Jean-Louis Aristide Hignard (20 May 1822 – 20 March 1898) was a French composer of light opera notable as a friend of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...

, also from Nantes and six years Hignard's junior, some of whose librettos and verse he set to music.Patrick Barbier, "Hignard et Verne: Les Mélodies de l'amitié", in ''Voyage autour de Jules Verne'' (Académie de Bretagne et des Pays de la Loire, 2000).

Life and music

The son of a shipowner, Hignard was born in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

and studied at the Paris Conservatory with Fromental Halévy and won the Second Grand Prix de Rome in 1850 with the cantata ''Emma et Eginhard''. His first comic opera ''Le Visionnaire'' was published in 1851. During the 1850s Hignard composed four comic operas, for which his childhood friend

provided the librettos. In 1861, the operetta ''Les Musiciens de l'orchestre'' was performed, which Hignard had composed together with

Léo Delibes Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and operas. His works include the ballets ''Coppélia'' (1870) and '' Sylvia'' (1876) and the opera ''Lakm� ...

and Jules Erlanger (and probably also Jacques Offenbach). For a long time, Hignard worked on his main work, the five-act opera ''Hamlet'' based on a libretto by Pierre de Garal. It was premiered in 1868 with great success. He also composed a series of songs (partly based on texts by Verne) as well as waltzes and melodies for the piano. He died in Vernon.

Works

* ''La Mille et deuxième nuit'', opera with libretto by Jules Verne (1850), never performed * ''Le Visionnaire'', opéra-comique in 1 act (1851) *''Le Colin-maillard'' (Jules Verne and Michel Carré), opéra-comique in 1 act (1853) * ''Les Compagnons de la Marjolaine'' (J. Verne and M. Carré) opéra-comique in 1 act (1855) * ''Monsieur de Chimpanzé'' (J. Verne), operetta (1858) * ''L'Auberge des Ardennes'' (J. Verne and M. Carré), opéra-comique in 1 act (1860) * ''Le Nouveau Pourceaugnac'', played at the Bouffes-Parisiens (1860) * ''Les Musiciens de l'orchestre'', a collaboration with

(1861) * ''Hamlet'', opéra (1868) * ''Rimes et mélodies'', on poems by Jules Verne (1857–63)

Recordings

* ''Mélodies inédites''. Music by Hignard and one song ''Zouaves!'' by

Alfred Dufresne Jacques Marie Alfred Dufresne (1822, Orléans – 18 March 1863, Paris) was a 19th-century French composer and playwright. A student of Fromental Halévy at the Paris Conservatory, he is mostly known for having written music for hundreds of songs ...

(1822–1872), performed by Françoise Masset and

Emmanuel Strosser Emmanuel Strosser (born 4 May 1965 in Strasbourg), the son of theatre director Pierre Strosser, is a French classical pianist. Biography Strosser first studied with Hélène Boschi then at the Conservatoire de Paris with Jean-Claude Pennetier a ...

(L'Académie de Bretagne et des Pays de Loire, 2005).

Bibliography

* Patrick Barbier, "Hignard et Verne: Les Mélodies de l'amitié", in ''Voyage autour de Jules Verne'' (Académie de Bretagne et des Pays de la Loire, 2000). * Alexandre Tarrieu, "Aristide Hignard (1822–1898)", in ''Revue Jules Verne'', no. 11 (2001).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hignard, Aristide 1822 births 1898 deaths 19th-century French composers 19th-century male musicians French Romantic composers French opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Nantes Prix de Rome for composition