Jean-Charles Nouguès (25 April 1875 – 28 August 1932) was a French composer of
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.
Born in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, Nouguès was from a wealthy family, and in his youth he received little formal musical training."Pathé Opera Series vol. 5: ''Les Frères Danilo''/''La Traviata''" His first opera, ''Le Roi de Papagey'', was written when he was only sixteen;Greene, David Mason, ''Biographical Dictionary of Composers''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1985. after further study in Paris, he composed a second, ''Yannha'', which was premiered in Bordeaux in 1905.Ewen, David, ''Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition''. New York: Hill and Wang 1963. Neither this nor 1904's ''Thamyris'' had much success. In 1905, Nouguès gained some notice with his incidental music for a production of
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...
Théâtre des Mathurins
The théâtre des Mathurins (), also called Les Mathurins, is a Parisian theatre located at 36, rue des Mathurins, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was established in 1897.
Directions
* 1898–1901: Marguerite Deval
* 1901–1908: Ju ...
in Paris.
1909 was the year of Nouguès' greatest success, the opera ''Quo Vadis'', with a libretto by Henri Caïn based on the novel by
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...
. ''Quo Vadis'' premiered 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 millionMetropolitan Opera House in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
Maggie Teyte
Dame Maggie Teyte (born Margaret Tate; 17 April 188826 May 1976) was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song.
Early years
Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a suc ...
sang the female lead, and the work was also seen in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. ''Quo Vadis'' found great favor with the critics;
Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100.
Hahn was born ...
and Francis Casadesus were among those to praise the music, while others felt that much of the work's success may have been due to the strength of the cast.
In 1910 Nouguès composed ''L'auberge rouge'' and ''Chiquito'', set in the Basque country, which was first presented 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; 1912 saw ''La Danseuse de Pompéï'' presented by the same company. ''L'Aigle'' was premiered in Rouen that same year; during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
it is said it crossed the
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
and was staged in Britain as ''The French Eagle''. Also in 1912 Nouguès composed ''Les Frères Danilo'', which appears to have been commissioned by
Pathé Records
Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s.
Early years
The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé, ...
as the first opera written specifically for the
gramophone
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...
.
By 1914, Nouguès was beginning to fall out of favor with critics; upon the premiere of ''La vendetta'' at the Gaîté Lyrique, critic Edmond Stoullig wrote that he felt the composer would benefit from writing far less music. Nevertheless, he went on composing, writing
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...
s in the 1920s. These had less success than his earlier work, although he found some favor with his incidental music for
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with th ...
's ''
Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th ce ...
'', which as late as 1938 was used for a television presentation of the play.
Nouguès died in Paris in 1932. Little of his music has been committed to disc; ''Les Frères Danilo'' has been rereleased by Marston Records, but otherwise all that is known is a handful of excerpts from ''Quo Vadis'' recorded by
Armand Crabbé
Charles Armand Crabbé (23 April 1883, Brussels – 24 July 1947, Brussels) was a Belgian operatic baritone. He studied at the Brussels Conservatory with Désiré Demest. In 1904 he made his professional opera debut at La Monnaie as the Nightwatch ...
and Mattia Battistini. David Mason Greene also indicates that some selections from ''L'Aigle'' were recorded in the early days of recorded sound.