Having come from Antwerp to study with Antoine Reicha, he gave some fifteen opéras-comiques to the Paris stages, from Gilles ravisseur to Le Carillonneur de Bruges. He also wrote four-handed: L'Eau merveilleuse with Flotow in 1839, then a work with Adrien Boieldieu, the son of the composer of La Dame blanche.
The story
Born at Antwerp on 25 December 1808, Albert Grisar came to Paris to study with Antoine Reicha — the teacher of Berlioz and Liszt, who rests in Division 7.
His first opera, Le Mariage impossible, was given at Brussels in 1833; Sarah (1836) and L'An mil (1837) brought him into the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
He went to Naples to study with Saverio Mercadante, then wrote in double harness: L'Eau merveilleuse with Friedrich von Flotow (1839), L'Opéra à la cour with Adrien Boieldieu, the son of the composer of La Dame blanche (1840).
His Paris run stretched over fifteen years: Gilles ravisseur (1848), Bonsoir Monsieur Pantalon (1851), Le Carillonneur de Bruges (1852), Les Amours du diable (1853), Le Chien du jardinier (1855), Le Joaillier de Saint-James (1862).
He died on 15 June 1869 at Asnières-sur-Seine and rests in Division 71, on the Avenue Cail, first row. His stone, for its part, has him dying in Paris.
The grave
A stele bearing an anonymous marble medallion, now damaged. The inscription confines itself to the civil record: “Albert GRISAR, né à Anvers, le 25 décembre, 1808, mort à Paris, le 15 juin 1869.” — born in Antwerp on 25 December 1808, died in Paris on 15 June 1869. The engraver got the city wrong: Grisar died at Asnières-sur-Seine, in the small flat he rented for the summer, and his friends learned of it only that morning. Neither the profession, nor Belgium as a nationality, nor a single one of the fifteen opéras-comiques.
On site, do not miss
The marble medallion is damaged. The epitaph gives neither the profession nor the works: two cities, two dates, and a place of death that is wrong — Paris, when he died at Asnières-sur-Seine.
Visitors' questions
Where is Albert Grisar's grave?
In Division 71, avenue Cail, first row, beneath a stele carrying a marble medallion now damaged. The organist Jean-Jacques Grunenwald rests in the same Division, as do the balloonists Crocé-Spinelli and Sivel.
Jean-Jacques GrunenwaldWho trained Albert Grisar?
Antoine Reicha, in Paris — the teacher of Berlioz, Liszt and Gounod, who rests in Division 7 of the same cemetery. Grisar then perfected his craft in Naples under Saverio Mercadante, before returning to write for the Opéra-Comique.
Antoine ReichaDid Grisar write with other composers?
Twice: L'Eau merveilleuse with Friedrich von Flotow in 1839, and L'Opéra à la cour with Adrien Boieldieu, son of François-Adrien, in 1840. Writing an opéra-comique four hands was common practice in Paris at the time.
François-Adrien BoieldieuWhat does the inscription on his grave say?
“Albert GRISAR, né à Anvers, le 25 décembre, 1808, mort à Paris, le 15 juin 1869” — born in Antwerp, died in Paris: two cities and two dates, without a single opera title. And one city too many: he died at Asnières-sur-Seine, where he spent his summers.
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