DENNERY

dennery, or d'ennery, adolphe (1811-1899), french dramatist and novelist, whose real surname was philippe, was born in paris on the 17th of june 1811. he obtained his first success in collaboration with charles desnoyer in _emile, ou le fils d'un pair de france_ (1831), a drama which was the first of a series of some two hundred pieces written alone or in collaboration with other dramatists. among the best of them may be mentioned _gaspard hauser_ (1838) with anicet bourgeois; _les bohemiens de paris_ (1842) with eugene grange; with mallian, _marie-jeanne, ou la femme du peuple_ (1845), in which madame dorval obtained a great success; _la case d'oncle tom_ (1853); _les deux orphelines_ (1875), perhaps his best piece, with eugene cormon. he wrote the libretto for gounod's _tribut de zamora_ (1881); with louis gallet and edouard blan he composed the book of massenet's _cid_ (1885); and, again in collaboration with eugene cormon, the books of auber's operas, _le premier jour de bonheur_ (1868) and _reve d'amour_ (1869). he prepared for the stage balzac's posthumous comedy _mercadet ou le faiseur_, presented at the gymnase theatre in 1851. reversing the usual order of procedure, dennery adapted some of his plays to the form of novels. he died in paris in 1899.