Auguste Mermet

[2][3] In his youth, he already composed a two-act opéra-comique, La Bannière du roi, with a libretto by Pierre Carmouche, which was first performed at Versailles in April 1835.

[2] His Roland à Ronceveaux, for which he wrote the libretto and the music, was staged in 1864[3] after Napoléon III transferred the management of the Opéra to the theatre.

[3] Mermet also composed a four-act opera, Jeanne d'Arc, to his own libretto based on a play by Jules Barbier,[3] which was the first premiere to be presented at the Palais Garnier (5 April 1876).

Gabrielle Krauss sang the title role, and Jean-Baptiste Faure was Charles VII, the ballet was choreographed by Louis Mérante, but the opera received only 15 performances, the last on 27 November.

[3] Hugh Macdonald, writing in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, described his music as "direct, attractive, unadventurous, and noisy" and as modeled on Meyerbeer and Halévy.

Auguste Mermet
Music cover for Auguste Mermet's four-act opera, ROLAND A RONCEVAUX, circa 1864.