Raoul Samuel GunsbourgCostume design for "Ivan le Terrible" by Léon Bakst (1911)
Raoul Samuel Gunsbourg (January 6, 1860, in Bucharest – May 31, 1955, in Monte Carlo) was a Jewish-Romania-born[1] opera director, impresario, composer and writer. Gunsbourg is best known for being the longest-serving director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, where his career spanned almost six decades.
Raoul Gunsbourg acquired his musical education and its comprehensive knowledge in language and literature as a self-taught person. He attended Medical School in Bucharest which he finished in 1875. In 1877-78 he served as a medic in the Russian army during the Russian-Turkish war. In 1881-83 he created and managed the Gunsbourg's French Opera Stage in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In Moscow Gunsbourg met German composer Richard Wagner. After returning to France, Gunsbourg directed the Grand Théâtre de Lille during the 1888/89 season and the Opéra de Nice in 1889-91.
In 1892, on recommendation by Tsar Alexander III of Russia, Gunsbourg was invited by Princess Alice, an American wife of Albert I, Prince of Monaco, to serve as the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Empowered by Princess Alice's encouragement and support, Gunsbourg transformed the Opéra de Monte-Carlo into a world-class cultural venue. He was the first opera director to stage Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, which was considered at that time more as an oratorio than an opera, in his theatre on February 18, 1893.
Gunsbourg's work in Monte Carlo was briefly interrupted during World War II. Assisted by members of the French Resistance, Gunsbourg fled to nearby Switzerland, escaping arrest and possible execution by the Nazis who occupied Monaco in 1943 and began the deportation of the Jewish population. After the war was over, Gunsbourg returned to Monaco where he continued directing the Opéra de Monte-Carlo until 1951.
^Born in Bucharest, Gunsbourg is a son of a French father and Romanian mother. His grandfather was a rabbi.
Raoul Samuel Gunsbourg (January 6, 1860, in Bucharest – May 31, 1955, in Monte Carlo) was a Jewish-Romania-born opera director, impresario, composer and...
and cinema pioneer Raoul Gueguen (born 1947), French modern pentathlete Raoul de Guînes (c. 992–1036), French nobleman RaoulGunsbourg (1860–1955), Romanian...
transported to Auschwitz, where he was later murdered. Blum's colleague RaoulGunsbourg, the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, helped by the French Resistance...
Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was later killed. Blum's colleague RaoulGunsbourg, the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, helped by the French Resistance...
deported. However, the prince did not intervene when Jewish-Romanian RaoulGunsbourg, the longtime director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, was forced to resign...
occasion of Monaco's National Day and on the occasion of a tribute to RaoulGunsbourg. In December he sang the title role in Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto...
rewriting for a 1904 production in Monte Carlo by the theatre director RaoulGunsbourg and André Bloch with new words by Barbier's son Pierre. The air "Scintille...
Monte-Carlo on 18 February 1893, where it was produced by its director RaoulGunsbourg with Jean de Reszke singing the role of Faust and Rose Caron, Marguerite...
included in the published suite, which has four movements. In 1918 RaoulGunsbourg, manager of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, invited Fauré to write a short...
professional debut as a substitute in the premiere of Ivan the Terrible, by RaoulGunsbourg (at La Monnaie, 26 November 1910). Between 1914 and 1918 she sang a...
Tosca, Elsa, and eventually Isolde. She sang in the premieres of RaoulGunsbourg's operas Le vieil aigle (1909), Le cantique des cantiques (1922) and...
November 1905), and Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust (adaptation by RaoulGunsbourg, 21 February 1906) and Les Troyens (26 December 1906) Several of this...
Blanchefleur, Théâtre du Casino, Monaco, 13 March 1920 L'Archangel in RaoulGunsbourg's Satan, Théâtre du Casino, Monaco, 20 March 1920 Casaglia, Gherardo...
After a visit to the Opera House in Monaco (then newly set up under RaoulGunsbourg), Sophie Cruvelli died aged 81 on 6 November 1907 in the Hotel de Paris...
Drigo and a group of dancers from the Imperial Ballet were invited by RaoulGunsbourg, director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, to produce a ballet in Monaco...
César Franck, was requested by the director of the Monte-Carlo Opera, RaoulGunsbourg, to compose the rest. Alexandre Dratwicki notes that the opera bears...
America. In Chicago she added Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, Zina in RaoulGunsbourg's Le Vieil Aigle, Isabeau in the North American premiere of Mascagni's...
and the French singing school, particularly during the 1952 season. RaoulGunsbourg, then director of the Monte-Carlo Opera asked her to come and sing...
Notre-Dame (1902) and Chérubin (1905). In 1902 he sang Méphistophélès in RaoulGunsbourg's staging of Berlioz' La damnation de Faust, both in Monte Carlo and...
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