Biography
Robert Planquette, born in Paris on July 31, 1848, grew up with a father who performed as a vocalist. Displaying early promise, he gained admission to the Conservatoire de Paris, yet financial hardship compelled him to leave without completing his studies. To support himself he worked as a café pianist and performed vocally, drawing on a robust tenor. Recognition arrived first through the song Sambre et Meuse, which the rising opera singer Lucien Fugère regularly included in his programs. A decisive advance occurred in 1876 when the director of the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques commissioned an operetta; Les cloches de Corneville achieved 480 performances in Paris and an even stronger 708-show engagement in London.
Further stage works secured extended runs on both sides of the Channel. Les voltigeurs du 32ième, which reached London audiences in 1880 under the title The Old Guard, proved especially durable. Rip Van Winkle, completed in 1882 with an English libretto by Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille, and Henry Brougham Farnie, received its premiere in London before a French adaptation later appeared in Paris. Planquette maintained a steady output through the following decade, producing Surcouf in 1887 (rendered in English as Paul Jones two years later), Captain Thérèse (first staged in London in 1887), and Le Talisman (1892). Between 1878 and 1897 nearly every Parisian season featured a new Planquette score. Later he served on the municipal council of Cabourg in Normandy and died in Paris on January 28, 1903.
Although his operettas receive fewer revivals and recordings than those of Offenbach, Les cloches de Corneville has been captured on disc several times; its overture appeared on a 2024 Chandos release of French opera overtures performed by the Estonian National Symphony under Neeme Järvi. In addition, the march Le régiment de Sambre et Meuse continues to be played by the Ohio State University Marching Band as part of its football-field presentation of the script “Ohio.”
Further stage works secured extended runs on both sides of the Channel. Les voltigeurs du 32ième, which reached London audiences in 1880 under the title The Old Guard, proved especially durable. Rip Van Winkle, completed in 1882 with an English libretto by Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille, and Henry Brougham Farnie, received its premiere in London before a French adaptation later appeared in Paris. Planquette maintained a steady output through the following decade, producing Surcouf in 1887 (rendered in English as Paul Jones two years later), Captain Thérèse (first staged in London in 1887), and Le Talisman (1892). Between 1878 and 1897 nearly every Parisian season featured a new Planquette score. Later he served on the municipal council of Cabourg in Normandy and died in Paris on January 28, 1903.
Although his operettas receive fewer revivals and recordings than those of Offenbach, Les cloches de Corneville has been captured on disc several times; its overture appeared on a 2024 Chandos release of French opera overtures performed by the Estonian National Symphony under Neeme Järvi. In addition, the march Le régiment de Sambre et Meuse continues to be played by the Ohio State University Marching Band as part of its football-field presentation of the script “Ohio.”