Henry Becque

[2][3] In 1867, he wrote, in imitation of Lord Byron, the libretto for Victorin de Joncières's opera Sardanapale, but his first important work, Michel Pauper, appeared in 1870.

Les Corbeaux (1882) established Becque's position as an innovator, and in 1885 he produced his most successful play, La Parisienne.

Becque produced little during the last years of his life, but his disciples carried on the tradition he had created.

[4] His other works include Querelles littéraires (1890), and Souvenirs d'un auteur dramatique (1895), consisting chiefly of reprinted articles in which he does not spare his opponents.

[4] English novelist Arnold Bennett wrote in 1910 that Henri Becque was one of the great dramatists of the 19th century, but that "no first-class modern French author is more perfectly unknown and uncared-for in England than Henri Becque.