Bouthillier, Maximilien-Jean

Bouthillier, Maximilien-Jean (1745, Paris; 5 December 1811, Paris), librettist, grew up in the shadow of the Opéra, where he and his father had modest positions. He began his career by writing a cluster of four texts for the Royal Academy of Music that were refused, although the ballet in a single act entitled Acanthe et Cydippe may have been danced at a private château, and Daphnis et Florise was produced at the Court of Hesse-Cassel in 1781. Bouthillier also provided a series of at least 15…