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.

Augustin Eugène Scribe (ōgüstăN´ özhĕn´ skrēb), 1791–1861, French dramatist and librettist. He began his prolific and highly successful writing career with vaudeville sketches. One of the first playwrights to mirror bourgeois morality and life, he infused 19th-century French opera and drama with liberal political and religious ideas. Among the best of his comedies, which are notable for their well-structured plots, is Bataille de Dames (1851). His historical drama Adrienne Lecouvreur (1849) was later adapted as an opera. Scribe wrote librettos for about 60 operas by such composers as Auber, Meyerbeer, Halévy, Bellini, and Verdi.

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