Planquette, (Jean-) Robert
Planquette, (Jean-) Robert
Planquette, (Jean-) Robert , French composer; b. Paris, July 31, 1848; d. there, Jan. 28, 1903. He studied at the Paris Cons. with Duprato. He wrote chansonnettes and “saynètes” for cafés-concerts in Paris, then composed a one-act operetta, Paille d’avoine (Paris, March 12, 1874), and others. He achieved his first great success with the production of Les Cloches de Corneville, a comic opera in 3 acts, at the Folies-Dramatiques (Paris, April 19, 1877); it was performed for the 1,000th time there in 1886, and became one of the most popular works of its genre; in Eng., it was given as The Chimes of Normandy (N.Y., Oct. 22, 1877; London, Feb. 23, 1878). Other operettas were Le Chevalier Gaston (Monte Carlo, Feb. 8, 1879), Rip Van Winkle (London, Oct. 14, 1882; very successful), Nell Gwynne (London, Feb. 7, 1884), Surcouf (Paris, Oct. 6, 1887; in Eng. as Paul Jones, London, Jan. 12, 1889), La Cocarde tricolore (Paris, Feb. 12, 1892), Le Talisman (Paris, Jan. 20, 1893), Panurge (Paris, Nov. 22, 1895), and Mam’zelle Quat’Sous (Paris, Nov. 5, 1897). A posthumous operetta, Le Paradis de Mahomet (orchestrated by Louis Ganne), was produced at the Variétés in Paris on May 15, 1906.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire