Gustave Charpentier, Born June 25, 1860, Composed Louise and Julien

Summary: French composer Gustave Charpentier, born June 25, 1860, composed Louise and Julien, his only operas, for premieres in 1900 and 1913, respectively.

Éden Santori performed as a danseuse (dancer) in the premiere of Gustave Charpentier’s Louise in Paris, France, on Feb. 2, 1900: Jennifer Kincheloe @jenkincheloe, via Twitter Aug. 24, 2016

French composer Gustave Charpentier, born June 25, 1860, composed Louise and Julien, for premieres in Paris in 1900 and in 1913, respectively, as his only two operas.

Charpentier began composing the score and writing the libretto for his first opera, Louise, in 1889 after winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1887. He recruited French Symbolist poet Saint-Pol-Roux, pseudonym of Paul-Pierre Roux (Jan. 15, 1861-Oct. 18, 1940), to finesse the original French libretto about a Parisian seamstress and her lover-artist, Julien.

Opéra-Comique premiered Louise Feb. 2, 1900, at the Salle Favart in Paris’ second arrondissement (le 2e arrondissement de Paris). French composer, conductor and pianist André Charles Prosper Messager (Dec. 30, 1853-Feb. 24, 1929) conducted Charpentier’s working class-themed opera. Opéra-Comique’s director, Albert Carré (June 22, 1852-Dec. 12, 1938), directed the production.

Charpentier composed his French libretto and score for Julien, ou La Vie du Poète (Julien, or The Poet’s Life) as a sequel to Louise. Julien premiered June 4, 1913, at Opéra-Comique.

The Metropolitan Opera’s launching of Julien preceded the opera house’s presentation of Louise. The opera house’s United States premiere of Julien took place Feb. 26, 1914. Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (Feb. 25, 1873-Aug. 2, 1921) sang the title role. American soprano Geraldine Farrar (Feb. 28, 1882-March 11, 1967) sang Louise.

Giorgio Polacco conducted the orchestra. The production’s director was Jules Speck, the opera house’s stage manager for French and Italian operas from 1908 to 1917. French painter and stage designer Paul Paquereau (Jan. 17, 1871-March 2, 1956) was credited as set designer. Italian ballet master and choreographer Ettore Coppini made his Met Opera debut as the production’s choreographer.

Julien received five performances in the 1913-1914 season. The Metropolitan Opera has not staged Julien since the premiere season’s closing night, April 8, 1914.

Almost seven years after Julien’s U.S. premiere, the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Louise took place Jan. 15, 1921. American operatic soprano Geraldine Farrar (Feb. 28, 1882-March 11, 1967) sang the title role. American operatic tenor Orville Harrold (Nov. 17, 1877-Oct. 23, 1933) appeared as Louise’s lover-artist, Julien.

The opera house offered eight performances during the 1920-1921 season. French conductor and composer Albert Wolff (Jan. 19, 1884-Feb. 20, 1970) conducted the orchestra.

Viennese American stage manager Samuel Thewman (Feb. 27, 1872-March 22, 1940) directed the production. The Metropolitan Opera’s online archives note: “James Fox designed the sets for Act I and for Act II, Scene 2; Triangle Studio was responsible for the other scenes.” Triangle Studio shared costume design credits with Mathilde Castel-Bert.

The Metropolitan Opera revived Louise in the next Met Opera season, 1921-1922. Louise received six performances in its second season at Met Opera.

Geraldine Farrar reprised the title role for all six performances. Orville Harrold shared the role of Julien with Italian lyric-dramatic tenor Aureliano Pertile (Nov. 9, 1885-Jan. 11, 1952). Orville Harrold appeared in three performances (opening night, Nov. 21, 1921; Feb. 8, 1922; closing night, March 30, 1922). Aureliano Pertile sang Julien in three performances (Dec. 6 and Dec. 30, 1921; Jan. 17, 1922).

After the 1921-1922 season, Louise disappeared from Met Opera’s active repertoire for 7 years 11-plus months. Louise reappeared as a new production March 1, 1930. Spanish lyric soprano Lucrezia Bori (Dec. 24, 1887-May 14, 1960) sang the title role. French tenor Antonin Trantoul (Feb. 21, 1887-Aug. 31, 1966) sang Julien.

Louise received nine performances in the 1929-1930 season. Closing night was May 12, 1930. French cellist and conductor Louis Hasselmans (July 25, 1878-Dec. 27, 1957) appeared as conductor.

Viennese stage director Wilhelm von Wymetal Sr. (1862-Nov. 11, 1937) directed the new production. Austrian American costume and scenic designer Joseph Urban (May 26, 1872-July 10, 1933) was the production’s designer. Czech ballet master, choreographer and dancer Augustin “August” Berger (Aug. 11, 1861-June 1, 1945) was credited as the production’s choreographer.

