Gustave Boulanger, Camille du Commun du Locle, 1854, musée du Louvre

Camille du Locle (16 July 18329 October 1903) was a French

theatre manager Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and a

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 ...

. He was born in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, France. From 1862 he served as assistant to his father-in-law,

Émile Perrin Émile-César-Victor Perrin was a French painter, mainly known as a theatre director and impresario, born in Rouen on 9 January 1814, died 8 October 1885.Dean W. ''Bizet.'' London, JM Dent & Sons, 1978. His son-in-law was Camille du Locle. Bio ...

, at the

Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

. From 1870, he was co-director at 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-Italienne ...

with

Adolphe de Leuven 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, who was involved in the assassination of G ...

, and sole director from 1874 to 1876. He is best remembered for mounting the original production of

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become o ...

's ''

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 Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' in 1875.Huebner 1992. Du Locle was responsible for completing the libretto of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'' (1867) after the death of Joseph Méry. He also played a key role in the genesis of ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' in 1869–70. According to Charles Pigot, Du Locle inspired the subject, words and music of Bizet's ''

Djamileh ''Djamileh'' is an '' opéra comique'' in one act by Georges Bizet to a libretto by Louis Gallet, based on an oriental tale, ''Namouna'', by Alfred de Musset. Composition history De Musset wrote ''Namouna'' in 1832, consisting of 147 verses in ...

'' (1872). He was a

pall-bearer A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles o ...

at Bizet's funeral in 1875 and made a speech at his interment at

Père Lachaise A name suffix, in the Western English-language naming tradition, follows a person's full name and provides additional information about the person. Post-nominal letters indicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accredit ...

. In 1876, a financial dispute arose with Verdi, and Du Locle moved to Capri, where he constructed and lived in the Villa Certosella, now a hotel. In Capri he was known for his reclusiveness, short temper, and sharp tongue. He often went around in a French suit, causing him to be regarded as a bit eccentric. One day he started attracting attention by wearing a suit and cape made of rough, uncoloured wool, a fabric usually only worn by fishermen. Soon many of the Germans and English on the island adopted attire made of similar material, which stimulated a local industry of hand-woven wool cloth which persisted until machine-made fabrics took over several decades later.Steegmuller 1982, p. 260
His friendship with

Ernest Reyer Louis Étienne Ernest Reyer (1 December 1823 – 15 January 1909) was a French opera composer and music critic. Biography Ernest Reyer was born in Marseille. His father, a notary, did not want his son to take up a career in music. However, he ...

led to him providing libretti for ''

Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovin ...

'' (1884) and ''

Salammbô ''Salammbô'' (1862) is a historical novel by Gustave Flaubert. It is set in Carthage immediately before and during the Mercenary Revolt (241–237 BCE). Flaubert's principal source was Book I of the ''Histories'', written by the Greek hist ...

'' (1890). Du Locle died in Capri in 1903.

Notes

Bibliography

Budden, Julian Julian Medforth Budden (9 April 1924 in Hoylake, Wirral – 28 February 2007 in Florence, Italy) was a British opera scholar, radio producer and broadcaster. He is particularly known for his three volumes on the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (publish ...

(1985). ''Verdi''. London: J M Dent & Sons. . * Dean, Winston (1975). ''Bizet''. Lond, Melbourne, and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons. . * Huebner, Steven (1992)
"Du Locle, Camille"
vol. 1, p. 1272, 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 musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

. London & New York: Macmillan. . (1998 paperback). * Steegmuller, Francis, editor and translator (1982). ''The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1857-1880''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. .

External links

Camille Du Locle
on data.bnf.fr 1832 births 1903 deaths French opera librettists French theatre managers and producers People from Orange, Vaucluse French expatriates in Italy French male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French male writers {{Opera-bio-stub