Léon Battu was a French dramatist, born 1829Walsh T J. ''Second Empire Opera: The Théâtre Lyrique Paris 1851–1870.'' John Calder (Publishers Ltd), London, 1981, Appendix D, p. 342. in Paris, where he died on 22 November 1857.

Life and career

The son of Pantaléon Battu (1799–1870), a violinist and assistant conductor at the

Opéra de Paris 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 kn ...

,Fétis F-J. ''Biographie universelle des musiciens.'' Vol I, 55. Paris, 1878. and brother of the soprano Marie Battu (1838–1888) who created Inès in ''

L'Africaine ''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1837 five-act French ''grand opéra'' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe. By 1852, the plot had been revised to depict fictional events in the life of Portuguese explorer Vasco da ...

'', he wrote many vaudevilles and libretti. In the fields of opéra-comique and opérettes, these were in collaboration with

Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French people, French author and playwright, known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on the libretto, libretti for Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and comic operas by Jacques Offenbach, inc ...

, Michel Carré,

Jules Barbier Paul Jules Barbier (; 8 March 182516 January 1901) was a French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré.

, Jules Moinaux and Lockroy. His composers were

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

('' Pépito'', '' Le mariage aux lanternes''),

Adolphe Adam Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and ''Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas ''Le post ...

(''Les Pantins de Violette''), Victor Massé (''La Reine Topaze''),

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, 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'', w ...

and Charles Lecocq (''Le Docteur Miracle''). With Halévy he translated Mozart's ''

Der Schauspieldirektor ' (''The Impresario''), Köchel catalogue, K. 486, is a comic ''singspiel'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, set to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian ''Schauspieldirektor''. Originally, it was written because of "the imperial command ...

'' for its Mozart centenary production at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in 1856. He died at the age of 29 after years of illness and his funeral service on 24 November 1857 was attended by more than 500 people, including much of literary and musical Paris.Gustave Bourdin, obituary
in ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'' of 26 November 1857, p. 7, at

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

Works

Theatre

*''Les extrêmes se touchent'', with Adrien Decourcelle, 27 January 1848, Théâtre des Variétés, Paris *''Les Deux font la paire'', with Michel Carré, 25 October 1848, Théâtre des Variétés *''Les Suites d'un feu d'artifice'', with Arthur de Beauplan and Clairville, 1848, Théâtre du Vaudeville, Paris *''Jobin et Nanette'', with Michel Carré, 1 May 1849, Théâtre des Variétés *''Nisus et Euryale'', with Eugène Bercioux, 1850, Théâtre des Variétés *''Madame Diogène'', with Nérée Desarbres, 1852, Théâtre du Vaudeville *''Les Quatre Coins'', 7 November 1852, Théâtre de l'Odéon, Paris *''L'Honneur de la maison'', with Maurice Desvignes, 6 July 1853, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, Paris *''Un Verre de Champagne'', with Adrien Decourcelle, 1855, Théâtre des Variétés *''Lucie Didier'', with Adolphe Jaime fils, 12 January 1856, Théâtre du Vaudeville *''Les Cheveux de ma femme'', with Eugène Labiche, 19 January 1856, Théâtre des Variétés

Opéras comiques, operettas

*''Le Trésor à Mathurin'', music by

, 7 May 1855, Salle Herz, Paris *''Jacqueline ou la Fille du soldat'', with Eugène Labiche and Édouard Fournier, music by Jules Costé and the Comte d'Osmond, 8 June 1855,

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

, Paris *''L'Anneau d'argent'', with

Jules Barbier Paul Jules Barbier (; 8 March 182516 January 1901) was a French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré.

, music by Louis Deffès, 5 July 1855, Opéra-Comique, Paris *''Pépito'', with Jules Moinaux, music by Jacques Offenbach, 28 October 1855, Théâtre des Variétés *''Élodie ou le Forfait nocturne'', with Hector Crémieux, music by Jacques Offenbach, 19 January 1856, Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris *''Les Pantins de Violette'', with

, music by

, 29 April 1856, Bouffes-Parisiens *''L'Imprésario'', translation, with Ludovic Halévy, music by Mozart, 20 May 1856, Bouffes-Parisiens *''La Reine Topaze'', with Lockroy, music by Victor Massé, 27 December 1856, Théâtre-Lyrique *''Le Docteur Miracle'', with Ludovic Halévy, two versions: one by

, the other by Charles Lecocq, 9 April 1857, Bouffes-Parisiens *''Le Cousin de Marivaux'', with Ludovic Halévy, music by Victor Massé, 15 August 1957,

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

*''Le Mariage aux lanternes'', with Michel Carré, music by Jacques Offenbach, 10 October 1857, Bouffes-Parisiens

References

External links

Léon battu
on data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Battu, Leon French opera librettists 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French male writers Writers from Paris 1829 births 1857 deaths