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{{Short description|French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter}}
[[Image:Florimond Ronger.jpg|thumb|right|<center>Hervé]]</center>
[[Image:Florimond Ronger.jpg|thumb|{{center|A [[woodburytype]] of Hervé}}]]


'''Hervé''' ({{IPA-fr|ɛʁve}}), real name '''Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger''', (30 June 1825 &ndash; 4 November 1892)<ref>The information in this article, based on a translation of its German Wikipedia equivalent, is supplemented by the account of Hervé's career in [[Richard Traubner]], ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'' 2003:20ff</ref> was a [[France|French]] singer, [[composer]], [[librettist]], conductor and scene painter, whom [[Ernest Newman]], following [[Reynaldo Hahn]], credited with inventing the genre of [[operetta]] in Paris.<ref>Ernest Newman, in Louis Biancolli, ed. ''The Opera Reader'' (New York: McGraw-Hill) 1953:317.</ref>
'''Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger''' (30 June 1825 &ndash; 4 November 1892),<ref>[[Richard Traubner]], ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'' 2003:20ff</ref> who used the pseudonym '''Hervé''' ({{IPA|fr|ɛʁve}}), was a French singer, [[composer]], [[librettist]], conductor and scene painter, whom [[Ernest Newman]], following [[Reynaldo Hahn]], credited with inventing the genre of [[operetta]] in Paris.<ref>Ernest Newman, in Louis Biancolli, ed. ''The Opera Reader'' (New York: McGraw-Hill) 1953:317.</ref>


==Life==
==Life==
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Before he became [[musical director]] of the [[Palais Royal|Théâtre du Palais Royal]] in 1851, he composed a one-act ''tableau grotesque'', a [[Victorian burlesque|burlesque]] on ''[[Don Quixote]]'' titled ''[[Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança]]''. It was conceived as a vehicle for the actor [[Desiré (actor)|Desiré]], who was short and plump, accompanied by the tall and gangling Hervé, as he was now calling himself, in order to distance his two ''personas''. It was staged at [[Adolphe Adam]]'s [[Opéra-National]], and achieved a great success in 1848, in spite of the distracting [[Revolutions of 1848|revolution]]: furthermore, according to the composer [[Reynaldo Hahn]], the farcical pot-pourri was "simply the first French [[operetta]]".<ref>Quoted with reservations, for the term had already been used, by Traubner 2003:20.</ref> He had also composed musical entertainments to keep the patients entertained at the Bicêtre Hospital, and these gained the notice of producers.<ref>Lubbock, Mark. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/937354 "The Music of 'Musicals'"]. ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 98, No. 1375 (September, 1957), pp. 483–85, Musical Times Publications Ltd., accessed 17 August 2010</ref>
Before he became [[musical director]] of the [[Palais Royal|Théâtre du Palais Royal]] in 1851, he composed a one-act ''tableau grotesque'', a [[Victorian burlesque|burlesque]] on ''[[Don Quixote]]'' titled ''[[Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança]]''. It was conceived as a vehicle for the actor [[Desiré (actor)|Desiré]], who was short and plump, accompanied by the tall and gangling Hervé, as he was now calling himself, in order to distance his two ''personas''. It was staged at [[Adolphe Adam]]'s [[Opéra-National]], and achieved a great success in 1848, in spite of the distracting [[Revolutions of 1848|revolution]]: furthermore, according to the composer [[Reynaldo Hahn]], the farcical pot-pourri was "simply the first French [[operetta]]".<ref>Quoted with reservations, for the term had already been used, by Traubner 2003:20.</ref> He had also composed musical entertainments to keep the patients entertained at the Bicêtre Hospital, and these gained the notice of producers.<ref>Lubbock, Mark. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/937354 "The Music of 'Musicals'"]. ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 98, No. 1375 (September, 1957), pp. 483–85, Musical Times Publications Ltd., accessed 17 August 2010</ref>


