Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges

Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (7 November 1799 – 23 December 1875) was a French playwright, who was born and died in Paris. He was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, often working in collaboration with others.

Saint-Georges' first work, (1823), a comédie en vaudeville written in collaboration with Alexandre Tardif, was followed by a series of operas and ballets. In 1829 he became manager of the Opéra-Comique at Paris.

Among Saint-Georges' more famous libretti are: the ballet ''Giselle'' (with Théophile Gautier) (1841), the opera (1835) for Halévy, the opera (with Jean-François Bayard) (1840) for Donizetti, and the opera for Georges Bizet. Virtually all his opera libretti are for opéras comiques, although (1841), for Halévy, was a grand opera.

In all Saint-Georges wrote over seventy stage pieces in collaboration with Eugène Scribe and other authors. He also wrote novels, including .

Saint-Georges was notably old-fashioned in his approach, typically depending on highly improbable coincidences and twists with little attempt at convincing characterisation. His tastes were reflected in his personal affectation of 18th-century costume and manners in his everyday life. Provided by Wikipedia