Eugène Grangé

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Portrait of Grangés
Caricature by Lhéritier

Eugène Grangé , actually Pierre-Eugène Basté (born December 16, 1810 in Paris , † March 1, 1887 ibid), was a French playwright, librettist and chansonnier.

biography

After attending the École Mutuelle , he completed his schooling at the Collége Charlemagne . His parents wanted him to work at a bank, whereas he found a career as a writer more desirable. That's why he wrote libretti at the age of 16, which were then performed in the small theaters on the Boulevard du Temple . He used his first name Eugene as a pseudonym for this. Especially in the Théâtre des Funambules and the Spectacle de Madame Saqui, his pieces became popular with audiences. Copyright was still a long way off and he was only paid per act for his pieces, which was then paid for.

One day Madame Saqui invited him for a small lunch and at the end of the meal she suggested that he write for her only. For this he should receive a fixed salary and an additional bonus for each act. Grangé accepted, and within a year or two he was the lead writer of the Théâtre Saqui.

But Grangé had bigger ambitions and he wrote, together with the vaudevillist Lubize , a three-act play, Le Gamin , for the new Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques , with which he was able to celebrate a great success, now under his full stage name. Grangés vaudevilles were in great demand and many houses, such as the Théâtre des Variétés or Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique , fought for their vaudevilles.

But Grangé was also known as a chansonnier. The new management of the Théâtre du Palais-Royal , which had successfully performed one of Grangés, Alfred Delacour's and Lambert-Thiboust's plays ( Le Punch Grassot ) for the reopening, celebrated this with a dinner with the three artists at Le Brébant . Grangé then performed one of his chansons for dessert. The dinner was now repeated every month as the dinner des Gnoufs-Gnoufs , in the tradition of the goguettes , and the celebrants, including Grangé, wrote chansons for the occasion.

Louis François Clairville, who happened to be present at a lecture by Grangé, was very impressed and invited him to dinner at the legendary Société du Caveau . On his debut, he performed his song, composed for the occasion, le Clé du Caveau . To great applause, chairman Louis Protat offered him membership, which Grangé gladly accepted. In the following years, Grangé himself was elected chairman, seven times in total, until 1880.

Grangé, who suffered from asthma for many years, died of an asthma attack at the age of 77.

Work (excerpt)

Grangé's work was diverse. In addition to vaudevilles, he created dramas and comic operas. Except for a few, his chansons have not survived

  • Le Gamin , with Lubize, 1833 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques
  • Les Petits souliers, ou la Prison de Saint-Crépin , with Adolphe d'Ennery, 1836 at the Théâtre du Panthéon
  • Gras et maigre , with Adolphe d'Ennery, 1838 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
  • Les bohémiens de Paris , with Adolphe d'Ennery , 1843 at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique
  • Fualdès , with Charles Dupeuty , 1848 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté
  • Les sept merveilles du monde , with Adolphe d'Ennery, 1853 in the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin
  • Le punch Grassot , with Alfred Delacour and Lambert-Thiboust, 1858 in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
  • Mémoires de Mimi-Bamboche , with Lambert-Thiboust, 1860 in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
  • Une paire de soeurs , with Louis François Clairville, 1865 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
  • La cocotte aux oeuf [sic] d'or , with Victor Koning and Louis François Clairville, 1872 at the Théâtre des Menus-Plaisirs

literature

  • La Chanson: revue mensuelle: Galerie des Chansonniers: Eugène Grangé , January 1, 1880, p. 1f., Digitized

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary in Le Matin : La mort d'Eugène Grangé , edition of March 2, 1887, p. 2, digitized , accessed on July 24, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Grangé, Eugène
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Basté, Pierre-Eugène (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French librettist, playwright and chansonnier
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1887
Place of death Paris