Marcel Auguste Antoine Cariven, (18 April 1894, Toulouse – 5 November 1979, Crosne near Paris)[1] was a French conductor, particularly associated with light music and with operetta.
[2] Having led the orchestra of several musical theatres in Paris, Cariven conducted one for the first time at the Théâtre de l'Apollo in La Veuve Joyeuse.
[2] During the 1930s at Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens he conducted Azor, an opérette by Gaston Gabaroche in 1932, followed by La Pouponnière and Un soir de réveillon the same year, Ô mon bel inconnu, a comédie musicale by Reynaldo Hahn in 1933 with Arletty and Simone Simon among the cast, Toi c'est moi in 1934, and Trois valses, an operetta with music from the Strauss family (Johann I, Johann II and Oscar) in 1937 in a production by Pierre Fresnay, with Yvonne Printemps among the cast.
[3] During the war years he conducted a revival of Les cent vierges by Lecocq in September 1942 at the Apollo theatre in Paris.
[5] From the 1950s to the early 1970s he was active at French Radio, conducting many operetta recordings[3] some of which have subsequently been issued commercially.