Félix Fourdrain (3 February 1880 - 23 October 1923) was a French

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He is chiefly known for his

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s. Many of them were written in collaboration with

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

s and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

s Arthur Bernède and

Paul de Choudens Paul (de) Choudens, also known under the pseudonym Paul Bérel (5 June 1850 – 7 October 1925), was a Music of France, French musician, music publisher, French poetry, poet and Libretto, librettist. Biography Choudens was born in Paris. In 1888, ...

; the best of which are ''La Glaneuse'' ( Grand Théâtre de Lyon, 1909), ''Madame Roland'' ( Théâtre des Arts de Rouen, 1913), and ''Vercingétorix'' ( Opéra de Nice, 1912). His masterpiece, '' La légende du Point d'Argentan'', premiered at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

in Paris in 1903. Born in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Niedermeyer Niedermeier is a German surname. The name was initially used as a distinguishing name for a farmer (Meier) who had a farm lower (nieder) than the neighboring one(s). Variants are Niedermaier, Niedermair, Niedermayer, Niedermayr, Niedermeier, Niederm ...

) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He then studied with Alexandre Guilmant and

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the toccata of his fifth organ sympho ...

at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...

where he was awarded a premiere prix for organ performance in 1900. He was appointed "organiste titulaire" at the Sainte-Elisabeth-de-Hongrie church in Paris and worked there between 1900 and 1905 approximately, publishing "Improvisations", a collection of organ compositions. He pursued further studies in music composition with

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

, who became his close friend and mentor. He also took on his own students, including Joseph-Arthur Bernier, Clotilde Coulombe, and Georges-Émile Tanguay. He died in Paris at the age of 43.

References

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* * 1880 births 1923 deaths French opera composers French male opera composers 20th-century French classical composers Musicians from Nice Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French male musicians {{france-composer-stub