Catulle Mendès
Encyclopedia
Catulle Mendès was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and man of letters.
Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. He early established himself in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and promptly attained notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste (1861) of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. He was allied with the Parnassians from the beginning of the movement and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems, Philoméla (1863). His critics have noted that the elegant verse of his later volumes is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendès' talent is shown his critical and dramatic writings, including several libretti, and in his novels and short stories. His short stories continue the French tradition of the licentious conte.
In 1866 he married Judith Gautier
Judith Gautier
Judith Gautier was a French poet and historical novelist, the daughter of Théophile Gautier and Ernesta Grisi, sister of the noted singer and ballet dancer Carlotta Grisi...
, the younger daughter of the poet Théophile Gautier
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
. They later separated. Early on the morning of 8 February 1909, his body was discovered in the railway tunnel of Saint Germain
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
. He had left Paris by the midnight train on the 7th, and it is supposed that, thinking he had arrived at the station, he had opened the door of his compartment while still in the tunnel.
Collections of poetry
- Philoméla (1863)
- Poésies, première série (1876), which includes much of his earlier verse
- Soirs moroses, Contes épiques, Philoméla, etc.; Poésies (7 vols., 1885), a new edition largely augmented
- Les Poésies de Catulle Mendès (3 vols., 1892)
- La Grive des vignes (1895)
For theatre
- La Part du roi (1872), a one-act verse comedy
- Les Frères d'armes (1873), drama
- Justice (1877), in three acts, characterized by a hostile critic as a hymn in praise of suicide
- Le Capitaine Fracasse (1878), libretto of a light opera, based on Théophile GautierThéophile GautierPierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
s novel - Gwendoline (1886) and BriséïsBriséïsBriséïs, or Les amants de Corinthe is an operatic 'drame lyrique' by Emmanuel Chabrier with libretto by Catulle Mendès and Ephraïm Mikaël after Goethe's Die Braut von Korinth.-Composition history:...
(1897), for the music of ChabrierEmmanuel ChabrierEmmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well... - La Femme de Tabarin (1887)
- IsolineIsoline (opera)Isoline is an opera, described as a 'conte de fées' in three acts and ten tableaux, on a text by Catulle Mendès, with music by André Messager.-Background:...
(1888), for the music of MessagerAndré MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international... - Médée (1898), in three acts and in verse
- La Reine Fiammette (1898), a conte dramatique in six acts and in verse, set in Renaissance Italy, later set to music by Xavier LerouxXavier LerouxXavier Henry Napoleón Leroux was a French composer.Leroux was the son of a military bandleader. He studied at the Paris Conservatory under Jules Massenet and Théodore Dubois, and won the Prix de Rome in 1885 with the cantata Endymion...
, for which see: La reine FiammetteLa reine FiammetteLa reine Fiammette is an opera in 4 Acts by composer Xavier Leroux. The opera uses a French language libretto by Catulle Mendès which is based on Mendès's 1898 work of the same name, a conte dramatique in six acts set in Renaissance Italy. The opera's premiere was given by the Opéra-Comique at the... - Le Cygne (1899), for the music of LecocqAlexandre Charles LecocqAlexandre Charles Lecocq was a French musical composer. He was admitted into the Conservatoire in 1849, being already an accomplished pianist. He studied under François Bazin, François Benoist, and Fromental Halévy, winning the first prize for harmony in 1850, and the second prize for fugue in 1852...
- La Carmélite (1902), for the music of Reynaldo HahnReynaldo HahnReynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
- Le Fils de l'étoile (1904), the hero of which is Bar-Cochebas, the Syrian pseudo-Messiah, for the music of Camille ErlangerCamille ErlangerCamille Erlanger was a Parisian-born French opera composer. He studied at the Paris Conservatory under Léo Delibes and Émile Durand, and in 1888 won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Velléda...
- Scarron (1905)
- Ariane (1906) and BacchusBacchus (opera)Bacchus is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Catulle Mendès after Greek mythology. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on May 5, 1909....
(1909), for the music of Massenet - Glatigny (1906)
Critical works
- Richard Wagner (1886)
- L'Art au théâtre (3 vols; 1896–1900), a series of dramatic criticisms reprinted from newspapers
- A report addressed to the minister of public instruction and of the fine arts on Le Mouvement poétique francais de 1867 à 1900 (new ed., 1903), which includes a bibliographical and critical dictionary of the French poets of the 19th century.
Novels
- Le Roi vierge (1880) in which he introduces Louis II of Bavaria and Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
- La Maison de la vielle (1894)
- Gof (1897).