Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny

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Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (17 October 1729 – 14 January 1817) was a French composer and a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. He is seen as a founder of the opéra comique, along with Grétry and Philidor, helping to shape a national musical genre that would influence later composers like Boieldieu, Auber, Gounod, Bizet, and Massenet.

Monsigny was born in Fauquembergues, near Saint-Omer, in the Artois region. He studied at the Jesuit college in Saint-Omer, where he first showed musical talent. In 1749, after his father died, he moved to Paris with little money, a violin, and a letter to help his family.

In Paris he worked for a theater patron and, after seeing Pergolesi’s La serva padrona in 1752, decided to pursue music seriously. He studied with Pietro Gianotti and played the double bass at the Paris Opera. His first comic opera, Les aveux indiscrets, with a text by La Ribardière, premiered in 1759 and was well received. This led to Le maître en droit (1760) and collaborations with the librettist Michel-Jean Sedaine, including On ne s’avise jamais de tout, Le roi et le fermier, and Rose et Colas.

In 1766 his ballet Aline, reine de Golconde was staged at the Paris Opera but was not very successful. L’île sonnante (1768) also failed, partly due to a libretto that didn’t fit the stage well. That same year he joined the service of Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, which supported his creative work. Sedaine’s Le déserteur became one of Monsigny’s most successful scores. Le faucon (1771) did not do well, and La belle Arsène (1775) stirred controversy. After the success Félix, ou L’enfant trouvé (1777), Monsigny largely stopped composing.

He married Amélie de Villemagne in 1784; they endured hardship during the French Revolution. The Opéra-Comique later awarded him a pension in gratitude for his role in their theater. He returned to work as inspector of teaching at the Conservatoire de Musique de Paris. In 1804 he was made Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, and in 1813 he succeeded Grétry at the Institute (Académie des Beaux-Arts). In his later years he became totally blind and died in Paris.