Adolphe de Leuven (30 September 1802 – 14 April 1884) was a French theatre director and a librettist. Also known as Grenvallet, and Count Adolph Ribbing. He was the illegitimate son of

Adolph Ribbing Adolph Ludvig Ribbing, later called ''Adolph de Leuven'' (10 January 1765 in Stockholm – 1 April 1843 in Paris), was a Swedish count and politician. He participated in the regicide of Gustav III of Sweden in 1792. Life Early life Adolph Ribb ...

, who was involved in the assassination of

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

in 1792, and Jeanne-Claude Billard. He took his name as a variation of that of his paternal grandmother,

Eva Löwen Eva Helena Löwen (15 December 1743 – 16 January 1813), was a politically active Swedish countess and royal favorite. She was active as a French agent in Sweden. Biography Eva Löwen was the daughter of Axel Löwen and Eva Horn af Ekebyholm and ...

. He produced over 170 plays and librettos, with operatic settings by

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

including ''

Le postillon de Lonjumeau ''Le postillon de Lonjumeau'' (''The Postillion of Lonjumeau'') is an opéra-comique in three acts by Adolphe Adam to a French libretto by Adolphe de Leuven and Léon Lévy Brunswick. The opera has become the most successful of Adam's works ...

'', Clapisson,

Félicien David Félicien-César David (13 April 1810 – 29 August 1876) was a French composer. Biography Félicien David was born in Cadenet, and began to study music at the age of five under his father, whose death when the boy was six left him an impoverish ...

(''Le Saphir'') and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the ...

.Wright L A
"Leuven, Adolphe de"
in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', four volumes, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicology, musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), whi ...

. London & New York, Macmillan, 1997. He was associated with the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienn ...

for fifty years and was director (with

Eugène Ritt Jean Eugène Ritt (23 March 1817 – 11 March 1898) was a French actor and theatre director. Life Ritt was born in Paris into the lower middle class, and raised in Strasbourg. Back in Paris, around 1834, he improvised himself an actor, organizi ...

as administrator) from 1862 to 1870 and co-director with

Camille du Locle Camille du Locle (16 July 18329 October 1903) was a French theatre manager and a librettist. He was born in Orange, France. From 1862 he served as assistant to his father-in-law, Émile Perrin, at the Paris Opéra. From 1870, he was co-directo ...

from 1870-1874. He resigned in protest at the on-stage murder in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

''.Winston Dean, ''Bizet'', 1978, p. 110. .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leuven, Adolphe de French opera librettists French ballet librettists 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights Writers from Paris French people of Swedish descent 1802 births 1884 deaths