H. Maurice Jacquet

Maurice Henri Louis Fernand Jacquet (18 March 1886 – 29 June 1954) was a 20th-century French composer and conductor. He died on June 29, 1954, in New York.

Biography The son of Alfred Eugene Gustave Jacquet, a photographer, and Jeanne Joséphine Henriette Noël, a singing teacher, H. Maurice Jacquet initially intended to become a virtuoso. He engaged in serious musical study under the direction of Francis Thomé, a composer and pianist. Since he showed serious provisions for musical composition, he followed his earlier training with lessons from Émile Pessard, a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris.

A student of conductor Alexandre Luigini, he regularly directed works by Jules Massenet and Gustave Charpentier.

H. Maurice Jacquet composed art songs, symphonic poems for soloists and orchestra as well as piano works. The creation of Messaouda, a one-act opéra comique written with Davin de Champclos and Andre Mauprey, was incredibly successful and received with great praise when it premiered at the Théâtre Moncey in Paris. Romanitza, a lyrical drama in four acts on a poem by Maurice Magre, was also presented with great success in April 1913 at the Théâtre Municipal of Calais. He also wrote the musicals La Petite Dactylo (1916) and L'As de cœur.''' Both were composed in 1917 but their first performances were held in 1925. For a while, H. Maurice Jacquet was conductor at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, then during the 1920s, he moved to America with his wife, harpist Andrée Amalou-Jacquet. He had also travelled to places including Canada, Cuba (where he directed the National Philharmonic Orchestra for some time), although finally arriving in Broadway in 1929–1930. He composed two musical comedies and film music while living in Hollywood.

In 1926 Maurice, along with Ernö Rapée, Frederick Stahlberg (for a short-time), and Charles Previn, was appointed as music staff at the newly opened Roxy Theatre. In the same year, he took part in the Federation of French Veterans of the Great War Inc, Grand Concert and Annual Ball held at the Hotel Plaza in New York alongside other musician and performers like Lucienne Boyer, Doris Niles, Leon Rothier, M. Van De Putte, and Raymonde Delaunois.

In 1937, he founded the third version of the American Opera Company in Trenton, NJ. It would perform two operatic productions before dissolving.

Education He began his musical training with the Composer and Pianist Francis Thomé, quickly becoming his favorite pupil. After having his ingenious aptitude for composition acknowledged by his parents, he was sent to study with the Composer Mr. Emile Pessard, who was a professor of composition at the National Conservatory in Paris. Under his direction, his skills grew rapidly and became known for his individual aesthetic, shaped by but not beholden to influences past and present. He also studied conducting under the French composer and conductor Alexandre Luigini, and through this training, he made collegial friendships with well-known composers like Jules Massenet and M. Gustave Charpentier.

Compositions

Vocal works 1908: Messaouda, one-act opéra comique, libretto by Davin de Champclos, music with André de Mauprey 1908: Sbarra, four-act opéra comique, libretto by Victor Canon and Saint-Aryan Before 1913: Romanitza, four-act lyrical drama, libretto by Maurice Magre 1916: Le Poilu, two-act comédie-opérette, libretto by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber 1916: La Petite Dactylo, three-act vaudeville, libretto by Maurice Hennequin and Georges Mitchell 1919: Aux jardins de Murcie : (suite murcienne) : three-act opera 1920: Son Altesse Papillon, three-act operetta libretto by P. Celval and André Mauprey, music with André Mauprey 1925: L'As de cœur ou Jim-Jim, three-act operetta, libretto by André Mauprey 1930: The Well of Romance, two-act comedy operetta, libretto by Preston Sturges

Mélodies 1911: Chanson de l'Inconstant, for piano and voice, poem by Maurice Magre Sérénade inutile, for voice and piano Les enfants, for voice and piano Tes yeux, for voice and piano Les vieilles de chez nous, for piano and voice Novembre Patrie air de Rysoor A une amie Berceuse amoureuse Invocation à Marie, poem by H. Jacquet (1916) Renouveau Toi, poem by H. Jacquet

Arias

Damnation de Faust sérénade, for voice and piano (Piano reduction of the aria "Serenade De Mephistopheles" from H. Berlioz's La damnation de Faust) Xerxès, for piano and voice (Translated version of "Ombra Mai Fu" from G. F. Handel's oratorio)

Artsongs

Benvenuto Cellini, for piano and voice

Symphonic works

Dawn twilight Angelesque Elegie Instrumental

Cantique à l'ancienne, for harp 1925: Bouquet de Noëls : airs canadiens, for violin with accompanying piano or organ 1927: The love-waltz

Piano works

Nocturnes Air de Ballet Sonnet frivole Danses des Saisons1925: Rhapsodie sur un chant canadien "Alouette" 1927: The cuckoo clock Op.1, for piano or harp in olden style

Film Scores

1917: Ils y viennent tous au cinéma, mixture of film and live orchestration at the Nouvel Ambigu Theater 1929: The Holy Terror, Family Comedy 1930: Bear Shooters, Family Comedy 1932: White Zombie, American horror film

Cantata

1927: The mystic trumpeter, for mixed voices and orchestra with children's chorus

Unfinished

Loïs, unfinished, poem by MB de Grancey

Literary works

Books

1947: The road to successful singing

Recordings

Benvenuto Cellini, for piano and voice (full movie) 1923: Sérénade inutile, for voice and piano 1923: Si je pouvais mourir, for voice and piano Recording session of five of Maurice Jacquet's mélodie and two aria's [Unknown singer, but most likely French baritone Joseph Saucier] in Montreal, Canada (1923).Les enfants Tes yeux Les vieilles de chez nous Xerxès Novembre Patrie air de Rysoor Damnation de Faust sérénade