Jean Pierre Félicien Mallefille (May 3, 1813 – November 24, 1868) was a French novelist and playwright. Mallefille was born in

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

. He wrote a number of plays, including ''Glenarvon'' (1835), ''Les sept enfants de Lara'' (1836), ''Le cœur et la dot'' (1852), and ''Les sceptiques'' (1867), as well as two comedies, and two novels, ''Le collier'' (1845) and ''La confession du Gaucho'' (1868). A

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

of his, ''Les deux veuves'', later formed the basis of the libretto for

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded ...

's opera ''

The Two Widows ''The Two Widows'' () is a two-act Czech opera by Bedřich Smetana based on the libretto of . The libretto is based on Jean Pierre Felicien Mallefille's one-act play ''Les deux veuves''. The opera was composed between June 1873 and January 1874, ...

''. He also wrote a

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; from Italian , "that which is pinned to the scenery") is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and actio ...

in French that was to have been the basis of a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

for the opera '' Sardanapalo'' by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

, but delivered it so late that Liszt, angered at his unreliability, had commissioned an Italian libretto from another writer; in the end the opera was never completed. Mallefille also had a relationship with

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

In film

Mallefille is portrayed by Georges Corraface in James Lapine’s 1991 British-American film ''

Impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallefille, Jean Pierre Felicien 1813 births 1868 deaths British Mauritius people 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French novelists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers Mauritian novelists