Gustave Charpentier came back from Rome with a project his era was not expecting: to put the working women of Paris on the operatic stage. Louise, premiered in 1900, shows a seamstress who wants to live free, with Montmartre for a setting; for the fiftieth anniversary, in 1950, he came to conduct an act of it himself, at eighty-nine. He then founded a free conservatoire for young working women. He lived to ninety-five.
The story
Born at Dieuze, in Lorraine, on 25 June 1860, Charpentier won the Prix de Rome in 1887. He came back from it with a project out of step with its time: an opera about the working girls of Paris.
Louise was first performed at the Opéra-Comique on 2 February 1900. The heroine is a seamstress who wants to live free; the setting is Montmartre. The success lasted: for the fiftieth anniversary, in 1950, Charpentier came to conduct an act of it himself, at eighty-nine.
In 1902 he founded the Conservatoire populaire Mimi Pinson — named after one of his own works — which gave free musical teaching to the young working women and dressmakers' girls of Paris. Such a commitment was rare in a composer of his standing.
He gave Louise a sequel, Julien, taken off after twenty performances. He lived long enough to see his opera become a classic and to be made a grand officer of the Légion d'honneur, at eighty-nine.
He died on 18 February 1956, at ninety-five, and lies in Division 10, chemin Denon, first row, with Camille Willay (1877-1957), the companion of a lifetime he never married, who died the following year in the flat they had shared.
The grave
A simple slab, two names, four dates: “Gustave CHARPENTIER, 1860-1956. Camille WILLAY, 1877-1957.” Nothing of Louise, nothing of the Prix de Rome, nothing of the Conservatoire populaire Mimi Pinson nor of the Grand Cross he wore. The composer who had put the working women of Paris on the stage of the Opéra-Comique rests under the most ordinary stone in his Division.
On site, do not miss
A slab without ornament, for the author of the only French opera whose heroine is a working girl. Look for the second name engraved: Camille Willay, who died a year after him.
Visitors' questions
Where is Gustave Charpentier's grave?
In Division 10, chemin Denon, first row, beneath a plain slab bearing two names: his own and that of Camille Willay (1877-1957). The writer Remy de Gourmont rests in the same path, three rows further along.
Remy de GourmontWhat is Gustave Charpentier's most famous opera?
Louise, first performed on 2 February 1900 at the Opéra-Comique: the story of a Parisian seamstress who wants to live free, in a Montmartre brought to the stage. For the fiftieth anniversary of the première, in 1950, Charpentier came to conduct an act of it himself.
Georges BizetWhat was the Conservatoire populaire Mimi Pinson?
A free music school founded by Charpentier in 1902 for the young working girls and seamstresses of Paris, named after the heroine of one of his works. Few composers of his standing ever created an institution of the kind.
Serge PerettiDid Charpentier write a sequel to Louise?
Yes, Julien, which never found the response the first opera had. He lived until 1956, to the age of ninety-five — long enough to see Louise become a classic and to conduct an act of it at eighty-nine.
France ClidatAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99