André-Charles-Prosper Messager was born December 30, 1853 in Montluçon, in central France. He was a conductor and composer of operettas that became popular in France and England, 14 of which he produced between 1890 and 1926 including  La Béarnaise (1885), Madame Chrysanthème (1893), and Mirette (1894). He atteneded the École Niedermeyer where he was a piano student of Saint-Saens. (Demar Irvine, Massenet: A Chronicle of His Life and Times, (Portland:1994) p. 33) He was part of  a "tight little group" of Wagnerites that included d'Indy, Fauré, Chabrier, and Duparc who were reportedly disappointed in their hero's newest opera Parsifal that premiered in Bayreuth in 1882. (Irvine, p. 133)

As a young man in Paris, Messager shared a flat with a former school friend, the composer Gabriel Fauré. After the two visited the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, they together transformed some of the Ring Cycle's most famous themes into a set of dances for piano duet, Souvenirs de Bayreuth, one of the funniest, most satirical pieces of 'classical' music ever written, although they both revered Wagner's original. Wit, irony and lightness were always balanced, for Messager, by genuine affection and warmth." (Source: Jessica Duchen, "Sparkle Remains Behind the Mask," Scotland on Sunday, The Scotsman, August 28, 2005)

Messager conducted a concert in 1898 for the opening of the new Salle Favart. (Irvine, p. 218) On October 28, 1901, Messager conducted Massenet's opera Grisélidis and was noticed to be "a bit irritated by the composer's comings and goings," as he coached the various singers. (Irvine, p. 234) Messager conducted Massenet's La fille de Roland at the Opéra-Comique on March 16, 1904. (Irvine, p. 254) He served as the manager of the Grand Opera Syndicate at Covent Garden (London) from 1901 to 1907. (Duchen, op. cit.) On December 10, 1911 a Gala Massenet concert was given for charity. Among the many conductors, Messager conducted Massenet's Manon, Act III. (Irvine, p.289)  Similarly, on April 28, 1912, another charitable event (for aviators!), Messager conducted Act III of Werther. (Irvine, p. 294) Messager conducted Bacchus --Massenet's most disappointing opera-- on May 5, 1909. (Irvine, p. 276)

Messager was highly respected as a composer, conductor and opera house director. He conducted the premiere of Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande and the first performance of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde in Britain.

He composed the musical comedy L'Amour Masqué on a text by Sacha Guitry called by some the French Noel Coward for his "witty and slick style." (Duchen, op.cit.) Messager's opera Véronique has been described as "bliss," by Brian MacMaster. (Duchen, op. cit.) 

Messager was socially friendly with Claude Debussy, Vincent d'Indy and Gabriel Fauré among other artists and performers. (Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind, (New York:1962) Vol. 1, p.138)  In May 1901, Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande was accepted by the Opéra-Comique for performance, but [conductor] Messager was reluctant. Lockspeiser says: "Albert Carré, the director, encouraged by André Messager to consider a series of private performances for the unconventional opera, as yet unscored, decided to risk a repertory performance." (Lockspeiser, p. 200)  As a conductor, one of his favorite works was Symphony No.3 in C minor, "The Organ", Op. 78 by Saint-Saens.

Saint-Saens must have been impressed with Messager since he requested of the Opéra to commission Messager to write the ballet Les deux pigeons. (Source: "Scholarly Saint-Saens," Nigel Simeone's review of Camille Saint-Saens: A Thematic Catalogue of his Complete Works, Vol. 1, by Sabina Teller Ratner (Oxford:2002). André Messager composed Les deux pigeons (“The Two Pigeons”) in 1886. It premiered on the same program with Donizetti’s opera La Favorite. According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet, Les deux pigeons was originally a three-act work, but a one-act revision was created in 1919. A two-act version was recorded by conductor Richard Bonynge in 1993. (Source: CD review by David L. Kirk, Fanfare Magazine, Issue 28:2, Nov/Dec 2004) According to Raymond Tuttle, Sir Frederick Ashton revived it in 1961 and hired John Lanchbery "to second-guess André Messager, reinstating music Messager had discarded after the premiere, and adding music from other works by Messager as well. Lanchbery also beefed up Messager’s orchestration." (Source: CD review by Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine, Issue 27:6, July/August 2004) The ballet's story is based on a tale by La Fontaine, but Vaucobeil, director of the Paris Opéra, and Henry Régnier turned the tale of two pigeons into a love story with humans. (Source: CD review by David L. Kirk, Fanfare Magazine, Issue 29:4, Mar/Apr 2006)

Messager died in Paris on February 24, 1929.