Gaston Serpette

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Gaston Serpette

Henri Charles Antoine Gaston Serpette (born November 4, 1846 in Nantes , † November 4, 1904 in Paris ) was a French composer , critic and conductor .

biography

As the son of an industrialist Henri Serpette (1821-1887) and his wife Amélie Thomas (1823-1893) Serpette first studied law. In 1868, however, he began to study music at the Conservatoire de Paris . Until 1871 he was in Ambroise Thomas's composition class and studied harmony with Jules Duprato . In the same year he won the Prix ​​de Rome with the cantata Jeanne d'Arc , for which Jules Barbier wrote the libretto. The cantata was also premiered in the same year at the Opéra de Paris .

Serpette immediately turned away from serious music during his stay in Rome and composed his first operetta, La Branche cassée . This operetta was premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in 1874 after Adolphe Jaime and Jules Noriac had written the libretti . This change to the light muse was viewed with incomprehension in specialist circles.

The English-language premiere of La Branche cassée also took place in London in 1874 at the Opéra Comique , under the direction of Richard D'Oyly Carte . Works of the same genre followed in quick succession. The play La petite muette even made it to the 5th Avenue Theater in New York for five performances . However, Serpette was very successful with his pieces in Paris, but it turned out that they were not suitable for London and New York due to their structure and piquant plot.

Despite Serpette's successes, the English critic Andrew Lamb was convinced that his craftsmanship was behind composers such as Robert Planquette , Edmond Audran and André Messager . Also Serpette 1892 delivered a public debate in the English and French press, including the English composer Edward Solomon about the quality of French operetta, the score transmission of the English as a botch ( botching hereinafter). Serpette took the practicable view that if the Parisian and London audiences were so different, the pieces would have to be drastically rewritten. It was foreseeable that the composers would never agree to this, or that the organizers would not agree to it. Just like the suggestion that the French composers and librettists would write everything in English, in a way that was adapted to London conditions.

In addition to his work as a composer, he also worked as a music critic, including for the Gil Blas . He also conducted several of his operettas. Between 1874 and 1900 Serpette composed over 25 full-length and seven short operettas. He also composed songs and salon pieces for the piano.

For several years he worked as a conductor at the Palace Theater in London, and from 1898, when he was made Knight of the Legion of Honor , in Algiers . From there he had to return to Paris to have his heart disease, from which he died, cured.

Operettas

  • La branche cassée , libretto by Adolphe Jaime (1824–1901) and Jules Noriac , WP 1874
  • Le manoir du Pic-Tordu Libretto by Albert de Saint-Albin (1843–1901), 1875
  • Le moulin du vert-galant , libretto by Eugène Grangé (1810–1887), 1876
  • La petite muette , libretto by Paul Ferrier , 1877
  • Rothomago joint composition with Edward Solomon , Procida Bucalossi and Georges Jacobi , 1880
  • La nuit de Saint-Germain , 1880
  • Madame le Diable , libretto by Henri Meilhac , 1882
  • La Princesse , 1882
  • Steeplechase , 1883
  • Tige de Lotus , 1883
  • Fanfreluche , 1883
  • Madame Réséda , 1884
  • Le château de Tire-Larigot , libretto by Ernest Blum , 1884
  • Le petit chaperon rouge , libretto by Ernest Blum, 1885
  • La singe d'une nuit d'été , 1886
  • Adam et Eve , libretto by Ernest Blum, 1886
  • La gamine de Paris , libretto by Eugène Letterier (1843–1884) and Albert Vanloo (1846–1920), 1887
  • La lycéenne , libretto by Georges Feydeau , 1887
  • Cendrillonnette , joint composition with Victor Roger (1853–1903), libretto by Paul Ferrier, 1890
  • La demoiselle du téléphone , libretto by Antony Mars (1861–1915) and Maurice Desvallières (1857–1926), 1891
  • Mé-ne-ka , libretto by Paul Ferrier, 1892
  • La bonne de chez Duval , libretto by Antony Mars, 1892
  • Cousin-cousine , libretto by Maurice Ordonneau (1854–1916), 1893
  • La toured , libretto by Paul Bilhaud (1854–1932), 1895
  • La dot de Brigitte , joint composition with Victor Roger, libretto by Paul Ferrier, 1895
  • Le carnet du Diable , libretto by Ernest Blum and Paul Ferrier, 1895
  • Le capitole , libretto by Paul Ferrier and Charles Clairville (1855–1927), 1895
  • Le royaume des femmes , libretto by Ernest Blum and Paul Ferrier, 1896
  • Le carillon , libretto by Ernest Blum and Paul Ferrier, 1896
  • Shakspeare , libretto by Paul Gavault (1866–1951) and Robert de Flers , 1899
  • Frileuse, ou L'enfant du cocktail , unfinished
  • Cuvée reservée 1810 ( Amorelle 1810 ), libretto by Barton White and Ernest Boyd-Jones , 1904

Other works

  • Joan of Arc , cantata, 1871
  • Insomnia , Dramatic Monologue, 1884

literature

  • Robert Ignatius Letellier: Operetta: A Sourcebook , Volume 1, ISBN 1443866903

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Limoges illustré , in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , accessed on September 7, 2016
  2. ^ L'Indépendant de Mostaganem , in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , accessed on September 7, 2016
  3. ↑ NuméroL'Ouest-Éclair , in the Bibliothèque nationale de France , accessed on September 7, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Serpette, Gaston
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Serpette, Henri Charles Antoine Gaston
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Nantes
DATE OF DEATH 4th November 1904
Place of death Paris