Jean-François Marmontel

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Portrait by Alexander Roslin (1767)

Jean-François Marmontel (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa maʁmɔ̃tɛl]; 11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement.

Biography

He was born of

Jesuits at Mauriac, Cantal, he taught in their colleges at Clermont-Ferrand and Toulouse; and in 1745, acting on the advice of Voltaire, he set out for Paris to try for literary success.[1]

From 1748 to 1753 he wrote a succession of tragedies: Denys le Tyran (1748); Aristomene (1749); Cleopâtre (1750); Heraclides (1752); Egyptus (1753). These literary works, though only moderately successful on the stage, secured Marmontel's introduction into literary and fashionable circles.[1]

He wrote a series of articles for the

Jean Baptiste Lully's libretto by Quinault as basis, Didon (1783) and Penelope (1785).[1]

In 1758 he gained the patronage of

archbishop of Paris. Marmontel retorted in Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'empire du Perou (1777) by tracing the cruelties in Spanish America to the religious fanaticism of the invaders.[1]

He was appointed historiographer of France (1771), secretary to the Academy (1783), and professor of history in the Lycée (1786). As a historiographer, Marmontel wrote a history of the regency (1788). Reduced to poverty by the

Honoré Mirabeau. The book was nominally written for the instruction of his children. It contains an exquisite picture of his own childhood in the Limousin; its value for the literary historian is great.[1]

Marmontel lived for some time under the roof of

Madame Geoffrin, and was present at her famous dinners given to artists; he was welcomed into most of the houses where the encyclopaedists met, and was a contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.[2] He thus had at his command the best material for his portraits, and made good use of his opportunities.[1] After a short stay in Paris when elected in 1797 to the Conseil des Anciens, he died at Abloville.[3]

He was a member of the Masonic lodge Les Neuf Sœurs.

John Ruskin named him as one of the three people in history who were the most influential for him.[4] In his autobiography, John Stuart Mill credits Mémoires d'un père with curing him of depression.[5]

Works

Theatre

Marmontel published many opera librettos and mostly operas comiques librettos, a genre in which he excelled but could not compete with

Charles-Simon Favart
.

Poetry

  • Polymnie, satire en 11 chants
  • 1751: L’établissement de l’École militaire,
  • 1752: Vers sur la convalescence du Dauphin,
  • 1753: La naissance du duc d’Aquitaine,
  • 1760: Épître aux poètes,
  • 1820: La Neuvaine de Cythère,[7] (licencious poem)

Novels

Essays

Varia

  • 1746: L'Observateur littéraire : literary journal established with Jean-Grégoire Bauvin (or Beauvin); « Cette feuille, écrira-t-il, n'étant ni la critique infidèle et injuste des bons ouvrages, ni la satire amère et mordante des bons auteurs, elle eut peu de débit.» . The title was revived by abbé de La Porte in 1758.
  • 1712–1714: The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope, translated into verse La boucle de cheveux enlevée, 1746. Edition bilingue moderne chez Rivages poche, 2010, 142 pages (
    ISBN 9782743621377
    )
  • 1759: édition remaniée de Venceslas by Rotrou,
  • 1766: La Pharsale de Lucain, translated into prose,
  • 1775: édition des Chefs d’œuvres dramatiques de Mairet, Du Ryer et Rotrou, with a Commentaire,
  • 1800: Mémoires d’un père pour servir à l’instruction de ses enfants,
  • 1806: Leçons d’un père à ses enfants sur la langue française.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
  2. ^ Frank A. Kafker: Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie. Année (1990) Volume 8 Numéro 8 p. 102
  3. ^ Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, iv.; Morellet, Eloge (1805)
  4. ^ "John Ruskin: Sesame and Lilies". Archived from the original on 24 February 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  5. ^ Collected Works of John Stuart Mill (1981) London, Routledge, Vol. 1, (p. 145)
  6. ^ Marmontel, Jean-François (1723-1799) Auteur du texte (1750). Aristomène, tragédie, par M. Marmontel. [Comédiens ordinaires du Roy, 30 avril 1749].{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Marmontel, Jean-François (1723-1799) Auteur du texte (1879). La neuvaine de Cythère / par Marmontel,...; avec notice par M. Charles Monselet.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Ce livre interdit a directement fait l'objet d'une critique Examen du Bélisaire de M. Marmontel
  9. ^ Marmontel, Jean-François (1723-1799) Auteur du texte (1777). Essai sur les révolutions de la musique, en France.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

References

External links

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