Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter

Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter was a French librettist, translator, writer and librarian born in Paris, France, on 24 April 1828. He died there on 23 February 1899 after suffering a stroke a few days before.Cooper J: Nuitter, Charles-Louis-Étienne. In ''New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.

Librettist and translator

Nuitter studied law and practised in Paris from 1849. He was a keen theatre-goer, and in the 1850s he started writing librettos, mainly vaudevilles, later opéras comique, operas bouffes, operettas and ballets. It is estimated that he wrote or co-authored around 500 theatrical pieces, including libretti for several works by Offenbach, the scenario for Léo Delibes's ballet ''Coppélia'' (Nuitter had wanted the piece to be called ''La poupée de Nuremberg'') and pieces by Hervé, Guiraud, Lalo, Lecocq and others, of which 100 or so were staged.Gressel V. ''Charles Nuitter : des scènes parisiennes à la bibliothèque de l'Opéra.'' Website of enssibs (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l'Information et des Bibliothèques), accessed 28 October 2008.

He helped translate Wagner's operas into French (''Tannhäuser'', 1861, ''Rienzi'', 1869, ''Lohengrin'' 1870 and '' The Flying Dutchman'', 1872). Other translations include ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'', ''Oberon'', ''Abu Hassan'', ''Die Zauberflöte'', and Verdi's ''Macbeth'', ''Aida'', '' La forza del destino'' and ''Simon Boccanegra''. Wagner and Verdi esteemed highly the quality of his translations, and he assisted Verdi over the revision of ''Don Carlos'' in 1882–83. From a different era, Nuitter's translation of ''La Prière du matin et du soir'' by Emilio de' Cavalieri (1600) was performed regularly at the Concerts du Conservatoire during the 1870s–80s and beyond.

Archivist

Becoming involved in the archives of the Paris Opera in 1863, he became official archivist there three years later, and ended his career in law (he had given legal advice to Offenbach in a dispute with the manager of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens prior to the 1864 premiere of ''La belle Hélène'').

His archival work was extremely important in cataloguing the existing library, rescuing documents from destruction, and acquiring autograph documents and journals (sometimes at his own expense) for the collection. Acquisitions by Nuitter included an important collection of theatre books by Joseph de Filippi and around 900 opera librettos from a former director of the théâtre, Nestor Roqueplan.
His influence on the expansion of the archive was impressive. In 1861, there were 350 volumes; by the end of 1862 there were 1,076, and in 1882 the collection had grown to 7,807. He ensured that their importance was taken into account when the Palais Garnier opened in 1875.

Selected stage works by Nuitter (often in collaboration)

*'' Bavard et Bavarde'' (1862, Offenbach)
*''Il signor Fagotto'' (1863, Offenbach)
*'' Les bavards'' (1863, Offenbach)
*'' Les fées du Rhin'' (1864, Offenbach)
*''Une fantasia'' (1865, Hervé)
*'' La source'' (1866, Delibes and Minkus – ballet)
*''Vert-Vert'' (1869, Offenbach)

*''Coppélia'' (1870, Delibes – ballet)
*''Boule-de-Neige'' (1871, Offenbach)
*'' Whittington'' (1874, Offenbach)
*'' Maître Péronilla'' (1878, Offenbach)
*''Le coeur et la main'' (1882, Lecocq)
*Hellé (1896, Duvernoy)''The New York Times'' review, May 17, 1896
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References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuitter, Charles-Louis-Etienne
1828 births
1899 deaths
French opera librettists
French librarians
French ballet librettists
German–French translators
Writers from Paris
19th-century French translators
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights