Michel Carré

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

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 YearNotes Yvonne et Loïc 1854 Produced at the Théâtre du Gymnase Victoire! 1855 Cantata to celebrate the Battle of Sevastopol, words by Carré alone Les pêcheurs de perles Eugène Cormon 1863 Adapted from Octave Sachot's L'ile de Ceylan et ses curiosités naturalesDon Quichotte Jules Barbier 1869 Don Mucarade Jules Barbier 1875 One-act comic opera Lalla-Roukh Hippolyte Lucas 1862 two-act comic operaLa guzla de l'Émir Jules Barbier 1873 1-act comic operaQuentin Durward Eugène Cormon 1858 Three-act operaLe médecin malgré lui Jules Barbier 1858 Opéra comique in 3 acts Faust Jules Barbier 1859 Adapted from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, loosely based on Goethe's Faust, Part I. Revised 1869Philémon et Baucis Jules Barbier 1860 Based on Baucis and Philemon by Jean de La Fontaine (derived in turn from Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VIII)La colombe Jules Barbier 1860 Based on the poem Le Faucon by Jean de La Fontaine.La reine de Saba Jules Barbier 1862 From Gérard de Nerval's Le voyage en Orient.Mireille 1864 Libretto by Carré alone, based on Frédéric Mistral's poem Mireio.Roméo et Juliette Jules Barbier 1867 An adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and JulietPolyeucte Jules Barbier 1868 Based on Polyeucte by Pierre CorneilleValentine d'Aubigny Jules Barbier 1856 Comic opera, 3 actsLes pêcheurs de Catane Eugène Cormon 1860 Three-act lyric operaLara Eugène Cormon 1864 3-act opera, based on Count Lara by Lord ByronGalathée Jules Barbier 1852 Two-act opéra-comique Les noces de Jeannette Jules Barbier 1853 One-act opéra-comique Miss Fauvette Jules Barbier 1855 Les saisons Jules Barbier 1855 Three-act opéra-comique Paul et Virginie Jules Barbier 1876 Three-act opéra-comique Fior d'Alizia Hippolyte Lucas 1866 Dinorah Jules Barbier 1859 (Originally titled Le pardon de Ploërmel). Based on two tales by Émile Souvestre, La Chasse aux trésors and Le Kacouss de l'ArmorDeucalion et Pyrrhe Jules Barbier 1855 One-act comic operaThe Marriage of Figaro W. A. Mozart Jules Barbier 1858 Translation into French for the Paris Théâtre Lyrique, ran for 200 performances The Tales of Hoffmann Jules Barbier (libretto & book) 1881 After 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-Flour 1856 Libretto by Carré alone, 1-act operetta Le mariage aux lanternes Léon Battu 1857 Opérette, 1 act, revised version of Le trésor à Mathurin)La statue Jules Barbier 1869? Opera, 3 acts – piano score arranged by Georges BizetLe timbre d'argent Jules Barbier 1865 Saint-Saëns' first opera, an 'opera fantastique'. Not premiered until February 1877. Dialogue re-composed as Grand Opera, premiered in 1913.Gil Blas Jules Barbier 1860 notesHamlet Jules Barbier 1868 notesMignon Jules Barbier 1866 Based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Revised in 1870Psyché Jules Barbier 1860 opéra-comique, 3.acts