Henri Marius Christiné was a French composer of Swiss birth.

The son of a French Savoyard watchmaker, Christiné was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He began by teaching at the lycée in Geneva, while pursuing his interest in music and playing organ in a local church. He married a cafe singer whose troupe was passing through Geneva, and went with her to Nice where they were married. He made his home in France, writing songs firstly for his wife and then for popular singers such as Mayol

Mayol

Mayol may refer to:Buildings called:* Stade Mayol, a multi-use stadium in Toulon, France.People called:* Félix Mayol , was a French singer and entertainer....

, Dranem

Dranem

Dranem was a French singer and music hall comique troupier and a stage and film actor.-History:Born Armand Ménard, in Paris, he began working as an apprentice jeweler in a local shop before embarking on a career in entertainment. Adopting the singular stage name of Dranem, an anagram of Menard, he...

, and Fragson. He also conducted for music-hall at the Place Clichy.

Although Christiné wrote some opérettes for the Scala theatre in Paris before the First World War, his career took off when he had his operetta Phi-Phi

Phi-Phi

Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar. The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the latest rhythms of jazz along with a plot which emphasised...

staged the day of the Armistice

Armistice Day

Armistice Day is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day...

 on 11 November 1918, with words by Albert Willemetz

Albert Willemetz

Albert Willemetz was a French librettist.Albert Willemetz was a prolific lyricist. He invented a new type of musical, with a humorous and "sexy" style...

 and Fabien Solar and which ran for three years at the Bouffes-Parisiens. This success was followed by Dédé

Dédé (opérette)

Dédé is an opérette or musical comedy in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz. It marked an important milestone in developing the career of Maurice Chevalier.-Performance history:...

in 1921, Madame (1923) and J'adore ça (1925). These works were in the forefront of a new fashion in music-theatre: sparkling, witty, jazzy musical plays. Christiné's tunes are often based around repeated refrains of six or seven notes (a 'hook') which made them catchy and popular for contemporary audiences.

In the 1930s Christiné contributed to the renewed fashion for more large-scale spectacular musicals, with pieces for the Théâtre du Châtelet

Théâtre du Châtelet

The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...

 in Paris, Au temps des Merveilleuses and Yana; for these he wrote the more vibrant numbers, while Richepin did the romantic songs. "Le Bonheur, Mesdames" and "Le Flirt ambulant" were rearrangements of his songs from the 1900s. He died in Nice, France.

Phi-Phi and Dédé are still occasionally revived in France.

Works

• 1903 : Service d'amour, Brussels
• 1904 : Mam'zelle Chichi, Paris
• 1907 : Les Vierges du harem, Brussels
• 1908 : Cinq minutes d'amour, Paris
• 1918 : Phi-Phi
  Phi-Phi
  Phi-Phi is an opérette légère in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar. The piece was one which founded the new style of French comédie musicale, the first to really use the latest rhythms of jazz along with a plot which emphasised...
  
  , Paris
• 1921 : Dédé
  Dédé (opérette)
  Dédé is an opérette or musical comedy in three acts with music by Henri Christiné and a French libretto by Albert Willemetz. It marked an important milestone in developing the career of Maurice Chevalier.-Performance history:...
  
  , Paris
• 1923 : Madame, Paris
• 1925 : J'adore ça ; PLM , Paris
• 1926 : J'aime !, Paris
• 1929 : Arthur, Paris
• 1931 : Encore cinquante centimes (with Maurice Yvain), Paris
• 1933 : La Madone du promenoir ; L'Affaire Brocs, Paris
• 1934 : Le Bonheur, mesdames ! ; Au temps des Merveilleuses (with Tiarko Richepin)
• 1934 : La Poule ; Yana (with Tiarko Richepin)

Songs

• La Petite Tonkinoise (1905)
• Elle est épatante
• Je connais une blonde
• Reviens
• Valentine