Paul Armand Silvestre (18 April 1837 – 19 February 1901) was a 19th-century French poet and conteur born in Paris.
He studied at the École polytechnique with the intention of entering the army, but in 1870, he entered the department of finance. Silvestre had a successful civil service career, was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1886, and in 1892 was made inspector of fine arts. Armand Silvestre made his entry into literature as a poet and was reckoned among the Parnassians.
Contents
Works
Silvestre's works were published mainly by Alphonse Lemerre and Gervais Charpentier.
Some of his poems were set to music by Gabriel Fauré, under the form of mélodies for voice and piano, including Le Secret and L'Automne. Thirteen of his poems were set by André Messager. His Jours Passés was set by Léo Delibes under the title Regrets. Jeanne Rivet used Silvestre's text for her song "Notre Amour".
Poetry
Rimes neuves et vieilles, with a preface by George Sand (1866); see on Gallica
Les Renaissances (1870)
La Gloire du souvenir, poème d'amour (1872)
Poésies, 1866–1874. Les Amours. La Vie. L'Amour (1875)
La Chanson des heures, poésies nouvelles (1874–1878) (1878)
Le Pays des roses, poésies nouvelles, 1880–1882 (1882)
Le Chemin des étoiles : les Adorations, la Chanson des jours, Musiques d'amour, Dernières tendresses, Poèmes dialogués, 1882–1885 (1885)
Le Dessus du panier : Impressions et souvenirs, Soleils toulousains, Propos de saison, Au pays des rêves (1885)
Poésies, 1872–1878. La Chanson des heures (1887)
Les Ailes d'or, poésies nouvelles (1890)
Roses d'octobre, poésies, 1884–1889 (1890)
Poésies, 1866–1872. Rimes neuves et vieilles. Les Renaissances. La Gloire du souvenir (1892)
L'Or des couchants, poésies nouvelles, 1889–1892 (1892)
Trente Sonnets pour Mademoiselle Bartet (1896)
Les Aurores lointaines, poésies nouvelles, 1892–1895 (1896)
Les Tendresses, poésies nouvelles, 1895–1898 (1898)
Les Fleurs d'hiver, poésies nouvelles, 1898–1900 (1900)
His volumes of verse include:
Rimes neuves et vieilles (1866), to which George Sand wrote a preface
Les Renaissances (1870)
La Chanson des heures (1878)
Le Chemin des étoiles (1885)
The poet was also a contributor to Gil Blas and other Parisian journals, distinguishing himself by the licence he permitted himself. To these "absences" from poetry, as Henri Chantavoine calls them, belong the seven volumes of La Vie pour rire (1881–1883), Contes pantagruéliques et galants (1884), Le Livre des joyeusetés (1884), and Gauloiseries nouvelles (1888).
Theatre and librettos
1876: Dimitri, opera in 5 acts and 7 tableaux, with Henri de Bornier, music by Victorin de Joncières, Paris, théâtre National-Lyrique, 1 May
1879: Monsieur ? three-act comédie-bouffe, with Paul Burani, Athénée-Comique, 24 October
1879: Myrrha, saynète romaine, Paris, Cercle des arts libéraux, 20 December
1880: La Tempête, poème symphonique in 3 parts, after Shakespeare, with Pierre Berton, music by Alphonse Duvernoy, Théâtre du Châtelet, 18 November
1882: Coquelicot, three-act opéra comique, after the Cogniard brothers, music by Louis Varney, Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, 2 March
1882: Galante aventure, three-act opéra comique, with Louis Davyl, music by Ernest Guiraud, Opéra-Comique, 23 March
1883: Henry VIII, opera in 4 acts and 6 tableaux, with Léonce Détroyat, music by Camille Saint-Saëns, Opéra, 5 March
1884: Pedro de Zalamea, four-act opera, with Léonce Détroyat, music by Benjamin Godard, Anvers, théâtre Royal, 31 January
1886: Les Templiers, opera in 5 acts and 7 tableaux, with Jules Adenis and Lionel Bonnemère, music by Henry Litolff, Bruxelles, Théâtre de la Monnaie, 25 January
1886: Le Mari d'un jour, three-act opéra comique, with Adolphe d'Ennery, music by Arthur Coquard, Opéra-Comique, 4 February
1887: La Tesi, four-act drama, with Georges Maillard, Bruxelles, Théâtre Molière, 29 October; directed by Paul Alhaiza (source: journal le globe illustré)