1875 in France

Incumbents

• President: Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta
• President of the Council of Ministers: Ernest Courtot de Cissey (until 10 March), Louis Buffet (starting 10 March)

Events

• 5 January – The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated as the home of the Paris Opera
• 3 March – The first performance of Bizet's Carmen at the Opéra Comique, Paris, 3 months before the composer's death.
• 20 May – Convention du Mètre signed in Paris.
• Cize–Bolozon viaduct opens to rail traffic across the Ain.
• Gallium is discovered by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran.
• The Flammarion publishing firm is founded in Paris.

Literature

• Jules Verne - Le Chancellor: Journal du passager J.-R. Kazallon
• Émile Zola - La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret

Music

• Georges Bizet - Carmen
• Alexandre Luigini - Ballet égyptien
• Jules Massenet - Ève
• Jacques Offenbach
  • Geneviève de Brabant
  • Le voyage dans la lune
  • La créole
• Camille Saint-Saëns
  • Danse macabre
  • Piano Concerto No. 4
  • Piano Quartet in B-flat major

Births

• 17 February – Fanny Clar, journalist and writer (died 1944)
• 21 February – Jeanne Calment, supercentenarian and the oldest living person ever documented in history (died 1997)
• 7 March – Maurice Ravel, composer and pianist (died 1937)
• 27 March – Cécile Vogt-Mugnier, neurologist (died 1962)
• 4 April – Pierre Monteux, conductor (died 1964)
• 5 April – Mistinguett, singer (born 1956)
• 27 April – Maurice, 6th duc de Broglie, physicist (died 1960)
• 28 June – Henri Lebesgue, mathematician (died 1941)
• 31 July – Jacques Villon, painter and printmaker (died 1963)
• 6 August – Marcel Labey, conductor and composer (died 1968)
• 27 September – Cléo de Mérode, dancer (died 1966)

Full date unknown

• Maurice Princet, mathematician and actuary (died 1973)

Deaths

January to June

• 1 January – Jacques Crétineau-Joly, journalist and historian (born 1803)
• 3 January – Pierre Larousse, grammarian and lexicographer (born 1817)
• 10 January – Anton Melbye, Danish painter (born 1818)
• 20 January – Jean-François Millet, painter (born 1814)
• 22 February – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, painter (born 1796)
• 1 March – Tristan Corbière, poet (born 1845)
• 25 March – Louis Amédée Achard, novelist (born 1814)
• 4 May – Michel Lévy, publisher (born 1821)
• 5 May – Alexandre Boreau, pharmacist and botanist (born 1803)
• 10 May – Gustave Thuret, botanist (born 1817)
• 31 May – Eliphas Levi, occult author and magician (born 1810)
• 3 June – Georges Bizet, composer and pianist (born 1838)
• 24 June – Henri Labrouste, architect (born 1801)
• 25 June – Antoine-Louis Barye, sculptor (born 1796)

July to December

• 11 August – Charles Rohault de Fleury, architect (born 1801)
• 25 August – Charles Auguste Frossard, general (born 1807)
• 12 October – Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, sculptor and painter (born 1827)
• 24 October – Jacques Paul Migne, priest, theologian and publisher (born 1800)
• 17 November – Jacques-Marie-Achille Ginoulhiac, Bishop (born 1806)

Full date unknown

• Charles Auguste Désiré Filon, historian (born 1800)

References

References

1. de Boisbaudran, Lecoq. "Caractères chimiques et spectroscopiques d'un nouveau métal, le gallium, découvert dans une blende de la mine de Pierrefitte, vallée d'Argelès (Pyrénées)". [[Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences]].