfleury. Both the music and the texts of this collection have been lost. In January 1697 he won a competition before the chapter of Saint-Étienne Cathedral in Toulouse and became head of its choir. Soon afterwards he asked for a month’s leave to have his music sung in Montpellier on the occasion of the Estates of Languedoc. On 14 December 1697 he gave up the Toulouse post in favour of the young Jean Gilles.
In 1703 Farinel was in Lyon. He left his wife a power of attorney to manage his affairs and, together with Auguste Tiffon, a Lyon burgher, and a Lyon dancing master, Nicolas Ranc, took over the operation of the opera privilege, each partner putting in 2000 livres. The partnership was meant to last until 1709, but business soon went badly and in April 1704 Farinel handed the management to Ranc. It is not clear which works were performed in the meantime.
Without giving up his Grenoble base, Farinel set out for Denmark: in his autobiography he mentions his friendship with the king’s brother, and perhaps he also hoped to find his brother Jean-Baptiste there. On the way in 1708 he stopped in Bern and Fribourg in Switzerland and in Landshut in Bavaria; he says he was very well received and that works written specially for the gentlemen of Bern were performed. His travels between 1670 and 1710 can be traced through the autobiography, which was considered lost until it was published in 1997.
In 1707 Farinel had his autobiography printed, a rare kind of document for a musician, and apparently put together a collection of his earlier works. After 1708 information about him becomes very sparse. He is known to have gone to law against his brother Jean-Baptiste over the repayment of a loan. His wife Marie-Anne died in 1724, and Farinel himself died in June 1726, aged 77.
Farinel came from a long line of French musicians and was a violinist and composer of the Baroque era. His life was spent on the move: Portugal, England, Spain, Italy, Paris, Toulouse, Lyon, Bern. His career was unsettled. He came from Grenoble and returned there more than once: after the deaths of his patrons, after service abroad and in his later years, when he bought an office in the local district.
Farinel is best known for his variations on the folia theme. In England they came to be called “Faronell’s ground” after they were printed under that title in 1685 in John Playford’s collection “The Division Violin”.
Part of what Farinel wrote has not survived. The preludes and symphonies he composed at the convent of Montfleury are lost. The music and the texts of the collection of sacred verses by Henry Guichard, for which he wrote music in 1696, are lost too. It is also known that a small Latin opera of his was performed at Dijon, that he set psalms translated by Antoine Godeau, and that in Madrid he was responsible for the music, symphonies and dances for the royal entertainments.
For the convent of Montfleury he composed preludes and symphonies; for the royal entertainments in Madrid, music, symphonies and dances, and he was also to play and accompany on the harpsichord. In Lyon he was involved in an opera venture. In Toulouse he led the cathedral choir, and in Bern, by his account, works written for the gentlemen of Bern were performed.
In his autobiography Farinel presented himself as the originator of many musical forms. He claimed that his choral serenade for the Queen came two years before Lully’s “Phaëton”, and that his preludes, sonatas, the folias of Spain and England and the pieces “Marianne”, “Dragonne”, “Daphné” and “Ismène” appeared before the works of Corelli.
The site has Farinel’s piece “5. Faronell's Division on a Ground” for solo violin; its level is given as beginner. It is a convenient way to get to know this composer’s music, since the site has nothing else by him at present.