Henri Berton

Henri François Berton (Paris, 1784 – Paris, 1832) was a French composer and pianist, the son of the composer Henri-Montan Berton. His name is associated with the Parisian stage of the first half of the nineteenth century, when opéra comique occupied a central place, and in which he sought to make his way both in the theatre and in the salon.

Initially taught by his father, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1796 and left it in 1804. From then on he combined composition with the publication of piano arrangements of operatic pieces, among them some by his father. His first four stage works were premiered between 1810 and 1811, all of them opéras comiques for the Théâtre Feydeau. In Ninette à la cour, the strong predominance of lively movements in the major mode shows a fashionable lightness, though without great melodic originality; the first finale also takes as its main theme the opening movement's principal subject of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos, K. 358/186c.

His most solid success came with the romance, a popular and sentimental style in which he moved with greater skill. Between 1820 and 1 January 1828 he taught singing at the Conservatoire, and he also became known as a pianist. Une heure d'absence failed in 1827, while Le château d'Urtuby, premiered after his death, received some favourable comment. Berton died during a cholera epidemic.

Today he is remembered chiefly as a witness to Parisian opéra comique and the sentimental song of his time rather than as a composer of the first rank, and his catalogue, largely scattered, remains a subject of study.