Henri-Montan Berton (17 September 1767 – 22 April 1844) was a French composer, teacher, and writer, mostly known as a composer of operas for theOpéra-Comique.

Henri-Montan Berton was born the son ofPierre Montan Berton.^[1][2] He is principally remembered as a composer of operas, most of which were first performed at theOpéra-Comique. Riding a wave of anti-clericalism which arose at the time of theFrench Revolution, his first real success was withLes rigueurs du cloître (23 August 1790), "in which a young nun is saved from entombment at the hands of a corrupt mother superior."^[1] The work has been described as the firstrescue opera.^[3][4] Later more notable operas includeMontano et Stéphanie (15 April 1799),Le délire (7 December 1799), andLa Romance (26 January 1804). One of his greatest early successes wasAline, reine de Golconde (3 September 1803), which was performed internationally. Later in his career he tried tragedy withVirginie, which was premiered by theParis Opera at theSalle Le Peletier on 11 June 1823, and received a total of 39 performances. His greatest success wasLes deux mousqetaires, which was premiered by the Opéra-Comique at theSalle Feydeau on 22 December 1824 and continued to be performed each year up to 1834, receiving a total of 117 representations.^[2]

He was the music director of theThéâtre de l'Impératrice from 1807 to 1810 and the chorus master at the Paris Opera from 1810 to 1815. AfterÉtienne Méhul's death on 18 October 1817, Berton was appointed to take over Méhul's composition class at theParis Conservatoire on 1 January 1818, and continued to teach there until his death in 1844.^[1] Among his students wereFrançois Bazin,Bernhard Crusell,Louis-Barthélémy Pradher andAdolf Schimon [de].

Following in the family tradition, his son,Henri François Berton^[5] was also a composer, and several of his works were performed at the Opéra-Comique.^[6]

Notes

Sources

• Charlton, David (2001). "Berton, Henri-Montan" in Sadie 2001.
• Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992).The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan.ISBN 978-1-56159-228-9.
• Sadie, Stanley, ed.; John Tyrell; exec. ed. (2001).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan.ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5 (hardcover).OCLC 419285866 (eBook).
• Smith, Patrick John (1970).The Tenth Muse: A Historical Study of the Opera Libretto. New York: Knopf.OCLC 92025. (1971 reprint: London: Gollancz.ISBN 978-0-575-00669-0.)
• Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005).Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga.ISBN 978-2-87009-898-1.

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• Biography and list of works(in French)
• Free scores by Henri-Montan Berton at theInternational Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

• 1767 births
• 1844 deaths
• French Classical-period composers
• French opera composers
• French male opera composers
• 19th-century French violinists
• 19th-century French male musicians
• French male classical violinists
• Musicians from Paris
• Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris

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