Vincent Youmans (1898–1946) Rodolphe Berger Tea for Two 1No, no, Nanette! (1925) Messalinette, ou le tour du demi-monde en 80 nuits Tea for Two (Act II) (arr. Matthieu Michard) 5:31 0(1902) From the Belle Epoque to the Roaring Twenties Text: Otto Harbach (1873–1963), Messalinette, fantaisie-sélection Irving Caesar (1895–1996) (arr. Matthieu Michard) 7:37 ‘I am quite convinced that there is no city in the world orchestras and theatres for decades. André Messager Text: Pierre-Louis Flers (1865–1932) where as much music is consumed as in London’, noted (1853–1929) was one of those who had a successful 2Hope Temple (1859–1938) Berlioz in his column in the Journal des Débats on 29 July career on the English side of the Channel, as a composer, My Lady’s Bower (1887) (arr. Chloé Ducray) 3:24 Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947) 1851. The observation remained pertinent at the turn of conductor and administrator – he worked in the latter role Text: Frederick E. Weatherly (1848–1929) !Une Revue… (1926) the 20th century. at Covent Garden between 1901 and 1907. Brought to the La Dernière Valse (arr. Philippe Perrin) 4:14 London and Paris shared an artistic vitality that set London music world’s attention in 1891 when the D’Oyly André Messager (1853–1929) Text: Maurice Donnay (1859–1945), Henri Duvernois them apart. Many British artists appeared on stage in Carte Company gave the British premiere of La Basoche , 3Mirette (1894) (1875–1937) Paris, and London was equally enthusiastic about Messager was then commissioned to write a new opera Ah! Nay, do not fly me! (Act I) (arr. Yann Stoffel) 1:41 welcoming not only singers and conductors, but also for the company. It was Richard D’Oyly Carte who had Text: Adrian Ross (1859–1933) Louis Beydts (1895–1953) composers and works originating in the French capital. first brought Gilbert and Sullivan together, and who had Moineau (1931) @ French music glittered, Parisian taste was de rigueur – produced all their successful operettas. Sadly, the pair fell Monsieur Beaucaire (1918) L’Escarpolette (Act II) (arr. David Jorda-Manaut) 3:10 London willingly subscribed to it. There was a constant out and stopped writing together, leaving D’Oyly Carte 4Text: Adrian Ross Text: Léon Guillot de Saix (1885–1964) 5 Gold and Blue and White (arr. Yann Stoffel) 3:23 process of cultural exchange, with the periods of very much in need of a new hit by a fashionable Lightly, lightly (Act I) (arr. Stéphane Gassot) 2:30 Marcel Lattès (1886–1943) Anglomania that gripped Paris at regular intervals composer. Messager accepted his offer – not only was it #Maggie (1919) mirrored by London’s passion for works and shows given an attractive commission, but by then he had fallen for the Ivan Caryll (1861–1921) Maggie, the Movie Queen (Act I) (arr. Matthieu the stamp of approval by the City of Lights. love of his life, the composer Hope Temple (also known 6S.A.R (Son Altesse Royal) (1908) Michard) 2:12 The ties between the two capitals became even closer as Dotie Davis, 1859–1938), who was one of his pupils. Chanson des heures (Act III) (arr. Chloé Ducray) 2:26 Text: Adrian Ross at the start of the Third Republic (1870) and again with the She had already written a number of very popular songs Text: Léon Xanrof (1867–1953), signing of the Entente cordiale (1904) – in the intervening and her level of fame can be gauged by the fact that Jules Chancel (1867–1944) Jerome Kern (1885–1945) years, English music hall had been exported to Paris, Joyce mentioned the most famous of these – My Lady’s Miss Information (1915), Very Good Eddy (1915) Rodolphe Berger (1864–1916) where the playboy Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) Bower – in relation to his heroine Molly Bloom in Ulysses. $Revues: Vanity Fair (1916), Hullo, Paris! (1919) had become a celebrity. London raved about French Messager therefore wrote Mirette (Savoy Theatre, 3 July 7Le Chevalier d’Éon (1908) Some Sort of Somebody (Act III) composers, who were even commissioned to write 1894) in collaboration with Temple, who became his Récit et Cavatine de Lauranguy: (arr. Matthieu Michard) 2:53 ‘English’ works, while syncopation reached France from second wife the following year. Pourquoi malgré neige et froidure (Act III) Text: Elsie Janis (1889–1956) (arr. Stéphane Mène) 2:31 the US in the early 1900s, having already swept through Mirette enjoyed a run of 101 performances, with a London’s West End, and established itself for good after break during the Savoy’s summer closure, during which Text: Armand Silvestre (1837–1901), %Maurice Yvain (1891–1965) Henri Cain (1859–1937) Je chante la nuit (c. 1938) (arr. Matthieu Michard) 4:34 the First World War. In turn, Paris also loved London’s hit the show was revised, Adrian Ross rewriting the lyrics