CHARLES

See also:

• LOUIS
• LOUIS (804–876)
• LOUIS (893–911)
• LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
• LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian

LOUIS AMBROISE

See also:

• THOMAS
• THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
• THOMAS (d. 110o)
• THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
• CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE THOMAS (1811-1896)
• THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
• THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
• THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
• THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
• THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
• THOMAS, ST
• THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
• THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)

THOMAS (1811-1896)  , French musical composer, was born at Metz on the 5th of August 1811 . He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, and won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1832 . Five years later (in 1837) his first opera, La Double echelle, was produced at the Opera Comique . For the next five-and-twenty years Thomas's productivity was incessant, and most of his operatic works belonging to this period enjoyed an ephemeral popularity . A few of these are still occasionally heard on the continent, such as Le Caid (1849), Le Songe d'une nuit d'ete (1850), Psyche (1857) . The overture to Raymond (1851) has remained popular . So far the composer's operatic career had not been marked by any overwhelming success . He occupied a place among the recognized purveyors of operas in the French capital, but could scarcely claim to having achieved European renown . The production of Mignon at the Opera Comique in 1866, however, at once raised Ambroise Thomas to the position of one of the foremost French composers . Goethe's touching tale had very happily inspired the musician; Mme Galli Marie, the original interpreter of the title-role, had modelled her conception of the part upon the well-known picture by Ary Scheffer, and Mignon at once took the fancy of the public, its success being repeated all over the continent . It has since remained one of the most popular operas belonging to the second half of the 19th century . Thomas now attempted to turn Shakespeare's Hamlet to operatic account .

His opera of that name was produced with success at the Paris Opera in r868, where it enjoyed a

long vogue . If the music is scarcely adequate to the subject, it nevertheless contains some of the composer's best work . The scene of the esplanade is genuinely dramatic, the part of Ophelia is poetically conceived, and the ballet music is very brilliant . Ambroise Thomas's last opera, Fran4oise de Rimini, was given at the Opera in 1882, but has not maintained itself in the repertoire . Seven years later La Temple, a ballet founded on Shakespeare's play, was produced at the same theatre . Ambroise Thomas succeeded Auber as director of the Paris Conservatoire in 187r . His music is often distinguished by refined touches which reveal a sensitive mind, and there is a distinct element of poetry in his Mignon and Hamlet, two operas that should suffice to keep the composer's memory green for some time to come . He died on the 12th of February 1806 . (A .