André Messager
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André Charles Prosper Messager (December 30, 1853 - 1929), French musician, was born at Montluçon.
[edit] Life and career
André Messager studied at Paris, and was for some time a pupil of Saint-Saëns at the École Niedermeyer. In 1874 he became organist at St Sulpice. In 1876, he won the gold medal of the Société des Compositeurs with a symphony. In 1880 he was appointed music director at Ste Marie-des-Batignolles.
Messager composed 45 works for the stage, of which eight were ballets. He also composed a symphony in 1875 and numerous songs and instrumental works. In 1883 he completed Firmin Bernicat's comic opera François des bas bleus; and in 1885 produced his own operettas, La Fauvette du temple and La Béarnaise, the latter being performed in London in 1886. His ballet Les Deux pigeons was produced at the Paris Opera in 1886.
Messager's comic opera La Basoche was produced in 1890 at the Opéra Comique in Paris (an English version was produced in London in 1891 by Richard D'Oyly Carte) and established his reputation. Subsequently, this was increased by such tuneful and tasteful light operas as Madame Chrysanthème (1893), Mirette (1894, produced by Carte at the Savoy Theatre), the successful Les p'tites Michu (1897) (which had a run of 401 performances at Daly's Theatre in London in 1905), and Véronique (1898, his most successful comic opera in England six years after its Paris opening (1904-05)). Véronique enjoyed a run of 496 performances on the West End. Also very successful was Monsieur Beaucaire (1919), which ran for 400 performances and was toured internationally. It is still performed reguarly in France.
Besides conducting for some years at the Opéra Comique in Paris, Messager's services were also secured in London in 1901 and later years as one of the directors of the Covent Garden opera.
Messager died in 1929 and was interred in the Passy Cemetery.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Wagstaff, John. "Andre Messager: A Bio-Biography" (Greenwood Press, 1991).
[edit] External link
| Preceded by: Georges Marty |
Principal conductors, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire 1908–1919 |
Succeeded by: Philippe Gaubert |
