Philippe Gille

Philippe Emile François Gille (10 December 1831 – 19 March 1901) was a French dramatist and opera librettist, who was born and died in Paris. He co-wrote wrote more than twenty librettos between 1857 and 1893, the most famous of which are Massenet's Manon and Delibes' Lakmé.

Gille studied law and was a clerk for a time at the Préfecture de la Seine, before becoming secretary of the Théâtre Lyrique and, from 1869, an art and music critic for Le Figaro.

Gille was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1899 and was appointed as an officer of the Legion of Honour.

Life and career Gille was born in Paris on 18 December 1830, the son of Louis François Gille and his wife, Marie Adelaide Benjamine, Bidaut. He was educated at the Lycée Charlemagne, after which he studied law for a time and then took up sculpture, before working as a clerk in the office of the . After next working as secretary of the Théâtre Lyrique he embarked on a parallel career as a playwright and librettist on the one hand and as a journalist on the other.

As a journalist, Gille wrote for papers including Le Petit Journal and Le Soleil before joining the staff of Le Figaro in 1869. There, he wrote about the arts. A section of the front page was reserved for his "Echoes" column, in which, a colleague said, "the spirit of Paris smiled every morning".

In August 1871 Gille married Zoé Jeanne Marie Massé, daughter of the composer Victor Massé. They had one son.

Stage works

Vent du soir, ou L'horrible festin ("Evening Wind, or The Horrible Feast") opérette bouffe 1 Jacques Offenbach Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens 16 May 1857 M de Bonne Etoile opéra-comique 1 Léo Delibes Bouffes 4 Feb 1860 Le carnaval des revues revue 3 Ludovic Halévy and Eugène Grangé Offenbach Bouffes 10 Feb 1860 Valets de Gascogne opéra comique 1 Alfred Dufresne Théâtre Lyrique 2 Jun 1860 Maître Palma opéra comique 1 Eugène Furpille Mlle Rivay Lyrique 17 Jun 1860 L'hôtel de la poste ("The Post Office") opéra comique 1 Dufresne Bouffes 15 Nov 1860 Le serpent à plumes opérette bouffe 1 Cham Delibes Bouffes 16 Dec 1864 Le boeuf Apis ("The Apis Bull") opéra bouffe Furpille Delibes Bouffes 15 Apr 1865 Sacripant opéra comique 2 Jules Duprato Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes 26 Sep 1866 Les bergers opéra comique Hector Crémieux Offenbach Bouffes 11 Dec 1865 Tabarin le duelliste opérette 1 Furpille Léon Pillaut Bouffes 13 Apr 1866 Cent mille francs et ma fille ("One Hundred Thousand Francs and My Daughter") vaudeville 4 Adolphe Jaime Théâtre Déjazet 11 Apr 1868 Les horreurs de la guerre opéra-bouffe 2 Jules Costé Théâtre de l'Athénée 9 Dec 1868 L' Écossais de Chatou ("The Scotsman of Chatou") opéra-bouffe 1 Jaime Bouffes 16 Jan 1869 La cour du roi Pétaud ("King Petaud's Court") opéra comique 3 Jaime Delibes Théâtre des Variétés 24 Apr 1869 J'insulte ma femme vaudeville Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques 25 Dec 1871 Le tour du chien vert opéra-bouffe 3 Duprato Folies-Dramatiques 25 Dec 1871 Garanti dix ans ("Guaranteed for Ten Years") vaudeville 1 Eugène Labiche Variétés 12 Feb 1874 Les près-Saint-Gervais opéra bouffe 3 Victorien Sardou Charles Lecocq Variétés 14 Nov 1874 Les 30 millions de gladiator vaudeville 4 Labiche Variétés 22 Jan 1875 Pierrette et Jacquot opérette 1 Jules Noriac Offenbach Bouffes 13 Oct 1876 Le docteur Ox opéra bouffe 3 Arnold Mortier after Jules Verne Offenbach Variétés 26 Jan 1877 Les charbonniers ("The Charcoal Burners") opéra bouffe 1 Napoléon Coste Variétés 4 Apr 1877 Yedda ballet 3 Mortier Olivier Métra Opéra 17 Jan 1879 Jean de Nivelle opera 3 Edmond Gondinet Delibes Opéra-Comique 188 Mar 1880 Le mari à Babette comedy 3 Henri Meilhac Théâtre du Palais-Royal 31 Dec 1881 La Farandole ballet 3 Mortier Théodore Dubois Opéra 6 Mar 1882 Lakmé opera 3 Gondinet Delibes Opéra-Comique 14 Apr 1883 Ma camarade comedy 5 Meilhac Palais-Royal 9 Oct 1883 Manon opéra comique 5 Meilhac Jules Massenet Opéra-Comique 19 Jan 1884 Rip opéra comique 5 Meilhac after H. B. Farnie Robert Planquette Folies-Dramatiques 11 Nov 1884 La bonne ("The Right One") vaudeville 1 Meilhac Folies-Dramatiques 21 Nov 1884 La ronde du commissaire comedy 4 Meilhac Théâtre du Gymnase 27 Nov 1884 Camille comedy 1 Comédie-Française 12 Mar 1890 Kassya drame lyrique 4 Meilhac Delibes Opéra-Comique 4 Mar 1893

Source: Nos auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques and Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.