Pierre-Louis Moline

Pierre-Louis Moline (1740 – 20 March 1820) was a prolific French dramatist, poet and librettist. His play, La reunion du six aout, was one of the longest-running patriotic pieces during the time of the French Revolution with 52 performances at the Paris Opéra. He also wrote the epitaph for the tomb of Jean-Paul Marat. However, he is best remembered today for having written the libretto for Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice (a reworked version of his Orfeo ed Euridice).

Biography

Moline was born in Montpellier and received his degree from the University of Avignon. He then went to Paris where he was accepted as a lawyer to the French parliament. However, he devoted most of his time to literary pursuits. Moline first collaborated with Gluck on L'arbre enchanté, ou Le tuteur dupé, a one-act opéra comique which premiered in Vienna at the Schönbrunn Palace in 1759.

During the French Revolution he served as a secretary-clerk to the National Convention and wrote several patriotic theatrical pieces including his most famous work of this type, La Réunion du six août. Moline died in on 2 March 1820 leaving no known heirs.

Works

Libretti

• L'arbre enchantee - opera set by Gluck, 1759
• Orphée et Eurydice - opera set by Gluck, 1774
• Cythère assiégée - (with Favart) opera set by Gluck, 1775
• Roger Bontems et Javotte - (with Louis Archambault Dorvigny) comédie mêlée d'ariettes (parody of Orphée et Eurydice), 1775
• La Résurrection - oratorio set by Méreaux, 1780
• Jephthe - oratorio set by Vogel, 1781
• L'arche d'alliance davant Jérusalem - oratorio set by Gossec, 1781
• La morte d'Absalon - oratorio set by Joseph Lenoble 1782
• Les fureurs de Saül - oratorio set by Giroust, 1786

Plays

• Thémistocle – tragedy in five acts, 1766
• La Réunion du six août, ou l'Inauguration de la République française - (with Gabriel Bouquier), mêlée de déclamations in five acts, 1794
• Le premier navigateur – comedy in three acts, published 1807
• L'amour anglais - comedy in three acts, 1788

Sources

• Johnson, James H., Listening in Paris: A Cultural History, University of California Press, 1996. ISBN 0520206487
• Mahul, Alphonse (ed.), "Moline, Pierre-Louis", Annuaire nécrologique, ou Supplément annuel et continuation de toutes les biographies ou dictionnaires historiques, Baudouin frères, 1823.
• Ribner, Jonathan P., Broken tablets: the cult of the law in French art from David to Delacroix, University of California Press, 1993. ISBN 0520077490
• Smither, Howard E. A History of the Oratorio, UNC Press, 1977. ISBN 0807812749