Charles Cuvillier
Encyclopedia
Charles Cuvillier was a French composer of operetta
. He won his greatest successes with the operettas La reine s'amuse (1912; played as The Naughty Princess
in London) and with The Lilac Domino
, which became a hit in 1918 in London.
and Jules Massenet
. He began writing for the Paris musical stage and had a success with Avant-hier matin (1905), a small scale work with piano accompaniment. Later stage works to achieve success in France and abroad included Son p'tit frère (1907), his first collaboration with André Barde
, and La reine s'amuse (1912). The latter (also known as La reine joyeuse) featured Cuvillier's biggest hit, "Ah! la troublante volupté". Before the First World War he made a career in Germany as well as France. The second of his two works written for German theatres, Flora Bella, was playing in Munich
and had its run immediately brought to a stop when war was declared. Cuvillier fought in the trenches against Germany during the war, and thereafter made his career in France and the U.K.
Cuvillier was popular in England after the First World War. Avant-hier matin played with success in London as Wild Geese, and La reine joyeuse ran for 280 performances as The Naughty Princess
. His greatest international success was the operetta The Lilac Domino, originally Der lila Domino (Leipzig, 1912). The critic Andrew Lamb
writes that Cuvillier composed "light, insinuating music, distinguished by typically French phrasing."
Cuvillier also composed film music, including Mon amant l'assassin (1931), Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1932) and Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre (1935).
Cuvillier died in Paris in 1955, at the age of 77.
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
. He won his greatest successes with the operettas La reine s'amuse (1912; played as The Naughty Princess
The Naughty Princess
The Naughty Princess is an opéra bouffe with music by Charles Cuvillier, book by J. Hastings Turner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross. The work, adapted from La reine joyeuse by Cuvillier and Andre Barde, depicts a princess with very modern ideas, who rebels against arranged marriage and court etiquette...
in London) and with The Lilac Domino
The Lilac Domino
Der lila Domino is an operetta in three acts by Charles Cuvillier. The original German libretto is by Emmerich von Gatti and Béla Jenbach, about a gambling count who falls in love at a masquerade ball with a noblewoman wearing a lilac domino mask.The operetta achieved far greater popularity in...
, which became a hit in 1918 in London.
Biography
Cuvillier was born in Paris, and studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Gabriel FauréGabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
and Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
. He began writing for the Paris musical stage and had a success with Avant-hier matin (1905), a small scale work with piano accompaniment. Later stage works to achieve success in France and abroad included Son p'tit frère (1907), his first collaboration with André Barde
André Barde
André Barde was the pseudonym of André Bourdonneau , a French writer best known for his librettos for operettas. He was active from 1899-1936. He frequently collaborated with Charles Cuvillier - Son petit frère , Afgar , La Reine joyeuse , Florabella , and Nonnette being some examples...
, and La reine s'amuse (1912). The latter (also known as La reine joyeuse) featured Cuvillier's biggest hit, "Ah! la troublante volupté". Before the First World War he made a career in Germany as well as France. The second of his two works written for German theatres, Flora Bella, was playing in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and had its run immediately brought to a stop when war was declared. Cuvillier fought in the trenches against Germany during the war, and thereafter made his career in France and the U.K.
Cuvillier was popular in England after the First World War. Avant-hier matin played with success in London as Wild Geese, and La reine joyeuse ran for 280 performances as The Naughty Princess
The Naughty Princess
The Naughty Princess is an opéra bouffe with music by Charles Cuvillier, book by J. Hastings Turner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross. The work, adapted from La reine joyeuse by Cuvillier and Andre Barde, depicts a princess with very modern ideas, who rebels against arranged marriage and court etiquette...
. His greatest international success was the operetta The Lilac Domino, originally Der lila Domino (Leipzig, 1912). The critic Andrew Lamb
Andrew Lamb
Andrew Lamb , bishop of Brechin and bishop of Galloway, was probably son or relative of Andrew Lamb of Leith, a lay member of the general assembly of 1560...
writes that Cuvillier composed "light, insinuating music, distinguished by typically French phrasing."
Cuvillier also composed film music, including Mon amant l'assassin (1931), Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1932) and Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre (1935).
