Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges

Jules -Henri Vernoy de Saint- Georges ( born November 7, 1799 in Paris, † December 23, 1875 in Paris) was a French playwright and prolific librettist. In 1829 he became director of the Paris Opéra -Comique.

His first work, Saint -Louis ou les deux dîners (1823 ), a comédie en vaudeville, created in collaboration with Alexandre Tardif. Among his most famous librettos include the ballet Giselle ( with Théophile Gautier ) ( 1841), the opera L' éclair (1835 ) for Fromental Halévy, the opera La fille du régiment ( with Jean -François Bayard ) ( 1840) for Donizetti and the Opera La jolie fille de Perth by Georges Bizet.

Almost all opera librettos were for comic operas, although La reine de Chypre (1841 ) was a great opera for Jacques Halévy. Overall, Saint -Georges wrote about 70 theater libretti in collaboration with Eugène Scribe and other writers. He also wrote novels, including Un Mariage de prince ( German: marriage of a prince ).

Saint -Georges appear old-fashioned in his dramatic approach: typically dependent of unlikely coincidences and unexpected twists in the plot. He kept a personal preference for fashion and customs of the 18th century.