Oscar Comettant

Oscar Comettant (18 April 1819 – 24 January 1898) was a 19th-century French composer, musicologist and traveller.

Biography Commettant studied the piano and musical composition at the Conservatoire de Paris (1839–1843) and made a long tour in the United-States from 1852 to 1855 as a soloist.

He left Le Havre on 1 September 1852 and arrived in New York City on the 13th. He then visited the Niagara Falls, Mammoth Cave, saw the Mississippi, Lake Superior, Cedar Creek, among other places.

His circuit began on a steamer on the Hudson River. The train then led him from Albany to Buffalo, with a stop at Niagara Falls. He went to Toronto, Kingston, Mille-Isles, and Montréal, then south to Saratoga and returned to New York where he rested for two weeks.

Comettant later visited Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Richmond (Virginia), and Charleston, then spent a month in Mobile in a cotton plantation. On his way to New Orleans, he sailed on the Mississippi and went through Vicksburg, Memphis and Louisville, where he took the opportunity to admire Mammoth Cave and ended his journey by Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Unlike many travelers, Comettant focused on American society and institutions; the great spaces of nature were indifferent to him. Although very detailed on political life, religions, education etc. and the American cod, his works, where he invented the character of the French painter Marcel Bonneau, were fictional.

In 1855, on his return to France, he became a professor of music; while composing, he worked as a music critic for Le Siècle and Le Ménestrel.

Comettant went again on a journey in 1864 and visited Denmark, then in July 1888 was appointed French juror at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition (1888) where he arrived 6 September after he left Marseille 1 August.

He visited Lilydale where he met squatters and Indigenous Australians and, in October 1888, the mines of Ballarat and Sandhurst. He also traveled in the Great Western, where he admired the vines before going to Sydney to attend a banquet (December).

After composing his "Salute to Melbourne" for piano, he returned to France on 28 December 1888.

Publications 1858: Trois ans aux États-Unis. Étude des mœurs et coutumes américaines 1861: Le Nouveau Monde. Scènes de la vie américaine 1861: Les Secrets de la mer, short story 1862: Physiologie du mal de mer 1863: Les Civilisations inconnues 1864: L'Amérique telle qu'elle est. Voyage anecdotique de M. Bonneau dans le nord et le sud des États-Unis. Excursion au Canada 1864: En vacances 1865: En Amérique, en France et Ailleurs 1865: Le Danemark tel qu'il est 1865: Un Petit rien tout neuf 1866: Voyage pittoresque et anecdotique dans le nord et le sud des États-Unis d'Amérique 1868: De haut en bas, impressions pyrénéennes 1868: Gustave Lambert au Pôle Nord, ce qu'il y va faire 1869: De Paris à quelque part 1883: Histoires de bonne humeur 1890: Au pays des kangourous et des mines d'or. Étude des mœurs et coutumes australiennes, impressions de voyage 1895: L'homme et les bêtes, moral studies

Musicology 1857: La Propriété intellectuelle au point de vue de la morale et du progrès 1860: Histoire d'un inventeur au XIXe siècle. Adolphe Sax, ses ouvrages et ses luttes 1862: Musique et musiciens 1869: La musique, les musiciens et les instruments de musique chez les différents peuples du monde 1870: Les Musiciens, les philosophes et les gaietés de la musique en chiffres 1875: Comédies en quatre lignes 1875: Francis Planté, portrait musical à la plume 1877: Enseignement du piano. Le Guide-mains W. Bohrer. Notice illustrée de deux dessins, explications et conseils sur l'emploi du Guide-mains W. Bohrer 1883: Les Compositeurs illustres de notre siècle : Rossini, Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn, Halévy, Gounod, Félicien David 1885: Un Nid d'autographes. Lettres inédites recueillies et annotées par Oscar Comettant 1889: La Norvège musicale à Paris 1890: Histoire de cent mille pianos et d'une salle de concert 1891: La Hollande musicale à Paris 1894: La musique de la garde républicaine en Amérique 1894–1898 La Musique de chambre, 6 vols.

