Jean Nouguès
Encyclopedia
Jean-Charles Nouguès was a French
composer of opera
s.
Born in Bordeaux
, Nouguès was from a wealthy family, and in his youth he received little formal musical training. His first opera, Le Roi de Papagey, was written when he was only sixteen; after further study in Paris, he composed a second, Yannha, which was premiered in Bordeaux in 1905. Neither this nor 1904's Thamyris had much success. In 1905, Nouguès gained some notice with his incidental music for a production of Maurice Maeterlinck
's play La Mort de Tintagiles
at the Théâtre des Mathurins in Paris.
1909 was the year of Nouguès' greatest success, the opera Quo Vadis, with a libretto by Henri Caïn
based on the novel
by Henryk Sienkiewicz
. Quo Vadis premiered in Nice
and was soon taken to Paris; from there it went on to London and Milan. The work was given its American premiere in 1911 at the Metropolitan Opera House
in New York
, under the direction of Italo Campanini
; Maggie Teyte
sang the female lead, and the work was also seen in Chicago
and Philadelphia. Quo Vadis found great favor with the critics; Reynaldo Hahn
and Francis Casadesus were among those to praise the music, while others felt that much of the work's success may have been due to the strength of the cast.
In 1910 Nouguès composed L'auberge rouge and Chiquito, set in the Basque country, which was first presented at the Opéra-Comique
in Paris; 1912 saw La Danseuse de Pompéï presented by the same company. L'Aigle was premiered in Rouen that same year; during World War I
it is said it crossed the English Channel
and was staged in Britain as The French Eagle. Also in 1912 Nouguès composed Les Frères Danilo, which appears to have been commissioned by Pathé Records
as the first opera written specifically for the gramophone
.
By 1914, Nouguès was beginning to fall out of favor with critics; upon the premiere of La vendetta at the Gaîté Lyrique, critic Edmond Stoullig wrote that he felt the composer would benefit from writing far less music. Nevertheless he went on composing, writing operetta
s in the 1920s. These had less success than his earlier work, although he found some favor with his incidental music for Edmond Rostand
's Cyrano de Bergerac
, which as late as 1938 was used for a television presentation of the play.
Nouguès died in Paris in 1932. Little of his music has been committed to disc; Les Frères Danilo has been rereleased by Marston Records, but otherwise all that is known is a handful of excerpts from Quo Vadis recorded by Armand Crabbé
and Mattia Battistini
. David Mason Greene also indicates that some selections from L'Aigle were recorded in the early days of recorded sound.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s.
Born in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, Nouguès was from a wealthy family, and in his youth he received little formal musical training. His first opera, Le Roi de Papagey, was written when he was only sixteen; after further study in Paris, he composed a second, Yannha, which was premiered in Bordeaux in 1905. Neither this nor 1904's Thamyris had much success. In 1905, Nouguès gained some notice with his incidental music for a production of Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
's play La Mort de Tintagiles
La Mort de Tintagiles
The Death of Tintagiles is an 1894 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. It was Maeterlinck's last play for marionettes.Maeterlinck dedicated the play to Aurélien Lugné-Poe, a theatre director who had supported several of his earlier works....
at the Théâtre des Mathurins in Paris.
1909 was the year of Nouguès' greatest success, the opera Quo Vadis, with a libretto by Henri Caïn
Henri Cain
Henri Caïn was a French dramatist, opera and ballet librettist. He wrote over forty librettos from 1893 to his death, for many of the most prominent composers of the Parisian Belle Epoque....
based on the novel
Quo Vadis (novel)
Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, commonly known as Quo Vadis, is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz in Polish. Quo vadis is Latin for "Where are you going?" and alludes to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he...
by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
. Quo Vadis premiered in Nice
Nice
Nice 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...
and was soon taken to Paris; from there it went on to London and Milan. The work was given its American premiere in 1911 at the Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)
The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company.-History:...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, under the direction of Italo Campanini
Italo Campanini
Italo Campanini was a leading Italian operatic tenor, whose career reached its height in London in the 1870s and in New York in the 1880s and 1890s...
; Maggie Teyte
Maggie Teyte
Dame Maggie Teyte DBE was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song.-Early years:Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a successful wine and spirit merchant and proprietor of public houses and later lodgings. Her parents...
sang the female lead, and the work was also seen in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Philadelphia. Quo Vadis found great favor with the critics; Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
and Francis Casadesus were among those to praise the music, while others felt that much of the work's success may have been due to the strength of the cast.
In 1910 Nouguès composed L'auberge rouge and Chiquito, set in the Basque country, which was first presented at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in Paris; 1912 saw La Danseuse de Pompéï presented by the same company. L'Aigle was premiered in Rouen that same year; during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
it is said it crossed the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and was staged in Britain as The French Eagle. Also in 1912 Nouguès composed Les Frères Danilo, which appears to have been commissioned by Pathé Records
Pathé Records
Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
as the first opera written specifically for the gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
.
By 1914, Nouguès was beginning to fall out of favor with critics; upon the premiere of La vendetta at the Gaîté Lyrique, critic Edmond Stoullig wrote that he felt the composer would benefit from writing far less music. Nevertheless he went on composing, writing operetta
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:...
s in the 1920s. These had less success than his earlier work, although he found some favor with his incidental music for Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
's Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac
Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...
, which as late as 1938 was used for a television presentation of the play.
Nouguès died in Paris in 1932. Little of his music has been committed to disc; Les Frères Danilo has been rereleased by Marston Records, but otherwise all that is known is a handful of excerpts from Quo Vadis recorded by Armand Crabbé
Armand Crabbé
Armand Crabbé was a Belgian operatic baritone. In 1904 he made his professional opera debut at La Monnaie as the Nightwatchman in Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He was a leading performer at the Royal Opera House in London from 1906-1914 and again in 1937...
and Mattia Battistini
Mattia Battistini
Mattia Battistini was an Italian operatic baritone. He became internationally famous due to the beauty of his voice and the virtuosity of his singing technique, and he earned the sobriquet "King of Baritones".-Early life:...
. David Mason Greene also indicates that some selections from L'Aigle were recorded in the early days of recorded sound.
External links
- Vocal score of Quo Vadis at the Sibley Music Library
- Libretto of Quo Vadis at Google Books