Louis Charles Félix François Gregh (16 March 1843 – 21 January 1915) was a French composer, conductor and music publisher.

Life

Gregh was born in Philippeville, now

Skikda Skikda (; formerly Philippeville from 1838 to 1962 and Rusicade in ancient times) is a city in northeastern Algeria and a port on the Mediterranean. It is the capital of Skikda Province and Skikda District. History The Phoenicians and Carthagi ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, on 16 March 1843. His family was of

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

origin. As a composer, he wrote operettas, ballets, numerous popular songs, and over 150 works for piano for two, four, and six hands. Gregh's first successful stage work was the operetta ''Un Lycée de jeunes filles'' which premiered at the

Théâtre de Cluny The théâtre de Cluny () or théâtre Cluny was an entertainment venue located at 71 boulevard Saint-Germain in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, inaugurated in 1864 and closed in 1989. Productions (selection) * 1869 : '' Le Juif Polonais'', op ...

on 28 December 1881 with Gregh conducting. This was followed by the opera bouffe ''Le Présomptif'' which was premiered at the

Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries The Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries (; ) is an ensemble of three glazed shopping arcades in central Brussels, Belgium. It consists of the King's Gallery (; ), the Queen's Gallery (; ) and the Princes' Gallery (; ). The galleries were designed a ...

in Brussels on 12 December 1883 followed by a staging at the

Théâtre de la Renaissance The name Théâtre de la Renaissance () has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building ...

in Paris in 1884. He died in Sainte Mesme,

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () is a former department of France, which encompassed the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its prefecture was Versailles and its administrative number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was disbanded in ...

, now

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Fernand Gregh Fernand Gregh (14 October 1873, Paris – 5 January 1960, Paris) was a French poet and literary critic. He was accepted in the Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institu ...

(1873–1960) was a philosopher, literary critic and poet, member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Publishing business

Gregh registered as a music publisher with

SACEM The Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music or SACEM () is a French professional association collecting payments of artists’ rights and distributing the rights to the original songwriters, composers, and music publisher A mus ...

in February 1873 after having bought the catalogue of the Parisian publisher Claude Heu.Anik Devriès &

François Lesure François Lesure (23 May 1923 – 21 June 2001) was a French musicologist and librarian. He specialized in the life and works of Claude Debussy, but also wrote numerous bibliographies, studies in the sociology of music, and historical French top ...

: ''Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français'', vol. 2: ''De 1820 à 1914'' (Geneva: Minkoff, 1988), p. 199. He grew by acquiring, by auction, parts of the dissolved publishers Léon Escudier (1882), Egrot (1884), and Jochem (1899). He was also the French representative of the publishers Litolff and

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is an Austrian classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, it originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market. The firm soon expanded to become one of t ...

. His business was quite successful, and he only gave up in old age in 1907, when he sold it to Rouart, which in turn was taken over by

Salabert Francis Salabert (born François-Joseph-Charles Salabert, 27 July 1884 – 28 December 1946) was an innovative and influential French music publisher, who was the head of Éditions Salabert in the first half of the twentieth century. Biography ...

in 1953.

Selected compositions

Stage works * ''Un Lycée de jeunes filles'' (operetta, 1881) * ''Le Présomptif'' (opera bouffe, 1883) * ''Le Capitaine Roland'' (operetta, 1895) * ''Arlette'' (ballet) Vocal music * ''Le Bon pasteur'' (L. Capet) (1876) * ''La Cage du pinson'' (Villemer & Delormel) (1876) * ''Je n'ai rien osé lui dire. Récit-naïveté'' (words: A. Queyriaux) (1876) * ''La Leçon de charité'' (Capet & Carel) (1876) * ''Lettre d'une pensionnaire'' (Villemer & Delormel) (1876) * ''Minuit à Venise. Barcarola'' (A. Queyriaux) (1876) * ''La Plainte de l'exilé'' (Villemer & Delormel) (1876) * ''Les Roses mortes'' (Villemer & Delormel) (1876) * ''Connaissez-vous mon amie?'' (Villemer & Delormel) (1877) * ''Le Pays du bon vin'' (''Toast à la France'') (with choir

ad libitum In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The roughly synonymous phrase ('in acc ...

, L. Labarre &. Queyriaux) (1877) * ''En troïka!'' (G. de Loyat & A. Queyriaux) (1878) * ''L'Étoile de la France'' (L. Raimon & J. Dorsay) (1878) * ''Fatma. Réponse à la Ballade arabe'' (Henry Drucker) (1878) * ''L'Immensité'' (Jules Ruelle; Italian translation: Cesare da Prato) (1880) Piano music * ''Danse slave'', Op. 1 * ''En poste. Grand galop di bravura'', Op. 2 * ''Chanson béarnaise'', Op. 3 * ''Le Chant du Séraphin'', Op. 4 (1875) * ''Les Bergers-Watteau'', Op. 5 * ''1ère Mazurka de salon'', Op. 6 * ''Grand marche solennelle'', Op. 7 (1876) * ''Les Joyeux papillons. Capriccio'', Op. 8 (1877) * ''Élégie-Étude'', Op. 9 * ''Élégie-Pastorale'', Op. 10 * ''Les Farfadets. Scherzo galop'', Op. 11 * ''Pastorale Louis XV'', Op. 12 (1878) * ''Le Retour des moissonneurs'', Op. 13 (1878) * ''Perles et Fleurs. 2eme Mazurka brillante du salon'', Op. 14 * ''L'Immensité. Suite de valses'', Op. 15 * ''Rêverie'', Op. 16 * ''Le Chant du souvenir'', Op. 17 * ''L'Oiseau moqueur'', Op. 18 * ''Les Phalènes'', Op. 19 * ''La Mandoline'', Op. 20 * ''Au petit trot'', Op. 21 * ''Aida grande marche'' (Verdi), transcription, Op. 22 * ''Bergerette. Pastorale Florian'', Op. 23 * ''Grande valse romantique'', Op. 24 * ''Les Noces d'or'', Op. 25 * ''La Gaditana'', Op. 26 * ''Promenade matinale'', Op. 27 * ''Matinée de mai. Caprice'', Op. 28 * ''Parais à ta fenêtre! Sérénade'', Op. 29 * ''Coquetterie. Air de ballet'', Op. 30 * ''Valse de Salon No. 4'', Op. 35 * ''Je pense à vous. Valse'', Op. 42 * ''Répose'', Op. 53 * ''Fête printanière'', Op. 67 * ''Avant-printemps'', Op. 96 * ''Nuits algériennes'', Op. 98 * ''Voyages en rêve'', Op. 108 * ''Dora. Polka brillante'' (1877) * ''Études de mécanisme et d'expression'' (1877)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregh, Louis 1843 births 1915 deaths 19th-century French classical composers 19th-century French businesspeople 19th-century French male musicians French music publishers (people) French opera composers French male opera composers