Gaston Serpette
When it was played on the piano to Gounod, Thomas and the members of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the academy's secretary, Viscount Delaborde, declared that Serpette "had gone to the bad".[4] The piece was well received at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, in January 1874,[1] and at the Opera Comique, London in an English version presented by Richard D'Oyly Carte in October of the same year.[4] Nevertheless, in the view of the English critic Andrew Lamb, "Serpette was destined to continue, along with Varney, Vasseur, Roger and Lacome, in the shadow of such French operetta composers as Planquette, Audran and, later, Messager.Serpette took the pragmatic view that the French and English publics were so different that Parisian operettas had to be drastically rewritten to succeed in London, and he offered his fellow French composers three choices: "they must either refuse to permit their works to be adapted" (in which case no London producer would touch them), or "master the English language, and do it themselves which they never will", or settle for being adapted by those who knew what the West End public required.One of his appointments was in London, conducting the ballets at the re-opening of Carte's former Royal English Opera House when it was relaunched as the Palace Theatre of Varieties in 1892, and throughout the ensuing season.[11] His last show, written in 1903, originally entitled Cuvée reservée 1810, was specially composed for England, and, under the title Amorelle, toured the provinces in 1903–04 before opening at the Comedy Theatre in London in February 1904.
composeroperettasPrix de RomeParis ConservatoireNantesAmbroise ThomasBerliozGounodMassenetcantataParis OpéraoperettaAcadémie des Beaux-ArtsAdolphe JaimeJules NoriacThéâtre des Bouffes-ParisiensOpera ComiqueRichard D'Oyly CarteThe Morning PostFifth Avenue TheatreThe EraHenri MeilhacGeorges FeydeauAndrew LambVarneyVasseurLacomePlanquetteAudranMessagerEdward SolomonWest EndDebussyPelléas et MélisandePaul DukasVincent D'IndyPalace Theatre of VarietiesAugustus HarrisF. C. BurnandComedy TheatreChevalier of the Legion of HonourMarseilleÉglise de la Sainte-TrinitéSainte-Marie-sur-MerBouffes-ParisiensArnold MortierVariétésEugène GrangéPaul FerrierAlhambra TheatreAlbert MillaudThéâtre de la RenaissanceRaoul TochéContrexévillePaul BuraniJules PrévelErnest BlumThéâtre des NouveautésAlbert VanlooVictor RogerMaurice DesvallièresAntony MarsMaurice OrdonneauPaul BilhaudPaul GavaultRobert de FlersCharles BaudelaireJoël-Marie FauquetFayardLamb, AndrewThe Penny Illustrated PaperInternational Music Score Library Project