Catulle Mendès (22 May 1841 - 8 February 1909) was a French poet and man of letters. May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ... 1841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Poets are authors of poems. ... An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to study, reflect, and speculate on a variety of different ideas. ...

Of Jewish extraction, he was born at Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris, attaining speedy notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste (1861) of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. He was allied with the Parnassians from the beginning of the movement, and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems, Philoméla (1863). In later volumes Poésies, première série (1876), which includes much of his earlier verse, Soirs moroses, Contes épiques, Philoméla, etc; Poésies (7 vols., 1885), a new edition largely augmented; Les Poésies de Catulle Mendès (3 vols., 1892); La Grive des vignes (1895), etc., his critics have noted that the elegant verse is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendes' talent is shown in a series of his critical and dramatic writings, and of novels and short stories, in the latter of which he continues the French tradition of the licentious conte. For the theatre he wrote: City motto: Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... ...

La Part du roi (1872), a one-act verse comedy; Les Frères d'armes (1873), drama; Justice (1877), in three acts, characterized by a hostile critic as a hymn in praise of suicide; the libretto of a light opera, Le Capitaine Fracasse (1878), founded on Théophile Gautiers novel; La Femme de Tabarin (1887); Médée (1898), in three acts and in verse; La Reine Fiammette (1898), a conte dramatique in six acts and in verse, the scene of which is laid in the Italy of the Renaissance; Le Fils de l'étoile (1904), the hero of which is Bar-Cochebas; the Syrian pseudo-Messiah, for the music of C. Erlanger; Scarron (1905); Ariane (1906), for the music of Massenet; and Glatigny (1906). His critical work includes: Richard Wagner (1886); LArt au théâtre (3 vols; 1896-1900), a series of dramatic criticisms reprinted from newspapers; and a report addressed to the minister of public instruction and of the fine arts on Le Mouvement poétique francais de 1867 à 1900 (new ed., 1903), which includes a bibliographical and critical dictionary of the French poets of the 19th century. Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (August 31, 1811 – October 23, 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist and literary critic. ... Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (May 12, 1842 - August 13, 1912) was a French composer. ...

Perhaps the most famous of his novels are: Le Roi vierge (1880) in which he introduces Louis II of Bavaria and Richard Wagner; La Maison de la vielle (1894), and Gof (1897). He married in 1866 Mlle Judith Gautier, younger daughter of the poet, from whom he was subsequently separated. Ludwig (Louis) II, King of Bavaria, Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm, also known as Ludwig the Mad, and Mad King Ludwig (August 25, 1845 - June 13, 1886) was king of Bavaria from 1864 until his death. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883) was an influential German composer, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his groundbreaking symphonic-operas (or music dramas). His compositions are notable for their continuous contrapuntal texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs: themes associated...

On the 8th of February 1909, early in the morning, his dead body was discovered in the railway tunnel of Saint Germain. He had left Paris by the midnight train on the 7th, and it is supposed that, thinking he had arrived at the station, he had opened the door of his compartment while still in the tunnel. Saint-Germain may refer to various French phenomena: the 6th century bishop of Paris, canonized as Saint Germain of Paris, who founded an abbey in the fields near Paris, now the church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres which gave its name to the neighborhood on the Left Bank that is...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...