Louis-Victor-Nestor Roqueplan
lso sometimes spelled Rocoplan(16 September 1805 – 24 April 1870) was a French writer, journalist, and theatre director.
Early life and career
Nestor Roqueplan was born near Montréal,
Aude
Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Ca ...
, and was the younger brother of the Romantic painter
Camille Roqueplan. He first studied in Marseille, where he completed his secondary education in law, but moved to Paris in 1825, where he was able to publish several literary essays, and joined ''
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...
'' in 1827, becoming its editor-in-chief with
Victor Bohain
Alexandre-Victor-Philippe Bohain (1 March 1804 – 19 July 1856) was a 19th-century French journalist, businessman and civil servant.
Biography
Born in Paris, he was first editor at '. In 1827, he acquired from Auguste Le Poitevin de L'Égrevill ...
, who had purchased the paper that year for 30,000 francs.
Roqueplan was considered a dandy, and witty and caustic as a writer. He was an amateur magician, and in about 1830 invented the silk braid trim on trouser seams, which became highly fashionable. He wrote as a critic, and in 1833 he fought a duel with a Colonel Gallois, who was offended by an article in ''Le Figaro''. Roqueplan was wounded but recovered.
Roqueplan also served as a theatre director at the
Théâtre du Panthéon
The Théâtre du Panthéon was a theatre building in Paris, at 96 (now 46) rue Saint-Jacques ( 5th arrondissement). It opened in 1832 and closed in 1844. It was named after the nearby Panthéon.
History
It was built in 1831 on the remains of the ...
, the
Théâtre des Nouveautés
The Théâtre des Nouveautés ("Theatre of the New") is a Parisian theatre built in 1921 and located at 24 boulevard Poissonnière (Paris, 9th arr.). The name was also used by several earlier Parisian theatre companies and their buildings, begin ...
, and from 1841 to 1847 at the
Théâtre des Variétés
The Théâtre des Variétés is a theatre and "salle de spectacles" at 7–8, boulevard Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement, in Paris. It was declared a monument historique in 1974.
History
It owes its creation to the theatre director Mademoiselle ...
.
Paris Opera
Roqueplan and
Henri Duponchel
Henri Duponchel (28 July 1794 – 8 April 1868) was in turn a French architect, interior designer, costume designer, stage designer, stage director, managing director of the Paris Opera, and a silversmith. He has often been confused with Char ...
joined
Léon Pillet Léon Pillet (6 December 1803 – 20 March 1868),Huebner 1992. was a 19th-century French journalist, civil servant, and director of the Paris Opera from 1840 to 1847. A political appointee, he was probably the least successful director of the Paris ...
as co-directors of the
Paris Opera
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 ...
on 1 August 1847. Under pressure from increasing criticism of his previous policies, Pillet withdrew completely in November, leaving Roqueplan and Duponchel as co-directors until 21 November 1849, when Duponchel decided to retire. Roqueplan continued as sole director until 11 November 1854, when he was replaced by
François-Louis Crosnier. The two most notable premieres at the Opera during his period as director were Verdi's ''
Jérusalem
''Jérusalem'' is a grand opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was to be an adaptation and partial translation of the composer's original 1843 Italian opera, ''I Lombardi alla prima crociata''. It was the one opera which he regarded ...
'' in 1847, which was not particularly successful, and Meyerbeer's ''
Le prophète
''Le prophète'' (''The Prophet'') is a grand opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer, which was premiered in Paris on 16 April 1849. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, after passages from the ''Essay on the ...
'' in 1849 (with mezzo-soprano
Pauline Viardot
Pauline Viardot (; 18 July 1821 – 18 May 1910) was a nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue and composer of Spanish descent.
Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, her name appears in various forms. When it is not simply "Pauli ...
, who had enormous success in the role of Fidès). Later, in 1851, he mounted Gounod's first opera, ''
Sapho'', as a favor to Viardot, who sang the title role. In 1852 he produced Halévy's 5-act grand opera ''
Le Juif errant
''The Wandering Jew'' (french: link=no, Le Juif errant) is an 1844 novel by the French writer Eugène Sue.
Plot
The story is entitled ''The Wandering Jew'', but the figure of the Wandering Jew himself plays a minimal role. The prologue of the ...
'', which was well received by many critics and achieved a total of 49 performances, but also resulted in the publication of a defense and critique of the opera in the form of a letter by Roqueplan to ''Constitutionnel'' and a critique by
Jules Janin
Jules Gabriel Janin (16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic.
Life and career
Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gra ...
from the ''
Journal des Debats
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
''. Overall Roqueplan's management of the Opera was considered disastrous, and he was forced out of his position as director, but the financial problems at the Opera failed to damage his personal fortune, and he was well-paid for his service.
[''The Literary Gazette'']
vol. 2, no. 34 (19 February 1859), p. 243
About this time he published two books, the first in 1853 about life in Paris titled ''Regain – La vie parisienne'', and the second in 1855 consisting of theatre gossip called ''Coulisses de l'Opéra''.
Opéra-Comique
On 20 November 1857 Roqueplan succeeded
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 ...
as director of 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 ...
, and held the position until 19 June 1860, when he was replaced by Alfred Beaumont. The first new work to be presented under Roqueplan was
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas '' Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868).
Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...
's 3-act ''Le carnaval de Venise'' on 9 December. At the beginning of 1859 Roqueplan brought suit against ''Le Figaro'' for harassment regarding his directorship. According to ''The Literary Gazette'' of London, the ''Figaro'' had described Roqueplan as "a species of Pasha, lolling upon a couch, smoking a cigar, and desirous only of escaping from all the details of his administration."
[ Not long thereafter came the triumphant premiere of Meyerbeer's '']Le pardon de Ploërmel
''Dinorah'', originally ''Le pardon de Ploërmel'' (''The Pardon (ceremony), Pardon of Ploërmel''), is an 1859 French opéra comique in three acts with music by Giacomo Meyerbeer and a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. The story takes ...
'', but despite its success, his financial difficulties increased. Eventually the constant money problems caused him to retire from opera management.
Later life
He wrote as a columnist for ''Constitutionnel'' and in 1868 published two booklets (drawn from obituaries he had written for that journal), one about Rossini and another about Baron James de Rothschild
James Mayer de Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild (born Jakob Mayer Rothschild; 15 May 1792 – 15 November 1868) was a German- French banker and the founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family.
Early life
James de Rothschild was bor ...
. The same year he also published a book of literary sketches of Paris as ''Parisine''.[Roqueplan 1868b; Fétis 1880]
p. 438
list of works by Nestor Roqueplan
at WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
.
Roqueplan remained unmarried and died in Paris.
See also
* Suzanne Lagier
References
;Notes
;Sources
* Fauser, Annegret; Everist, Mark, editors (2009). ''Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer: Paris, 1830–1914''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. .
* Fétis, François-Joseph; Pougin, Arthur
Arthur Pougin ( 6 August 1834 – 8 August 1921) was a French musical and dramatic critic and writer. He was born at Châteauroux (Indre) and studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris under Jean Delphin Alard, Alard (violin) and Napoléon Henri ...
(1880). ''Biographie universelle des musiciens'', supplement, vol. 2. Paris: Didot
View
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Fitzlyon, April (1992). "Viardot (née Garcia), (Michelle Ferdinande) Pauline" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, pp. 981–982.
* Forbes, Elizabeth (1992). "Thomas, (Charles Louis) Ambroise" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, pp. 726–727.
* Gerhard, Anselm (1998). ''The Urbanization of Opera: Music theatre in Paris in the Nineteenth Century'', translated from French to English by Mary Whittall. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .
* Gounod, Charles (1896). ''Mémoires d'un artiste'' (in French). Paris: Calmann, Lévy
View
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Hogg, James; Marryat, Florence (1883). ''London Society: An Illustrated Magazine'', vol. 43. London
View
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Huebner, Steven (1992). "Roqueplan, Nestor" in Sadie 1992, vol. 4, pp. 39–40.
* Jordan, Ruth (1994). ''Fromental Halévy: His Life and Music, 1799–1862''. London: Kahn & Averill. .
* Larousse, Pierre (1866–1890). ''Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle
The ''Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle'' (''Great Universal Dictionary of the 19th Century''), often called the ''Grand Larousse du dix-neuvième'', is a French encyclopedic dictionary. It was planned, directed, published, and to a s ...
'' (17 volumes). Paris.
* Levin, Alicia (2009). "Appendix: A Documentary Overview of Musical Theaters in Paris, 1830–1900" in Fauser and Everist 2009, pp. 379–402.
* Millingen, J. G. (2004). ''The History of Dueling Including Narratives of the Most Remarkable Encounters. First Volume''.
Partial view
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Richardson, Joanna (1969). ''The Bohemians: la vie de Bohème in Paris, 1830-1914''. London: Macmillan. .
* Roqueplan, Nestor; Janin, Jules (1852). ''Critique du Juif Errant''. Paris
View
at Google Books
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.
* Roqueplan, Nestor (1853). ''Regain. La vie parisienne''. Paris, Librairie nouvelle. . Vie
1869
an
1882
editions at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Roqueplan, Nestor (1855). ''Coulisses de l'Opéra''. Paris: Librairie Nouvelle
View
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Roqueplan, Nestor (1868a). ''Le Baron James de Rothschild''. Paris. .
* Roqueplan, Nestor (1868b). ''Parisine''. Paris
List of editions and formats
at WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
View
at the HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...
.
* Roqueplan, Nestor (1868c). ''Rossini''. Paris: Dentu. .
* Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). ''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 ...
'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. .
* Tamvaco, Jean-Louis (2000). ''Les Cancans de l'Opéra. Chroniques de l'Académie Royale de Musique et du théâtre, à Paris sous les deux restorations'' (2 volumes, in French). Paris: CNRS Editions. .
* Thomas, Joseph (1908). ''Universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology'', 3rd edition, vol. 2. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott
View
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
* Wilde, Oscar, editor (1888). ''The Woman's World'', vol. 1. London: Cassell. Source Books (1970 reprint):
View
at Google Books
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roqueplan, Nestor
1805 births
1870 deaths
People from Aude
French theatre managers and producers
Opera managers
Directors of the Paris Opera
19th-century French journalists
French male journalists
French opera librettists
19th-century French male writers