Henri Alfred Duru (22 November 1829 – 28 December 1889) was a 19th-century French playwright and operetta
librettist
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...
who collaborated on more than 40 librettos for the leading French composers of operetta:
[Alfred Duru. 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 ...
''. Macmillan, London & New York, 1997. Hervé, Offenbach, Lecocq and Audran.
Biography
His father was Jacques Denis Duru (Charonne, 1784 – Paris, 18 September 1863) and his mother Avoye Eugénie Leterrier (Villiers-le-Bel, 10 May 1790 – Paris, 26 January 1871), married in Paris on 29 July 1824. As a boy he was a classmate of his principal future literary collaborator,
Henri Chivot
Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry.
People with this given name
; French noblemen
:'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.''
* Henri I de Mont ...
.
Duru was working as an engraver when in 1857, in collaboration with his friend from the same quartier, Henri Chivot, they wrote “L'Histoire d'un gilet”, a three-act drame-vaudeville.
[''Paris-capital : journal financier''. 8 January 1890, p2.] The piece played at the Folies-Dramatiques of the Boulevard du Temple, and on 14 November 1857 inaugurated the new theatre on the Rue de Bondy. From this time onwards, Duru worked continuously in the theatre, usually in collaboration with Chivot.
He produced almost a hundred
comédie en vaudevilles, comedies and operetta libretti, which played successfully on the stages of Paris.
Chivot and Duru were known for the ingenuity of their subjects, fantasy of the episodes, pure comic situations and gaiety of the dialogues.
[''Annuaire de la Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques.'' Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques (France). Commission des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques, Paris, 1890, p161-2.]
In December 1889 he caught the flu, during the
1889–90 flu pandemic and at first seemed to be recovering, but died after a relapse.
[''Le Matin'' : 27 December 1889, No. 2501, page 4.]
He died before he could see his final collaboration with Chivot ''Le Voyage de Suzette'', which opened at the
Théâtre de la Gaîté on 20 January 1890.
[Noel E & Stoullig E. ''Les Annales du Théâtre et de la Musique, 16eme edition, 1890.'' G Charpentier et Cie, Paris, 1891, p263.] At his interment at
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...
on 31 December 1889, a speech was given on his grave by
Armand d'Artois
Armand d'Artois (3 October 1788 – 28 March 1867) was a 19th-century French playwright and librettist, and also Achille d'Artois's brother.
Biography
Trained for the bar, he first worked as an attorney but the success of his play ''Les Fin ...
on behalf of the
Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques
SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques ( en, Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors. The Society manages, promotes ...
.
Works
*1873: ''L’Homme du lapin blanc'', three-act
comédie en vaudeville
*1870: ''La Boite à Bibi'', folie-vaudeville
;In collaboration with Chivot
*1857: ''L'Histoire d'un gilet'', drame-vaudeville in three acts, (premiere Folies-Dramatiques 14 November 1857)
*1858: ''Mon nez, mes yeux, ma bouche'', three acts, with
Siraudin
*1850: ''La Femme de Jephté'', three-act vaudeville
*1860: ''Les Splendeurs de Fil d’acier'', three acts
*1861: ''Le Songe d’une nuit d’avril'', two acts
*1863: ''Pifferaro'', one act
*1864: ''Les Mères terribles'', one-act comedy, given at the Odéon, (first work by Duru and Chivot on a larger stage)
*1865: ''La Tante Honorine'', three-act comedy (second work by Duru and Chivot in a serious genre, for the same theatre)
*1865: ''Les Orphéonistes en voyage'', play in five acts and ten tableaux
*1865: ''Le Rêve'', opéra comique in one act by Edmond Savary, first performed 13 October 1865
Théâtre Lyrique
The Théâtre Lyrique was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century (the other three being the Opéra, the Opéra-Comique, and the Théâtre-Italien). The company was founded in 1847 as the Opér ...
*1865: ''Un homme de bronze'', one-act vaudeville
*1865: ''Les Médiums de Gonesse'', one-act folie
*1856: ''Les Chevaliers de ta Table ronde'', three-act
opéra bouffe
Opéra bouffe (, plural: ''opéras bouffes'') is a genre of late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, inspiring the genre's name.
Opéras bouff ...
, music by
Hervé
*1867: ''Un Pharmacien aux Thermopyles'', one-act vaudeville
*1868: ''Le Luxe de ma femme'', one-act vaudeville
*1868: ''
L'île de Tulipatan'', one-act opéra bouffe, music by
Offenbach
*1868: ''
Fleur-de-Thé'', three-act opéra bouffe, music by
Charles Lecocq
Alexandre Charles Lecocq (3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable success in the 1870 ...
*1868: ''Le Soldat malgré lui'', two-act operetta, music by Frédéric Barbier
*1869: ''Le rajah de Mysore'', opérette bouffe in one act (21 September 1869 Paris, Bouffes-Parisiens), music by Lecocq
*1869: ''Le Carnaval d’un merle blanc'', three-act comédie en vaudeville,
Théâtre du Palais-Royal
The Théâtre du Palais-Royal () is a 750-seat Parisian theatre at 38 rue de Montpensier, located at the northwest corner of the Palais-Royal in the Galerie de Montpensier at its intersection with the Galerie de Beaujolais.
