Gabriel Montoya (20 October 1868, in

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie regions of France, region in southern France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, su ...

– 7 October 1914, in

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administ ...

) was a French singer,

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

and lyricist. The son of a pharmacist, Joseph-Henri-Victor Montoya and Noémie- Victoire Coste, he studied medicine in Lyon. After a trip to the West Indies in 1893, he settled in Paris where he enrolled in 1899 at the university and graduated a physician. An enthusiastic amateur singer, he joined up at night in coffee houses, where he attracted

Rodolphe Salis Louis Rodolphe Salis (29 May 1851 – 20 March 1897) was the creator, host and owner of the Le Chat Noir ("The Black Cat") cabaret (known briefly in 1881 at its beginning as "Cabaret Artistique"). With this establishment Salis is remembered as the ...

's attention who engaged him (for free) at ''

Le Chat Noir Le Chat Noir (; French for "The Black Cat") was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment, in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard de Rochechouart by the impresario Rodolphe Salis ...

'' in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

. In 1902, he toured with the troupe led by

Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the ''Belle Époque''. Biography Born in Paris into a poor family as Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, Guilbert be ...

, "Monmartre en ballade in Berlin". In Paris, he became a famous singer. His lyrics were set to music by composers such as

Paul Paray Paul Marie-Adolphe Charles Paray () (24 May 1886 – 10 October 1979) was a French conductor, organist and composer. He was the resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until 1963. Early life and education Paul Paray was ...

, Gaston Maquis, Yann Nibor, Marie Krysinda and Edmond Missa. In addition, he also wrote numerous plays that were seldom performed. In 1907 and 1908, he recorded a dozen songs for the recording company , including ''Les Veuves du Luxembourg'' and ''Mimi'' (music by Gaston Maquis).Ré-éditées en version numérique, ''L'esprit montmartois'', Anthologie de la chanson française enregistrée : les années 1900-1920, direction artistique Marc Robine (CD1, EMP, 2007). Following the closure of ''Le Chat Noir'' he became director of the ''

Cabaret des Quat'z'Arts Cabaret des Quat'z'Arts ("cabaret of the four arts") was a venue at 62 Boulevard de Clichy, in Paris, France. The interdisciplinary mixture of the arts created avant-garde collaborative performances. Similar to Le Chat Noir, the Quat'z'Arts was a g ...

'' in 1910. In 1914 he was killed aged 45 in a bicycle accident on the road leading from

Dax Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

to Castres.

Bibliography

* Chantal Brunschwig,

Louis-Jean Calvet Louis-Jean Calvet (born 5 June 1942) is a French linguist. Biography As a student at the University of Nice, where he was a student of linguist Pierre Guiraud, Calvet was elected in 1964 to the national bureau of the Union Nationale des Étudia ...

, Jean-Claude Klein, ''Cent ans de chanson française'', Seuil, 1972 (1st ed.) ; ré-éd. poche (coll. Points actuels), 1981 * Christian Zwarg,
Firmendiscographine
' (catalogues phonographiques, formats XL loadables) * Léon de Bercy, ''Montmartre et ses chansonniers'' - Paris 1902. * Bertrand Millanvoye, ''Anthologie des poètes de Montmartre'' - Paris 1909. *

Henri Fursy Henri Fursy or Furcy (real name Henri Dreyfus, 26 February 1866 - 14 April 1929) was a French cabaret singer, director and lyricist. Life Henri Dreyfus was born on 26 February 1866 in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. Under the stage name of Henr ...

, ''Mon petit bonhomme de chemin'' - Paris 1928. *

Pascal Pia Pascal Pia (15 August 1903, Paris – 27 September 1979, Paris), born Pierre Durand, was a French writer, journalist, illustrator and scholar. He also used the pseudonyms Pascal Rose, Pascal Fely and others. In 1922 he published the erotic ...

, ''Bouquet poétique des Médecins, Chirurgiens, Dentistes et Apothicaires'' - Paris - Collection de l'Ecritoire - 1933.

External links

Gabriel Montoya
on the site "Du temps des cerises aux feuilles mortes"
Texts and documents on Gabriel Montoya
on

on the site "Montmartre 1900"
Biography and complete bibliography of G. Montoya
on the site "ParisDescartes".fr

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montoya, Gabriel 19th-century French poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights People from Alès French chansonniers French lyricists French librettists 1868 births 1914 deaths Cycling road incident deaths Road incident deaths in France