Jean Nouguès

[1] His first opera, Le Roi de Papagey, was written when he was only sixteen;[2] after further study in Paris, he composed a second, Yannha, which was premiered in Bordeaux in 1905.

In 1905, Nouguès gained some notice with his incidental music for a production of Maurice Maeterlinck's play La Mort de Tintagiles at the Théâtre des Mathurins in Paris.

[2][3] Quo Vadis found great favor with the critics; Reynaldo Hahn and Francis Casadesus were among those to praise the music, while others felt that much of the work's success may have been due to the strength of the cast.

[1] L'Aigle was premiered in Rouen that same year; during World War I it is said it crossed the English Channel and was staged in Britain as The French Eagle.

These had less success than his earlier work, although he found some favor with his incidental music for Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac,[2] which as late as 1938 was used for a television presentation of the play.