François Devienne was the second-youngest of the fifteen children of Pierre Devienne, a saddler in Joinville (Haute-Marne, in eastern France); and the seventh child of Pierre’s second wife, Marie Petit.

Little is known about his childhood, and one can only assume that François Devienne was introduced to music by the organist of Joinville, a certain Morizot, perhaps supplemented by advice from one of his older brothers. In any case, he learnt singing, the flute and the bassoon. His father died in 1771.

In 1776, at the age of 17, François Devienne set off for Deux-Ponts (now Zweibrücken, in Germany), following in the footsteps of his brother François-Memmie, who had been a musician in the service of the Duke of Deux-Ponts for three years. He remained there until May 1778. It is thought that during these years he was active as a musician in military regiments, notably the Royal-Cravate cavalry regiment.

He left Deux-Ponts on 15 May 1778 to settle in Paris. He was appointed 5th bassoonist at the Paris Opera in 1779, a post he apparently held for only a year; but he used this time to perfect his flute playing under the Opera’s principal flutist, Félix Rault.

In 1780, Devienne entered the service of Cardinal de Rohan; the latter, Bishop of Strasbourg, who divided his time between his two castles in Saverne and Paris, was known for his loose morals and a feud with Queen Marie-Antoinette that would later lead to his downfall. Between 1780 and 1785, Devienne consolidated his position within the Parisian musical milieu. He joined the Freemasons and, as a result, became a member of the orchestra of the Société Olympique lodge (formerly the ‘Concert des Amateurs’), whose 25–30 annual concerts were reserved for Freemasons. In 1785, Devienne premiered his symphony concertante for flute and oboe there, alongside Debrun. At the same time, he began performing as a soloist at the Consert Spirituel: in December 1782, he premiered his first flute concerto there. In 1784, he also performed there as a bassoonist.

On 15 August 1785, the arrest of Cardinal de Rohan in connection with the Affair of the Queen’s Necklace dealt a serious blow to Devienne’s career. The cardinal’s musicians, including Devienne, were dismissed; the fact that this coincided with his final concert at the Concert Spirituel (1785) suggests that the cardinal’s support played a role in his public performances.

Between 1785 and 1788, information about Devienne is rather vague; it is thought that he was a member of the Swiss Guards at Versailles. However, it is certain that he returned to Paris in early 1789 to join the Théâtre de Monsieur (which would later become the Théâtre Feydeau) as second bassoonist, and then, in 1790, as principal bassoonist; he remained in this post until 1801. It is possible that, sensing the revolutionary events to come, Devienne chose to distance himself from royal service.

In April 1789, Devienne returned to the stage of the Concert Spirituel with his 4th Symphonie concertante; this was also when he married Mademoiselle Maillard.

In 1790, he had his first opéra comique, ‘Le Mariage clandestin’, performed at the Théâtre de Montansier; the following year, ‘Les Précieuses ridicules’; in 1792, “Encore des Savoyards”, and then, in the same year, the work that was to become his greatest success, “Les Visitandines”: its gently irreverent tone towards the religious order was very much in keeping with the revolutionary spirit of the time. It was performed 48 times in barely six months.

In late 1790, Devienne joined the National Guard; this marked a far more significant turning point than it might appear: his captain, Bernard Sarrette, and the lieutenant and master of music François-Joseph Gossec founded the Ecole libre de musique (officially in 1792, though in reality it had existed since 1790), which in 1793 became the Institut national de Musique, and finally, on 3 August 1795 (16 Thermidor Year III), the “Conservatoire de Musique”. Devienne, who had been involved in the initiative from the outset, was thus the first (or, in reality, one of the first) flute teachers at the Conservatoire.

In 1793, Devienne wrote and published his flute method, which enjoyed considerable success, as it was regularly updated and reprinted for the 4- or 6-key flute, and even for the Boehm flute – and also translated into German and published in Leipzig. No other method for the one-key flute survived into the era of the Boehm flute!

At the Conservatoire, Devienne was a ‘First-Class Professor’, but he was not the only one. His colleagues included Nicolas Duverger (who taught from 1795 to 1802), Antoine Hugot (1795–1803), Jacques Schneitzhoefer (1795–1802), and Jean-Georges Wunderlich (1795–1802 and 1793–1812). His prominent role is underlined by the fact that, as a co-administrator, he sat on the panel responsible for admitting new professors.

By 1799, it was becoming apparent that the excessive workload to which he was accustomed was taking its toll on his mental health and would lead to his insanity. In May 1803, Devienne was admitted to the Charenton asylum:

‘His mind became disturbed due to overwork, which eventually impaired his faculties; he remained for four months in the care of medical professionals,’ says one of his pupils, ‘who are devoting their full attention to curing him of a mental disorder that has degenerated into full-blown madness, caused by the various sorrows he experienced during the Revolution… ”

On 16 Fructidor, Year XI (or 3 September 1803), the first performance of the Symphonie Concertante for Two Flutes, Op. 76 No. 6, took place at the École royale de chant et de déclamation de Paris on Rue Bergère (the forerunner of the Conservatoire), two days before his death and in his absence. François Devienne died on 5 September “following a long illness which had ultimately impaired his mental faculties”.