Jean Robert Planquette (; 31 July 1848 – 28 January 1903) was a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

of songs and operettas. Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, especially '' Les cloches de Corneville'' (1878), the length of whose initial London run broke all records for any piece of

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

up to that time. ''

Rip Van Winkle "Rip Van Winkle" () is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Du ...

'' (1882) also earned international fame.

Life and career

The son of a singer, Planquette was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and educated at the Paris Conservatoire. He did not finish his studies, lacking the funds to do so, and worked as a café pianist and composer and singing (he was a

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

). A few romances that he composed brought less fame than did his song, "Sambre et Meuse", first sung in 1867 by Lucien Fugère, who went on to be one of the foremost French opera singers of his day. In 1876, the director of the

Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques The Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques () was a theatre in Paris in the 19th and 20th centuries. Opened first in 1832 in the site of the old Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique on the Boulevard du Temple, under Frédérick Lemaître it became a noted ...

gave Planquette a commission to compose his first operetta, '' Les cloches de Corneville''. It opened in Paris in 1877, running for an extremely successful 480 performances, and then enjoyed an astonishing London run, beginning in 1878, of a record-breaking 708 performances. Planquette's music has been praised for its pathos and romantic feeling. ''Le Chevalier Gaston'' was produced in 1879 with little success. In 1880 came ''Les Voltigeurs du 32ieme'' which had a long run in London in 1887 as ''The Old Guard'', and ''La Cantiniére'', which was translated into English as ''Nectarine'', though never produced. In 1882 ''

'' was produced in London and subsequently given in Paris as ''Rip'', in both cases with great success. The libretto is an adaptation by H. B. Farnie of

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...

's famous tale. In 1884 the phenomenon of an opera by a French composer being produced in London before being heard in Paris was repeated in '' Nell Gwynne'', which was modestly successful, but failed when produced in Paris as ''La Princesse Colombine''. It was followed by ''La Crémaillere'' (Paris, 1885), ''Surcouf'' (Paris, 1887; London, as ''Paul Jones'', 1889), ''Captain Thérése'' (London, 1887), ''La Cocarde tricolore'' (Paris, 1892), ''Le Talisman'' (Paris, 1892), ''Panurge'' (Paris, 1895) and ''Mam'zelle Quat'sous'' (Paris, 1897). Another Planquette composition, the march '' Le Régiment de Sambre et Meuse,'' has achieved fame in an arrangement for

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

; it is the tune used by the Ohio State University Marching Band when performing their famed Script Ohio formation. The original orchestral version has been recorded by the

Boston Pops Orchestra The Boston Pops is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symphony Orc ...

conducted by

Arthur Fiedler Arthur Fiedler (December 17, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was an American Conductor (music), conductor known for his association with both the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestra, Boston Pops orchestras. With a combi ...

and appears on the

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

Living Stereo CD ''Marches in Hi-Fi''. "The Song of the Cabin Boy," a barcarolle from Planquette's '' Les cloches de Corneville'' was played on the violin by W.K.L. Dickson in the first experiment in history in synchronizing sound and motion pictures (1894). It is viewable online as ''

The Dickson Experimental Sound Film ''The Dickson Experimental Sound Film'' is a film made by William Dickson in late 1894 or early 1895. It is the first known film with live-recorded sound and appears to be the first motion picture made for the Kinetophone, the proto- sound-fil ...

''.

Works

All operettas and all premieres in Paris, unless otherwise noted. * ''Méfie-toi de Pharaon'', one act, 1872, Eldorado * ''Le serment de Mme Grégoire'', 1874, Eldorado * ''Paille d'avoine'', one act, 12 March 1874, Théâtre des Délassements-Comiques * ''Le valet de coeur'', saynète, one act, 1875, Alcazar d'Eté * ''Le péage'', c 1876, Eldorado * '' Les cloches de Corneville'',

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 Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

, four acts, 19 April 1877, Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques * ''Le chevalier Gaston'', one act, 8 February 1879, Opéra,

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

* ''Les voltigeurs de la 32ème'', three acts, 7 January 1880, Renaissance * ''La cantinière'', three acts, 26 October 1880, Théâtre de Nouveautés * ''

Rip van Winkle "Rip Van Winkle" () is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Du ...

'' (''Rip-Rip''), three acts, 14 October 1882, Comedy Theatre,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

* ''Les chevaux-légers'', one act, 1882 * '' Nell Gwynne'' (''La princesse Colombine''), three acts, 7 February 1884, Avenue Theatre, London * ''La crémaillere'', three acts, 28 November 1885, Nouveautés * '' Surcouf'', three acts, 6 October 1887, Folies-Dramatiques * ''Captain Thérése'', 1887, three acts, 25 August 1890,

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

, London * ''La cocarde tricolore'', three acts, 12 February 1892, Folies-Dramatiques * ''Le talisman'', three acts, 20 January 1893, Théâtre de la Gaîté * ''Les vingt-huit jours de Champignolette'', 17 September 1895, République * ''Panurge'', 1895, three acts, 22 November 1895, Gaîté * ''Mam'zelle Quat'sous'', four acts, 19 April 1897 Gaîté * ''Le fiancé de Margot'', one act, 1900 * ''Le paradis de Mahomet'', three acts, completed by Louis Ganne, 15 May 1906, Variétés

Sources

* *Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians'', ol. # 14 *Obituary for Robert Planquette in ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 44, No. 721 (Mar. 1, 1903), p. 177

External links

Robert Planquette
on data.bnf.fr *
Dickson Experimental Sound Film
brief discussion of film's recovery and restoration, with downloadable version of the film; part of the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Planquette, Robert Composers from Paris 1848 births 1903 deaths French Romantic composers French operetta composers French musical theatre composers Male musical theatre composers French opera composers French male opera composers Knights of the Legion of Honour Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French male musicians 19th-century French male musicians