Edmond Audran

Edmond Audran

Edmond Audran (11 April 1842 - 17 August 1901) was a French composer best known for several internationally successful operettas, including "Les noces d'Olivette" (1879), "La mascotte" (1880), "Gillette de Narbonne" (1882), "La cigale et la fourmi" (1886), "Miss Helyett" (1890), and "La poupée" (1896).

Life and career

He was born at Lyon, the son of Marius-Pierre Audran (1816-87), who had a career as a tenor at the Opéra Comique. Audran studied music at the Ecole Niedermeyer under Jules-Laurent Duprato, where he won the prize for composition in 1859. In 1861 his family to Marseilles, where his father became a singing teacher and later director of the conservatory. Audran accepted the post of organist of the church of St Joseph there. For that church, he wrote religious music including, in 1873, a mass that was also performed in Paris at St Eustache. He made his first appearance as a dramatic composer at Marseilles with "L'Ours et le Pacha" (1862), a musical version of one of Scribe's vaudevilles. This was followed by "La Chercheuse d'Esprit" (1864), a comic opera, also produced at Marseille.

Audran wrote a funeral march on the death of Giacomo Meyerbeer, which was performed with some success, some songs in the Provençal dialect, and various other sacred pieces. He produced a mass (Marseille, 1893), an oratorio, "La Sulamite" (Marseille, 1876), and numerous minor works, but he is known almost entirely as a composer of light opera. His first Parisian success was made with "Les Noces d'Olivette" (1879), a work which speedily found its way to London (as "Olivette") in an English translation by H. B. Farnie and ran for more than a year at the Strand Theatre (1880-81).

Audran's music has met with as much favour in England as in France, and all save a few of his works have been given in English adaptations in London theatres. Besides those already mentioned, the following have been the most undeniably successful of Audran's many comic operas: "Le grand mogol" (Marseille, 1876; Paris, 1884; London, as "The Grand Mogul", 1884), "La mascotte" (Paris, 1880; London, as "The Mascotte", 1881), "Gillette de Narbonne" (Paris, 1882; London, as "Gillette", 1883), "La cigale et la fourmi" (the grasshopper and the ant) (Paris, 1886; London, as "La Cigale", 1890; English version by F. C. Burnand), "Miss Helyett" (Paris, 1890; London, as "Miss Decima" 1891; English version by Burnand), "La poupée" (Paris, 1896; London, 1897).

Audran was one of the best of the successors of Jacques Offenbach. He had little of Offenbach's humour, but his music is distinguished by an elegance and a refinement of manner which lift it above the level of opera bouffe to the confines of genuine opera comique. He was a fertile if not a very original melodist, and his orchestration is full of variety, without being obtrusive or vulgar. Many of his operas, "La mascotte" in particular, reveal a degree of musicianship which is rarely associated with the ephemeral productions of the lighter stage. "La mascotte" is credited with bringing the word "mascot" into the English language.

Audran died in Tierceville in Seine-et-Oise.

Operettas

* "La chercheuse d'esprit" (1864)
* "Le grand Mogol" (1877)
* "Les noces d'Olivette" (1879)
* "La mascotte" (1880)
* "Gillette de Narbonne" (1882)
* "Les pommes d'or" (1883)
* "La dormeuse éveillée" (1883)
* "Serment d'amour" (1886)
* "La cigale et la fourmi" (1886)
* "La fiancée des verts poteaux" (1887)
* "Le puits qui parle" (1888)
* "La petite fronde" (1888)
* "La fille à Cacolet" (1889)
* "L'Œuf rouge" (1890)
* "Miss Helyett" (1890)
* "L'oncle Célestin" (1891)
* "Article de Paris" (1892)
* "La sainte Freya" (1892)
* "Madame Suzette" (1893)
* "Mon prince" (1893)
* "L'enlèvement de la Toledad" (1894)
* "La duchesse de Ferrare" (1895)
* "La poupée" (1896)
* "Monsieur Lohengrin" (1896)
* "Les petites femmes" (1897)
* "Les sœurs Gaudichard" (1898)

References

*1911
*Traubner, R. "Operetta: a Theatrical History" (1983) New York

External links

*IMSLP|id=Audran%2C_Edmond


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Edmond Audran — par Pierre Petit, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Naissance 11 avril …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Edmond Audran — (* 11. April 1842 in Lyon, Dept. Rhône; † 17. August 1901 in Tierceville, Dept. Calvados) war ein französischer Organist und erfolgreicher Operetten Komponist …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Audran — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Benoît Audran der Ältere (1661–1721), französischer Kupferstecher Claude Audran der Ältere (1591–1674), französischer Kupferstecher Claude Audran der Jüngere (1639–1684), Schüler von Charles Lebrun und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Edmond — ist der Familienname von: Frank Edmond (* 1966), deutscher Fußballspieler William Edmond (1755–1838), US amerikanischer Politiker Edmond ist der Vorname folgender Personen: Edmond About (1822–1885), französischer Schriftsteller Edmond Aman Jean… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Audran — The Audrans were a family of French artists, natives of Paris and Lyons. *Charles Audran I (1594 1674) *Claude Audran I (1597 1677) *Germain Audran (1631 1710), son of Charles I *Claude Audran II (1639 1684), nephew of Charles I *Gérard Audran… …   Wikipedia

  • Audran — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. René Audran, haut fonctionnaire au ministère de la Défense en France, décédé en 1985 ; Stéphane Audran, actrice française, née en 1932. Edmond Audran …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Audran — (spr. ōdrāng), 1) Gérard, franz. Kupferstecher, geb. 1640 in Lyon, gest. 1703 in Paris, bildete sich in Paris, dann drei Jahre in Rom. Ludwig XIV. ernannte ihn zum Hofkupferstecher und ließ die Alexanderschlachten Lebruns von ihm stechen.… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Maurice Ordonneau —  Pour l’article homonyme, voir Louis Ordonneau.  Maurice Ordonneau, né le 18 juin 1854 à Saintes et mort en 1916 à Paris, est un dramaturge et compositeur français. Fils d un négociant en eau de vie, Maurice Ordonneau fut un… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Les Matelots De La Dendre — La société royale les Matelots de la Dendre est une des plus anciennes de Belgique. Elle est aussi une des seules à se consacrer en Wallonie encore exclusivement au répertoire de l opéra comique et de l opérette. Le siège est à Ath, dans la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Les matelots de la dendre — La société royale les Matelots de la Dendre est une des plus anciennes de Belgique. Elle est aussi une des seules à se consacrer en Wallonie encore exclusivement au répertoire de l opéra comique et de l opérette. Le siège est à Ath, dans la… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”