Raoul Gunsbourg

Raoul Samuel Gunsbourg (born January 6, 1860 in Bucharest - died May 31, 1955 in Monte Carlo) was Romanian opera director, impresario, composer and writer.

Raoul Gunsbourg acquired his musical education and its comprehensive knowledge in language and literature as a self-taught person. He attended Medical School in Bucharest which he finished in 1875. In 1877/78 he served as a medic in the Russian army during the Russian-Turkish war. In 1881 he created the "Gunsbourg's French Opera Stage" in Moscow. Starting from 1883 he transacted tsar Alexander III (1881-1894) courier services to France. During 1888/89 season he was the director of the Grand Théâtre de Lille, 1889-91 the director of the opera in Nice, and starting from 1892 until 1951 the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

He was the first opera director known for the notion that Berlioz's "La damnation de Faust" could be staged, and he implemented that idea and staged that work, considered so far more as an oratorio than opera, in his theatre in Monte Carlo on February 18, 1893.

tage works (operas)

*"Le Vieil Aigle" (The Old Eagle), 1 act (premiered February 13, 1909 in Monte Carlo)
*"Ivan le Terrible", 3 acts (October 20, 1910 in Brussels, Théâtre de la Monnaie)
*"Venise", 3 acts (March 8, 1913 in Monte Carlo)
*"Maître Manole", 3 acts (March 17, 1918 in Monte Carlo)
*"Satan", 9 tableaux (March 20, 1920 in Monte Carlo)
*"Lysistrata", 3 acts (February 20, 1923 in Monte Carlo)
*"Les Dames galantes de Brantome", 5 scenes (together with M. Thiriet und H. Tomasi) (February 12, 1946 in Monte Carlo)

References and Web-links

* [http://www.appl-lachaise.net/appl/article.php3?id_article=713 Gonsbourg, Raoul (1860-1955)]
* [http://www.operone.de/komponist/gunsbourg.html Raoul Gonsbourg]
* [http://www.bobsuniverse.com/BOW/Books/Kobbe_Complete/34.htm#Vieil Kobbe's Complate Opera Book on Gunsbourg]
* [http://dispatch.opac.d-nb.de/DB=4.1/REL?PPN=11869930X "Zwischen Petersburg und Monte Carlo" by Raoul Gunsbourg]