Stories from the Operas

by Gladys Davidson

AMBROISE THOMAS

Charles Ambroise Thomas was born at Metz, 5th August, 1811; died at Paris, 12th February, 1896. Born of musical parents, he entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of seventeen, becoming director of that institute in 1871. In 1832 he won the Grand Prix de Rome; and whilst studying in Italy was very active as a composer. On his return from Rome he began to write operas, the first of which, La Double Echelle, produced at the Opéra Comique in 1837, met with considerable success. Others followed; and with Le Caid (1849) and Le Songe d'une Nuit d'été (1850), his name was finally established, and gained him a high place amongst French composers. The operas that followed met with little success; but in Mignon, produced at the Opéra Comique in 1866, the musical world recognised a masterpiece, and paid enthusiastic tribute to the genius of its composer. Other operas by Ambroise Thomas are:—Hamlet (1868), Le Cardinal de Venise (1857), Raymond (1851), etc.