Henri Christiné

Henri Marius Christiné (27 December 1867 – 25 November 1941) was a French composer of Swiss birth.

The son of a French Savoyard watchmaker, Christiné was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He began by teaching at the lycée in Geneva, while pursuing his interest in music and playing organ in a local church. He married a cafe singer whose troupe was passing through Geneva, and went with her to Nice where they were married. He made his home in France, writing songs firstly for his wife and then for popular singers such as Mayol, Dranem, and Fragson. He also conducted for the music hall at the Place Clichy.

Although Christiné wrote some operettas for the Scala theatre in Paris before the First World War, his career took off when he had his operetta Phi-Phi staged the day of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, with words by Albert Willemetz and Fabien Solar and which ran for three years at the Bouffes-Parisiens. This success was followed by Dédé in 1921, Madame (1923) and J'adore ça (1925). These works were in the forefront of a new fashion in music-theatre: sparkling, witty, jazzy musical plays. Christiné's tunes often build on repeated refrains of six or seven notes (a 'hook') which made them catchy and popular for contemporary audiences.

In the 1930s Christiné contributed to the renewed fashion for more large-scale spectacular musicals, with pieces for the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Au temps des Merveilleuses and Yana; for these he wrote the more vibrant numbers, while Richepin did the romantic songs. "Le Bonheur, Mesdames" and "Le Flirt ambulant" were rearrangements of his songs from the 1900s. He died in Nice, France.

Phi-Phi and Dédé are still occasionally revived in France.

Birth and Death Data: Born December 27, 1867 (Geneva), Died November 25, 1941 (Paris)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1905 - 1953

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, lyricist, songwriter, arranger

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 26-50 of 71 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Columbia 58412 10-in. approximately June 1916 Tout petit Georges Flateau Male vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 75171 12-in. 9/1/1922 Phi-phi selection, part 1 Herman Finck ; Herman Finck's Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Columbia 75172 12-in. 9/1/1922 Phi-phi selection, part 2 Herman Finck ; Herman Finck's Orchestra Orchestra composer  
Columbia 86617 10-in. approximately September 1920 Valse d’un jour Alexandre Desmarteau Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Brunswick LTR274 10-in. 3/7/1930 Reviens Andre Luguet Male vocal solo composer  
Edison 3755 10-in. 5/6/1915 Laughing love Charles Crawford Gorst Whistling solo, with orchestra composer  
Edison 5807 10-in. 9/24/1917 J'aime une brune Hector Pellerin Male vocal solo, with orchestra lyricist, composer  
Edison 9660 10-in. 8/5/1924 Dejlige fjord Axel Schutz Male vocal solo, with piano composer  
Edison 10988 10-in. 5/18/1926 Valentine Jack Stillman Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
Gramophone 02207v 12-in. 11/16/1911 Ah, les grandes femmes Germain Landry Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Gramophone 4777p[o] 12-in. ca, 1905 La noce d'Isabelle Polin Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Gramophone 4937o 10-in. ca. 1905 Le soldat qui s'en fiche Polin Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Gramophone 5976o 10-in. approximately 1906 La petite Tonkinoise Alfred Dambrine Male vocal solo, with orchestra lyricist  
Gramophone 6197o 10-in. ca. 1906 Ven pollito Orchestre Champetre de Danse Orchestra composer  
Gramophone 18582u 10-in. 12/23/1913 Malgré tes serments Georges Vorelli Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Gramophone 18610u 10-in. 1/5/1914 J'aime une brune Georges Vorelli Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer, lyricist  
Victor (Canada) [ViC cat 263952-B] 10-in. before 8/15/1939 La legende des flots bleus Léo Lesieur ; Paulette Mauve Female vocal solo, with organ composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL293 10-in. 10/26/1926 Mon cœur Maurice Chevalier ; Clément Doucet ; Yvonne Vallée ; Jean Wiener Female-male vocal duet, with piano duet composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL302 10-in. 10/26/1926 Un petit mouvement Maurice Chevalier ; Clément Doucet ; Jean Wiener Male vocal solo, with piano duet composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL755 10-in. 11/16/1927 On est plus léger Pierre Chagnon ; Maurice Chevalier Male vocal solo, with instrumental ensemble composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL949 10-in. 3/8/1928 Reviens Turner Layton Male vocal solo, with piano songwriter  
Columbia (U.K.) WL2004 10-in. 1/14/1930 T'en souviens-tu bichette Yvan Fadel ; M. Verhaeghen Male vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL2185 10-in. 4/11/1930 En passant devant ta maison Basil Codolban ; Pizella Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia (U.K.) WL2508 10-in. 10/22/1930 La petite Tonkinoise Josephine Baker ; Casino de Paris, Mélodic Jazz ; Edmond Mahieux Female vocal solo, with orchestra lyricist, arranger  
Columbia (U.K.) WL2685 10-in. 12/24/1930 Le français moyen Pierre Chagnon ; Georges Milton ; Orchestre de Jazz Male vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
(Results 26-50 of 71 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Christiné, Henri," accessed April 26, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104063.

Christiné, Henri. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104063.

"Christiné, Henri." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 26 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104063

Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license

Feedback

Send the Editors a message about this record.