Thus Hervé was the founder of a new era of French operettas. Through his ''Folies concertantes'', a small theater stage he took over in 1854 and for which he wrote many works, he became the forerunner of the ''[[Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens]]'' of [[Jacques Offenbach]], whose early efforts he produced at his theatre, renovated as the ''Folies-Nouveaux''. The restrictive license of the ''Folies concertantes'' permitted only ''spectacles-concerts'', with no more than two characters, in a single act, stringencies imposed on Offenbach as well, but which encouraged Hervé to experiment with genres, before more flexible rules were established in the following decade. A jealous rivalry soon developed between Hervé and Offenbach, which was only patched up in 1878, when Hervé sang in a revival of Offenbach's ''[[Orphée aux enfers]]''. He died in Paris.
Thus, Hervé was the founder of a new era of French operettas. Through his [[Folies-Concertantes]], a small theater stage he took over in 1854 and for which he wrote many works, he became the forerunner of the [[Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens]] of [[Jacques Offenbach]], whose early efforts he produced at his theatre, renovated as the Folies-Nouvelles. Many of Hervé's early one act pieces are topical skits satirizing current events and were never revived. The restrictive license of the Folies-Concertantes permitted only ''spectacles-concerts'', with no more than two characters, in a single act, stringencies imposed on Offenbach as well, but which encouraged Hervé to experiment with genres, before more flexible rules were established in the following decade. A jealous rivalry soon developed between Hervé and Offenbach, which was only patched up in 1878, when Hervé sang in a revival of Offenbach's ''[[Orphée aux enfers]]''.
He died in Paris at the age of 67.

Since 2015, a number of his works have been revived by [[Palazzetto Bru Zane]] in tours of France and Italy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Palazzetto Bru Zane: "Let's Talk About Hervé!" |url=http://operetta-research-center.org/palazzetto-bru-zane-lets-talk-herve/ |website=Operetta Research Center |access-date=12 January 2019 |date=2 February 2016}}</ref>
[[Image:Hervé (Florimond Ronger).jpg|thumb|right|Hervé]]
[[Image:Hervé (Florimond Ronger).jpg|thumb|right|Hervé]]


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*''Les folies dramatiques'' (1853), with two other librettists, which parodied all the forms of entertainment in Paris, comedy, tragedy, ''[[vaudeville]]'', ballet and opera.
*''Les folies dramatiques'' (1853), with two other librettists, which parodied all the forms of entertainment in Paris, comedy, tragedy, ''[[vaudeville]]'', ballet and opera.
*''[[Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (Hervé)|Les chevaliers de la Table Ronde]]'' ([[Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens|Bouffes Parisiens]], 17 November 1866)
*''[[Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (Hervé)|Les chevaliers de la Table Ronde]]'' ([[Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens|Bouffes Parisiens]], 17 November 1866)
*''L'œil crevé'' (Folies-Dramatiques, 12 October 1867)<ref>Richard Traubner, ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'' 2003:22. It was produced in New York in 1868, at J. Grau's Theatre Français, as ''The Pierced Eye'' and its libretto published. It was a success too in Vienna and in London.</ref>
*''[[L'œil crevé]]'' (Folies-Dramatiques, 12 October 1867)<ref>Richard Traubner, ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'' 2003:22. It was produced in New York in 1868, at J. Grau's Theatre Français, as ''The Pierced Eye'' and its libretto published. It was a success too in Vienna and in London.</ref>
*''[[Chilpéric (operetta)|Chilpéric]]'' (1868)
*''[[Chilpéric (operetta)|Chilpéric]]'' (1868)
*''[[Le petit Faust]]'' (1869)<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=438896 Information about ''Little Faust'' on Broadway]</ref>
*''[[Le petit Faust]]'' (1869)<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=438896 Information about ''Little Faust'' on Broadway]</ref>
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*''La veuve du Malabar'' (1873)
*''La veuve du Malabar'' (1873)
*''La belle poule'' (1875)
*''La belle poule'' (1875)
* ''[[La roussotte]]'' (with [[Charles Lecocq]] and [[Marius Boullard]], [[Théâtre des Variétés]], 1881)
*''Lili'' (1882)
*''Lili'' (1882)
*''[[Mam'zelle Nitouche]]'' (1883)
*''[[Mam'zelle Nitouche]]'' (1883)
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[[Category:1825 births]]
[[Category:1825 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:19th-century French classical composers]]
⚫
[[Category:19th-century French musicians]]
⚫
[[Category:French classical composers]]
[[Category:French classical organists]]
[[Category:French classical organists]]
[[Category:French male classical composers]]
[[Category:French opera composers]]
[[Category:French opera composers]]
[[Category:Male opera composers]]
[[Category:French male opera composers]]
[[Category:French operetta composers]]
[[Category:French operetta composers]]
[[Category:French Romantic composers]]
[[Category:French Romantic composers]]
⚫
[[Category:19th-century French male musicians]]
⚫
[[Category:French male classical organists]]
[[Category:19th-century French organists]]