Brief history
...
*1869: Le Docteur Purgandi, opérette bouffe in one act, music by Victor Robillard
*1872: ''
Les cent vierges
''Les cent vierges'' (The Hundred Maidens) is an opérette in three acts, with music by Charles Lecocq and a libretto by Clairville (Louis-François Nicolaïe), Clairville, Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. It was first produced at the Théâtre des ...
'', three-act
operetta , with
Clairville, music by Lecocq
*1875: ''La Blanchisseuse de Berg-op-Zoom'', three acts, music by
Léon Vasseur
Félix Augustin Joseph Vasseur, known as Léon Vasseur (28 May 1844 – 25 May 1917), was a French composer, organist and conductor. While working as a cathedral organist, he turned to composing operettas and soon had a hit with ''La timbale d'ar ...
*1870: ''Le Pompon'', three-act
opéra comique, music by Lecocq
*1877: ''
Le grand mogol'', opéra bouffe in three acts, music by Audran (revised, in four acts for Paris in 1884)
*1878: ''
Madame Favart
''Madame Favart'' is an opéra comique, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot.
Performance history
After defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) ended Napoleon III' ...
'', three acts, music by Offenbach
*1873: ''Les Braconniers'', opéra bouffe in three acts, music by Offenbach
*1879: ''
Les noces d'Olivette
''Les noces d'Olivette'' is an opéra comique in three acts composed by Edmond Audran, with a libretto by Alfred Duru and Henri Charles Chivot. The farcical romance story concerns Olivette, who loves Valentine (who is also loved by a Countess) ...
'', three-act opéra comique, music by
Edmond Audran
Achille Edmond Audran (12 April 184017 August 1901) was a French composer best known for several internationally successful comic operas and operettas.
After beginning his career in Marseille as an organist, Audran composed religious music and ...
*1880: ''
La Fille du tambour-major'', three-act opéra comique, music by Offenbach
*1880: ''Le Siège de Grenade'', four-act vaudeville
*1881: ''La Mère des compagnons'', three-act opéra comique, music by Hervé
*1881: ''
La Mascotte
''La mascotte'' (''The Mascot'') is a three-act opéra comique with music by Edmond Audran and words by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. The story concerns a farm girl who is a "mascotte": someone with the mystic power to bring good luck to all aroun ...
'', three-act opéra comique, music by Audran
*1881: ''Les forfaits de Pipermans'', one-act vaudeville
*1882: ''Bocace'', adaptation of German libretto into three-act opéra comique, music by
Suppé (as ''
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...
'')
*1882: ''
Gillette de Narbonne
''Gillette de Narbonne'' is an ''opéra comique'' in three acts, with music by Edmond Audran and words by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. It is based on a fabliau from ''The Decameron'' and depicts a rejected bride posing as another woman to decei ...
'', opéra comique in three acts, music by Audran
*1882: ''Le Truc d’Arthur'', three-act comedy
*1883: ''La Picarde'', three-act opéra comique, music by Audran
*1883: ''La Princesse de Canarie'', three-act opéra comique, music by Lecocq
*1883: ''L’Oiseau bleu'', three-act opéra comique, music by Lecocq
*1883: ''La Dormeuse éveillée'', three-act opéra comique, music by Audran
*1885: ''Pervenche'', three-act opérette, music by Audran
*1885: ''Les Noces d’un réserviste'', four-act vaudeville
*1886: ''
La cigale et la fourmi
''La cigale et la fourmi'' (The Grasshopper and the Ant) is a three-act opéra comique, with music by Edmond Audran and words by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. Loosely based on Jean de La Fontaine's version of Aesop's Fables, Aesop's fable ''The An ...
'', opéra comique in ten tableaux, music by Audran
*1887: ''
Surcouf'', three-act opéra comique with a prologue, music by
Robert Planquette
Jean Robert Planquette (31 July 1848 – 28 January 1903) was a French composer of songs and operettas.
Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, especially '' Les cloches de Corneville'' (1878), the length of ...
*1890: ''Le Voyage de Suzette'', opérette in three acts music by Vasseur (first performed 20 January 1890, Théâtre de la Gaîté)
;In collaboration with
Labiche
*1875: ''Doit-on le dire?'', three-act comedy
*1874: ''Madame est trop belle'', three-act comedy.
*1875: ''Les Samedis de Madame'', three-act comedy.
References
External links
List of Duru worksat the Index to Opera and Ballet Sources Online
Alfred Duruon Wikisource
on Artlyrique.fr
Alfred Duruon
Alfred Duruon Amis et passionnés du Père Lachaise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duru, Alfred
French opera librettists
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights
Writers from Paris
1829 births
1889 deaths
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery