Claude Firmin Bernicat (13 January 1842 – 5 March 1883) was a 19th-century French

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 ...

composer.

Biography

Bernicat 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 ...

. He moved to Paris in the mid-1860s and studied music with

Jules Duprato Jules Laurent Anacharsis Duprato (20 August 1827 – 20 May 1892) was a 19th-century French composer.Wagstaff 1992. Biography A student of Aimé Leborne at the Conservatoire de Paris, he won first prix de Rome, grand prix de Rome for musical c ...

, probably at the

Conservatoire de Paris 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 ...

. He began his career in Parisian café-concerts. Early in his career, he composed some short operas for the Paris theatre L'Eldorado. He also made his living as a music arranger and orchestrator for composers including Robert Planquette and wrote songs for the stars of the era: ''Le Chemin des noisettes'' or ''La Pigeonne''. He wrote about thirty works, most one-act operettas and humorous or sentimental skits, for example ''Ali Pot-d’rhum'' (1869), ''Les Cadets de Gascogne'', ''Le Cornette'' or ''Une aventure de la Clairon''. He eventually attracted the attention of the Director of the Fantaisies-Parisiennes in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, who produced his first work in three acts, ''Les Beignets du Roi'' (1882), with a libretto by

Albert Carré Albert Carré (born Strasbourg 22 June 1852, died Paris 12 December 1938) was a French theatre director, opera director, actor and librettist. He was the nephew of librettist Michel Carré (1821–1872) and cousin of cinema director Michel Carré ( ...

and

Paul Ferrier Paul Ferrier (29 March 1843 - September 1920) was a French dramatist, who also provided libretti for several composers, especially Varney and Serpette. Ferrier was born in Montpellier. He had already produced several comedies when in 1873 he ...

. The piece was a success, but Bernicat did not attend because his fragile health did not allow him to leave Paris. He then wrote the libretto and began composition for an

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

, ''

François les bas-bleus ''François les bas-bleus'' is an opéra comique in three acts of 1883, with a French libretto by Ernest Dubreuil, Eugène Humbert, Paul Burani, and music by Firmin Bernicat, completed by André Messager. Background Bernicat had worked for some ...

'', before he died of tuberculosis at the age of 41. His publisher, Enoch & Costallat, asked

André Messager André Charles Prosper Messager (; 30 December 1853 – 24 February 1929) was a French composer, organist, pianist and conductor. His compositions include eight ballets and thirty opéra comique, opéras comiques, opérettes and other stage wo ...

to complete the score. The opera premiered at the Folies-Dramatiques in Paris in 1884, running for 131 performances. It was then regularly revived in Paris.

External links

Firmin Bernicat
on data.bnf.fr
Firmin Bernicat
o
ANAO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernicat, Firmin French Romantic composers French operetta composers 1842 births Musicians from Lyon 1883 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in France