BY
SCRIBE AND LEGOUVÉ
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
THEODORE ELY HAMILTON, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 West 32nd Street
LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE & BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD
1917
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1917
by Oxford University Press
AMERICAN BRANCH
INTRODUCTION
Scribe and Legouvé
Augustin Eugène Scribe was born at Paris, December 24th, 1791. He studied law but manifested early in life a strong inclination toward the drama. The first of his plays to be favored with the full approval of the public was Une nuit de la garde nationale, written in 1816, in collaboration with Delestre-Poirson. Thereafter, his success was great and continued. He produced plays in rapid succession for two and even three theaters at the same time. Many of them were written jointly with some collaborator. In 1816 appeared also Le nouveau Pourceaugnac and Le solliciteur, highly praised by Schlegel.
In 1820 Scribe was engaged to write exclusively for a new theater established by his friend Poison, under the patronage of the Duchesse de Berri. In less than ten years (1821-30) he produced over one hundred plays. Among the best of these are: Le mariage enfantin, Le colonel, La loge du portier, Le baiser au porteur, La reine de seize ans, La marraine, Le diplomate, Le plus beau jour de la vie, and Le mariage de raison.
For the Théâtre-Français he supplied the following plays: Valérie (1822), Le mariage d’argent (1827), Bertrand et Raton (1833), Une passion secrète (1834), La camaraderie (1837), Le verre d’eau (1840), Adrienne Lecouvreur (1849), Les contes de la reine de Navarre and La bataille de dames (1851), Mon étoile (1853), Feu Lionel and Les doigts de fée (1858). Several of these are still widely known.
Adrienne Lecouvreur, which is described elsewhere, was written with Ernest Legouvé (1807-1903) and is a really beautiful play.
La bataille de dames, also written with Legouvé, is well known for its rapid action and sprightly dialogue.
Scribe also composed the libretti of the following operas: La dame blanche (1825), by Boïeldieu; La muette de Portici (1828), Fra Diavolo (1830), Le cheval de bronze (1835), and others, by Auber; Robert le Diable (1831), Les Huguenots (1836), and Le prophète (1849), by Meyerbeer.
He wrote a number of novels, among which are Carlo Broschi, Judith, Le roi de carreau, and Maurice. Though widely read, they made no great literary mark.