Text: Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907–1977) shows. The London premiere of No, No, Nanette – music and the plot being reworked. Messager had written an Félix Fourdrain (1880–1923) by Vincent Youmans (1898–1946) – on 11 March 1925 opéra comique , but an English opéra comique . His 8Les Contes de Perrault (1913) ^Grace LeBoy (1890 –1983) was such a success that the Broadway premiere took revised score won general approval and demonstrated his Rêverie de Cendrillon (Act I) Everybody Rag with Me / On r’met ça! (1914) place just a few months later, and in France, the Isola skill at setting English and its rhythms. Musically and (arr. Matthieu Michard) 3:13 (arr. Matthieu Michard) 3:17 Brothers, new owners of the Théâtre Mogador, soon stylistically, Mirette clearly drew on the work of the leading Text: Arthur Bernède (1871–1937), Text: Gus Kahn (1886–1941) / Joë Bridge (1886 –1967) acquired the rights. On 29 April 1926, the show triumphed composers of Paris’s Opéra Comique, figures such as Paul de Choudens (1850–1925) in Paris as well. Tea for Two , one of its hit numbers, was Auber and Boieldieu. Although it was adapted from a Publis1hers: WB Music Corp. and2 Irving Caesar Mus39ic on everyone’s lips and played at all the dance halls. French libretto by Michel Carré (fils), it was never staged 9Haydn Wood (1882–1959) Corp. ; Éditions Boosey & Co. ;4 C 5happell & Co. ;6 The Mogador’s orchestra was led by Percival in France – presumably this had something to do with the Roses of Picardy / Roses de Picardie (1916) 0Ascherberg, Hopwo7od ! & Crew Ltd ; Éditio8ns Enoch (arr. Matthieu Michard, Chloé Ducray) 4:20 Mackey, musical director at the Palace Theatre in failings of the original text. ; Édition@s ^ Heugel ; Éditions Choudens ; Éd#itions London. This was a fair exchange given that London had Messager’s Parisian hits led to transfers to London Text: Frederick E. Weatherly / Salabert ; Herman Darewski Music Publishing ; T.B. $ % been welcoming French conductors to direct its (Les P’tites Michu , Véronique , Fortunio , etc.) and to the Pierre d’Amor (1863 –1931) Harms & Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc. ; Éditions Eschig premiere of a new work, the three-act romantic opera music he had not penned, but as we listen, especially at a to those who’d already been won over by the show live) – Paris, when Sir Alfred Butt (1878–1962), the impresario at Monsieur Beaucaire (Prince of Wales Theatre, distance of 110 years, to the Récit et Cavatine de while also sticking to a rough outline of the plot. the head of a veritable empire in the West End, where he Birmingham, 7 April 1919), with lyrics by his usual English Lauranguy , the good-natured and engaging soldier who Where else but Paris would it have been possible to ran several prestigious theatres, had the Théâtre librettist Adrian Ross. The style of English operetta was befriends and protects the Chevalier of the title, it attend a musical with lavish sets and costumes, featuring Mogador built to the plans of the London Palladium for his well established by then: there had to be a touch of the becomes evident that such allegations must have been ballet and semi-clad streetwalkers, whose main theme was French mistress Régine Flory (?1891–1926). Famed on exotic – in this case provided by the improbable exile to false. Berger captures the spirit of the time, just as Raoul the female orgasm? For this is the problem faced by both sides of the Channel, this French star enjoyed many 18th-century Bath of the son of the King of France, Moretti did in the 1920s. All the tics and clichés of hit Messalinette, a demi-mondaine who has never experienced a triumph in his London theatres. disguised as a barber – the story also had to be sentimental tunes, the melodic turns, gimmicks and other formulas the phenomenon, despite her many sexual adventures. On 21 April 1919, the Mogador opened its doors with and romantic, and stay within the bounds of decency, and inspired by one musician or another are blended together Spicy, witty, bawdy, and yet still elegant, this show on a the revue Hullo, Paris! , based on two London hits the music had to alternate between the lyricism of grand in Berger’s score, and yet his music retains its own contemporary theme is the precursor of the ‘modern produced by Butt – Hullo, America! (1918, starring Elsie opera and the lightness of comic opera. Gold and Blue and recognisable character. operetta’ of the 1920s – all about fantasy, sex and song. Janis and Maurice Chevalier) and Vanity Fair , a revue in White , recorded here, was dropped for the London Another Parisian hit, just a few months before the In the early 1900s, the slow waltz reigned, with its which Régine Flory had dazzled at the Palace Theatre in premiere, and not heard in France.