The first revival of the 1929-1930 production occurred ten seasons later. The revived Louise received eight performances in the 1938-1939 Met Opera season.

After the first revival, Louise received five more revivals. Two consecutive revivals, in 1939-1940 and 1940-1941, succeeded the first revival. A fourth revival occurred with three performances in the 1942-1943 season. The fifth and sixth revivals occurred consecutively, in 1947-1948, with six performances, and in 1948-1949, with four performances.

Closing night, Feb. 5, 1949, in the 1948-1949 Met Opera season marked the last performance of Louise at the opera house. Closing night’s performance was the opera’s 52nd performance at the Metropolitan Opera.

Gustave Charpentier was born Monday, June 25, 1860, as a baker’s older son in Dieuze in northeastern France’s Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region, renamed Jan. 1, 2016, as the Grand Est region. The Charpentiers relocated farther north, to Tourcoing, Hauts-de-France region, after the Treaty of Frankfurt, signed May 10, 1871, to end the Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870-Jan. 28, 1871).

Gustave and his brother, Victor (July 23, 1867-January 1938) displayed musical talents. Victor became a cellist and symphony conductor in Paris.

Charpentier’s musical talents induced the town council of Tourcoing to send him to the Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire de Paris) on an annual stipend. His teachers in Paris included French composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912) and French composer Émile Pessard (May 29, 1843-Feb. 10, 1917).

In 1887 Charpentier won the prestigious Prix de Rome for his cantata, Didon. He dedicated Didon to Jules Massenet.

Gustave Charpentier passed away Saturday, Feb. 18, 1956, in Paris, almost four months before his 96th birthday. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery (le cimetière du Père-Lachaise), the largest Parisian cemetery, located in the 20 arrondissement (20e arrondissement de Paris), on the Seine’s right bank (la rive droite de la Seine).

The takeaway for Gustave Charpentier, born June 25, 1860, is that the French composer’s only two operas reside in the Metropolitan Opera’s inactive repertoire, with his first opera, Louise, claiming 52 performances between 1921 and 1949, and its sequel, Julien, disappearing after only five performances in its United States premiere season, 1913-1914.

French composer Gustave Charpentier’s first opera, Louise, premiered in Paris in 1900 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1921; Gustave Charpentier, ca. 1898, by Atelier Bary, Paris, France; released ca. 1900 by French mass-distribution retail business Félix Potin et Cie, as second edition of Collection Félix Potin-première série: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Éden Santori performed as a danseuse (dancer) in the premiere of Gustave Charpentier’s Louise in Paris, France, on Feb. 2, 1900: Jennifer Kincheloe @jenkincheloe, via Twitter Aug. 24, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/jenkincheloe/status/768466896693841920

French composer Gustave Charpentier’s first opera, Louise, premiered in Paris in 1900 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1921; Gustave Charpentier, ca. 1898, by Atelier Bary / Ancienne photographie Benque, 33, rue Boissy d’Anglas, Paris, France; released ca. 1900 by French mass-distribution retail business Félix Potin et Cie, as second edition of Collection Félix Potin-première série: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CFP_Charpentier,_Gustave.jpg

For further information:

Arakelyan, Ashot. “Antonin Trantoul (Tenor) (Toulouse 1887 - Marseille 1966).” Forgotten Opera Singers. June 6, 2012.
Available @ http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2012/06/antonin-trantoul-tenor-toulouse-1887.html

Briant, Théophile. Saint-Pol-Roux. Poètes d’Aujourd’hui, vol. 28. Paris, France: Pierre Séghers, 1952.

Charpentier, Gustave. Julien, ou La Vie du Poète: Poème Lyrique en un Prologue, Quatre Actes et Huit Tableaux. Paris, France: Max Eschig, 1913.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/julienoulaviedup00char/

Charpentier, Gustave. La Vie du Poète; Symphonie-Drame en Trois Actes et Quatre Tableaux. Paris, France: Choudens Fils, 1892.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/laviedupoetesymp00char/

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Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/louiseromanmusic00char3

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Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/louisedegcharpen00himo/

Italian Genealogical Group and German Genealogy Group. "Samuel Thewman in the New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948." Ancestry.com > New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
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Jennifer Kincheloe ‏ @jenkincheloe. “Santori in the headdress designed for the Dancing Muse in the opera Louise, by Gustave Charpentier, c 1900.” Twitter. Aug. 24, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/jenkincheloe/status/768466896693841920

Marriner, Derdriu. “Joseph Urban Designed Sets for 10 Metropolitan Opera Premieres.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Aug. 13, 2018.
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Marriner, Derdriu. “Joseph Urban Designed Sets for 29 New Productions at Met Opera.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Aug. 20, 2018.
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