Eugène Prévost (musician)

Eugène-Prosper Prévost (born April 23, 1809 in Paris , † August 19, 1872 in New Orleans ) was a French composer and conductor .

Life

Eugène Prévost was introduced to music by his older sister, the singer Geneviève-Aimée-Zoë Prévost . From 1827 he studied counterpoint at the Conservatoire de Paris with Daniel Jelensperger and Louis Seuriot and composition with Jean-François Lesueur . In 1831 he won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome with the two-part scene La Fuite de Bianca Capello based on a text by Amédée de Pastoret .

In the same year he married the singer Augustine Dejean-Leroy, who became known as Eléonore Colon , and went with her to Le Havre . After his stay in Rome in 1833 he made his debut as a composer with the world premiere of the buffo opera Cosimo ou le peintre badigeonneur in 1835 at the Opéra-Comique , where several other operas by him were performed until 1839.

In 1838 he was engaged as a conductor at the Théâtre Français in New Orleans, where he presented himself with a performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia . In addition to works by contemporary Italian and French composers such as Gaetano Donizetti and Daniel-François-Esprit Auber , he performed several of his own operas here. In 1841 he conducted several performances of the ballet La Sylphide by Philippe Tagioli with the dancer Fanny Elßler .

In the summer of 1843 Prévost undertook a tour of North America with his orchestra, which took him to New York, Philadelphia and Montreal. In 1845 he appeared again in New York, where he performed a Patriotic Cantata composed for the occasion and a National March on July 4th . Between 1850 and 1852 he conducted at the theater in The Hague.

In 1853, Prévost directed the world premiere of the opera David by Ernest Guiraud, who was fifteen at the time, in New Orleans . He wrote other compositions of his own, including a three-part oratorio, songs and piano pieces, and worked as a teacher; among others, Edmond Dédé studied counterpoint and harmony with him.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 Prévost returned to France, but gave a benefit concert for the city's musicians and artists in New Orleans in the summer of the following year. In 1864 he became director of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens founded by Offenbach , where he worked until 1867. In addition to several operettas by Offenbach, he also performed Léo Delibes ' Le Serpent à plumes . In addition, since 1864 he was the conductor of the Concerts des Champs-Élysées . In 1863 his opera L'Illustre Gaspard was performed at the Opéra-Comique.

At the end of 1867 Prévost went again to New Orleans, where he taught music and singing at the Locquet institution . It was here that his last opera Blanche et René was written in 1871 .

Prévost had three sons: Léon Prévost , who also became known as a composer, Toussaint, who became an internationally successful pianist under the name Théodore Ritter , and Eugène, who died in 1856 at the age of sixteen.

Works

• Cosimo ou le pater badigeonneur , Opéra buffe, 1835
• Les Pontons de Cadix , Opéra comique based on a libretto by Paul Duport and Jacques-François Ancelot , 1836
• La Esméralda opera in 4 acts after Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo , 1836
• Le Bon garçon , Opéra comique based on a libretto by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois , 1837
• La chaste Suzanne , Opera in 4 acts, 1839
• Cosimo , Opera, premiere 1839
• Oratorio in three parts: Josué , Patriotic Overture, L'Orléanaise , Mass, Te Deum
• La Marche du général Taylor , March for Piano, 1846
• The Departure of the volunteer, a national song for voice and piano, 1846
• L'Illustre Gaspard , Opera, 1863
• La Sensitive for piano, 1866
• Chant de fête de la Garde , cantata based on a text by Gustave Chouquet , 1867
• Blanche et René , Opéra comique based on a libretto by Louis Placide Canonge , 1871

Web links

• Entry on Prévost on the Musica et Memoriam website