Charles Cuvillier (24 April 1877 – 14 February 1955) was a French composer of

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

. He won his greatest successes with the operettas ''La reine s'amuse'' (1912, played as ''

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 i ...

'' in London) and with ''

The Lilac Domino ''Der lila Domino'' (''The Lilac Domino'') is an operetta in three acts composed by Charles Cuvillier. The original German libretto is by Emmerich von Gatti and Bela Jenbach, about a gambling count who falls in love at a masquerade ball with a n ...

'', which became a hit in 1918 in London.

Biography

Cuvillier was born in Paris, and studied at the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

with

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) 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 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' ...

.Lamb Andrew
"Cuvillier, Charles."
''Grove Music Online''. Oxford Music Online, accessed 8 March 2011 He began writing for the Paris musical stage and had a success with ''Avant-hier matin'' (1905), a small scale work with piano accompaniment.Cuvillier, Charles,"
''Encyclopédie multimedia de la comédie musicale'' (French text), accessed 8 March 2011 Later stage works to achieve success in France and abroad included ''Son p'tit frère'' (1907), his first collaboration with

André Barde André Barde was the pseudonym of André Bourdonneau (July 1874, Meudon – October 1945, Paris), a French writer best known for his libretti for operettas. He was active from 1899-1936. He frequently collaborated with Charles Cuvillier Char ...

, 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 ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and had its run immediately brought to a stop when war was declared."'Flora Bella' Lively Casino's New Opera"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 12 September 1916, accessed 8 March 2011 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 ''

''.Findon, B.W., "The Naughty Princess", ''

The Play Pictorial ''The Play Pictorial'' was an English theatrical magazine that was published in London between 1902 and 1939. ''The Play Pictorial'' provided pictorial records of West End theatrical productions. Each issue described a single show, with descrip ...

'', October 1920, p. 86 His greatest international success was the operetta ''

'', 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 ' (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 Capucines The Théâtre des Capucines was a former theatre on the boulevard des Capucines in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. Built in 1889 by architect Édouard-Jean Niermans, it was taken over by two brothers, Émile Isola and Vincent Isola, in 1892 ...

*1907: ''Le flirt de Colombine'' (Jaques Redelsperger),

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

*1907: ''Son p'tit frère'' (André Barde), Paris, Capucines; revised as ''Laïs, ou la courtisane amoureuse'', 1929 *1908: ''Les rendez-vous strasbourgeois'' (

Romain Coolus René Max Weill (25 May 1868 – 9 September 1952), who used the pseudonym Romain Coolus, was a French novelist, dramatist and film scriptwriter. Biography Works Theater * 1893 : ''Le Ménage Brésile'' (first play), one-act comedy, at ...

), Paris, Comédie-Royale *1909: ''

Afgar ''Afgar, or the Andalusian Leisure'' is a musical with lyrics by Douglas Furber, music by Charles Cuvillier and a book by Fred Thompson and Worton David. It is based on Cuvillier's 1909 French operetta of the same name, with words by André Bar ...

, 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

Bela Jenbach Bela Jenbach, real name Béla Jacobowicz (1 April 1871 in Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary – 21 January 1943 in Vienna) was an Austrian actor and operetta librettist of Hungarian origin. Jenbach was of Jewish origin and the brother of the screenwri ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Stadttheater *1912: ''Sapho'' (Barde and Carré), Paris, Capucines *1912: '' La reine s'amuse'' (Barde), Marseille, Variétés; revised as ''La reine joyeuse'', Paris, Olympia, 1918 *1912: ''L'Initiatrice'' ( Robert Dieudonné and Hugues Delorme), Paris, Mayol *1913: ''Flora Bella'' (), Munich,

Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz The Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz (''State Theatre at Gärtnerplatz''), commonly called the Gärtnerplatztheater, is an opera house and opera company in Munich. (The "Gärtnerplatz" is an urban square in the borough Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt.) ...

; French version (Barde): ''Florabella'', Célestins,

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 ...

, 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 Unger after K.K. Ardashir), London,

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

*1920: ''Johnny Jones and his Sister Sue,'' (Harry M. Vernon), London,

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...

*1922: ''Annabella'' (Maurice Magre), Paris,

Théâtre Fémina The Théâtre Fémina or Salle Fémina was an entertainment venue located at 90 avenue des Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was inside the Hôtel Fémina, designed by the architect .R. 1907, p. 460. History Based in the ...

*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 Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

*1929: ''Laïs ou La Courtisane amoureuse'' (Barde) (see'' Son p'tit frère'', 1907, above) *1929: ''Boulard et ses filles'' (

Louis Verneuil Louis Jacques Marie Collin du Bocage (14 May 1893 – 3 November 1952), better known by the pen name Louis Verneuil, was a French playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Biography Born in Paris, Verneuil wrote approximately sixty plays and was be ...

, Saint-Granier, Jean le Seyeux), Paris,

Théâtre Marigny The 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 panoram ...

*1935: ''Le Train de 8h47'' (Georges Courteline, Lépold Marches, Barde), Paris, Palais Royale

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuvillier, Charles 1877 births 1955 deaths French male classical composers French opera composers French operetta composers Male opera composers Musicians from Paris