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Auguste Lefranc

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Auguste Lefranc
Born
Pierre-Charles-Joseph-Auguste Lefranc

2 February 1814
Died15 December 1878(1878-12-15) (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

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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

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Theatre

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  • 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

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  1. ^ Notice bibliographique: Une femme tombée du ciel at BnF.
  2. ^ L'Avocat d'un Grec at Gallica.
  3. ^ Embrassons-nous, Folleville! at the Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Letellier 2010, p. 692; Wild & Charlton 2005, pp. 93, 235; libretto at HathiTrust.
  5. ^ Wild 1989, pp. 62, 64.

Bibliography

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  • 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.
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