Félix Augustin Joseph Vasseur, known as Léon Vasseur (28 May 1844 – 25 May 1917), was a French composer, organist and conductor. While working as a cathedral organist, he turned to composing

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 and soon had a hit with ''La timbale d'argent'' (1872). He wrote another thirty operettas but never repeated that early success. He also composed church music including two settings of the

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

Biography

Vasseur was born in

Bapaume Bapaume (original Dutch name Batpalmen) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region of northern France. Geography Bapaume is a farming and light indus ...

in north-east France, the son of Augustin Vasseur, the local church organist and choirmaster.Havard de La Montagne, Denis.
"Léon Vasseur, Musicien Atypique"
''Musica et Memoria'' (French text), accessed 23 June 2010. After studying music with his father, Vasseur enrolled at the age of 12 as a student at the École Niedermeyer, the school of church music in Paris,Lamb, Andrew.
"Vasseur, Léon
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, accessed 23 June 2010 (requires subscription) He studied under Pierre-Louis Dietsch (harmony), Georges Schmitt (organ and improvisation) and

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

(piano), and won the school's top prizes as a pianist and organist. He left the school in 1862 and at the age of 18 was appointed organist at Saint-Symphorien,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

In 1870 after eight years at Saint-Symphorien, Vasseur succeeded Marie-Louise Leroi-Godefroy as organist of Notre-Dame de Versailles, the former royal parish church of the kings of France. He composed works for both his churches, including 20

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s, 2 masses, offertories, anthems and a

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

, and also an instruction book, ''Méthode d'orgue expressif ou harmonium'' (1867). In 1872 he resigned his post and was succeeded by Emile Renaud. Vasseur turned from the church to the theatre. His first attempt at

, a one-act piece called ''Un fi, deux fi, trois figurants'', was given at the Alcazar

café-chantant (; French: lit. 'singing café'), , or is a type of musical establishment associated with the Belle Époque in France. The music was generally lighthearted and sometimes risqué or even bawdy but, as opposed to the cabaret tradition, not par ...

on 1 April 1872. It was not a success, but his second piece, ''La timbale d'argent'' (''The Silver Cup''), opened eight days later at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens and ran for more than 200 nights. It saved the theatre from bankruptcy and confirmed Vasseur in his determination to switch from sacred to secular music. The piece was subsequently performed in America, Britain and elsewhere. Vasseur never equalled the popularity of ''La timbale d'argent'', but his series of usually risqué operettas achieved modest success at a variety of theatres in Paris and elsewhere. The most notable of these include ''La cruche cassée'' (1875), ''Le droit du seigneur'' (1878) and ''Le voyage de Suzette'' (1889). He did not abandon sacred music completely. In 1877 his ''Hymne à Sainte-Cécile'', for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

, organ and orchestra, was given at Versailles Cathedral and was well received by the public and critics. In 1879 Vasseur set himself up as an impresario. He reopened the former Théâtre Taitbout as the Nouveau Théâtre-Lyrique, but his attempt at theatre management was unsuccessful. His first production, ''Hymnis'', a

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

by Theodore de Banville and Jules Cressonnois, proved too heavyweight for the taste of the Parisian public, and within a year Vasseur was forced to close the theatre. He succeeded Olivier Métra as conductor of the

Folies Bergère 150px, Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg">Walery, 1927 The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the arc ...

.Grove gives the year of this appointment as 1890; ''Musica et Memoria'' gives the year as 1879. He retired from the theatre in 1897. Vasseur was twice married, first to Caroline Chaiselat and then to Ernestine Cavier. Vasseur died in Asnières (

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

) at the age of 72.

Works

Vasseur's one-act operettas are: His three-act operettas are: Other stage works, including ballet-pantomimes are: Vasseur's church works include, ''L'Office divin'' (a collection of masses, offertories, antiphons, etc.); ''Hymne à Ste Cécile'', for soprano, organ and orchestra; 2 masses; Magnificat.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasseur, Leon 1844 births 1917 deaths People from Bapaume French operetta composers French opera composers French male opera composers French composers of sacred music