Louis Gregh

Louis Charles Félix François Gregh (16 March 1843 – 21 January 1915) was a French composer, conductor and music publisher.

Life

Gregh was born in Philippeville, now Skikda, Algeria, on 16 March 1843. His family was of Maltese origin. As a composer, he wrote operettas, ballets, numerous popular songs, and over 150 works for piano for two, four, and six hands.[citation needed]

Gregh's first successful stage work was the operetta Un Lycée de jeunes filles which premiered at the Théâtre de Cluny on 28 December 1881 with Gregh conducting. This was followed by the opera bouffe Le Présomptif which was premiered at the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries in Brussels on 12 December 1883 followed by a staging at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris in 1884.

He died in Sainte Mesme, Seine-et-Oise, now Yvelines, aged 71.

His son Fernand Gregh (1873–1960) was a philosopher, literary critic and poet, member of the Académie française.

Publishing business

Gregh registered as a music publisher with SACEM in February 1873 after having bought the catalogue of the Parisian publisher Claude Heu. He grew by acquiring, by auction, parts of the dissolved publishers Léon Escudier (1882), Egrot (1884), and Jochem (1899). He was also the French representative of the publishers Litolff and Universal Edition. His business was quite successful, and he only gave up in old age in 1907, when he sold it to Rouart, which in turn was taken over by Salabert in 1953.

Selected compositions

Stage works

Vocal music

Piano music

References

  1. ↑ Deborah Mawer, Historical Interplay in French Music and Culture, 1860–1960 (London: Routledge, 2017).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Gänzl, Kurt (2001). "GREGH, Louis". The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition. Vol. II. Schirmer Books. ISBN 978-0-02-865573-4.
  3. ↑ Anik Devriès & François Lesure: Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français, vol. 2: De 1820 à 1914 (Geneva: Minkoff, 1988), p. 199.