Auguste Lefranc
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Auguste Lefranc | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Pierre-Charles-Joseph-Auguste Lefranc 2 February 1814 |
| Died | 15 December 1878 (aged 64) |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, journalist |
Pierre-Charles-Joseph-Auguste Lefranc (2 February 1814 – 15 December 1878) was a 19th-century French playwright and journalist.
Biography
[edit]After secondary studies in Mâcon, he moved to Paris in order to attend law school. There he met Eugène Labiche and Marc-Michel.[citation needed] He obtained his license and registered with the Bar but did not practice law for long, becoming more interested in writing.[citation needed] He worked with small newspapers and founded l'Audience and La Chaire catholique. But his passion was theater.[citation needed]
Through his cousin Eugène Scribe, who then dominated the French playwriting scene, he received helpful advice and support from theatre directors.[citation needed] His first play, a comédie en vaudevilles in one act titled Une femme tombée du ciel, premiered in 1836 at the Théâtre du Panthéon.[1] In 1838, Labiche, Lefranc and Marc-Michel founded the "Paul Dandré Dramatic Society", a collective literary pseudonym for the production of comedies and dramas. A contract formally linked the three theatrical newcomers, who agreed to write only for their new partnership.[citation needed] While the experience lasted only two years, it ended amicably.[citation needed] Labiche, in a letter to Nadar, however, blamed the dissolution on Lefranc's "laziness and inaccuracy".[citation needed]
Over the next two decades, Lefranc wrote fifty more comedies, mostly with Labiche (the last, L'Avocat d'un Grec, in 1859[2]).[citation needed]. Except for Embrassons-nous, Folleville! (1850),[3] which was refashioned into an opéra-comique with music by Avelino Valenti and successfully performed at the second Salle Favart in 1879,[4] none of his plays is considered significant, and many were not even published. He then changed careers, becoming a banker by taking over the Caisse du Crédit public A. Lefranc and Cie.[citation needed]
From 8 July 1867 until mid 1868 Lefranc was a co-director of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, along with Julien-Joseph-Henry Dupontavisse. During their tenure the theatre temporarily presented comédies en vaudevilles.[5]
He died on 15 December 1878 in his country house in Suresnes.
Works
[edit]Theatre
[edit]- 1836: Une femme tombée du ciel
- 1837: La Cuvette d'eau (with Eugène Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- 1838 :
- Monsieur de Coyllin ou l'Homme infiniment poli (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- Le Capitaine d'Arcourt ou la Fée du château (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- L'Avocat Loubet (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- 1839:
- La Forge des châtaigniers (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- La Peine du Talion (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- L'Article 960 ou la Donation (with Labiche, Marc-Michel and Lancelot)
- 1840:
- Le Fin Mot (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- Le Lierre et l'Ormeau (with Labiche and Albert Monnier)
- Si nos femmes le savaient ! (with Philippe de Marville)
- 1841: Un grand criminel (with Charles Varin and Jacques Arago)
- 1842: Les Circonstances atténuantes (with Labiche and Mélesville)
- 1843:
- L'Homme de paille (with Labiche)
- Une femme compromise
- 1844:
- Le Major Cravachon (with Labiche and Paul Jessé)
- Deux papas très bien ou la Grammaire de Chicard (with Labiche)
- 1845:
- Le Roi des Frontins (with Labiche)
- L'École buissonnière (with Labiche)
- 1846:
- Mademoiselle ma femme (with Labiche)
- Rocambolle le bateleur (with Labiche)
- Frisette (with Labiche)
- L'Inventeur de la poudre (with Labiche and Nyon)
- 1847:
- L'Avocat pédicure (with Labiche and Albitte)
- La Chasse aux jobards (with Labiche)
- Une existence décolorée
- Un homme sanguin (with Labiche)
- L'Art de ne pas donner d'étrennes (with Labiche)
- 1848:
- L'Enfant de quelqu'un, comédie-vaudeville in 2 acts, premiered in London during a tour of the troupe of the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.
- Le Baromètre, ou la Pluie et le Beau Temps (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- A moitié chemin (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- Le Club champenois (with Labiche)
- Une tragédie chez M. Grassot (with Labiche)
- À bas la famille ou les Banquets (with Labiche)
- 1849:
- Les Manchettes d'un vilain (with Labiche and Saint-Yves)
- Un monsieur qui pose (with Labiche and Philippe de Marville)
- Une dent sous Louis XV (with Labiche)
- Trompe-la-balle (with Labiche)
- 1850:
- Les Prétendus de Gimblette (with Labiche, Marc-Michel and Matharel de Fiennes)
- Embrassons-nous, Folleville ! (with Labiche)
- Les Roués innocents
- Une idée fixe
- 1851: En manches de chemise (with Labiche and Nyon)
- 1852: Piccolet (with Labiche and Armand Montjoye)
- 1853: Un ut de poitrine (with Labiche)
- 1854: Un mauvais coucheur
- 1855: Les Précieux (with Labiche and Marc-Michel)
- 1859: L'Avocat d'un grec (with Labiche)
Notes
[edit]- ^ Notice bibliographique: Une femme tombée du ciel at BnF.
- ^ L'Avocat d'un Grec at Gallica.
- ^ Embrassons-nous, Folleville! at the Internet Archive.
- ^ Letellier 2010, p. 692; Wild & Charlton 2005, pp. 93, 235; libretto at HathiTrust.
- ^ Wild 1989, pp. 62, 64.
Bibliography
[edit]- Letellier, Robert Ignatius (2010). Opéra-Comique: A Sourcebook. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 9781443821407.
- Wild, Nicole ([1989]). Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens au XIXe siècle: les théâtres et la musique. Paris: Aux Amateurs de livres. ISBN 9780828825863. ISBN 9782905053800 (paperback). View formats and editions at WorldCat.
- Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. ISBN 9782870098981.
