Frédéric-Michel Toulmouche (4 August 1850 – 23 February 1909)Archives numérisées de Paris: état-civil du 2me arrondissement
Registre des décès de 1909, 2D76, acte n°147, vue 19/31 was a French composer, who specialised in light theatrical music for small theatres.

Biography

Toulmouche 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 ...

, in a well-to-do family counting several artists (the painter

Auguste Toulmouche Auguste Toulmouche (21 September 1829 – 16 October 1890) was a French painter known for his luxurious genre paintings of upper middle class Parisian women in domestic scenes. Biography Auguste Toulmouche was born in Nantes to Émile Toulmouc ...

was his cousin). After his studies at the Nantes Lycée, he went to Paris to study with

Victor Massé Victor Massé (born ''Félix-Marie Massé''; 7 March 1822 – 5 July 1884) was a French composer. Biography Massé was born in Lorient (Morbihan) and studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Prix de Rome in 1844 for his cantata ''Le Rén� ...

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 became known as a composer of opéras comiques and

opérette This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

s,Jules Martin, Nos auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques, 1897, p. 521
/ref> the best known of which were ''La veillée des noces'', ''Mademoiselle ma femme'', ''La perle du Cantal'', ''La Saint-Valentin'' and ''Tante Agnes''.Gutsche-Miller, p. 305 In the latter part of his career Toulmouche composed ballet scores for French music-halls, and was the ''chef de chant'' (vocal coach), for 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 ...

, Paris. Little of Toulmouche's music was given abroad. His ''Le moûtier de Saint-Guignolet'' (Brussels, 1885, revised 1888) was performed in an English adaptation as ''The Wedding Eve'' as the opening production of the

Trafalgar Square Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt (singer), Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death i ...

, London, in 1892. ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'' commented that it was prudent of the management to commission

Ernest Ford Albert Ernest Alsor Clair Ford (17 February 1858 – 2 June 1919) was an English composer of operas and ballet music and a conductor. Life and career Ford was born in Warminster, Wiltshire, England, the son of Edward Ford, the vestry clerk a ...

and "Yvolde" ( Alfred Moul) to strengthen Toulmouche's score. In 1908, Toulmouche was struck by a brain haemorrhage. His last works (''La môme Flora'' and ''Chez la somnambule'') were finished in collaboration with his son, Eddy Toulmouche. Actually Eddy Toulmouche (aka Edy Toulmouche) is probably the artist name of his step-son, Frédéric Louis de Jonghe (1886?–23 Jan 1923), son of his wife, Marie Louise Dureau, and her first husband, the Belgian painter Gustave de Jonghe (1828–1893). Frédéric Toulmouche died in Paris, aged 58. He was buried at the Paris La Chapelle cemetery on 25 Feb 1909.

Works

Toulmouche's works include:"Toulmouche, Frédéric"
Opera Data, Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 21 October 2022 * ''Ah! le bon billet'', opéra-comique in 1 act, libretto by Bureau, Jattiot and Najac (

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, 1882) * ''Le moûtier de St-Guignolet'', libretto by Bisson, Jattiot and Bureau (Galeries St-Hubert, Brussels, 1885) * ''La veillée des noces'', opéra-comique in 3 acts, libretto by Bisson, Jattiot and Bureau (

Menus-Plaisirs The Menus-Plaisirs du Roi () was, in the organisation of the French royal household under the Ancien Régime, the department of the Maison du Roi responsible for the "lesser pleasures of the King", which meant in practice that it was in charge of al ...

, 1888) * ''La belle au coeur dormant'', opérette, libretto by T. Maisonneuve (1892) * ''L'âme de la patrie'', scène lyrique in 1 act, libretto by L. Bonnemère (St-Brieuc, 1892) * ''Mademoiselle ma femme'', opérette in 3 acts, libretto by Ordonneau and Pradels (Menus-Plaisirs, 1893) * ''La chanson du roi'', opéra-comique, libretto by L. Bonnemère (Fougères, 1894) * ''La perle du Cantal'', opérette in 3 acts, libretto by Ordonneau (Folies-Dramatiques, Paris, 1895) * ''La Saint-Valentin'', opérette in 3 acts, libretto by Ordonneau and Beissier ( Bouffes-Parisiens, 1895) * ''Les deux tentations'', pantomime in 1 act, libretto by Pradels and Frappa (Nouveau-Théâtre/Casino, 1895) * ''Le lézard'', opérette in 1 act, libretto by Busnach and Lioret (Scala, 1896) * ''Tante Agnes'', opérette-bouffe in 2 acts, libretto by Boucheron (Olympia, Paris, 1896) * ''Pierrot au hammam'', ballet-pantomime in 1 act, libretto by Berto-Graivil (Olympia, 1897) * ''Madame Malbrouck'', ballet-pantomime in 1 act, libretto by Pradels (Casino, Paris, 1898) * ''Le rêve de Madame X'', opérette in 1 act, libretto by Lagarde and Montignac (Carillon, Paris, 1899) * ''Les trois couleurs'', divertissement, libretto by Vrécourt and Arnould (Olympia, 1899) * ''Auto-Joujou'', opérette, libretto by Félix Puget (Théâtre des Capucines, 1904) * ''La môme Flora'', opérette in 2 acts, libretto by Ordonneau and Pradels, music by Frédéric and Eddy Toulmouche (Scala, 1908) * ''Chez la somnambule'', opérette in 1 act, libretto by Bisson, music by Frédéric and Eddy Toulmouche (Théâtre Grévin, 1909)

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toulmouche, Frederic 1850 births 1909 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni French opera composers French operetta composers Male opera composers Musicians from Nantes