Franc-Nohain
Maurice Étienne Legrand, who published under the pseudonym Franc-Nohain (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃.nɔ.ɛ̃]; 25 October 1872 – 18 October 1934), was a French librettist and poet. He is best known for his libretti for Maurice Ravel's opera L'heure espagnole and for numerous operettas by Claude Terrasse.
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Life
Maurice Étienne Legrand was born in 1872 in Corbigny; his father was an overseer-agent. He attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly. In the late 1880s he contributed poems to the literary magazine Potache-Revue (potache being slang for 'schoolkid'), along with André Gide, Léon Blum, Pierre Louÿs, Maurice Quillot and others.[1] Later, he published in the journal Le Chat noir. He also founded Le Canard sauvage and became the editor of L'Écho de Paris. He also became a lawyer and deputy prefect.
His literary pseudonym Franc-Nohain was derived from the Nohain river, where he had spent many happy hours as a child.
With Alfred Jarry and Claude Terrasse he co-founded the Théatre des Pantins, which in 1898 was the site of marionette performances of Jarry's Ubu Roi.[2]
He is best remembered now as the librettist for some operettas by Terrasse, and for the opera L'heure espagnole by Maurice Ravel, adapted from his own comedy.
He had two sons: the actor Claude Dauphin, and the songwriter and television producer/director Jean Nohain (aka Jaboune).[3]
He died in Paris in October 1934, aged 61.
Works
Libretti
- L'Heure espagnole, 1904
- Un jardin sur l'Oronte, 1922, adapted from a novel of the same name by Maurice Barrès
- Le Chapeau chinois, 1931
External links
- Works by Franc-Nohain at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
