VICOMTE DE

HENRI

See also:

• VICOMTE DE HENRI BORNIER (1825-1901)

BORNIER (1825-1901)  French poet and dramatist, was born at Lunel (Herault) on the 25th of December 1825 . He came to Paris in 1845 with the object of studying law, but in that year he published a volume of verse, Les Premieres Feuilles, and the Comedie Francaise accepted a play of his entitled Le Mariage de Luther . He was given a post in the library of the Arsenal, where he served for half a century, becoming director in 1889 . In 1875 was produced at the Theatre Francais his heroic drama in verse, La Fille de Roland . The action of the play turns on the love of Gerald, son of the traitor Ganelon, for the daughter of Roland . The patriotic subject and the nobility of the character of Gerald, who renounces Berthe when he learns his real origin, procured for the piece a great success . The conflict between honour and love and the grandiose sentiment of the play inevitably provoked comparison with Corneille . The piece would indeed be a masterpiece if, as its critics were not slow to point out, the verse had been quite equal to the subject . Among the numerous other works of M. de Bornier should be mentioned: Dimitri (1876), libretto of an opera by M . V. de Joncieres; and the dramas, Les Noces d' Attila (188o) and Makomet (1888) . The production of this last piece was forbidden in deference to the representations of the Turkish ambassador . Henri de Bornier was critic of the Nouvelle Revue from 1879 to 1887 .

His Poesies completes were published in 1894 . He died in

January 1901 .