Michel Carré

Michel Carré (20 October 1821, Besançon – 27 June 1872, Argenteuil) was a prolific French librettist.

Michel Carré

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'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'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
Title Composer Collaborator Year Notes
Yvonne et LoïcCharles Delioux1854Produced at the Théâtre du Gymnase
Victoire!Adolphe Adam1855Cantata to celebrate the Battle of Sevastopol, words by Carré alone
Les pêcheurs de perlesGeorges Bizet Eugène Cormon1863Adapted from Octave Sachot's L'ile de Ceylan et ses curiosités naturales
Don QuichotteErnest Boulanger Jules Barbier1869
Don MucaradeErnest Boulanger Jules Barbier1875One-act comic opera
Lalla-RoukhFélicien David Hippolyte Lucas1862two-act comic opera
La guzla de l'ÉmirThéodore Dubois Jules Barbier18731-act comic opera
Quentin DurwardFrançois-Auguste Gevaert Eugène Cormon1858Three-act opera
Le médecin malgré luiCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1858Opéra comique in 3 acts
FaustCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1859Adapted from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, loosely based on Goethe's Faust, Part I. Revised 1869
Philémon et BaucisCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1860Based on Baucis and Philemon by Jean de La Fontaine (derived in turn from Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VIII)
La colombeCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1860Based on the poem Le Faucon by Jean de La Fontaine.
La reine de SabaCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1862From Gérard de Nerval's Le voyage en Orient.
MireilleCharles Gounod 1864Libretto by Carré alone, based on Frédéric Mistral's poem Mireio.
Roméo et JulietteCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1867An adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
PolyeucteCharles Gounod Jules Barbier1868Based on Polyeucte by Pierre Corneille
Valentine d'AubignyFromental Halévy Jules Barbier1856Comic opera, 3 acts
Les pêcheurs de CataneAimé Maillart Eugène Cormon1860Three-act lyric opera
LaraAimé MaillartEugène Cormon18643-act opera, based on Count Lara by Lord Byron
GalathéeVictor Massé Jules Barbier1852Two-act opéra-comique
Les noces de JeannetteVictor Massé Jules Barbier1853One-act opéra-comique
Miss FauvetteVictor Massé Jules Barbier1855
Les saisonsVictor Massé Jules Barbier1855Three-act opéra-comique
Paul et VirginieVictor Massé Jules Barbier1876Three-act opéra-comique
Fior d'AliziaVictor Massé Hippolyte Lucas1866
DinorahGiacomo Meyerbeer Jules Barbier1859(Originally titled Le pardon de Ploërmel). Based on two tales by Émile Souvestre, La Chasse aux trésors and Le Kacouss de l'Armor
Deucalion et PyrrheAlexandre Montfort Jules Barbier1855One-act comic opera
The Marriage of FigaroW. A. MozartJules Barbier1858Translation into French for the Paris Théâtre Lyrique, ran for 200 performances
The Tales of HoffmannJacques Offenbach Jules Barbier (libretto & book)1881After a play by Barbier & Carré, Les contes fantastiques d'Hoffmann produced at the Odéon Theatre in Paris in 1851, based on stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann
La rose de Saint-FlourJacques Offenbach 1856Libretto by Carré alone, 1-act operetta
Le mariage aux lanternesJacques Offenbach Léon Battu1857Opérette, 1 act, revised version of Le trésor à Mathurin)
La statueErnest ReyerJules Barbier1869?Opera, 3 acts – piano score arranged by Georges Bizet
Le timbre d'argent Camille Saint-Saëns Jules Barbier1865Saint-Saëns' first opera, an 'opera fantastique'. Not premiered until February 1877. Dialogue re-composed as Grand Opera, premiered in 1913.
Gil BlasThéophile SemetJules Barbier1860notes
HamletAmbroise Thomas Jules Barbier1868notes
MignonAmbroise Thomas Jules Barbier1866Based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Revised in 1870
PsychéAmbroise Thomas Jules Barbier1860opéra-comique, 3.acts

Sources
  • Christopher Smith: "Carré, Michel", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 4 December 2005) (subscription required)
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