Irénée Bergé (February 1, 1867 – July 30, 1926) was a French composer, conductor and instructor who lived in the United States. In spite of confusions between his
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
and Irène, Bergé was male.
Early life and career
According to one source he was born in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
although other sources say
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.''Pierre Key's Music Year Book 1926–27'' (New York: Pierre Key Inc., 1926), p. 327."Irénée Bergé dead," ''Musical Observer'' vol. 25, no. 9 (Sept. 1926), p. 45."Irénée Berge," bituary/nowiki> ''Musical America'' (August 7, 1926), p. 23. He attended 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 ...
where he studied with
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' ...
and
Théodore Dubois
Clément François Théodore Dubois (24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher.
After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Rome in 1861. He bec ...
. While under Massenet's tutelage, he and other of the composers' students purchased a gift for the opera singer
Sibyl Sanderson
Sibyl Sanderson (December 7, 1864May 16, 1903) was a famous American operatic dramatic coloratura soprano during the Parisian Belle Époque.
Biography
She was born in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Sibyl's father Silas Sanderson ...
, who rewarded them by making a personal visit and sang an excerpt from the opera
Esclarmonde
''Esclarmonde'' () is an opéra (french: opéra romanesque) in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont. It was first performed at the Expos ...
with the composer at the piano. "The students were spellbound...never had they enjoyed their professor's opera so much, and never had they heard such artistic singing." Although not mentioned in his obituaries, Berge apparently also was a tenor. In an 1897 performance of Berlioz's
L'enfance du Christ
''L'enfance du Christ'' (''The Childhood of Christ''), Opus 25, is an oratorio by the French composer Hector Berlioz, based on the Holy Family's flight into Egypt (see Gospel of Matthew 2:13). Berlioz wrote his own words for the piece. Most of it ...
, a reviewer noted "Irénée Bergé, a young tenor of excellent schooling, whose voice—though not too powerful—had a very agreeable timbre, and a very distinguished erformance He and that of the orchestra....had a grand success."
Before immigrating to the United States he was an assistant conductor at
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
. At the invitation of
Jeannette Thurber
Jeannette Thurber (also known as Jeannette Meyers Thurber; January 29, 1850 in Delhi, New York – January 2, 1946 in Bronxville, New York) was amongst the first major patrons of classical music in the United States. Thurber established the Nation ...
Bergé came to New York in 1902 to teach at the
National Conservatory of Music of America
The National Conservatory of Music of America was an institution for higher education in music founded in 1885 in New York City by Jeannette Meyers Thurber. The conservatory was officially declared defunct by the state of New York in 1952, altho ...
.
Work in the United States
He wrote two operas, ''Corsica'' and ''Nicolette'' (one source includes an opera titled ''The Knave of Hearts''). ''Corsica'' was written to a libretto by Frederick F. Schrader. It had its premiere in the week prior to November 13, 1910 on a bill with
Joseph Carl Breil
Joseph Carl Breil (29 June 1870 – 23 January 1926) was an American lyric tenor, stage director, composer and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was ''Les amou ...
's opera ''Love Laughs at Locksmiths'' (also with a libretto by Schrader) in Kingston, New York, as part of Breil's touring opera company. A 1915 announcement indicated that ''Corsica'' "has been just acquired for London and was scheduled for production in the spring."
In 1915 he wrote the song "Blue Bonnet" (with lyricist George Sloan Bryan) and entered it in a contest for the
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
state song.
Bergé is known for composing many
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
music cues. These were not written for a specific film but as generic pieces appropriate to the mood of the specific scene.See for example works published in: Erno Rapee, ''Motion Picture Moods for Pianists and Organists'' (New York: G. Schirmer, 1924), S. M. Berg, ''Cinema Incidental Series'' (New York: Belwin, 1918-), ''Capitol Photoplay Series'' (New York: Robbins-Engel, 1925), ''Artist's orchestra repertoire: Photoplay series'' (New York: Ross Jungnickel, 1922-1924).
He had been living at 35 Van Wagenen Avenue,