René de Buxeuil (), pseudonym for Jean-Baptiste Chevrier (; 4 June 1881 – 29 July 1959), was a 20th-century French composer and

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 ...

Biography

De Buxeuil's parents ran the bistro ''Les prévoyants de l'avenir'' in La Haye-Descartes. In 1892 a comrade accidentally shot a pellet rifle. He received the discharge in the eye. Blinded, he was placed in the

Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (''National Institute for Blind Children'' or ''Royal Institution for Blind Youth''), in Paris, was the first special school for blind students in the world, and served as a model for many subsequent schools ...

in Paris, where he was taught music. He won first prize for harmony, piano and clarinet. He began writing songs which he played for school holidays or in the cafe of his parents. A young man, De Buxeuil attended ''le Bijou-Concert'' and met Montmartre chansonniers

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and Eugène Lemercier. He wrote several songs related to current events and politicians, then he discovered the café-concerts. He performed there and met his first interpreters. To make a living, he accompanied silent films on the piano and gave singing lessons. One of his students would experience fame c. 1909 under the name Damia.René De Buxeuil dans ''Un demi-siècle en chantant'' Before World War I, he attended the Montparnasse area. At Théâtre de la Gaîté, he met who sang him some tunes. He also sang at

Gabriel Montoya Gabriel Montoya (20 October 1868, in Alès – 7 October 1914, in Castres) was a French singer, chansonnier and lyricist. The son of a pharmacist, Joseph-Henri-Victor Montoya and Noémie- Victoire Coste, he studied medicine in Lyon. After a trip t ...

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 ...

and founded ''Les Loups'', a literary society where

Jehan Rictus Jehan Rictus (21 September 1867 – 6 November 1933) was a French poet. He was born Gabriel Randon in Boulogne-sur-Mer. In the 1900s, he legally changed his name to his mother's name Randon de Saint-Amand. After an unhappy childhood and poor begi ...

rubbed shoulders with

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, Steinlen,

Émile Verhaeren Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren (; 21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916) was a Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in the French language. He was one of the founders of the school of Symbolism and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Litera ...

Willette Adolphe Léon Willette (30 July 1857, Châlons-sur-Marne4 February 1926, Paris) was a French painter, illustrator, caricaturist, and lithographer, as well as an architect of the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. Willette ran as an " anti-semitic" ...

. He signed his first successes interpreted by Junka, including ''L'âme des violons'', ', etc. During the war, he organized a theater for the Army and moved to sing on the front. After the war, he wrote ''L'âme des roses'' for the singer . In 1924, he hired the then 14-year old

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...

who caused him thousand miseries. While the latter squandered the money of commissions, De Buxeuil filed a complaint. Genet was trapped in the

Mettray Penal Colony Mettray Penal Colony, situated in the small village of Mettray, in the French département of Indre-et-Loire, just north of the city of Tours, was a private reformatory, ''without walls'', opened in 1840 for the rehabilitation of young male delinq ...

for a year. The poet reported this terrible experience in ''Le journal d'un voleur''. De Buxeuil then managed his own musical editions. A member of the Action française, de Buxeuil authored the music of its hymn ''La Royale'' and numerous other royalist songs. In 1938, he wrot
''Ô mon Morvan''
for

Maryse Martin Maryse Martin (1906–1984) was a French singer, film and television actress.Pallister & Hottell p.77 Selected filmography * ''Les Casse-pieds'' (1948) * ''We Will All Go to Paris'' (1950) – Maman Terrine * ''Musique en tête'' (1951) – La ...

(1906–1984). He is buried in Paris at Père Lachaise Cemetery (1st division).Paul Bauer, ''Deux siècles d'histoire au Père Lachaise'', Mémoire et Documents, 2006 (), (p. 161). He had chosen his pseudonym as much to honor his birthplace ( Buxeuil, lieu-dit ''Plancoulaine'', close to Descartes), as to be the third renowned René (after

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...

and

René Boylesve René Boylesve (14 April 1867 in La Haye-Descartes – 14 January 1926 in Paris), born René Marie Auguste Tardiveau, was a French writer and a literary critic. Biography Boylesve was orphaned early and went to school in Poitiers and Tours. ...

) from the region of Descartes, commune of Touraine.

Songs (selection)

* 1938, ''Ô mon Morvan'' * ''J'ai tout donné pour toi'' - lyrics by A. Waseige. music by René de Buxeuil * ''Quand tout sera fini'' - sung by René de Buxeuil * ''Ouvre tes jolis yeux'' - Lyrics by Nikola, music by René de Buxeuil * 1910–1920 - ''Son Amoureux'' - Lyrics by P. Alberty, music by René de Buxeuil (Ed. Delormel)

References

Bibliography

* René de Buxeuil, ''Un demi-siècle en chantant'', 1955, (self published)

External links

René de Buxeuil
on Data.bnf.fr
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Portrait of the artist and his grace at Père Lachaise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buxeuil, Rene de French music publishers (people) French chansonniers French blind people People from Indre-et-Loire 1881 births 1959 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French male singers