Alexandre Clément Léon Joseph Luigini (9 March 185029 July 1906) was a French composer and conductor, especially active in the opera house.Charton D. Alexandre Luigini. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. As a composer, he is now remembered almost solely for his '' Ballet égyptien''.

Life and career

Luigini was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

in 1850. His grandparents had moved to Lyon from

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, when his grandfather took up the post of trumpeter with the orchestra of the Grand Théâtre. Alexandre Luigini was brought up with music, his father Joseph also playing with, and later conducting, the orchestra of the Grand Théâtre. He was the nephew of César and (another) Alexandre Luigini, both noted instrumentalists.Carré’s funeral oration, quoted in : Stoullig E. ''

Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique ''Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique'' ("The Annals of Theatre and Music") was an annual French periodical which covered French dramatic and lyric theatre for 42 years, from 1875 to 1916. The volumes also covered concert series and ne ...

, 32ème édition, 1906.'' G Charpentier et Cie, Paris, 1907, pp109-110. His daughter was the harpist

Caroline Luigini Caroline Luigini, called ''Câline'', (2 November 1873 in Lyon – 1968 in Paris, aged 94) was a French musician, harpist and professor of harp of Italian origin, born from a family of musicians of Modena, who was the pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns. ...

, who married the painter

Victor Tardieu Victor François Tardieu (30 April 1870, Orliénas - 12 June 1937, Hanoi) was a French painter; cofounder of what is now known as the Vietnam University of Fine Arts. Biography In 1887, he was admitted to the École nationale des beaux-arts d ...

. His grandson is the poet

Jean Tardieu Jean Tardieu (born in Saint-Germain-de-Joux, Ain, 1 November 1903, died in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, 27 January 1995) was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. Life and career He earned a degree in literature and worked for a publi ...

. After studying at the

Conservatoire A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he gained a second prize for violin, Luigini returned to Lyon and from 1872 played as a violinist in the theatre orchestra, which he went on to lead, becoming conductor in 1877. As resident conductor he was also expected to meet the compositional demands of the theatre, leading to a number of ballets, operas and orchestral suites. In 1879 he was appointed professor of harmony and composition at the Conservatory of Lyon. In 1897 he left Lyon to take up the conductorship of the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris 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 ...

in Paris, and led a busy life until his sudden death there in 1906. At the Opéra-Comique he notably conducted the world premiere of

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...

's ''

Cendrillon ''Cendrillon'' (''Cinderella'') is an opera—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn based on Perrault's 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale. It had its premiere performance on 24 ...

'' on 24 May 1899. The other premieres he conducted were ''Aphrodite'' 1906, ''Enfant roi'' 1905, ''Le Juif polonais'' 1900, ''Miarka'' 1905, ''Muguette'' 1903, and ''L'Ouragan'' 1901. He also supervised revivals of '' Alceste'', ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'', ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...

'', '' Le Roi d’Ys'' and ''

The Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...

'', among others. Paris premieres conducted by Luigini included ''

Chérubin ''Chérubin'' is an opera (''comédie chantée'') in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Francis de Croisset and Henri Cain after de Croisset's play of the same name. It was first performed at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 14 F ...

'', '' Hélène'', '' Le jongleur de Notre-Dame'' and the first staging of ''

Marie-Madeleine Marie-Madeleine may refer to: ; people * Marie-Madeleine Lachenais (1778–1843), de facto Haitian politician * Marie-Madeleine, the pen name of Gertrud von Puttkamer (1881–1944), German writer of lesbian erotica *Marie-Madeleine Gauthier (1920– ...

''.Wolff, Stéphane. ''Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique 1900–1950.'' André Bonne, Paris, 1953. As a theatre conductor he followed the old practice of having his conductor’s stand directly against the prompt box. Luigini's ''Ballet égyptien'' (1875) is his best known work, gaining great popularity in the early 20th century as a concert suite. It originally gained prominence when it was included in the second act of Verdi's ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' for a performance in Lyon in 1886. His compositions reflect his stage-orchestra background, being mostly light music for ballet and operas: ''Ange et démon'', ''Le Rêve de Nicette'', ''Les Caprices de Margot'' (one-act opéra comique, Lyon, 1877), ''Reine des fleurs'', ''Fleurs et papillons'', ''Les Écharpes'', ''Le Meunier'', ''Arlequin écolier'', ''Faublas'' (three-act operetta, Théâtre Cluny, Paris, 1881). He also composed a number of songs and works for string quartet and other chamber groups.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luigini, Alexandre 1850 births 1906 deaths Musicians from Lyon 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 19th-century French composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians French ballet composers 19th-century French male classical violinists French male classical composers French male conductors (music) French people of Italian descent French Romantic composers Music directors (opera)