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Robert Planquette

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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ROBERT PLANQUETTE (1850-), French musical composer, was born in Paris on the 31st of July 1850, and educated at the Conservatoire. As a boy he wrote songs and operettas for cafe concerts, and sprang into fame as the composer of Les Cloches de Corneville (Paris, 1877; London, 1878). In this work he showed a fertile vein of melody, which won instant recognition. There is in his music a touch of pathos and romantic feeling, which, had he cared to cultivate it, would have placed him far above contemporary writers of opera bou ffe. Unfortunately, he did little but repeat the formula which originally brought him reputation. Le Chevalier Gaston was produced in 1879 with little success. In 1880 came Les Voltigeurs du 32 me, which had a long run in London in 1887 as The Old Guard, and La Cantiniere, which was translated into English as Nectarine, though never produced. In 1882 Rip van Winkle was produced in London, being subsequently given in Paris as Rip, in both cases with remarkable success. The libretto, an adaptation by H. B. Farnie of Washington Irving's famous tale, brought out what was best in Planquette's talent. In 1884 the phenomenon of an opera by a French composer being produced in London previously to being heard in Paris was repeated in Nell Gwynne, which was tolerably successful, but failed completely when produced in Paris as La Princesse Colombine. It was followed by La Cremaillere (Paris, 1885), Surcouf (Paris, 1887; London, as Paul Jones, 1889), Captain Therese (London, 1887), La Cocarde tricolore (Paris, 1892), Le Talisman (Paris, 1892), Panurge (Paris, 1895) and Mam'zelle Quat'sous (Paris, 1897).