Eugène Ortolan

Eugène Ortolan (born April 1, 1824 in Paris ; † May 11, 1891 ibid) was a French lawyer, diplomat and composer.

Live and act

Eugène Ortolan came from a family of lawyers. His grandfather was a justice of the peace in Toulon, his father Joseph-Louis-Elzéar Ortolan a public prosecutor and law professor. His uncle Jean-Félicité-Théodore Ortolan was an expert on maritime law. Ortolan studied law, but also studied music at the Paris Conservatory , where he was a student of Jacques Fromental Halévy and Henri Montan Berton .

In 1845 he won the first Second Grand Prix de Rome with the three-part scene Imogine after Pierre-Ange Vieillard ; a Premier Grand Prix was not awarded this year.

In 1849 he obtained a doctorate in international law and became a member of the Foreign Ministry. In the diplomatic service he made numerous trips abroad, primarily to Belgium and Russia, and at the end of his career became the French consul general in Australia. From there he returned in 1881 and retired in 1884.

In addition to his professional activity, Ortolan composed several symphonic pieces and the oratorio Tobie based on a poem by Léon Halévy , which was performed in Versailles in 1867. He also wrote two successful stage works: the comic opera Lisette , which premiered at the Théâtre-Lyrique in 1855 , and the operetta La Momie de Roscoco based on a libretto by Émile de Najac , which premiered in 1857 at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens .

In 1851 Ortolan published the book Des moyens d'acquérir le domaine international ou propriété d'état entre les nations, d'après le droit des gens public, comparés aux moyens d'acquérir la propriété entre particuliers, d'après le droit privé, et suivis de l'examen des principes de l'équilibre politique , which was considered a standard work of international law in its time. He was awarded the Legion of Honor and Knight of the Leopold Order and the Russian Order of St. Stanislaus .