BIOGRAPHY    MUSIC RECORDINGS SOURCES

Loïsa Puget, who was born in Paris, studied music with her mother, Jeanne-Françoise Stassny, a singer. She became both a performer and a composer after studying with Adolphe Adam. Some of her more than 300 popular romances were showcased at Parisian salons, in convents, and in boarding schools. Their popularity was unprecedented as translated editions in French, German, and English could be found in Germany, England, and the United States. A number of composers also wrote keyboard adaptations of her songs.

Puget’s husband, poet and actor, Gustav Lemoine, whom she married in 1845, provided most of her strophic texts. Many of Puget’s songs were charming romances that reflected a certain innocence though she presented contrasted sentiments with songs about more dramatic subjects written in the arioso style.

With a love of theater, Puget composed 2 one-act operettas, Le mauve oeil and La veilleuse, ou les nuits de Milady, which had success at the Opera-Comique, though reviews were lacking in support. She also wrote solo piano music.

During her lifetime, Puget was as well known as singers and composers, Pauline Viardot, and Viardot’s sister, Maria Malibran. 

Music

Recordings

Sources

Cook, Susan C., and Judy Tsou, editors. Anthology of Songs, Women composers series, Vol. 22. DaCapo Press, 1988.

Sadie, Julie Anne, and Rhian Samuel. Norton Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. W.W. Norton, 1994, pp. 378-379.

Tsou, Judy, rev. William Cheng. “Loisa Puget.” Grove Music Online, 2001, updated 2012.