Paul Burani Explained

Paul Burani (born Urbain Roucoux; Paris, 26 March 1845 – Paris, 9 October 1901), was a French author, actor, songwriter and librettist.

He had a short career as an actor at the Théâtre de Belleville and in the French provinces, after which he directed a journal, Le Café-Concert. At the commencement of his career as a songwriter he used the name Burani, an anagram of his first name.

Works

He collaborated on libretti for the following operas:

• Le Droit du seigneur (with Maxime Boucheron), music by Léon Vasseur - 1878^[1]
• Le Billet de logement (with Boucheron), Vasseur - 1879
• La Barbière improvisée (with Jules Montini), Joseph O'Kelly - 1882
• Le Petit Parisien (with Boucheron), Vasseur - 1882
• François les bas-bleus (with Ernest Dubreuil and Eugène Humbert), André Messager - 1883
• Le Mariage au tambour (after Alexandre Dumas), Vasseur - 1886
• Le roi malgré lui (with Emile de Najac), Emmanuel Chabrier - 1887^[2]
• Ninon de Lenclos (with Blavet), Vasseur, 1887
• Le Puits qui parle (with Beaumont), Edmond Audran - 1888
• Le Prince soleil (with Hippolyte Raymond), Vasseur - 1889
• Le Commandant Laripete (with Silvestre, Valabrigue), Vasseur - 1892
• Le Cabinet Piperlin (with Raymond), Hervé - 1897

Le Sire de Fisch Ton Kan was a popular song during the Paris Commune (1871), with words by Paul Burani and music by Antonin Louis, which denounced Napoléon III who was leading France to military disasters; the song contains many plays on words.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Lamb A. Léon Vasseur. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
2. Delage, R. Emmanuel Chabrier. Fayard, Paris, 1999.
3. Duneton C. Histoire de la chanson française. Seuil, Paris, 1998., .