Louise Bertin
Louise-Angélique Bertin was a French composer and poet.
Life and music
Bertin was born in Les Roches, Essonne, France. Her father, Louis-François Bertin, and also later her brother, were the editors of Journal des débats, an influential newspaper. As encouraged by her family, Bertin pursued music. She received lessons from François-Joseph Fétis, who directed a private family performance of Guy Mannering, Bertin's first opera, in 1825. This opera, never formally produced, took its storyline from the book of the same name by Sir Walter Scott. Two years later, Bertin's second opera, Le loup-garou, was produced at the Opéra-Comique.At age 21, Bertin began working on the opera semiseria Fausto to her own libretto in Italian, based on Goethe's Faust, a subject "almost certainly suggested" by her father. A performance of the opera was scheduled for 1830, but due to many unforeseen complications, Fausto did not reach the stage until 1831. It was not well received and had only three performances.
Shortly before this, Bertin became friends with Victor Hugo. Hugo had sketched out an operatic version of his book Notre-Dame de Paris and between the two of them, the opera La Esmeralda was born, Hugo providing the libretto. Bertin was the only composer to collaborate directly with Hugo on an opera. But as the opera's run began in 1836, there were accusations against Bertin and her family, claiming she had special privileges due to her brother Armand's connection to the government's opera administration. During the seventh performance, a riot erupted, and La Esmeralda
Bertin did continue to compose in many other genres. Her later compositions include twelve cantatas, six piano ballades, five chamber symphonies, a few string quartets, a piano trio, and many vocal selections. Of these, only the ballades and the trio were published.