Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier de
(1657–1757)> LIBRETTIST
Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier de (11 February 1657, Rouen; 9 January 1757, Paris), librettist, distinguished himself even as a student at the Jesuit school in his native city. His teachers tried to persuade him to enter the Society of Jesus, and his father urged him to become a lawyer, but his early success in poetry and a trip to Paris in 1674 induced him to embark upon a literary career. Yet Fontenelle did not find himself involved in a major project until he was invited to help his uncle…