Paul Foucher
Encyclopedia
Paul-Henri Foucher was a French playwright
, theatre and music critic
, political journalist, and novelist.
and began his career as an employee in the offices of the War Department. One day he visited the poet Alexandre Soumet
, who asked Foucher whether he had read his brother-in-law's play Amy Robsart. (Foucher's older sister Adèle had married Victor Hugo
in 1822.) "If you have not read it, there are some fine scenes in it." Later Foucher asked Hugo if he could look at the play, and Hugo, who had been planning to burn it, instead gave it to Foucher and consented to let him revise it. Hugo had written the first three acts himself at the age of nineteen. He had then shown it to Soumet, who had disliked it, so Hugo had given his approval for Soumet to alter and finish it. The play combined comedy and tragedy, and Foucher, under the influence of the enormous success of Shakespeare as recently performed in Paris, revised it further and produced it under his own name in 1829, but it was such a complete failure, that Hugo "came forward and avowed his own share in the production, taking responsibility of the non-success." Nevertheless, the whole affair did gain the young Foucher some notability. The play was never published, although Hugo gave the manuscript to Alexandre Dumas, père
, "who had it for a long time in his possession."
were then called), "but all agreed that there was talent and vigor in it. From that time the author's success was assured."
He rapidly showed himself to be imaginative and prolific, producing in quick succession Saynètes (1832), La Misère dans l'Amour (1832), and Les Passions dans le Monde (1833). As The New York Times was later to write: "Few literary men have been so active, or made so good a use of their time." His play Don Sébastien de Portugal, first produced at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin
on 9 November 1838, was the inspiration for Eugène Scribe
's libretto for Gaetano Donizetti's 1843 French grand opera Dom Sébastien
. Herbert Weinstock, in his biography of Donizetti, has speculated that Foucher in turn may have been influenced by John Dryden
's 1690 tragicomedy Don Sebastian. Foucher also contributed libretti for several operas and ballets, which "were not always impressive successes," but some for the Paris Opera
"revealed a lively imagination and a feeling for the picturesque situations dear to the audiences of his time." These included Pierre-Louis Dietsch
's opera Le Vaisseau fântome (9 November 1842), Adolphe Adam
's opera Richard en Palestine (7 October 1844), Edouard Deldevez
's ballet-pantomime Paquita
(a collaboration with Joseph Mazilier
, who also did the choreography, first performed on 1 April 1846), and Count Nicolas Gabrielli's
pantomime-ballet L'Étoile de Messine (20 November 1861). Most of Foucher's dramatic works were written in collaboration with well-known authors including Mazilier, D'Ennery
, Arvers
, Anicet-Bourgeois
, Berthet
, Goubaux, Desnoyers, Lavergne, Régnier, Borri, Jarry, Herbin, Bouchardy, Duport, Delaporte, Alboize, and Jaime.
he was the critic who was most respected and feared." Many of his reviews were collected and published in 1867 in book form as Entre cour et jardin: études et souvenirs du théâtre (Between Court and Garden: Studies and Recollections of the Theatre). In 1873 he published a collection of sketches of famous dramatists as Les Coulisses du passé (In the Wings of the Past) and the book Les Sièges héroiques (Heroic Sieges), which tells the stories of celebrated sieges from the liberation of Orléans
by Joan of Arc
in 1429 to the bombardment of Strasbourg
in 1870.
) in 1853, and La Vie du plaisir (The Life of Pleasure) in 1860.
, that in Paris he became a standard for comparison: myope comme Paul Foucher. His handwriting was so bad that the journals at which he worked had to employ a special copyist whose sole job was to carry out "Foucher translations". And he was notoriously absent-minded. Once he attended a ball thrown by the Turkish Ambassador, Ve'ly-Pasha (the son of Ali Pasha
). When it came time to leave, he searched his pockets for his coat-check number, but could not find it. The cloak-room attendant was unable to help him, so as the evening wore on Foucher requested the help of three Turkish guests in turn, each more decorated and high-ranking than the previous, but all without success. Finally the attendant said: ""You are a regular nightmare, you had better sit down and wait." Still without his coat at daybreak, Foucher finally decided to go home, where at last he discovered his coat and realized why he had lost his number. Many such stories were told about Foucher, "who took them all amiably and kindly."
