André Wormser

André Alphonse Toussaint Wormser (1 November 1851 – 4 November 1926) was a French Romantic composer.

André Wormser

Life and career

André Wormser was born in Paris and studied with Antoine Marmontel and François Bazin at the Paris Conservatoire.^[1] As a very wealthy man, Wormser was able to afford a membership in the social club Cercle artistique et littéraire.^[2]

In 1872, Wormser won the Premier Prix in piano at the Paris Conservatoire,^[3] and in 1875, he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Clytemnestre. He is best known for the pantomime L'Enfant prodigue (1890),^[4] which was performed all over Europe and revived at the Booth Theatre in New York in 1916 (as the three-act play Perroit the Prodigal).^[5] He died in Paris.

Notable students include Charles Malherbe.

Works

Portrait of André Wormser by Albert Besnard (1877).

Wormser composed choral and orchestra music, opera and works for solo instrument and voice. Selected works include:

• L'Enfant prodigue, pantomime (1890; scenario by Michel Carré)
• L'Étoile, Ballet-pantomime en deux actes (Opéra, Paris, 31 May 1897; choreography by Joseph Hansen)
• Ballada for Oboe and Piano (1909)
• Clytemnestre, cantata (1897)
• Rêverie (Gypsy Suite) for violin and piano
• Adèle de Ponthieu, opera (1887)
• Rivoli, opera (1896)