Gabriel Montoya

Gabriel Montoya was born on 20 October 1868 in Ales (France). His father was a pharmacist. Gabriel Montoya became fascinated by literature, poetry and music during his youth and started to write own texts and songs. He nevertheless decided to study medicine in Lyon but stayed there only for the beginning of his studies. He shortly switched to Paris. Not because of the better medicine faculties, but its better cultural life. Since his move to Paris Gabriel Montoya hung around in cafes, bars and cabarets at night and recited his poems or sang his songs. Among these locations was the famous Chat-Noir of Rodolphe Salis. His performances were highly admired and so he became the "chansonnier en titre" of the student's union of the Quartier Latin as the successor of Leon Xanrof. Beside his artistic activities Gabriel Montoya also continued his studies and this double challenge ended in a tuberculosis around 1891. His health condition got that worse that he had to stop both his studies and his artistic life. He moved back to his parents and tried to recover from the disease. After several months Gabriel Montoya overcame the illness and could continue his studies. His father forced him to move to Montpellier and finish his medical studies there. In 1893 Gabriel Montoya finally earned a doctor's degree in medicine.

After his studies Gabriel Montoya enrolled as a ship's doctor for the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique. For the next 18 months he travelled to several countries in Afrika and America. After his return he quit the company and never worked as a doctor again.

Instead Gabriel Montoya moved to Paris again and fully focused on his career as a poet, writer, singer and composer. He again worked at the Chat-Noir and toured through France with the ensemble until its shutdown in 1897. He then performed in other cabarets like Quat'z'Arts, Bal Tabarin or Boite a Fursy.

In the following years Gabriel Montoya also wrote several stage plays that were performed at the Grand-Guignol or the Comedie Francaise. Some of his texts were used as librettos for operas or operettas and set to music by other composers.


On 7 October 1914 Gabriel Montoya rode from Dax to Castres on his bicycle. He suffered an accident and as a result died shortly afterwards.

As a songwriter and librettist Gabriel Montoya was quite popular and his texts and poems were set to music by such composers as Paul Paray, Edmond Missa or Louis Ganne.
Gabriel Montoya also composed own music for some of his poems. But these songs are his only compositions as far as I know.

Compositions

In my possession are scores of the following compositions by Gabriel Montoya:

• Serenade jalouse, for voice and piano (printed score: Enoch, PN 4171)
• Le sourire, for voice and piano (autograph manuscript)
• Parfum troublant, for voice and piano (autograph manuscript) (1896)
• Crepuscule d'amour, for voice and piano (autograph manuscript)
• Bonheurs perdus, for voice and piano (autograph manuscript)
• Le cry du troubadour, for voice and piano (printed score: Costallat: L'Album musical)

Montoya Archive

I bought the above mentioned Montoya manuscripts as part of a larger collection from the Montoya estate. That collection included autograph manuscripts by other composers who set poem by Gabriel Montoya to music. These composers were Lucien Poujade, Louis Auguin, Maurice Petitjean, Edmond Missa, Gaston Dubreuilh, Emile Bourgeois, Octave Lorichomme, Edouard Mathe and Fernand Raphael. Their works can be found here on my website at the subpage dedicated to them.

In addition the collection included a few other documents that were not relevant enough to create an own subpage. Therefore I list these items here for completeness:

• autograph poems and sketches, including "Le mauvais ange", "La marche a l'Etoile", "Hymne a la lune", "Combat", "Voyage".
• incomplete piano reduction of a large opera or operetta, title unknown, existing manuscript includes the pages 17 to 20, 25 to 28, 107 to 121. Cast of the work include: Marquis, Muguette, Alfred, Rapino, Gresettes, Pipenlair
• incomplete autograph manuscript of a song titled "Je t'appartiens ma chere", text by Rene Blon, music by R. Berger
• autograph manuscript of the song "Les fiances de la Plata", text by Gabriel Montoya, music by D. Tenoni
• printed score of the song "Lettre a Jesus", text by Gabriel Montoya, music by Julien Mulder. Published in the Costallat series "L'Album Musical"
• autograph manuscript of the song "Le Vague de l'Ame", text by Gabriel Montoya, music by A. Mario (for whom I found no biographical information)
• autograph manuscript of the song "Papillons", text by Gabriel Montoya, composer unknown, composed on 13 September 1890
• incomplete autograph manuscript of a song titled "Si vous voulez que l'on vous aime", text by Gabriel Montoya, composer unknown
• autograph manuscript of the voice part for the song "Feu de chaume", songwriter and composer unknown
• autograph manuscript of the song "Conseils a Toinon", text by Gabriel Montoya, composer unknown
• autograph part of an unknown instrument for the work "Chanson sicilienne", signed "Volpatti"
• autograph manuscript of the song "Madrigal ironique", songwriter and composer unknown
• autograph part for a work titled "Tango" and signed "D. Ferroni"
• autograph manuscript of an untitled song, text by Gabriel Montoya, composer name illegible
• autograph violin and organ part for an unknown composition
• autograph piano composition, untitled, composer unknown
• autograph piano reduction, possibly of an opera or operetta, titled "L'ame du Moulin" and the subtitle "1er tableau". Stamped by the SACEM registration on 30 November 1911
• copyist score of 5 songs (of 9) from "La vie de Pierrot" by Egon Stuart Willfort together with typewritten texts of all 9 songs in French translation by Gabriel Montoya. The original works sets poems by Oto Julius Bierbaum to music. Included is also a handwritten text titled "La vie de Pierrot" that differs to the songs texts
• autograph manuscripts of two songs by Georges Barat: "Griserie" and "Sous bois", both on words by Gabriel Montoya. The work "Sous bois" was published in "Paris qui chante" in 1911. I could not find any biographical detail about Georges Barat and therefore list him only here.
• autograph manuscript of the song "Vos yeux" by Max Joachim with words by Gabriel Montoya. The song was composed in 1898. Unfortunately I could not find any biographical data about Max Joachim, beside the fact that he was Austrian.
• autograph manuscript of the song "Le mauvais ange" by Simon Sine on words by Gabriel Montoya. I could not find biographical information about Simon Sine, beside the fact that he was also a music publisher in Paris.