Audran, Edmond

1842-1901

French dramatic composer. Son of Marius Pierre Audran, who was a well-known tenor singer and vocal teacher. Studied at the Ecole Niedermeyer, Paris, where he gained the prize for composition in 1859. Settled with his father at Marseilles in 1861 and became organist and musical director at St. Joseph's Church. Audran is best known as a comic opera composer, producing in all nearly thirty operas and operettas, the most successful of which are Olivette; The Mascot; The Grand Mogul; Madam Suzette and La Poupee, among the others being La Chercheuse d'Esprit; Gillette de Narbonne; L'Ours et la Pache; La Cigale et le Fourmi; L'Oncle Celestin; Monsieur Lohengrin; and Les Petites Femmes.