Albert Carré (born
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
22 June 1852, died
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
12 December 1938) was a French Theatre director, opera director,
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and librettist. He was the nephew of librettist
Michel CarréMichel Carré was a prolific French librettist.He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libretti. His libretto for Mirette was never performed in France but was later performed in English adaptation in...
(1821-1872) and cousin of cinema director Michel Carré (1865-1945). His wife was the French soprano Marguerite Carré (1880-1947).
For over 50 years Albert Carré was a central personality in the theatrical and musical life of Paris.
Leaving Alsace for Paris in 1870, Carré studied drama at the
Paris ConservatoireThe CNSAD is the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts, regarded as one of the most prestigious drama schools in Europe....
, winning a 2nd prize in comedy, and was engaged at the
Théâtre du VaudevilleThe Théâtre du Vaudeville was a theatre in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors, Piis and Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets sur des airs connus", including vaudevilles....
, leading to a successful career as an actor, before becoming co-director of the Vaudeville in Paris and later the Théâtre-Libre and the
Comédie-FrançaiseThe Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the Ier arrondissement of Paris....
.
He left the Vaudeville to become director of the Opéra in
NancyNancy is a city in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name.The city is the head of the department...
, where he also helped institute a regular season of symphony concerts in the Salle Poirel from 1889.
Carré’s main contribution to operatic history was made as director of the
Opéra ComiqueThe Opera Comique was a 19th-century opera house constructed between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. The theatre opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
, a post he held from 1898 to 1914 and then again from 1919-1925 (co-director with Emile and Vincent Isola).
Albert Carré (born
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
22 June 1852, died
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
12 December 1938) was a French Theatre director, opera director,
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and librettist. He was the nephew of librettist
Michel CarréMichel Carré was a prolific French librettist.He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libretti. His libretto for Mirette was never performed in France but was later performed in English adaptation in...
(1821-1872) and cousin of cinema director Michel Carré (1865-1945). His wife was the French soprano Marguerite Carré (1880-1947).
For over 50 years Albert Carré was a central personality in the theatrical and musical life of Paris.
Life and work
Leaving Alsace for Paris in 1870, Carré studied drama at the
Paris ConservatoireThe CNSAD is the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts, regarded as one of the most prestigious drama schools in Europe....
, winning a 2nd prize in comedy, and was engaged at the
Théâtre du VaudevilleThe Théâtre du Vaudeville was a theatre in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors, Piis and Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets sur des airs connus", including vaudevilles....
, leading to a successful career as an actor, before becoming co-director of the Vaudeville in Paris and later the Théâtre-Libre and the
Comédie-FrançaiseThe Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the Ier arrondissement of Paris....
.
He left the Vaudeville to become director of the Opéra in
NancyNancy is a city in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name.The city is the head of the department...
, where he also helped institute a regular season of symphony concerts in the Salle Poirel from 1889.
Carré’s main contribution to operatic history was made as director of the
Opéra ComiqueThe Opera Comique was a 19th-century opera house constructed between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. The theatre opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
, a post he held from 1898 to 1914 and then again from 1919-1925 (co-director with Emile and Vincent Isola). He worked to raise the musical standards of the Opéra Comique and was responsible for the premieres of major operas by French composers, commissioning Debussy's
Pelléas et MélisandePelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 30 April 1902. The French libretto was adapted from the Symbolist play of the same name by Maurice Maeterlinck...
,
Gustave CharpentierGustave Charpentier was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.He was born in Dieuze, the son of a baker, and after studying at the conservatoire in Lille entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1881. There he studied compositions under Jules Massenet and in 1887 won the Prix de Rome for...
's
LouiseLouise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
and Dukas's
Ariane et Barbe-BleueAriane et Barbe-Bleue is an opera in three acts by Paul Dukas. The French libretto is adapted from the symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck....
