Auber, Daniel François Esprit (1782-1871)

French operatic composer. He studied under the Italian composer and teacher Luigi Cherubini and wrote nearly 50 operas, including La Muette de Portici/The Mute Girl of Portici (1828) and the comic opera Fra Diavolo (1830). He wrote Manon Lescaut in 1856, 37 years before Puccini wrote his version.

Born at Caen in Normandy, he began to compose early, but as a young man was sent to London by his father, to follow a commercial career. His songs attracted attention, however, and on his return to Paris in 1804 he wrote cello concertos for the cellist Lamarre and a violin concerto for Mazas. In 1805 he appeared with a comic opera, L'Erreur d'un moment, the libretto of which had previously been set by Dezède, but he did not produce an opera in public until 1813 (Le Séjour militaire). It failed miserably, and he had no real success until his father's death in 1819 compelled him to make music his means of livelihood. La Bergère châtelaine (1820) was a brilliant success, and in 1822 he began his association with the librettist Augustin Scribe, and the two began a series of popular and successful productions, including Fra Diavolo (1830), Le Cheval de bronze (1835), Le Domino noir (1837), Les Diamants de la couronne (1841), and Manon Lescaut (after Prevost). La Muette de Portici was a precursor of French Grand Opera. In 1842 Auber became director of the Paris Conservatory and in 1857 of the Imperial chapel.

Works Opera nearly 50, including Emma (1821), Leicester (1823), Le Maçon (1825), La Muette de Portici (Masaniello) (1828), La Fiancée (1829), Fra Diavolo (1830), Le Dieu et la bayadère (1830), Le Philtre (1831), Le Serment (1832), Gustave III, ou Le Bal masqué (1833), Le Cheval de bronze (two versions, 1835 and 1857), Actéon (1836), L'Ambassadrice (1836), Le Domino noir (1837), Les Diamants de la couronne (1841), La Part du diable (1843), Haydée (1847), Marco Spada (1852, with a later ballet version, 1857), Jenny Bell (1855), Manon Lescaut (1856), La Circassienne (1861).