Albert de Saint-Albin (1843, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 18 December 1901, in Paris) was a 19th-century French playwright, journalist,

chansonnier A chansonnier (, , Galician and , or ''canzoniéro'', ) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are call ...

and

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

Biography

A journalist at ''

Le Temps ' (, ) is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. The paper was launched in 1998, formed out of the merger of two other newspapers, and (the former being a merger of two other papers), ...

'', chief editor of the ''Jockey'' (1866) and ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'' (1880), he was known as a sports columnist under the pseudonym Robert Milton and was a great promoter of

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

. His plays were presented on the most important Parisian stages of the 19th century, including the

Théâtre des Variétés The Théâtre des Variétés () is a theatre and "salle de spectacles" at 7–8, boulevard Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement, in Paris. It was declared a monument historique in 1974. History The theatre owed its creation to Mademoiselle Montans ...

, the

Théâtre du Palais-Royal The Théâtre du Palais-Royal () is a 750-seat Parisian theatre at 38 rue de Montpensier, located at the northwest corner of the Palais-Royal in the Galerie de Montpensier at its intersection with the Galerie de Beaujolais. Brief history O ...

, the

Théâtre du Vaudeville The Théâtre du Vaudeville () was a theatre company in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors, Pierre-Antoine-Augustin de Piis, Piis and Yves Barré, Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets s ...

, and the Théâtre de la Gaîté. Moreover, Saint-Albin was a great collector of paintings by

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...

of which he owned a dozen works and by

Gustave Moreau Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism ...

Edmond de Goncourt Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. Biography Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot ...

, ''L'art du XVIIIe siècle'', 1901, p.176

Works

Theatre

*1875: ''Le Manoir de Pictordu'', comédie-opérette in 3 acts, with

Arnold Mortier Arnold Mortier (1843 – 2 January 1885) was a 19th-century French journalist, playwright, and Libretto, librettist. Arnold Mortier was responsible for the drama column at ''Le Figaro'', gathered in a collection entitled ''Les soirées parisienne ...

*1876: ''La Belle Poule'', three-act

opéra bouffe ''Opéra bouffe'' (, plural: ''opéras bouffes'') is a genre of mid- to late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, inspiring the genre's name. It ...

, with

Hector Crémieux In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's ''Iliad'', where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing c ...

*1877: ''La Foire Saint-Laurent'', three-act opéra bouffe, with Crémieux and

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

*1879: ''Le Grand Casimir'', three-act

opérette This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most co ...

, with

Jules Prével Jules Prével (1835 in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët – 1889 in Paris) was a 19th-century French journalist and opera librettist. For a while, he was responsible for the theatre column in ''Le Figaro''. He participated in the writing of the libre ...

and

Charles Lecocq Alexandre Charles Lecocq (; 3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéra comique, opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable su ...

*1884: ''Le Train de plaisir'', four-act comedy, with Alfred Hennequin and Mortier *1885: ''Mam'zelle Gavroche'', comédie-opérette, with Edmond Gondinet *1885: ''Monsieur le Député'', one-act comedy *1888: ''Les Joyeusetés de l'année'' *1891: ''Monsieur l'abbé ou la Belle-mère apprivoisée'' *1893: ''Leurs gigolettes'' *1895: ''Panurge'', opéra comique, with

Robert Planquette Jean Robert Planquette (; 31 July 1848 – 28 January 1903) was a French composer of songs and operettas. Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, especially ''Les cloches de Corneville'' (1878), the length o ...

and

Henri Meilhac Henri Meilhac (; 23 February 1830 – 6 July 1897) was a prolific French playwright and opera librettist, known for his collaborations with Ludovic Halévy on comic operas with music by Jacques Offenbach. He also wrote occasionally for serious w ...

*1906: ''Le Péril jaune'', three-act comedy, with

Alexandre Bisson Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a sig ...

, posth.

Sport

*1875: ''Les Salles d'armes de Paris'' *1875: ''Le Sportman'' *1889: ''Les sports à Paris'', 2 vol. *1889: ''Les cirques'' *1890: ''Les courses de chevaux en France'', Hachette *1899: ''Les Courses de lévriers, le coursing, greyhounds et fox-terriers'' by Alfred de Sauvenière, preface *undated: ''À travers les salles d'armes''

Songs

*1874: ''Le Langage des yeux !'', with Prével et Lecocq *1874: ''Les Oiseaux en cage'', with Auguste Coédès *1878: ''Pas de récompense. Plaintes d'une Parisienne'', with Coédès *1885: ''Barcarolle d'Asnières'' *1894: ''L'Ascenseur !''

Bibliography

* Henri Avenel, ''La presse française au vingtième siècle'', 1901, p. 435 * Manuel Gómez García, ''Diccionario Akal de Teatro'', 1998, p. 745 * Jacques Marchand, ''Les défricheurs de la presse sportive'', 1999, p. 98 * Kurt Gänzl, ''The encyclopedia of the musical theatre'', 2001, p. 1778

References

External links

Albert de Saint-Albin
on
Albert de Saint-Albin
on The Online Books Page
''Les sports à Paris''
on Gallica {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Albin, Albert de 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French journalists French male journalists French sports journalists French chansonniers French opera librettists 1843 births Writers from Paris 1901 deaths 19th-century French male writers