SYMPOSIUM RECORDS CD 1418

OPÉRETTE by Alexis CHABRIER & André MESSAGER

Geori Boué

ALEXIS-EMMANUEL CHABRIER was born in 1841 at Ambert in the Auvergne, where his father was a lawyer. He started to study music at the age of six and compositions of that time survive. In 1852 the family moved to Clermont-Ferrand and in 1856 to Paris. It was the intention that he would follow his father into the legal profession. In 1861 he graduated in law and entered the civil service. However, music was his great interest; he studied, particularly, the music of Wagner, though without absorbing Wagner's aesthetics and philosophy, and as a pianist he was mentioned in the same breath as Rubinstein and Liszt. In Munich in 1879 he heard Tristan und Isolde and realised that he must give up his civil service position to immerse himself full-time in music. He moved in a circle of avant-garde musicians and painters which included Chausson, Degas, Fantin-Latour, Fauré, d'Indy and Manet. His knowledge of the music of Wagner led Charles Lamoureux to appoint him his assistant in preparing Wagner's scores for performance in Paris. Due to purely contingent circumstances his operas, Gwendoline and Le roi malgrée lui failed in Paris, but his friendship with the tenor van Dijk and the conductor Felix Mottl led to their success in Germany. The failure of his bank left him impoverished and his final years were saddened by ill-health. He died in 1894.

Roger Bourdin

André Charles Prosper Messager was born at Montluçon, Dept. Allier in 1853. His father was a well-to-do tax official. At a young age he started piano studies and at the age of seven he was sent to a Marist school as a boarder to continue them. A bank crash rendered further payments of fees impossible, but he was able to continue his studies in Paris at the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse on a bursary awarded to him by the director, Louis Niedermayer. Amongst his teachers were Gabriel Fauré and Eugène Gigout for composition. Subsequently he studied harmony and composition further with Saint-Saëns. In 1874 he succeeded Fauré as choirmaster at the Église Saint-Sulpice, bringing him into close contact with the organist and composer Charles-Marie Widor. In 1876 he won a prize for a symphony which was performed with considerable acclaim at the Concerts Châtelet under Édouard Colonne. His cantata Prométhée enchainé won him a further prize. In 1878 he travelled with Fauré to Germany to hear a wide range of Wagner's works. On his return he was appointed conductor of the Folies Bergère and began to compose stage works. Two years later he went to Brussels to direct the Théâtre Eden, but he returned next year to Paris as a church organist and choirmaster. His completion of Bernicat's François les Bas-bleus was his first work for the stage. He provided 12 numbers and all the orchestration. It was a great success in both Paris and London. His reputation was enhanced by the performance of his operetta La fauvette du temple in Paris in 1885. However, his ballet Les deux

pigeons, in which a tree is struck by lightning, was refused performance at the Opéra on account of the fire risk. However, his first great success was La Béarnaise performed in Paris in 1885 and in London, with a cast that included Marie Tempest, the following year. After several flops, La Basoche, in 1890, was a singular success in France as it was in England the following year in an English version by Sir Augustus Harris and Eugène Oudin. Madame Chrysanthème, the story reused by Puccini as Madama Butterfly, received mixed reviews. Despite this and other setbacks, his works were becoming recognised for their high standard of composition and melodic finesse, though critics complained of a certain lack of originality. Mirette, composed for the Savoy Theatre, London in 1894, was moderately successful, but Les Petites Michu (1897) and Véronique were highly praised in Paris and in London. Messager held various posts at the Opéra Comique and from 1901 to 1906 he was artistic director at Covent Garden. He was then co-. Director of the Paris Opéra with Bronssan.

Acknowledgements: Symposium Records thanks Paul Lewis and Adrian Tuddenham for assistance with the production. Copyright Notice: This digitally transferred compilation with its notes is copyright, it may not be broadcast, copied, hired out, publicly performed or stored in a retrieval system without written permission.

Lucien Fugère

SYMPOSIUM OPÉRETTE by Alexis CHABRIER & André MESSAGER 1418 L'ETOILE (1877) 1 Chanson des Employés de Commerce L. THELIN, J. MATTIO, R. BONNEVAL et Alban DERROJA CPT 5654-1 2 Rondeau du Colporteur FANÉLY REVOIL CPT 5583-1 3 Romance de L'Étoile FANÉLY REVOIL CPT 5582-1 4 Couplets du Pal René HERENT, avec chœurs CPT 5613-1 5 Couplet du mari Fanély REVOIL CPT 5584-1 6 Quatuor des Baisers Fanély REVOIL, Lucie THELIN, Jeanne MATTIO et René BONNEVAL CPT 5609-1 7 Couplets de Laoula Lucie THELIN CPT 5585-1 8 Couplets de Laoula:"Tous deux assis dans le bateau" L. THELIN, J. MATTIO, R. HERENT, R. BONNEVAL et chœurs CPT 5614-1 9 Couplets de l'éternuement Fanély REVOIL CPT 5585-1 10 Duetto de la Charmeuse Verte René HERENT et André BALBON CPT 5655-1 11 Couplet d'Alous Fanély REVOIL, Jeanne MATTIO, Lucie THELIN CPT 5610-1 12 Couplet de la Rose Lucie THELIN CPT 5584-1

acc. par L'Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique sous la dir. de Roger DÉSORMIÈRES

13 Isoline (1888) Je suis jolie Yvonne Brothier 0W 1471-2 14 La Basoche (1890) Ah ton amour simple Pierre Deldi CL 4268-1 15 Quand tu connaitras Colette David Devriès 46 c.1904 16 Elles m'aime Lucien Fugère L 2022 13/14 IV 28 17 Trop lourd est le poids L 2023 18 Véronique (1898) Couplets de Floristan:Une grisette Mignonne Louis Dupouy 14500u 24 III 09 19 Couplets de la Lettre:Adieu, je pars 14470u 15 III 09 20 Duetto de l'âne:De ci, de lá Geori Boué et Roger Bourdin I-117 21 Petite Dinde, ah quel outrage Maggie Teyte GA4931-VD 1932 22 Ma fois, pour venir de Provence 23 Fortunio (1907) La Chanson de Fortunio Si vous croyez Chanté par LEÏLA BEN SEDIRA de l’Opéra-Comique P 77594 BP 1565 24 L’Amour Masqué (1923) J’ai deux amants; Viens s'il est vrai P 75687 AP 584 Mlle. SUZANNE-MARIE BERTIN du Trianon Lyrique Au Piano Pleyel : JEAN DOYEN 25 De l’Opérette filmée L’amour est un oiseau rebelle Chanté par Mlle. Marie Berzia P 76025 AP 820 26 “PASSIONNÉMENT” Vous avez comblé ma patronne Chanté par Mlle. Marie Berzia P 76026-1 AP 820 27 (Messager) Passionnément (Valse) Chanté par Louis ARNOULT de l’Opéra-Comique P 76027 AP 821 28 (PARAMOUNT) Duetto du Contrat Chanté par KOVAL et Louis ARNOULT P 76028-1 AP 821 29 (1926) Lunettes bleues & Perruque blanche Chanté par KOVAL et Mlle. Suzanne-Marie Bertin 30 Si l’Amérique… Chanté par KOVAL P 76029 AP 822 31 Quand on a bu….. Chanté par KOVAL des Bouffes-Parisiens P 76030 AP 822

Avec accomp. d’Orchestre Ultraphone – dir. Maurice ANDRÉ

AUTHENTIC TRANSFER PROCESS

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