Michel Carré (; 20 October 1821,

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

– 27 June 1872, Argenteuil) was a prolific French

librettist 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. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

. He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libretti. He wrote the text for

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's '' Mireille'' (1864) on his own, and collaborated with Eugène Cormon on Bizet's '' Les pêcheurs de perles''. However, the majority of his libretti were completed in tandem with Jules Barbier, with whom he wrote the libretti for numerous operas, including

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

's '' Le timbre d'argent'' (libretto written in 1864, first performed in 1877), Gounod's '' Faust'' (1859), '' Roméo et Juliette'' (1867), and Offenbach's '' Les contes d'Hoffmann'' (1881). As with the other libretti by Barbier and himself, these were adaptations of existing literary masterworks. His son, Michel-Antoine Carré (1865–1945), followed in his father's footsteps, also writing libretti, and later directing silent films. His nephew Albert Carré (1852–1938) also wrote libretti.

List of works with libretti by Michel Carré

Sources

* Christopher Smith: "Carré, Michel", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 4 December 2005)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carre, Michel 1821 births 1872 deaths French opera librettists Writers from Besançon 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights