Eugène Scribe
Encyclopedia
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French
dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play
" (pièce bien faite). This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.
. However, he soon began to write for the stage. His first piece, Le Prétendu sans le savoir, was produced anonymously at the Variétés in 1810, and was a failure. Numerous other plays, written in collaboration with various authors, followed; but Scribe achieved no distinct success till 1815.
Scribe's main subject matter was the contemporary bourgeoisie. He mastered his craft writing comédies vaudevilles, short middle-class entertainments, often with songs. He wrote very popular pieces with elaborate plots full of clever twists. What they lack, it is generally thought, is depth of character, thought, or social criticism. They stand in sharp contrast, for example, to Romantic
plays of the same period, such as those of Victor Hugo
.
His first major success was Une Nuit de la garde nationale (Night of the National Guard, 1815), a collaboration with Delestre Poirson. Much of his later work was also written in collaboration with others.
He was prolific; he wrote various dramas—vaudevilles, comedies, tragedies, opera-libretti. To the Gymnase theatre alone he is said to have furnished a hundred and fifty pieces before 1830. He had a number of co-workers, one of whom supplied the story, another the dialogue, a third the jokes and so on. He is said in some cases to have sent sums of money for "copyright in ideas" to men who were unaware that he had taken suggestions from their work. Among his collaborators were Jean Henri Dupin (1787–1887), Germain Delavigne, Delestre-Poirson, Mélésville, Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers
, Xavier Saintine and Ernest Legouvé
.
He wrote libretti for opera
s with almost every major opera composer of his time in France and Italy. He collaborated with Giacomo Meyerbeer
on a number of occasions, and also provided the words for works by Giuseppe Verdi
, Vincenzo Bellini
, Daniel Auber
, Fromental Halévy
, François-Adrien Boieldieu
, Gaetano Donizetti
and Gioachino Rossini. At the time of his death, he was working on the libretto for Meyerbeer's L'Africaine
.
His debut in serious comedy was made at the Théâtre Français
in 1822 with Valérie, the first of many successful plays. His understanding of the mechanism of the stage and of the tastes of the audience was wonderful. For purely theatrical ability he is unrivalled, and his plays are still regarded as models of dramatic construction. Moreover he was for fifty years the best exponent of the ideas of the French middle classes, so that he deserves respectful attention, even though his style be vulgar and his characters commonplace.
He wrote a few novels, but none of any mark. Among the actors he wrote starring roles for are Mlle Mars and Rachel
. Scribe was elected to the Académie française
in 1834. His Œuvres complétes appeared in seventy-six volumes in 1874-1885. See Legouvé, Eugène Scribe (1874).
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play
Well-made play
The well-made play is a genre of drama from the 19th century that Eugène Scribe first codified and that Victorien Sardou developed. By the mid-19th century, it had entered into common use as a derogatory term...
" (pièce bien faite). This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.
Biography
Scribe was born in Paris. His father was a silk merchant, and he was well educated, being destined for the lawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. However, he soon began to write for the stage. His first piece, Le Prétendu sans le savoir, was produced anonymously at the Variétés in 1810, and was a failure. Numerous other plays, written in collaboration with various authors, followed; but Scribe achieved no distinct success till 1815.
Scribe's main subject matter was the contemporary bourgeoisie. He mastered his craft writing comédies vaudevilles, short middle-class entertainments, often with songs. He wrote very popular pieces with elaborate plots full of clever twists. What they lack, it is generally thought, is depth of character, thought, or social criticism. They stand in sharp contrast, for example, to Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
plays of the same period, such as those of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
.
His first major success was Une Nuit de la garde nationale (Night of the National Guard, 1815), a collaboration with Delestre Poirson. Much of his later work was also written in collaboration with others.
He was prolific; he wrote various dramas—vaudevilles, comedies, tragedies, opera-libretti. To the Gymnase theatre alone he is said to have furnished a hundred and fifty pieces before 1830. He had a number of co-workers, one of whom supplied the story, another the dialogue, a third the jokes and so on. He is said in some cases to have sent sums of money for "copyright in ideas" to men who were unaware that he had taken suggestions from their work. Among his collaborators were Jean Henri Dupin (1787–1887), Germain Delavigne, Delestre-Poirson, Mélésville, Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers
Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers
Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers was a French composer, dramatist, and song-writer.Note: Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers is easily confused in historical writings with his father, Marc-Antoine Désaugiers Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers (17 November 1772, Fréjus – 9 August 1827) was a French...
, Xavier Saintine and Ernest Legouvé
Ernest Legouvé
Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé was a French dramatist.-Biography:Son of the poet Gabriel-Marie Legouvé , he was born in Paris. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately afterwards his father was removed to a lunatic asylum. The child, however, inherited a considerable fortune,...
.
He wrote libretti for opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s with almost every major opera composer of his time in France and Italy. He collaborated with Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
on a number of occasions, and also provided the words for works by Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
, Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
, Daniel Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
, Fromental Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
, François-Adrien Boieldieu
François-Adrien Boïeldieu
François-Adrien Boieldieu was a French composer, mainly of operas, often called "the French Mozart".-Biography:...
, Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
and Gioachino Rossini. At the time of his death, he was working on the libretto for Meyerbeer's L'Africaine
L'Africaine
L'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...
.
