Messager, André

▪ French composer

in full  André-charles-prosper Messager  

born Dec. 30, 1853, Montluçon, France

died Feb. 24, 1929, Paris

      French conductor and composer whose operettas achieved popularity in France and England.

      Messager established his reputation with his operetta La Béarnaise (performed Paris, 1885; London, 1886). Between 1890 and 1926 he produced 14 operettas, including Madame Chrysanthème (1893; on a plot similar to Puccini's Madama Butterfly), Mirette (1894), and Monsieur Beaucaire (1919). Of his three ballets Les Deux Pigeons (1886) was especially well known. He wrote in a light, elegant style that was characteristically Parisian. He became director of the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1898, then artistic director of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (1901–06), and later associate director of the Paris Opéra. He conducted the first performance (1902) of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. His wife was the Irish composer Hope Temple (Dotie Davies; 1859–1938).

* * *