Émile de Najac


Comte Émile de Najac was a French librettist. He was a prolific writer during the Second Empire and early part of the Third Republic, supplying plays and opéra comique librettos, many in one act.

Biography

Émile de Najac was born in Lorient, France, the descendant of naval commander and bonapartist Benoît Georges de Najac. He died in Paris aged 60 years. His son Raoul Charles Eugène was also a writer for the stage.

Works

With Paul Ferrier he wrote the libretto for Lecocq’s La vie mondaine and with Paul Burani the libretto for Emmanuel Chabrier’s Le roi malgré lui.
For Émile Jonas he provided the libretto to the opéras bouffe Estelle et Némourin and Le Premier baiser. For Louis Deffès, Victorien Sardou and de Najac wrote the words for Les Noces de Fernande.
The play Divorçons, in collaboration with Sardou, survives in the French stage repertory to this day, and formed the basis for Ernst Lubitsch’s 1941 film That Uncertain Feeling. Apart from Sardou, de Najac collaborated with Scribe, About and Millaud.

Filmography