Octave Pradels (15 February 1842 – 30 April 1930) was a French poet, novelist, vaudevilliste and

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

Biography

Octave Frederick Pradels published his first monologues, tales in verse and songs in 1883. Among his greatest successes were ''Ça commençait si gentiment'', ''La Chula'', ''Dans l'oasis'', ' (written in collaboration with ). His songs were created in particular by

Kam-Hill Camille Périer (1856–1935), known by his stage name Kam-Hill, was a French cabaret performer and singer in Paris.Anna Judic Anne Marie-Louise Damiens, stage name Anna Judic (18 July 1849, Semur-en-Auxois – 15 April 1911, Golfe-Juan) was a French comic actress. Life Niece of Montigny (the director of the Gymnase), in 1866 she entered the Conservatoire de Paris i ...

, Amiati (at the Eldorado) and Thérésa. A director of the

Théâtre des Capucines The Théâtre des Capucines was a theatre on the boulevard des Capucines in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. Built in 1889 by architect Édouard-Jean Niermans, it was taken over by two brothers, Émile Isola and Vincent Isola, in 1892 to become ...

, Octave Pradels was also president of the

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 ...

from 1895 to 1898. After a first marriage in 1865 in

Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; ; ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located southwest of the Principality of Monaco, which is just west of the French-Italian ...

, with Angélique Thérèse De Villa-Rey, daughter of a commander of the Monaco Marine, who gave him a first son, Édouard Joseph, Pradels supposedly married the divette Maria Theresa Mirbeau in 1873. They had a son, unrecognized by the mother, Edmond André, born 26 July 1878 in the

17th arrondissement of Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignol ...

, who collaborated with his father as lyricist and composer under the pseudonym Edmond Aramis. He died for France in

Fort Vaux Fort Vaux (), in Vaux-Devant-Damloup, Meuse (department), Meuse, France, was a polygonal fort forming part of the ring of 19 large defensive works intended to protect the city of Verdun. Built from 1881 to 1884 for 1,500,000 francs, it housed ...

at Vaux-devant-Damloup (

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

), 9 April 1916. In 1917 Octave Pradels remarried with Marie Louise Fransurot. Octave Pradels took great pride of having given his two sons to France. Imbued with the

chauvinist Chauvinism ( ) is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. The ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' describes it ...

and

revanchist Revanchism (, from ''revanche'', "revenge") is the political manifestation of the will to reverse the territorial losses which are incurred by a country, frequently after a war or after a social movement. As a term, ''revanchism'' originated i ...

mentality that arose after the capitulation in

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

, he contributed throughout his career to the dissemination of this feeling. Evidence is given by this excerpt from the words of this ''Marche Lorraine'' written in 1892: Tes fils n'ont pas dégénéré, Sol sacré ! Adoré ! Dans leurs veines encore ruisselle Du sang de la

Pucelle Jean Pucelle (c. 1300 – 1355; active c. 1320–1350) was a Paris, Parisian Gothic art, Gothic-era illuminated manuscripts, manuscript illuminator who excelled in the invention of drolleries as well as traditional iconography. He is co ...

Paulus's ''memories''

In 1906, he started helping the singer Paulus to write his memories which would be published from 1907. Paulus's memoirs were not published as a volume, but via the equivalent of booklets or black and white magazines sold each week. Rich in a sumptuous iconography, these notebooks contain reproductions of the cited figures, scores, but also small contextual ads.Alain Weill, François Caradec ''Le Café-Concert '', Hachette et Massin, 1980.

Theatre

* 1887: ''L'Agent de la sûreté de Marseille'', Marpon et Flammarion
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* 1905: ''Agence matrimoniale'', coll. Auteurs célèbres, Flammarion *1886: ''Chansons, monologues, chansons à dire, fantaisies'', préface d'

Armand Silvestre Paul Armand Silvestre (18 April 1837 – 19 February 1901) was a 19th-century French poet and ''conteur'' born in Paris. He studied at the École polytechnique with the intention of entering the army, but in 1870, he entered the departmen ...

, éd. Paul Ollendorff, Paris,
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*1887: ''Rupture de banc'', Librairie théâtrale, Paris,
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*1888: ''Les Amours de Bidoche'', Marpon et Flammarion, Paris,
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*1889: ''Pour dire entre hommes'', Marpon et Flammarion, Paris,
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*1890: ''Robert Daniel'', Flammarion, Paris,
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*1891: ''Les Desserts gaulois'', Marpon et Flammarion, Paris *1907: ''L'Héritier des Monlardon'', Publications littéraires illustrées, Paris,
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*1910: ''Fleurs de Gaule, poésies gaillardes...'', Louis-Michaud, Paris,
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*1913: ''Le Vin et la Chanson'', Flammarion, Paris,
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References

Bibliography

Octave Praedels on Wikisource
* André Chadourne, ''Les Cafés-concerts'', E. Dentu, Paris, 1890
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* Chantal Brunschwig, Louis-Jean Calvet, Jean-Claude Klein, ''Cent ans de chanson française'', coll. Points actuels,

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as Le Seuil, is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' (th ...

, Paris, 1981 (1re éd. reliée) * Serge Dillaz, ''La Chanson sous la IIIe République (1870-1940)'', Tallandier, 1991 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pradels, Octave 19th-century French novelists 20th-century French novelists French lyricists 19th-century French poets 20th-century French poets French theatre managers and producers Members of the Ligue de la patrie française 1842 births People from Pas-de-Calais 1930 deaths Writers from Hauts-de-France