born Sept. 14, 1760, Florence
died March 15, 1842, Paris, France
Italian-French composer.
Born into a musical family, the precocious youth had written dozens of works before he was 20 years old. In 1786 he settled permanently in Paris. He enjoyed operatic successes in the 1790s, and Napoleon expressed his particular admiration. He became co-superintendent of the royal chapel in 1816 and in 1822 director of the Paris Conservatoire, where he would remain the rest of his life. Ludwig van Beethoven called Cherubini his greatest contemporary. His counterpoint text (1835) was used widely for a century. Of his nearly 40 operas, the most popular were Lodoïska (1791), Médée (1797), and Les Deux Journées (1800). His other important works include a symphony (1815), six string quartets, requiems in C minor and D minor (1816, 1836), and nine surviving masses.