Alphonse Thys (8 March 1807 – 1 August 1879) was a 19th-century French composer.

Short biography

He studied

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howev ...

at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

with

Émile Bienaimé Paul Émile Bienaimé (6 July 1802 – 17 January 1869) was a 19th-century French composer. Biography A pupil at the , he studied at the Conservatoire with Victor Dourlen and François-Joseph Fétis. In 1822 he won the prize in harmony and in ...

and composition with

Henri-Montan Berton Henri-Montan Berton (17 September 1767 – 22 April 1844) was a French composer, teacher, and writer, mostly known as a composer of operas for the Opéra-Comique. Career Henri-Montan Berton was born the son of Pierre Montan Berton.Charlton ...

. In 1833, he won the first

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

with his cantata ''Le Contrebandier espagnol''. He lived two years at the

Villa Medicis The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

in Rome, then settled in Paris as a composer. He wrote some popular songs such as ''La Belle limonadière'' or ''La Nuit au sérail''. He wrote operas for the Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique as well as mixed choirs. When he was a teacher of music, he used

Pierre Galin Pierre Galin (1786–1822) was a French music educator, and developer of what became the Galin-Paris-Chevé system. Life and career Galin studied mathematics and commerce, and became a mathematics teacher in Bordeaux, at a school for children wi ...

's method, and in 1873 wrote the foreword of the book ''Histoire anécdotique de la méthode Galin-Paris-Chevé''. His most famous pupil was

Edmond de Polignac Prince Edmond Melchior Jean Marie de Polignac (19 April 18348 August 1901) was a French aristocrat and composer. Ancestry Edmond was a member of the Polignac family, one of the more illustrious families of France. His grandmother, the Yolande d ...

. He was

Pauline Thys Pauline Marie Elisa Thys Lebault(1835–1909) was a French people, French composer and librettist. She was born in Paris, her father was the opéra comique composer Alphonse Thys (1807–1879). Initially she composed salon romances and light pi ...

's father.

Works

His abundant production includes: * 1835: ''Alda'', opera in one act, with

Jean-François Bayard Jean-François Alfred Bayard (17 March 1796, Charolles, Saône-et-Loire – 20 February 1853, Paris) was a French playwright. He was the nephew of fellow playwright Eugène Scribe. Life As a law student and a lawyer's clerk, Bayard wrote with pa ...

and

Paul Duport Nicolas-Paul Duport (22 April 1798 – 26 December 1866) was a French dramatist and librettiste who also wrote under the pen names M. P. D., Paulin and Erbert. Theatre * 1824 : ''Le Beau-frère, ou la Veuve à 2 maris'', comédie-vaudeville in ...

* 1839: ''Le Roi Margot'', comédie à ariettes * 1841: ''L'Avantage d'être goujon !'', bêtise aquatique in four couplets, lyrics by

Justin Cabassol Justin Cabassol (1800 - 19 January 1873) was a French songwriter and poet. References

1800 births 1873 deaths Writers from Paris French male songwriters French male poets 19th-century French poets 19th-century French songwriters 19th-cent ...

* 1842: ''La Discrète'', lyrics by Émile Barateau * 1844: ''Oreste et Pylade'',

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

in one act * 1844: ''Marquise et soubrette'', mélodies, lyrics by Victor Mabille * 1844: ''Le Nuage !'', mélodie, lyrics by

Marc Constantin Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

* 1845: ''L'Amazone'', opéra comique in one act * 1846: ''Le Distrait'', song, lyrics by Victor Mabille * 1848: ''La Sournoise'', opéra comique in one act * 1849: ''Enfant n'y crois pas'', lyrics by Henriette Chardonneau * 1849: ''La Famille'', romance * 1850: ''Les Echos de Rosine'', salon opera with piano, poem by

Étienne Tréfeu Étienne Victor Tréfeu (de Tréval) (born Saint-Lô, Manche, September 25, 1821 – died Paris, June, 1903), was a French librettist, song writer and theatre manager. He is best known for his work with Jacques Offenbach. He originally came to pro ...

* 1864: ''Les Plaisirs de la chasse'', for male choir * 1864: ''Bonne Nuit'', nocturne à deux voix, lyrics by Eugène Roch * 1873: ''12 Fantaisies'' for oboe and piano * ''6 Variations pour piano sur l'air de la Tyrolienne'' * undated: ''La Muse comique'', collection of ditties, songs, bawdy, pastoral, roundels, comic scenes, drinking songs and light songs with and without talking, for piano and voice, lyrics by

Pierre-Antoine-Augustin de Piis Pierre-Antoine-Augustin (17 September 1755, Paris22 May 1832, Paris), chevalier de Piis was a French dramatist and man of letters. With Pierre-Yves Barré he was one of the co-founders of Paris's Théâtre du Vaudeville. He was the son of Pierre ...

, (with Étienne Arnaud, Amédée de Beauplan,

François-Auguste Gevaert François-Auguste Gevaert (31 July 1828 in Huysse, near Oudenaarde – 24 December 1908 in Brussels) was a Belgian musicologist and composer.N. Slonimsky, Ed., ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 8th ed., Schirmer Books, NY L ...

Aristide Hignard Jean-Louis Aristide Hignard (20 May 1822 – 20 March 1898) was a French composer of light opera notable as a friend of Jules Verne, also from Nantes and six years Hignard's junior, some of whose librettos and verse he set to music.Patrick Barbier ...

Paul de Kock Charles Paul de Kock (May 21, 1793 in Passy, Paris – April 27, 1871 in Paris) was a French novelist. Although one of the most popular writers of his day in terms of book sales, he acquired a literary reputation for low-brow output in poor ta ...

Adrien Lagard Adrien Jean Joseph Marie Lagard (? in Lyon – 4 March 1878) was a 19th-century French composer. He wrote more than 200 songs and ditties on lyrics by, among others, Émile Carré, Léon Quentin, Arthur Lamy or Marc Constantin, compositions for ...

Charles Lecocq Alexandre Charles Lecocq (3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéra comique, opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable succ ...

, Sylvain Mangeant, Charles Pourny,

Loïsa Puget Loïsa Puget (11 February 1810 – 24 October 1889) was a French composer. Life Loïsa Puget was born in Paris, her proper first names were Louise Françoise. Her mother was a singer and saw that her daughter received a musical education includin ...

, Victor Robillard and

Jean-Pierre Solié Jean-Pierre Solié (also Soulier, Solier, Sollié; 1755 in Nîmes – 6 August 1812 in Paris) was a French cellist and operatic singer. He began as a tenor, but switched and became well known as a baritone. He sang most often at the Paris Op� ...

Bibliography

* Clement Scott, Bernard Edward Joseph Capes, Charles Eglington, ''The Theatre'', vol. 3, 1879, p. 118 * William Hayman Cummings, ''Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 1892, p. 64 *

Gustave Vapereau Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and lexicographer famous primarily for his dictionaries, the ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'' and the ''Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs''. Biography ...

, ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'', 1893 * T. J. Walsh, ''Second Empire Opera: The Théâtre Lyrique, Paris 1851–1870'', 1981, p. 339 * ''Procès-verbaux de l'Académie des Beaux-arts: 1830–1834'', 2004, p. 255 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thys, Alphonse 1807 births 1879 deaths 19th-century classical composers Conservatoire de Paris alumni French male classical composers French opera composers French Romantic composers Musicians from Paris 19th-century French male musicians