Charles Cuvillier

Scene from London production of Cuvillier's Afgar, 1919

Charles Cuvillier (24 April 1877 – 14 February 1955) was a French composer of operetta. He won his greatest successes with the operettas La reine s'amuse (1912; played as The Naughty Princess in London) and with The Lilac Domino, which became a hit in 1918 in London.

Biography

Cuvillier was born in Paris, and studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Gabriel Fauré and Jules Massenet.[1] He began writing for the Paris musical stage and had a success with Avant-hier matin (1905), a small scale work with piano accompaniment.[2] Later stage works to achieve success in France and abroad included Son p'tit frère (1907), his first collaboration with André Barde, and La reine s'amuse (1912).[2] The latter (also known as La reine joyeuse) featured Cuvillier's biggest hit, "Ah! la troublante volupté".[1] Before the First World War he made a career in Germany as well as France.[2] The second of his two works written for German theatres, Flora Bella, was playing in Munich and had its run immediately brought to a stop when war was declared.[3] Cuvillier fought in the trenches against Germany during the war,[4] and thereafter made his career in France and the U.K.[2]

Cuvillier was popular in England after the First World War. Avant-hier matin played with success in London as Wild Geese,[1] and La reine joyeuse ran for 280 performances as The Naughty Princess.[5] His greatest international success was the operetta The Lilac Domino, originally Der lila Domino (Leipzig, 1912).[1] The critic Andrew Lamb writes that Cuvillier composed "light, insinuating music, distinguished by typically French phrasing."[1]

Cuvillier also composed film music, including Mon amant l'assassin (1931), Occupe-toi d'Amélie (1932) and Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre (1935).[2]

Cuvillier died in Paris in 1955, at the age of 77.[1]

Stage works

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lamb Andrew, "Cuvillier, Charles." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, accessed 8 March 2011 (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Cuvillier, Charles," Encyclopédie multimedia de la comédie musicale (French text), accessed 8 March 2011
  3. ↑ "'Flora Bella' Lively Casino's New Opera", The New York Times, 12 September 1916, accessed 8 March 2011
  4. ↑ "The Lilac Domino", The Observer February 24, 1918, p. 5
  5. ↑ Findon, B.W., "The Naughty Princess", The Play Pictorial, October 1920, p. 86

External links

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