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Alexandre Charles Lecocq

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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ALEXANDRE CHARLES LECOCQ (1832-), French musical composer, was born in Paris, on the 3rd of June 1832.

He was admitted into the Conservatoire in 1849, being already an accomplished pianist. He studied under Bazin, Halevy and Benoist, winning the first prize for harmony in 1850, and the second prize for fugue in 1852. He first gained notice by dividing with Bizet the first prize for an operetta in a competition instituted by Offenbach. His operetta, Le Docteur miracle, was performed at the Bouffes Parisiens in 1857. After that he wrote constantly for theatres, but produced nothing worthy of mention until Fleur de the (1868), which ran for more than a hundred nights. Les Cent vierges (1872) was favourably received also, but all his previous successes were cast into the shade by La Fille de Madame Angot (Paris, 1873; London, 1873), which was performed for 400 nights consecutively, and has since gained and retained enormous popularity. After 1873 Lecocq produced a large number of comic operas, though he never equalled his early triumph in La Fille de Madame Angot. Among the best of his pieces are Girofle-Girofla (Paris and London, 1874); Les Pres Saint-Gervais (Paris and London, 1874); La Petite Mariee (Paris, 1875; London, 1876, revived as The Scarlet Feather, 1897); Le Petit Duc (Paris, 1878; London, as The Little Duke, 1878); La Petite Mademoiselle (Paris, 1879; London, 1880); Le Jour et la Nuit (Paris, 1881; London, as Manola, 1882); Le Cceur et la main (Paris, 1882; London, as Incognita, 1893); La Princesse des Canaries (Paris, 1883; London, as Pepita, 1888). In 1899 a ballet by Lecocq, entitled Le Cygne, was staged at the Opera Comique, Paris; and in 1903 Yetta was produced at Brussels.