Compositions

1841: Un Vieux grognard, Fantastic interlude in one act, lyrics by Théophile Mercier 1844: L'Aigle !, imperial quadrille with quartet accompaniment for piano 1844: Faisons-nous belle, bolero, lyrics by Adolphe Favre 1844: Oh ! si tu le voulais !, romance, lyrics by Louise Colet 1844: Un Rayon de Dieu, melody, lyrics by Adolphe Favre 1846: Le Chant de la syrène, melody, lyrics by Alfred Des Essarts 1846: Jeanne d'Arc, scene and air, lyrics by Alfred des Essarts 1846: La Plainte d'Ariane, drama melody for soprano, lyrics by Alfred des Essarts 1848: La Danse au bois, ditty, lyrics by Adolphe Favre 1848: Marinetta la fiancée, barcarolle, lyrics by Adolphe Favre 1849: L'Exilée au Texas, melody 1849: Raphaël au tombeau de Julie, melody 1850: Élégie pour piano et violon, Op. 35 1850: Fantaisie de concert pour piano et violon, Op. 33 1851: Andante, scherzo and final for piano. Op. 48 1851: École mélodique du jeune pianiste, 12 études récréatives pour former les élèves au style expressif et chantant, op. 55 1851: Fantaisie brillante pour piano sur l'Enfant Prodigue, de D. F. E. Auber, Op. 56 1851: God Save the queen, caprice for piano. Op. 39 1851: Une nuit à Smyrne, oriental fantasy for piano. Op. 42 1851: Les petits Oiseaux, three easy waltz for the piano 1851: Rule Britannia, fantasy for piano 1851: Souvenir de Gisors, waltz for the piano 1852: Casilda, small fantasy for piano for small hands. Op. 60 1852: Fantaisie brillante sur le Juif errant, de F. Halévy, for the piano. op. 63 1852: Fantaisie sur l'opéra Mosquita la Sorcière, de X Boisselot, for piano. Op. 58 1852: Le Troubadour du Pérou, eight Spanish romances 1852: La Vision, polka mazurka for piano 1856: Chanson de l'Oncle Tom, study for piano 1856: Appassionato, new study of salon for piano 1856: Choral américain, miscellany for piano 1856: Élan du cœur, study for piano 1856: Rêverie harmonieuse, study for piano 1856: Sur le lac, study for piano 1857: Banjo, caprice, piano 1857: L'Amazone, polka for piano 1857: Le Cor de chasse, polka for piano 1857: Edda !, polka-mazurka for piano 1857: Églantine !, schottisch for piano 1857: La Fin du bal !, galop for piano 1857: La Noce au village, quadrille for piano 1857: Nymphe des nuits, waltz for piano 1860: L'Inconstance !, great piano waltz for piano 1861: Un ballo in maschera, opéra de Verdi, caprice de Salon for piano 1861: Tantum ergo pour voix de baryton ou mezzo-Soprano 1861: Le Traîneau !, waltz for piano 1862: Alceste, opéra de Gluck, Temple scene arranged for piano 1863: Les Nuits de Bohème, characteristic march for the piano 1863: La Gamme des amours, variations on a known theme 1871: Metz. Hymne de Gaston Hirsch 1872: Alsace et Lorraine, march, piano 1873: Heures d'harmonie, little pieces for piano 1876: La beauté provençale, waltz, piano 1879: La Sympathie, sentimental waltz, Op.162 1888: Berceuse, piano 1888 Chœur nocturne, nocturne, piano 1888: Scherzetto pastoral, piano 1888: Impromptu-Caprice, piano (1888) 1888: Simplesse, piano (1888) 1888: Bergerie !, choir for two voices of women, accompanied by piano, lyrics by Oscar Comettant, music by Renaud-Maury 1888: Villanelle rythmique, piano 1889: Salut à Melbourne !, piano 1889: Bagatelle, lyrics and music 1889: Le Sydney, sea song (with choir ad libitum) 1890: Les cinq cousines, piano 1892: Allegro de salon, piano 1892: Le petit Trianon, piano 1892: Impromptu, piano 1892: Rondeau villageois, piano 1892: Menuet, piano 1892: Christina !, polka mazurka composed for the piano 1898 Aux absents, piano 1898: Impressions d'une nuit d'été, piano 1898: La permission des quintes, piano 1898: Trois Méditations musicales pour piano 1907: Eoline, piano. Op. 37 Six études de salon, piano. Op. 32 (undated) Fantaisie caprice pour piano sur Zerline ou la Corbeille d'oranges, by D. F. E. Auber. Op. 57 (undated) Le Pardon de Ploërmel, de Meyerbeer, transcription-fantasy for piano (undated)