Auguste Vaucorbeil
| Auguste Vaucorbeil | |
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| Born |
Auguste Emmanuel Veaucorbeille 15 December 1821 Rouen, France |
| Died | 2 November 1884 (aged 62) Paris, France |
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Auguste Emmanuel Vaucorbeil, born Veaucorbeille, (15 December 1821 – 2 November 1884) was a French composer and theatre manager. He was the director of the Paris Opera from 1879 until his death at the age of 62. Vaucorbeil was born in Rouen and studied at the Paris Conservatoire. As a composer, he was best known for his art songs, but he also composed chamber music and two operas.
Vaucorbeil was born in Rouen, the son of a popular actor at the Théâtre du Gymnase who performed under the under the stage name "Ferville". With financial assistance from Queen Marie Amelie, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1835 and studied there for seven years. After leaving the conservatory, he initially earned a living by giving singing lessons and composing art songs. During this period hee also composed chamber music, piano suites, a three-act opéra comique, La Bataille d' amour, and an ambitious cantata, La Mort de Diane. Finding it difficult to earn a living solely as a composer, in 1872 Vaucorbeil took a post in the French government department dealing with state-subsidised theatres. In 1878 he was given the title Inspecteur des Beaux-Arts (Inspector of Fine Arts), and the following year was appointed Director of the Opéra de Paris.
According to Michael Georg Conrad, Vaucorbeil's appointment to the Opéra was initially viewed with optimism. It was the first time the company would be run by a trained musician since the days of François Habeneck who had left the Director's post in 1824. Long a champion of French baroque opera and ballet, in an 1877 memo to the French Assemblée nationale Vaucorbeil had lamented the failure of French opera houses to stage these works in the 19th century. In 1880 he instituted a concert series of these works at the Opéra, although financial constraints meant that fully staged productions proved impossible. Vaucorbeil's tenure was at times a stormy one. The Opéra's principal conductor Charles Lamoureux resigned six months into Vaucorbeil's directorship after a quarrel over the company's repertorire. When Massenet presented him with his newly composed opera Hérodiade in 1881, Vaucorbeil rejected its production at the Opéra because he found the libretto incoherent. Hérodiade premiered to great success at La Monnaie in Brussels instead. Further friction was caused by Vaucorbeil's policy of reducing expenses by casting young prize-winners from the Paris Conservatoire instead of established stars, a practice which was not viewed favourably by the composers of the operas he produced there.
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