The Washington herald., 1920-06-27
SCRIBE NOTED
FRENCH GENIUS
Interesting Facts Told
About a Remarkable
Librettist.

Rising to an eminence Of literary
fame probably unknown by any
writer before his time or since.
Augustin Eugene Scribe stands be-
fore the world as one of the bes,
and most prolific OF the librettists
of any nation. Although II is said
of Scribe that fourteen of his plays
failed before he made his first sue
cess, his good fortune rarely left
him, and his best writings were
known not only all over France, but
in all corners of the world.
1t is difficult to conceive Of the
tremendous amount of work done
by this most fruitful of writer's in
the seventy years in which he was
permitted to live. Scribe was born
In Paris, December 25, 1891, and be-
tween that date and the time of his
death in the same city on February
81, 1861, he wroote more than $50
opera books, comedies. tragedies and
vaudevilles. To the Gymnase The
ater alone he Is said to have fur
nished $50 pieces before he was 40
years of age. This extraordinary
fecundity Is explained by the sys-
tematic methods of collaboration
which he established. Like other
French authors, Scribe availed him
self largely of the assistance OF
others, and much therefore which
bears his name was in reality only
subjected to his revision and super
intendence. He had a number OF
co-workers, one of whom supplied
the story, another the dialogue, a
third the jokes, and so on. He ID
said, in some cases, to have sent
sums Of money for copyright OF
ideas" to men who were unaware
that he had taken suggestions from
their work.
Scribe's father was a silk mer-
chant, and the son, originally in
tended for the legal profession.
early abandoned II for the more
congenial occupation of a writer
for the stage. In this. after a care
full study OF the public taste, his
success was most pronounced.
Scribe's dramatic writings comprise
all the departments of the lighter
kind of drama, and from their gay
ETY. and interest of plot, as well as
the felicitous manner in which mod
ern French life is depicted, have
acquired a universal popularity In
Europe. They have also been in
troduced on the English stage in
the form of translations.
AS writer of opera librettos
Scribe is also deservedly famous
having supplied composers with the
text of their most celebrated op-
eras. Meyerbeer is indebted to him
for the librettos of "LAfricaine.'
Les Huguenots," lie Prophete'
and Robert lie Diabel;" Boieldieu
for La Dame Blanche" and Hal
evy for La Juive." OF the forty
operas which Auber composed, the
best-known carried the text by
Scribe. They are "Ballo in Masche.
ra," Carlo Broschi," lie Domino
Noir;" Fra Diavolo," "Duer Mau.
rer" and La Muette de Portici."
For purely theatrical ability his
plays are still regarded as model:
of dramatic construction. Moreover
he was for fifty years the best eX-
ponent of the ideas of the French
middle classes so that he deserve:
respectful attention even though his
style be sometimes vulgar and his
characters commonplace. He wrote
few novels but none of any i'm
portance. His supremacy lay in the
gift of discovering instinctively
new and striking theatrical combi-
nations. From this important per-
sonaGe Dumas the younger, Augier
and above all Sardou. learned that
mastery of stagecraft and the rOu-
tine of theatrical presentations
which has given France for half a
century its leadership in the drama