His debut in serious comedy was made at the Théâtre Français
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....
in 1822 with Valérie, the first of many successful plays. His understanding of the mechanism of the stage and of the tastes of the audience was wonderful. For purely theatrical ability he is unrivalled, and his plays are still regarded as models of dramatic construction. Moreover he was for fifty years the best exponent of the ideas of the French middle classes, so that he deserves respectful attention, even though his style be vulgar and his characters commonplace.
He wrote a few novels, but none of any mark. Among the actors he wrote starring roles for are Mlle Mars and Rachel
Rachel (actress)
Elisabeth "Eliza, or Élisa" Rachel Félix , better known only as Mademoiselle Rachel , was a French actress....
. Scribe was elected to the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1834. His Œuvres complétes appeared in seventy-six volumes in 1874-1885. See Legouvé, Eugène Scribe (1874).
The best-known of Scribe's comedies
- 1826: Bertrand et Suzette; ou Le Mariage de raison
- 1833: Bertrand et Raton, on l'art de conspirer (The School for Politicians
- 1842: Une Chaine
- 1842: Le Verre d'eau (The Glass of Water)
- 1849: Adrienne Lecouvreur, in conjunction with Legouvé
- 1851: Bataille de Dames (The Ladies' Battle)
Plays adapted into opera libretti
- 1831: Le philtre, adapted by Felice RomaniFelice RomaniFelice Romani was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito.-Biography:Born Giuseppe Felice Romani to a bourgeois family in Genoa,...
into the libretto for Donizetti'sL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
. - 1831: A ballet-pantomime became the basis of the Italian libretto for Bellini's La sonnambulaLa sonnambulaLa sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
, - 1902: Adriana Lecouvreur (written in collaboration with Ernest LegouvéErnest LegouvéGabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé was a French dramatist.-Biography:Son of the poet Gabriel-Marie Legouvé , he was born in Paris. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately afterwards his father was removed to a lunatic asylum. The child, however, inherited a considerable fortune,...
) was adapted into a libretto by Arturo ColauttiArturo ColauttiArturo Colautti was an Italian journalist, polemicist and librettist. He was a strong supporter of Italian irredentism for his native Dalmatia...
for Francesco CileaFrancesco CileaFrancesco Cilea was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.-Biography:...
's Adriana LecouvreurAdriana LecouvreurAdriana Lecouvreur is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the play by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé...
Opera libretti
- 1825: BoieldieuFrançois-Adrien BoïeldieuFrançois-Adrien Boieldieu was a French composer, mainly of operas, often called "the French Mozart".-Biography:...
's La dame blancheLa Dame blancheLa dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...
(based on five works by Walter ScottWalter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
). - 1828: Revisions to a libretto by Germain Delavigne for Daniel AuberDaniel AuberDaniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
's La muette de PorticiLa muette de PorticiLa muette de Portici originally called Masaniello, ou La muette de Portici, is an opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Germain Delavigne, revised by Eugène Scribe...
(The Mute Girl of Portici) - 1830: Auber's Fra DiavoloFra Diavolo (opera)Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe...
- 1831: MeyerbeerGiacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's Robert le DiableRobert le diable (opera)Robert le diable is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, often regarded as the first grand opera. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Casimir Delavigne and has little connection to the medieval legend of Robert the Devil. Originally planned as a three-act opéra comique, "Meyerbeer persuaded...
(with Casimir DelavigneCasimir DelavigneJean-François Casimir Delavigne was a French poet and dramatist.-Biography:Delavigne was born at Le Havre, but was sent to Paris to be educated at the Lycée Napoleon. He read extensively...
) - 1831: La marquise de BrinvilliersLa marquise de Brinvilliers (opera)La marquise de Brinvilliers is an operatic 'drame lyrique' that was written as a collaborative effort on the part of nine composers. It premiered in Paris at the Salle Ventadour of the Opéra-Comique on October 31, 1831.-Composition and performances:...
set by nine composers (with Castil-BlazeCastil-BlazeFrançois-Henri-Joseph Blaze, known as Castil-Blaze , was a French musicologist, music critic, composer, and music editor.-Biography:...
) - 1831: Meyerbeer's Les HuguenotsLes HuguenotsLes Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
(with Émile DeschampsÉmile DeschampsÉmile de Saint-Amand Deschamps was a French poet. He was born at Bourges. Deschamps was one of the chiefs of the Romantic school. To further the cause of romanticism he founded with Victor Hugo La Muse Française , a journal to which he contributed verses and stories signed "Le Jeune Moraliste." ...
) - 1835: HalévyFromental HalévyJacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
's La JuiveLa JuiveLa Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835.-Composition history:... - 1843: DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's Dom SébastienDom SébastienDom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal is a French grand opera in five acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Paul Foucher's play Don Sébastien de Portugal , a historic-fiction about King Sebastian of Portugal and his ill-fated 1578 expedition to Morocco...
(based on Paul-Henri FoucherPaul FoucherPaul-Henri Foucher was a French playwright, theatre and music critic, political journalist, and novelist.-Early career:...
's play) - 1855: VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Les vêpres siciliennesLes vêpres siciliennesLes vêpres siciliennes is an opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi...
(I vespri siciliani) (with Charles Duveyrier, based on their work on Le duc d'AlbeLe duc d'AlbeLe duc d'Albe or Il duca d'Alba is an opera in three acts originally composed by Gaetano Donizetti in 1839 to a French language libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier...
for Donizetti's unfinished opera, which was not performed until 1882).
External links
- Scribe's works: text, concordances and frequency list