Cuvillier died in Paris in 1955, at the age of 77.
Stage works
- 1903: La Citoyenne Cotillon, comédie dramatique by Henri Cain and Ernest Daudet, incidental music by Cuvillier
- 1905: Avant-hier matin (libretto: Tristan Bernard), Paris, Théâtre des CapucinesThéâtre des CapucinesThe Théâtre des Capucines was a former theatre on the boulevard des Capucines in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. It was built in 1889 by architect Édouard-Jean Niermans and then taken over by two brothers, Émile Isola and Vincent Isola, in 1892 to become the Théâtre Isola...
- 1907: Le flirt de Colombine (Jaques Redelsperger), NiceNiceNice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
- 1907: Son p'tit frère (André Barde), Paris, Capucines; revised as Laïs, ou la courtisane amoureuse, 1929
- 1908: Les rendez-vous strasbourgeois (Romain Coolus), Paris, Comédie-Royale
- 1909: AfgarAfgarAfgar, or the Andalusian Leisure is a musical with lyrics by Douglas Furber, music by Charles Cuvillier and book by Fred Thompson and Worton David. It is based on Cuvillier's 1909 French operetta of the same name, with words by André Barde and Michel Carré....
, ou Les loisirs andalous (Barde and Michel Carré, fils), Paris, Capucines - 1910: La fausse ingénue, ou les Muscadines (Barde), Paris, Capucines
- 1912: Der lila Domino (Emmerich von Gatti and Béla Jenbach), LeipzigLeipzigLeipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Stadttheater - 1912: Sapho (Barde and Carré), Paris, Capucines
- 1912: La reine s'amuseThe Naughty PrincessThe Naughty Princess is an opéra bouffe with music by Charles Cuvillier, book by J. Hastings Turner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross. The work, adapted from La reine joyeuse by Cuvillier and Andre Barde, depicts a princess with very modern ideas, who rebels against arranged marriage and court etiquette...
(Barde), Marseilles, Variétés; revised as La reine joyeuse, Paris, Olympia, 1918 - 1912: L'Initiatrice (Robert Dieudonné and Hugues Delorme), Paris, Mayol
- 1913: Flora Bella (Felix Dörmann), MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Staatstheater am GärtnerplatzStaatstheater am GärtnerplatzStaatstheater am Gärtnerplatz is an opera house and opera company in Munich. Designed by the architect Michael Reiffenstuel, it opened on 5 November 1865 as the city's second opera house after the National Theatre....
; French version (Barde): Florabella, Célestins, LyonLyonLyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, 1921 - 1915: Judith courtisane, (Régis Gignoux), Paris, Théâtre Michel
- 1918: Mademoiselle Nom d'une pipe (Georges Duval), Paris, Palais Royal
- 1920: The Sunshine of the World (Gladys UngerGladys Buchanan UngerGladys Buchanan Unger was an American author who also lived in England, and who wrote screenplays for Broadway, plays for the London stage, and for Hollywood films.-Biography:...
after K.K. Ardashir), London, Empire - 1920: Johnny Jones and his Sister Sue, (Harry M. Vernon), London, AlhambraAlhambra TheatreThe Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...
- 1922: Annabella (Maurice Magre), Paris, Théâtre Femina
- 1922: Par amour (Magre), Paris, Paris, Femina
- 1922: Nonnette (Barde), Paris, Capucines
- 1924: Bob et moi (Barde, L. Meyrargue), Paris, Michel
- 1926: Qui êtes-vous? (H. Genty, Berr and Jouvault), Monte CarloMonte CarloMonte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
- 1929: Laïs ou La Courtisane amoureuse (Barde) (see Son p'tit frère, 1907, above)
- 1929: Boulard et ses filles (Louis VerneuilLouis VerneuilLouis Jacques Marie Collin du Bocage , better known by the pen name Louis Verneuil, was a French playwright, screenwriter, and actor....
, Saint-Granier, Jean le Seyeux), Paris, Théâtre MarignyThéâtre MarignyThe Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny, in the 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panorama, which opened in 1883... - 1935: Le Train de 8h47 (Georges Courteline, Lépold Marches, Barde), Paris, Palais Royale