Henri Caïn

Henri Cain (11 October 1857 – 21 November 1937) was a French dramatist, opera and ballet librettist. He wrote over forty librettos from 1893 to his death, for many of the most prominent composers of the Parisian Belle Epoque.

Cain was born in Paris, the son of the sculptor Auguste Cain and brother of the painter Georges Cain. He studied painting in the studios of Jean-Paul Laurens and Édouard Detaille. He was married to the soprano Julia Guiraudon.

Close to Edouard de La Gandara, Jean Dara when he worked with Sarah Bernhardt, Henri Cain was an admirer of several major contemporary painters and sculptors such as Antonio de La Gandara and Jean Carriès.

Antar, with music by Gabriel Dupont can be heard on YouTube.

Operas (and ballets) to librettos by Henri Cain



 * Benjamin Godard
 * La vivandière (1893)


 * Jules Massenet
 * La Navarraise (1894)
 * Sapho (1897)
 * Cendrillon (1899)
 * Cigale, ballet (1904)
 * Chérubin (1905)
 * Don Quichotte (1910)
 * Roma (1912)


 * Camille Erlanger
 * Le juif polonais (1900)
 * Bacchus triomphant (1909)


 * André Messager
 * Une aventure de la Guimard, ballet in one act (1900)


 * Charles-Marie Widor
 * Les pêcheurs de Saint-Jean (1906)


 * Umberto Giordano
 * Marcella (1909)


 * Henry Février
 * Agnès dame galante (1912)
 * Carmosine (1913)
 * Gismonda (1919)


 * Franco Alfano
 * Cirano di Bergerac (1936)


 * Jean Nouguès
 * Quo Vadis (1908)