Monpou, François Louis Hippolyte

1804-1841

Composer of songs and opera; born in Paris. When only five he was a chorister at Saint-Germain 1'Auxerrois and when nine he sang at Notre Dame. In 1817 he entered Choron's school and two years later went as organist to Tours. He proved incapable of filling this position and returned to Choron, becoming assistant at his school and studying harmony with Porta, Chelard and Fetis. After this he held the post of organist at St. Nicholas des Chants, St. Thomas d'Aquin and the Sorbonne. He began his career of song composer in 1828 with the publication of a nocturne for three voices written to Beranger's Si j'etais petit oiseau, and afterward composed many songs to the words of the poets of the romantic school, among them de Musset and Victor Hugo. In 1835 he began to compose operas and in five years produced Les deux Reines; Perugina; La chaste Suzanne; Le Luthier de Vienne; Un Conte d'Autrefois; La Reine Jeanne; La Planteur, and Piquillo. This tremendous amount of work broke down his health and he died at Orleans. The instrumentation and general composition of his operas is very poor and they are now all forgotten.