Camille du Locle (16 July 18329 October 1903) was a French theatre manager and a librettist. He was born in Orange, France. From 1862 he served as assistant to his father-in-law, Émile Perrin, at the Paris Opéra. From 1870, he was co-director at the Opéra-Comique with Adolphe de Leuven, and sole director from 1874 to 1876. He is best remembered for mounting the original production of Bizet's Carmen in 1875.Huebner 1992.
Du Locle was responsible for completing the libretto of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos (1867) after the death of Joseph Méry. He also played a key role in the genesis of Aida in 1869–70.Budden 1985, p. 105.
According to Charles Pigot, Du Locle inspired the subject, words and music of Bizet's Djamileh (1872).Dean 1978, pp. 94–95. He was a pall-bearer at Bizet's funeral in 1875 and made a speech at his interment at Père Lachaise.Dean 1978, p. 128.
In 1876, a financial dispute arose with Verdi,Budden 1985, pp. 107, 119–120. and Du Locle moved to Capri, where he constructed and lived in the Villa Certosella, now a hotel."Capri's famous visitors", Capri On Line. Archive copy (22 April 2019). In Capri he was known for his reclusiveness, short temper, and sharp tongue. He often went around in a French suit, causing him to be regarded as a bit eccentric. One day he started attracting attention by wearing a suit and cape made of rough, uncoloured wool, a fabric usually only worn by fishermen. Soon many of the Germans and English on the island adopted attire made of similar material, which stimulated a local industry of hand-woven wool cloth which persisted until machine-made fabrics took over several decades later.Steegmuller 1982, p. 260.
His friendship with Ernest Reyer led to him providing libretti for Sigurd (1884) and Salammbô (1890).
Du Locle died in Capri in 1903.
Notes
Bibliography Budden, Julian (1985). Verdi. London: J M Dent & Sons. . Dean, Winston (1975). Bizet. Lond, Melbourne, and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons. . Huebner, Steven (1992). "Du Locle, Camille", vol. 1, p. 1272, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, four volumes, edited by Stanley Sadie. London & New York: Macmillan. . (1998 paperback). Online reprint, Grove Music Online Steegmuller, Francis, editor and translator (1982). The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1857-1880. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. .
External links Camille Du Locle on data.bnf.fr