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Pierre Perrin (c. 1620 – 24 April 1675; also Abbé Perrin) was a French poet and librettist. He wrote the libretto for the first French opera, Pomone (1671), alongside composer Robert Cambert. In 1669, he founded and become the first director for what would later become the Paris Opera.^[1]

Pierre Perrin was born in Lyon around 1620. He founded the Académie d’Opéra, which later was renamed the Académie Royale de Musique when control of it passed to Jean-Baptiste Lully.^[2][1]

He worked with Robert Cambert, creating with him La Pastorale d’Issy in 1659, and with Jean-Baptiste Boësset, creating La Mort d’Adonis, in 1662. With Cambert, he also created Pomone, which inaugurated the opening of the first “salle de l’Opéra” in 1671, of which he had obtained the privilege from King Louis XIV. He also presented there his Les peines et les plasirs de l’amour.

A poor administrator and the victim of dishonest collaborators, Perrin was imprisoned for debts and had to sell his privilege to Lully in 1672.^[3] After prison, Perrin became a culturally “forgotten figure”, and died in Paris on 24 April 1675.^[4]

Perrin is sometimes known as L’Abbé Perrin or simply Abbé Perrin^[1] although he never belonged to the clergy.

His verses were long-considered considered mediocre, with criticism appearing as early as the writings of Charles de Saint-Évremond (1613–1703).^[5] A reevaluation has been encouraged by Louis E. Auld in his three-part monograph series on Perrin (1986).^[6]

• Plaude Laetare Gallia

• Anthony, James R. (Summer 1989). “The Lyric Art of Pierre Perrin, Founder of French Opera by Louis E. Auld”. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 42 (2): 410–417. doi:10.2307/831662. JSTOR 831662.
• Anthony, James R. (1974). French Baroque Music: From Beaujoyeulx to Rameau (1 ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-393-02173-4.
• Auld, Louis E. (1986a). The Lyric Art of Pierre Perrin, Founder of French Opera, Part 1: Birth of French Opera. Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen: 41, 1. Henryville: Institute of Mediaeval Music. ISBN 978-0-931902-28-4.

• Auld, Louis E. (1986b). The Lyric Art of Pierre Perrin, Founder of French Opera, Part 2: Lyric theory and practice. Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen: 41, 2. Henryville: Institute of Mediaeval Music. ISBN 978-0-931902-33-8.
• Auld, Louis E. (1986c). The Lyric Art of Pierre Perrin, Founder of French Opera, Part 3: Recueil de paroles de musique de Mr Perrin. Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen: 42. Henryville: Institute of Mediaeval Music. ISBN 978-0-931902-34-5.
• Le guide de l’opéra, les indispensables de la musique, R.Mancini & J.J.Rouvereux, (Fayard, 1986), ISBN 2-213-01563-5

• His plays and their presentations on CÉSAR