Auguste edouard Mariette

Auguste Édouard Mariette , 1821-81, French Egyptologist. On a visit (1850-54) to Egypt to collect Coptic manuscripts for the Louvre, he excavated (1851) the ruins of the Serapeum at Memphis. He was (1854-58) curator of the Egyptian Dept. at the Louvre. In 1858 he returned to Egypt to serve as its first director of antiquities, receiving the title of bey and later of pasha. Often called the father of Egyptian archaeology, Mariette founded (1863) at Bulak (now part of Cairo) the Egyptian national museum. He suggested the story for the libretto of the opera Aïda.

Aida. Opera in 4 acts by Verdi to lib. by Ghislanzoni, being It. trans. from Fr. prose of Camille du Locle based on plot by Fr. Egyptologist Auguste Mariette Bey (Verdi had major hand in lib. and wrote words of final duet ‘O terra, addio’). Metastasio's lib. Nitteti (1756) was major source of plot. Commissioned by Khedive of Egypt (but not, as is often said, for opening of either Suez Canal or Cairo Opera House). Comp. 1870. F.p. Cairo 1871, La Scala 1872 (with extra aria for Aida), NY 1873, Met 1886 (in German), London 1876. Spelling Aïda, with diaeresis, is incorrect in It.