Foucher was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor on 29 April 1847. He died in Paris and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery
. Victor Hugo
followed the hearse on foot, until eventually the acclamations of the crowds of the Quartier Latin forced him to retire to one of the mourning coaches. According to The New York Times, due to Foucher's "incessant labor", he "left his family in comfortable circumstances."
Category:1875 deaths
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, theatre and music critic
Music criticism
See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...
, political journalist, and novelist.
Early career
Foucher was born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and began his career as an employee in the offices of the War Department. One day he visited the poet Alexandre Soumet
Alexandre Soumet
Alexandre Soumet was a French poet.-Biography:Alexandre Soumet was born at Castelnaudary, département of Aude. His love of poetry began at a early age. He was an admirer of Klopstock and Schiller, then little known in France...
, who asked Foucher whether he had read his brother-in-law's play Amy Robsart. (Foucher's older sister Adèle had married Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
in 1822.) "If you have not read it, there are some fine scenes in it." Later Foucher asked Hugo if he could look at the play, and Hugo, who had been planning to burn it, instead gave it to Foucher and consented to let him revise it. Hugo had written the first three acts himself at the age of nineteen. He had then shown it to Soumet, who had disliked it, so Hugo had given his approval for Soumet to alter and finish it. The play combined comedy and tragedy, and Foucher, under the influence of the enormous success of Shakespeare as recently performed in Paris, revised it further and produced it under his own name in 1829, but it was such a complete failure, that Hugo "came forward and avowed his own share in the production, taking responsibility of the non-success." Nevertheless, the whole affair did gain the young Foucher some notability. The play was never published, although Hugo gave the manuscript to Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
, "who had it for a long time in his possession."
Career as a dramatist
Foucher soon obtained employment as a journalist and proceeded to write a new play, Yseul Raimbaud, which was first presented at the Théâtre de l'Odéon on 17 November 1830. It was attacked by the classiques (as the opponents of romanticismRomanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
were then called), "but all agreed that there was talent and vigor in it. From that time the author's success was assured."
He rapidly showed himself to be imaginative and prolific, producing in quick succession Saynètes (1832), La Misère dans l'Amour (1832), and Les Passions dans le Monde (1833). As The New York Times was later to write: "Few literary men have been so active, or made so good a use of their time." His play Don Sébastien de Portugal, first produced at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin
Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin
The Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin is a venerable theatre and opera house at 18, Boulevard Saint-Martin in the 10e arrondissement of Paris.- History :...
on 9 November 1838, was the inspiration for Eugène Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...
's libretto for Gaetano Donizetti's 1843 French grand opera Dom Sébastien
Dom Sébastien
Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal is a French grand opera in five acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Paul Foucher's play Don Sébastien de Portugal , a historic-fiction about King Sebastian of Portugal and his ill-fated 1578 expedition to Morocco...
. Herbert Weinstock, in his biography of Donizetti, has speculated that Foucher in turn may have been influenced by John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
's 1690 tragicomedy Don Sebastian. Foucher also contributed libretti for several operas and ballets, which "were not always impressive successes," but some for the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
"revealed a lively imagination and a feeling for the picturesque situations dear to the audiences of his time." These included Pierre-Louis Dietsch
Pierre-Louis Dietsch
Pierre-Louis Dietsch was a French composer and conductor, perhaps best remembered for the much anthologized Ave Maria 'by' Jacques Arcadelt, which he loosely arranged from that composer's three part madrigal Nous voyons que les hommes.Fétis has reported that Dietsch was a choirboy at the Dijon...
's opera Le Vaisseau fântome (9 November 1842), Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer and music critic. A prolific composer of operas and ballets, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle and Le corsaire , his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau , Le toréador and Si j'étais roi , and his Christmas...
's opera Richard en Palestine (7 October 1844), Edouard Deldevez
Edouard Deldevez
Édouard Deldevez was a French violinist, conductor, composer, and music teacher. He is also known as Ernest or Ernst Deldevez. The names Edmé or Émile are occasionally substituted for Edouard.-Biography:Édouard Deldevez was born and died in Paris, France. He won many prizes as a violinist...
's ballet-pantomime Paquita
Paquita
Paquita is a ballet in two acts and three scenes, with libretto by Joseph Mazilier and Paul Foucher. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Edouard Deldevez. First presented by at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera Ballet on 1 April 1846...
