Romain Bussine

Romain Bussine (1830–1899) was a French poet, baritone, and voice teacher who lived during the 19th century. In 1871, together with Camille Saint-Saëns and Henri Duparc, he founded the Société Nationale de Musique as a forum for promoting contemporary French chamber and orchestral music. Later an argument over the performance of foreign works led to Saint-Saëns and Bussine resigning the joint presidency of the Société Nationale in 1886. Gabriel Fauré set one of his poems as Après un rêve ("After A Dream"), op. 7, No. 1 (composed in 1877, published in 1878). The poem, based on an Italian poem titled "Levati sol che la luna è levata," is a soliloquy about a rapturous dream of a passionate encounter to which the dreamer longs to return, even though the dream is a lie. Another setting by Fauré of a poem by Bussine is Sérénade Toscane; the poem is a fairly free version of a slightly sardonic Tuscan serenade. Bussine worked for many years as a voice teacher at the Paris Conservatory. A baritone, he occasionally gave recitals and performed in concerts in Paris; although he was not a prolific performer. He notably sang the role of the High Priest in the first hearing of the second act of Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah in a private performance in 1870. Among his notable pupils were composers Guillaume Couture and Achille Fortier. He died in Paris.