Victor Cheri

Victor Cheri

Victor Chéri (actually Victor Cizos ; born March 15, 1830 in Auxerre , † November 11, 1882 in Paris ) was a French composer and conductor.

Cheri came from a family of actors: his grandparents Thomas Cizos (also known as Chéri ) and Garcin père directed the Garcin-Cizos acting company . His father Jean-Baptiste married Sophie-Juliette , a daughter of Garzin, and both became known as a singer and actor under the name of Chéri Cizos . His older sisters Rose and Anna Chéri were also successful actresses.

In 1845 Chéri was admitted to the Lambert Massart violin class at the Conservatoire de Paris . From 1849 he studied composition with Adolphe Adam , and in 1855 he won the First Second Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata Acis et Galatée .

As early as 1848, Chéri became a violinist at the Paris Opera , of which he was first violinist until 1859. From 1849 he was also a violinist at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire , whose Sociétaire he was from 1859 until his exclusion in 1872 (due to frequent absenteeism). Above all, however, he became known as a conductor: at the Théâtre des Variétés , then at the Théâtre du Châtelet and finally at the Théâtre du Gymnase .

With the one-act comic opera Une aventure sous la Ligue , Chéri won a composition competition in Bordeaux in 1857; it was performed at the city's Grand Théâtre . The comic opera Gulliver was written in 1867 . His five-act fairy play Cendrillon ou la pantoufle merveilleuse (based on Louis François Clairville , Albert Monnier and Ernest Blum ) premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1872 . Chéri also composed a concerto for violin and orchestra.