MusicSmiles.com
The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

André Charles Prosper Messager was born in Montluçon in the Massif Central region of France in 1853, and died in Paris in 1929. This French composer, organist, and conductor studied in Paris. His teachers included Camille Saint-Saëns.

Messager was organist at St Sulpice (just over the border in Switzerland) around 1874, and became conductor of the Paris Opéra Comique from 1898 to 1908. A big tribute was paid to him when he conducted the first performance of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, dedicated to him, in 1902. 

André became Artistic Director of Covent Garden from 1901 to 1906. Later he was made Director and Chief Conductor of the Paris Opera from 1907 to 1915.

This very talented musician wrote several operas, ballets, symphonies, and piano pieces. One opera Véronique, which was extremely popular when first performed in 1898, is still performed today. André's collaborators were A Vanloo and G Duval. The English version was by Henry Hamilton, with lyrics by Lilian Eldée.  Its London premier was produced at the Apollo Theatre under the direction and management of George Edwardes (of G&S fame). Two songs from this opera have become evergreens, they are the duets: Trot Here and There, and The Swing Song. We have included them here and hope that André delights you as he has delighted others (and us!) over the years . . .

( Click number to view statistics > > >). Scribe thanks all our  223,547 MusicSmiles visitors up to beginning of September, 2010. 

You may find our special effects work best with Microsoft Internet Explorer