, and works by
Reynaldo HahnReynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
,
Alfred BruneauLouis-Charles-Bonaventure-Alfred Bruneau was a French composer who played a key role in the introduction of realism in French opera....
and
Georges HueGeorges Adolphe Hüe was a French composer of classical music.-Biography:Georges Hüe was born in Versailles into a noted family of architects. His musical education included studies with Charles Gounod and César Franck. In 1879, he won the Prix de Rome with his cantata Médée...
.
Carré was more progressive musically than his predecessor Carvalho, from whom he took over in 1898. He had written a report for government on the management of opera houses in Germany and approached his position at the Opéra Comique with reforming zeal, introducing many modern practices.
André MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , French composer and musician, was born at Montluçon.-Early years:André Messager was the son of Paul-Philippe-Émile Messager and Sophie-Cornélie Lhôte de Selancy. It was not a musical household but the young boy had his first musical exposure on a piano in the house...
, (a life-long friend and collaborator on his most important projects) became the 'directeur de la musique' with expanded responsibilities, allowing him an important role in deciding the works to be performed and singers to be hired. He instituted a more rigorous rehearsal schedule and absentee policy. Carré also created
subscription seriesThe subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites...
in which subscribers were guaranteed that works would not be repeated in the same season. In 1899 he inaugurated a 'family series', at a lower cost and concentrating on older works from the repertory. His contract stipulated that he keep in the repertory works of composers who had created the
opéra-comique genreOpéra comique is a French genre of opera that contains spoken dialogue, and sometimes recitatives, in addition to arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...
, and also that he could not foist the older repertory on secondary artists.
He produced the first French performances of several Italian operas, including
ToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou's drama, La Tosca. The work premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14 1900. It is one of the world's most popular operas, a hit with audiences...
(13 October 1903) and
Madama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(28 December 1906), and mounted many other important new productions, including
CarmenCarmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
(8 December 1898). He was responsible for a new production of
Le roi malgré luiLe roi malgré lui is an opéra-comique in three acts by Emmanuel Chabrier with an original libretto by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani.-Background:...
in 1929 which helped to bring the piece back to the stage.
He wrote vaudevilles, comedies, and opéra-comique libretti, sometimes with Alexandre Bisson (1848-1912).
He retired in 1936 and wrote his memoirs.
Before and during the First World War, Carré also worked for the 'Deuxième Bureau'. This was part of the
intelligence serviceMilitary intelligence is a military service that uses intelligence gathering disciplines to collect informations that informs commanders decision making process....
of the French army and was involved in recruiting Alsatians to the French army when the region was still part of Germany.
Works
- La basoche
La Basoche is an opéra comique in three acts of 1890, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Carré.-History:Messager's 1888 operetta Le Mari de la Reine at Bouffes-Parisiens was a disappointment, and the composer was struggling to feed himself and his wife until he found...
, opéra-comique in 3 acts, music by André MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , French composer and musician, was born at Montluçon.-Early years:André Messager was the son of Paul-Philippe-Émile Messager and Sophie-Cornélie Lhôte de Selancy. It was not a musical household but the young boy had his first musical exposure on a piano in the house...
, (Opéra-comique, 30 May 1890).
- Faust en ménage, fantaisie lyrique in one act, music by Claude Terrasse, (Théâtre de la Potinière, 5 January 1924).
- La montagne enchantée, pièce fantastique by Emile Moreau and Carré, music by André Messager and Xavier Leroux, 1897.
- Frétillon, opéra-comique in 3 acts and 4 tableaux with songs by Béranger and book by Albert Carré. (Théâtre municipal de Strasbourg, 5 March 1927).
- Le roi bossu, opéra-comique in one act 17 March 1932. Music by Elsa Barraine.
Non-theatre works
- Les théâtres en Allemagne et en Autriche, 1889
- Les engagés volontaires alsaciens-lorrains pendant la guerre, Flammarion, 1923
- L'Opéra-Comique connu et inconnu, 1925
- Souvenirs de théâtre, Plon, 1950
- Les théâtres en Alsace-Lorraine, de leur rôle dans la propagation de la langue française en Alsace-Lorraine et dans le perfectionnement de sa prononciation.