These include the musicals:
* La Révolution Française (1973)
* Les Misérables (1980 french version- 1985 english version)
* Miss Saigon (1989)
* Martin Guerre (1996)
* Wuthering Heights (ballet 2001)
* The Pirate Queen (2006)
* Marguerite (2009)
Schönberg began his career as a record producer and a singer. By the early 1970s he had become successful.
He wrote most of the music for the French musical and rock opera, La Révolution Française, France's first rock opera, in 1973, and also played the role of King Louis XVI in the show's production that year.
In 1974 he wrote the music and the lyrics of the song "Le Premier Pas", which became the number 1 popular song in France that year and sold over 1 million copies. Le Premier Pas was produced by Franck Pourcel. He recorded albums as a singer until 1985.
Schönberg then made an album in which he sang his own songs. In 1978, he dedicated his full attention to musicals when he and Alain Boublil conceived the idea for a stage musical version of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, which opened at the Palias de Sports in Paris in 1980. The musical opened to acclaim in London in 1985 and on Broadway in 1987. The Broadway production was nominated for twelve Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score . In 1989, Schönberg and Boublil took London by storm with the musical Miss Saigon, which starred Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce. In its transition to Broadway, the show broke advance-ticket sales, earning $24 million before its premiere on April 11, 1991 [1]. The show was nominated for ten Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
In 1997, Schönberg and Boublil premiered a new musical, Martin Guerre at the Prince Edward Theatre in London. The musical won the 1997 Olivier Award and went on to tour the UK and the United States.
Schönberg's latest project with Boublil is The Pirate Queen, a musical about the 16th century Irish pirate, chieftain and adventuress Grace O'Malley. The Pirate Queen completed its 8-week pre-Broadway tryout at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre on November 26, 2006. The show is undergoing further development in preparation for its Broadway previews at the Hilton Theater in March 2007. The Broadway opening date is April 5, 2007. Miss Saigon co-lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. has come on-board to work with Boublil on revisions to the book and lyrics. Additionally, Graciela Daniele will work on the musical staging.
Les Miserables celebrated its twentieth anniversary in London on October 8, 2005. The Broadway production closed on May 18, 2003, making it the third-longest-running Broadway musical following Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. Schönberg will oversee the production of Les Miserables that is returning to Broadway for a six-month engagement at the Broadhurst Theatre on November 9, 2006.
Claude-Michel Schönberg is also an ex-husband of France 2 evening news anchor Béatrice Schönberg.
He lives in London, and has 3 children.
He is actually writing the music and for the first time the arrangements, for a new ballet to be created in UK in 2011: Cléopâtra.
The Final Battle
Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You at the barricade listen to this
The people of Paris sleep in their beds
You have no chance
No chance at all
Why throw your lives away?
Enjolras
Make them bleed while we can
Combeferre
Make ′em pay through the nose
Courfeyrac
Make 'em pay for every man!
Enjolras
Let others rise
To take our place
Until the earth is free!
[Amidst increasingly heavy gunfire, Marius is shot. Enjolras is killed at the summit of the barricade. All at the barricade are killed, except Marius, who is wounded and unconscious, and Valjean. Valjean discovers that Marius is still alive and carries him down into the sewers to escape. Javert climbs over the barricade looking for Valjean′s body. Not finding it, he realizes that Valjean must be in the sewers, so he goes off to where he must emerge.]
The Final Battle is a song from the musical Les Misérables composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg. The song highlights the final moments of the barricade, where the revolutionaries understand that their cause is lost, and they will die fighting. Despite the fact that their deaths will be meaningless, they choose to fight till the end, as they do not want to live in the unjust world anymore.
The song starts with an army officer addressing the revolutionaries from behind the barricade, asking them to give up as they have no chance to win. However, Enjolras, the leader of the revolutionaries, adamantly decides to fight till death, as he believes that they should let their foes bleed while they can. Combeferre and Courfeyrac also join in the sentiment and want to make the enemies pay through the nose and for every man that was a part of the rebellion. In the end, Enjolras assures their peers that other revolutionaries will take their place after they're gone, and keep the cause alive until the earth is free. The heavy gunfire during the song leads to the death of all revolutionaries except Marius, who is gravely wounded and unconscious, and Valjean. Realizing that Valjean and Marius must be alive and hiding in the sewers, Javert goes off to find them.
Line by Line Meaning
You at the barricade listen to this
I am an army officer calling out to those at the barricade.
The people of Paris sleep in their beds
The citizens of Paris are currently resting and are unaware of the ongoing conflict.
You have no chance
Your chances of winning this battle are very low
No chance at all
There is absolutely no hope for you winning this fight
Why throw your lives away?
Why put your lives in danger? Is it really worth fighting for this cause?
Let us die facing our foes
We would rather die fighting our enemies than surrendering to them.
Make them bleed while we can
While we still have the opportunity, let's make our enemies pay for what they have done to us.
Make ′em pay through the nose
They will have to pay a high price for crossing us.
Make 'em pay for every man!
For every person who has been hurt or lost during this conflict, our enemies will pay the price.
Let others rise to take our place
If we fall, others will continue to stand up for what we believe in until true freedom is achieved.
Until the earth is free!
We will not stop fighting until we have achieved complete freedom for all citizens.
Writer(s): A. Boublil, C.m. Schonberg
Contributed by Cooper W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.