MAURICE

See also:

• MAURICE BOUCHOR (1855– )

BOUCHOR (1855– )  , French poet, was born on the 15th of December 1855 in Paris . He published in succession Chansons joyeuses (1874), Fames de l'amour et de la mer (1875), Le Faust moderne (1878) in prose and verse, and Les Conies parisiens (1880) in verse . His Aurore (1883) showed a tendency to religious mysticism, which reached its fullest expression in Les Symboles (1888; new series, 1895), the most interesting of his works . Bouchor (whose brother, Joseph Felix Bouchor, b . 1853, became well known as an artist) was a sculptor as well as a poet, and he designed and worked the figures used in his charming pieces as marionettes, the words being recited or chanted by himself or his friends behind the scenes . These miniature dramas on religious subjects, Tobie (1889), Noel (1890) and Sainte Cecile (1892), were produced in Paris at the Theatre des Marionnettes . A one-act verse drama by Bouchor, Conte de Noel, was played at the Theatre Francais in 1895, but Dieu le veut (1888) was not produced . In conjunction with the musician Julien Tiersot (b . 1857), he made efforts for the preservation ofthe French folk-songs, and published Chants populaires pour les ecoles (1897) .