{{Short description|French librettist, musician, and poet (1850–1925)}} {{No footnotes|date=April 2026}} '''Paul''' (de) '''Choudens''', also known under the pseudonym Paul Bérel (5 June 1850 – 7 October 1925), was a French musician, music publisher, poet and librettist.
==Biography== Choudens was born in Paris. In 1888, with his brother Antony, he took over the publishing house established by his father Antoine de Choudens in 1845 and made a fortune in publishing in particular, the music scores of ''Faust'' by Gounod and ''Carmen'' by Bizet. He was a staunch supporter of Alfred Bruneau, Paul Vidal and André Messager.
As a librettist, he translated and adapted ''Der Schauspieldirektor'' by Mozart in collaboration with Arthur Bernède with whom he would write five libretti for the composer Félix Fourdrain.
==Libretti== * Henri Hirschmann: ''Lovelace'' (in collaboration with Jules Barbier) * Pietro Mascagni: ''Amica'' * Isidore de Lara: ''Sanga'' * Ruggero Leoncavallo: ''Maïa'' * Camille Erlanger: ''L'Aube rouge'' * Albert Dupuis: ''La Passion'' * Xavier Leroux: ''La Plus forte'' * Henry Février: ''Oletta, la fille du Corse''
==Bibliography== *Anik Devriès & François Lesure: ''Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français'', vol. 2 (Geneva: Minkoff, 1988), p. 107–109. *Agnès Chauvin: "L'Hôtel Choudens", in: ''Livraisons d'histoire de l'architecture'', no. 18, 2nd semester 2009.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudens, Paul}} Category:1850 births Category:1925 deaths Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:French music publishers (people) Category:French opera librettists Category:Writers from Paris Category:19th-century French writers Category:19th-century French publishers (people) Category:19th-century French male writers Category:20th-century French writers Category:20th-century publishers (people) Category:20th-century French male writers Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour