Louis Gallet
Louis Gallet (born February 14, 1835 in Valence , † October 16, 1898 in Paris ) was a French librettist and writer .
life and work
Gallet initially worked in his hometown as a teacher and proofreader. In 1857 he published the poetry collection Gioventù under a pseudonym and moved to Paris. Here he worked in the health administration, headed the Hôpital Lariboisière for a long time and finally achieved the rank of inspector.
He also wrote novels, poems and a drama. In 1868 he began his career as a librettist. Together with Édouard Blau , he wrote the text for Georges Bizet's opera La Coupe du Roi de Thulé . The libretto for Le Kobold by Ernest Guiraud followed in 1870 . In 1871 he met Camille Saint-Saëns , who commissioned him with the libretto for La Princesse jaune and placed him as a music critic for the Nouvelle Revue .
In the following years, Gallet wrote other libretti for Saint-Saëns, for Charles Gounod , Eugène Diaz , Victorin de Joncières and Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert . He wrote several libretti for Jules Massenet , including Le Cid - an adaptation of Le Cid (1885) by Pierre Corneille - and Thaïs based on the novella by Anatole France . In the 1890s he published two autobiographical volumes.
In the novel Le Capitaine Satan (German: Captain Satan or Adventure of Cyrano de Bergerac ) he let the famous French poet from the 17th century play the main role in a coat and sword story. Around the same time (1897) Edmond Rostand published the romantic-comedic verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac, which is far more sophisticated from a literary point of view .
Works (selection)
Autobiographical
- Notes d'un librettiste , Memoirs, 1891
- Guerre et Commune, impressions d'un hospitalier , Memories, 1898
Libretti
- La coupe du roi de Thulé , (Georges Bizet), 1868
- Le Kobold with Charles Nuitter (Ernest Guiraud), 1870
- Djamileh , (Georges Bizet), 1872
- La princesse jaune , (Camille Saint-Saëns), 1872
- La coupe du roi de Thulé with Édouard Blau, (Eugène Diaz), 1873
- Marie-Magdeleine , Oratorio, (Jules Massenet), 1873
- Cinq-Mars with Paul Poirson (Charles Gounod), 1877
- Ève (Jules Massenet), 1875
- Le roi de Lahore (Jules Massenet), 1877
- Le Cid with Édouard Blau and Adolphe Dennery (Jules Massenet), 1885
- Thaïs (Jules Massenet), 1894
- Le déluge , Biblical Poem (Camille Saint-Saëns), 1876
- Ascanio , after Benvenuto Cellini by Paul Meurice , (Camille Saint-Saëns), 1890
- Déjanire (Camille Saint-Saëns), 1898
Poetry
- Gioventù , poems, 1857
Web links
- Literature by and about Louis Gallet in the catalog of the German National Library
- Louis Gallet, by Camille Saint-Saëns (English)
- Études françaises - Université de Toronto (French)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gallet, Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French librettist and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 14, 1835 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Valence |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 16, 1898 |
| Place of death | Paris |