Latest revision as of 20:07, 6 November 2024

A woodburytype of Hervé

Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger (30 June 1825 – 4 November 1892),[1] who used the pseudonym Hervé (French pronunciation: [ɛʁve]), was a French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, whom Ernest Newman, following Reynaldo Hahn, credited with inventing the genre of operetta in Paris.[2]

Life

[edit]

Hervé was born in Houdain near Arras. Part Spanish by birth, he became a choirboy at the Church of Saint-Roch, Paris. His musical promise was noted, and he was enrolled in the Conservatoire and studied with Daniel Auber, and by the age of fifteen was serving as organist at Bicêtre Hospital and a stage vocalist in provincial theatres, where he trained his fine tenor voice. He won a competition in 1845 for the prestigious Paris post of organist at the Church of Saint-Eustache, while he doubled with his theatrical music career, a situation that he turned to advantage years later, in his most famous work, Mam'zelle Nitouche.

Before he became musical director of the Théâtre du Palais Royal in 1851, he composed a one-act tableau grotesque, a burlesque on Don Quixote titled Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança. It was conceived as a vehicle for the actor Desiré, who was short and plump, accompanied by the tall and gangling Hervé, as he was now calling himself, in order to distance his two personas. It was staged at Adolphe Adam's Opéra-National, and achieved a great success in 1848, in spite of the distracting revolution: furthermore, according to the composer Reynaldo Hahn, the farcical pot-pourri was "simply the first French operetta".[3] He had also composed musical entertainments to keep the patients entertained at the Bicêtre Hospital, and these gained the notice of producers.[4]

Thus, Hervé was the founder of a new era of French operettas. Through his Folies-Concertantes, a small theater stage he took over in 1854 and for which he wrote many works, he became the forerunner of the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens of Jacques Offenbach, whose early efforts he produced at his theatre, renovated as the Folies-Nouvelles. Many of Hervé's early one act pieces are topical skits satirizing current events and were never revived. The restrictive license of the Folies-Concertantes permitted only spectacles-concerts, with no more than two characters, in a single act, stringencies imposed on Offenbach as well, but which encouraged Hervé to experiment with genres, before more flexible rules were established in the following decade. A jealous rivalry soon developed between Hervé and Offenbach, which was only patched up in 1878, when Hervé sang in a revival of Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers.

He died in Paris at the age of 67.

Since 2015, a number of his works have been revived by Palazzetto Bru Zane in tours of France and Italy.[5]

Hervé

Works

[edit]

Hervé wrote more than a hundred and twenty operettas,[6] among which were:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Richard Traubner, Operetta: A Theatrical History 2003:20ff
  2. ^ Ernest Newman, in Louis Biancolli, ed. The Opera Reader (New York: McGraw-Hill) 1953:317.
  3. ^ Quoted with reservations, for the term had already been used, by Traubner 2003:20.
  4. ^ Lubbock, Mark. "The Music of 'Musicals'". The Musical Times, Vol. 98, No. 1375 (September, 1957), pp. 483–85, Musical Times Publications Ltd., accessed 17 August 2010
  5. ^ "Palazzetto Bru Zane: "Let's Talk About Hervé!"". Operetta Research Center. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  6. ^ Taubner 2003.
  7. ^ Richard Traubner, Operetta: A Theatrical History 2003:22. It was produced in New York in 1868, at J. Grau's Theatre Français, as The Pierced Eye and its libretto published. It was a success too in Vienna and in London.
  8. ^ Information about Little Faust on Broadway
[edit]
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