In his youth, Auguste Joseph MERMET had a short comic opera La Bannière du Roi performed at Versailles.
He then got Alexandre Soumet to transform his tragedy Saül into a libretto for a lyric drama. Auguste Mermet composed the score for this work, which was unsuccessfully performed at the Opéra in 1846 under the title Le Roi David.
His Roland à Ronceveaux, for which he wrote the words and music, was not performed until 1864, after Napoleon III had imposed the opera on the theater's management. Under these conditions, Roland met with some success.
Mermet also wrote the poem and music for Jeanne d'Arc, a four-act opera given in 1876, which was not a success.
Works
La Bannière du roi (April 1835, Versailles)
Le Roi David (June 3, 1846, Paris)
Roland à Roncevaux (October 3, 1864, Paris)
Joan of Arc (April 5, 1876, Paris)
