Scribe, (Augustin) Eugène (b Paris, 1791; d Paris, 1861). Fr. dramatist and librettist. Most prolific librettist of his day, complete works comprising 76 vols. Among composers for whom he wrote libretti were Adam, Auber (38), Bellini (La sonnambula), Boieldieu (La dame blanche), Cherubini, Ciléa (Adriana Lecouvreur), Donizetti (5, incl. L'elisir d'amore and La favorite), Gounod, Halévy (6, incl. La juive), Hérold, Macfarren, Meyerbeer (5, incl. L'Africaine, Les Huguenots, and Le prophète), Offenbach, Rossini (2, incl. Le Comte Ory), Suppé, Verdi (Vêpres siciliennes and Un ballo in maschera), and Zandonai.

Scribe, (Augustin) Eugène

Scribe, (Augustin) Eugène, famous French dramatist and librettist; b. Paris, Dec. 24, 1791; d. there, Feb. 20, 1861. He was a scholarship student at the Collège Ste.-Barbe in Paris. After training in the law, he turned to the theater, being made a member of the Académie Française (1836). He was closely associated as a librettist with Meyerbeer, but also wrote librettos for Auber, Bellini, Donizetti, Gounod, Halévy, Offenbach, Verdi, and others. See Eugène Scribe: Oeuvres completes (76 vols., Paris, 1874–85).

Bibliography

N. Arvin, E. S. (N.Y, 1924); K. Pendle, E. S. and French Opera of the 19^th Century (Ann Arbor, 1979).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire