Victor Roger (22 July 1853 – 2 December 1903) was a French composer. He is best known for his

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 ...

s, particularly the lighter kind known as the "vaudeville-opérette". His thirty theatre works, composed between 1880 and 1902, also include

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

s and ballets. His best-known piece, ''Les vingt-huit jours de Clairette'', has remained in the repertory of French companies.

Biography

Roger was born in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, in the south of France, the son of a musician.Lamb, Andrew
"Roger, Victor"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, accessed 22 June 2010 (requires subscription) After studying at the École Niedermeyer he began his career composing songs and

s for the Eldorado music hall. In 1886, he had a success with ''Joséphine vendue par ses soeurs'', a parody of Méhul's biblical opera, ''Joseph et ses frères''. He followed this with ''Les vingt-huit jours de Clairette'' (1892), an operetta on a military theme, in the tradition of the earlier operetta composer

Hervé Hervé is a French language, French masculine given name of Breton language, Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinizati ...

. It ran initially for 236 performances and was revived in 1900, 1901, 1903, 1908, 1914, 1920, 1921 and 1925, and was filmed in 1933."Clairette's 28 Days"
''Internet Movie Database'', accessed 22 June 2010 ''Les vingt-huit jours de Clairette'' was by far Roger's greatest success, and so it has tended to eclipse his other works, some of which enjoyed considerable popularity initially.Pourvoyeur, Robert

''Théâtre musical – Opérette'', (French text), accessed 22 June 2010. ''L'auberge du Tohu-Bohu'', which followed in 1897, was another example of "vaudeville-opérette", in which the spoken comedy took a more equal part with the music than in traditional operetta. Besides his songs and operettas, Roger's compositions included some ballet and

s, the former being ''Le vague'' (1883), ''La Camargo'' (1901), and ''Cendrillon'' (1902), and the latter were ''Balazi-Boumboum'' (1888) and (1895). He collaborated with the composers

Gaston Serpette Henri Charles Antoine Gaston Serpette (4 November 1846 – 3 November 1904) was a French composer, best known for his operettas. After winning the prestigious Prix de Rome as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, he was expected to pursue ...

(''Cendrillonnette'' (1890) and ''La Dot de Brigitte'' (1895)) and

Paul Lacome Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(''Mademoiselle Asmodée'' (1891)). The critic Andrew Lamb wrote of Roger, "His music is admirably crafted, demonstrating melodic grace, charm and a flair for rhythmic effect that are well suited to the lighthearted stage works to which he contributed." Roger was a Chevalier of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, a critic for the publication ''La France'', and editor of the theatrical news in the ''Petit journal''. He also acted as secretary of the

Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

balls. Roger died in Paris at the age of 50.

Notes

External links

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Victor Roger
on data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Roger, Victor 1853 births 1903 deaths French male classical composers French operetta composers Musicians from Montpellier French ballet composers French opera composers Male opera composers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur French music critics French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male musicians