(a collaboration with Joseph Mazilier
Joseph Mazilier
Joseph Mazilier was a 19th-century French dancer, balletmaster and choreographer. He was most noted for his ballets Paquita and Le Corsaire...
, who also did the choreography, first performed on 1 April 1846), and Count Nicolas Gabrielli's
Nicolò Gabrielli
Count Nicolò Gabrielli di Quercita was an Italian opera composer.Born in Naples, at the time capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Nicolò Gabrielli was the scion of a distinguished yet decayed aristocratic family originally from Gubbio and settled thereafter in Tropea and Palermo...
pantomime-ballet L'Étoile de Messine (20 November 1861). Most of Foucher's dramatic works were written in collaboration with well-known authors including Mazilier, D'Ennery
Adolphe d'Ennery
Adolphe Philippe d'Ennery or Dennery was a French Jewish dramatist and novelist.Born in Paris, his real surname was Philippe...
, Arvers
Félix Arvers
Félix Arvers was a French poet and dramatist, most famous for his poem Un secret.Born in Paris, Arvers abandoned his law career aged 30 to concentrate on theatre. His plays gained moderate success in their own time, but none were as notorious as Un Secret, dedicated to Marie, the daughter of...
, Anicet-Bourgeois
Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois
Auguste Anicet, later Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois was a French dramatist. He was born in Paris.The first play to bear his name is L'Ami et le mari, ou le Nouvel Amphitryon, a vaudeville in one act...
, Berthet
Élie Berthet
Élie Berthet was a French novelist.A most prolific writer, Berthet authored more than 100 novels about Paris, criminal affairs, the prehistoric world...
, Goubaux, Desnoyers, Lavergne, Régnier, Borri, Jarry, Herbin, Bouchardy, Duport, Delaporte, Alboize, and Jaime.
Career as a journalist and writer of nonfiction
In 1848 he began to engage in politics, becoming the Paris correspondent for L'Indépendance belge in Brussels. His submissions were "very remarkable" and "full of life and spirit, and also full of information." He also became a noted theatre and music critic, first for L'Opinion nationale, for which he later wrote a Monday column entitled "Revue dramatique et lyrique", then for La France in 1865, and finally for La Presse. "After Jules JaninJules Janin
Jules Gabriel Janin was a French writer and critic.-Biography:Born in Saint-Étienne , Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris...
he was the critic who was most respected and feared." Many of his reviews were collected and published in 1867 in book form as Entre cour et jardin: études et souvenirs du théâtre (Between Court and Garden: Studies and Recollections of the Theatre). In 1873 he published a collection of sketches of famous dramatists as Les Coulisses du passé (In the Wings of the Past) and the book Les Sièges héroiques (Heroic Sieges), which tells the stories of celebrated sieges from the liberation of Orléans
Siege of Orléans
The Siege of Orléans marked a turning point in the Hundred Years' War between France and England. This was Joan of Arc's first major military victory and the first major French success to follow the crushing defeat at Agincourt in 1415. The outset of this siege marked the pinnacle of English power...
by Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
in 1429 to the bombardment of Strasbourg
Siege of Strasbourg
The Siege of Strasbourg took place during the Franco-Prussian War, and resulted in the French surrender of the fortress on 28 September 1870.-Background:...
in 1870.
Career as a novelist
Foucher published two serialized novels in La France and L'Opinion nationale. These were later published in book form: Le Guetteur de Cordouan (The Watchman of CordouanCordouan lighthouse
Cordouan lighthouse is an active lighthouse located 7 km at sea, near the mouth of the Gironde estuary in France. At a height of it is the tenth tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world....
) in 1853, and La Vie du plaisir (The Life of Pleasure) in 1860.
Personal traits
Foucher had several distinctive personal traits. He was so near-sightedMyopia
Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...
, that in Paris he became a standard for comparison: myope comme Paul Foucher. His handwriting was so bad that the journals at which he worked had to employ a special copyist whose sole job was to carry out "Foucher translations". And he was notoriously absent-minded. Once he attended a ball thrown by the Turkish Ambassador, Ve'ly-Pasha (the son of Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
). When it came time to leave, he searched his pockets for his coat-check number, but could not find it. The cloak-room attendant was unable to help him, so as the evening wore on Foucher requested the help of three Turkish guests in turn, each more decorated and high-ranking than the previous, but all without success. Finally the attendant said: ""You are a regular nightmare, you had better sit down and wait." Still without his coat at daybreak, Foucher finally decided to go home, where at last he discovered his coat and realized why he had lost his number. Many such stories were told about Foucher, "who took them all amiably and kindly."
Foucher was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor on 29 April 1847. He died in Paris and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Cemetery is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, part of the city's 14th arrondissement.-History:Created from three farms in 1824, the cemetery at Montparnasse was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud. Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the closure, owing to...
. Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
followed the hearse on foot, until eventually the acclamations of the crowds of the Quartier Latin forced him to retire to one of the mourning coaches. According to The New York Times, due to Foucher's "incessant labor", he "left his family in comfortable circumstances."
Plays
- Yseul Raimbaud (1830)
- Saynètes (1832)
- La Misère dans l'Amour (1832)
- Les Passions dans le Monde (1833)
- Caravage (1834)
- Jeanne de Naples (1837)
- Don Sébastien de Portugal, tragédie (1839)
- Les Chevaux du Carrousel (1839)
- Le Pacte de famine (with Élie BerthetÉlie BerthetÉlie Berthet was a French novelist.A most prolific writer, Berthet authored more than 100 novels about Paris, criminal affairs, the prehistoric world...
) (1839) - Bianca Contadini (1840)
- La Guerre de l'indépendance en Amérique (1840)
- La Voisin (1842)
- Les Deux Perles (1844)
- Les Étouffeurs de Londres (1847)
- L'Héritier du Czar (1849)
- Notre-Dame de Paris (1850)
- Mademoiselle Aïssé (1854)
- La Bonne Aventure (1854)
- La Joconde (1855)
- Les Rôdeurs du Pont-Neuf (1858)
- L'Amiral de l'escadre Bleue (1858)
- L'Institutrice (1861)
- Delphine Gerbet (1862)
- Le Carnaval de Naples (1864)
- La Bande Noire (1866)
Operas and ballets-pantomimes
- Le Vaisseau fantôme, music by DietschPierre-Louis DietschPierre-Louis Dietsch was a French composer and conductor, perhaps best remembered for the much anthologized Ave Maria 'by' Jacques Arcadelt, which he loosely arranged from that composer's three part madrigal Nous voyons que les hommes.Fétis has reported that Dietsch was a choirboy at the Dijon...
(1842) - Richard en Palestine, music by AdamAdolphe AdamAdolphe Charles Adam was a French composer and music critic. A prolific composer of operas and ballets, he is best known today for his ballets Giselle and Le corsaire , his operas Le postillon de Lonjumeau , Le toréador and Si j'étais roi , and his Christmas...
(1844) - PaquitaPaquitaPaquita is a ballet in two acts and three scenes, with libretto by Joseph Mazilier and Paul Foucher. Originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Edouard Deldevez. First presented by at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera Ballet on 1 April 1846...
, music by DeldevezEdouard DeldevezÉdouard Deldevez was a French violinist, conductor, composer, and music teacher. He is also known as Ernest or Ernst Deldevez. The names Edmé or Émile are occasionally substituted for Edouard.-Biography:Édouard Deldevez was born and died in Paris, France. He won many prizes as a violinist...
(1846) - L'Opéra au camp, music by VarneyAlphonse VarneyAlphonse Varney was a French conductor, mainly of opera. His son was the composer Louis Varney who studied music with his father.-Education:He studied at the Paris Conservatoire including counterpoint with Reicha....
(1854) - L'Étoile de Messine, music by GabrielliNicolò GabrielliCount Nicolò Gabrielli di Quercita was an Italian opera composer.Born in Naples, at the time capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Nicolò Gabrielli was the scion of a distinguished yet decayed aristocratic family originally from Gubbio and settled thereafter in Tropea and Palermo...
(1861)
Serialized novels
- Le Guetteur du Cordouan (1854, 3 vol.)
- La Vie de plaisir (1860)
Nonfiction works
- Entre cour et jardin: études et souvenirs du théâtre (1867)
- Les Coulisses du passé (1873)
- Les Sièges héroïques (1873)
Sources
- Barbou, Alfred; Frewer, Ellen E., translatator (1882). Victor Hugo and his Time. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. View at Google Books.
- Pitou, Spire (1990). The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Growth and Grandeur, 1815–1914. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313262180.
- Weinstock, Herbert (1963). Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Pantheon Books. .
Category:1875 deaths