Pierre Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais | |
---|---|
Born | Pierre-Augustin Caron 24 January 1732 Paris, France |
Died | 18 May 1799 Paris, France | (aged 67)
Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
Nationality | French |
Period | Age of Enlightenment France |
Genre | Plays; comedy and drama |
Notable works | Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, La Mère coupable |
Signature | |
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (French:
Born a Parisian watchmaker's son, Beaumarchais rose in French society and became influential in the court of Louis XV as an inventor and music teacher. He made a number of important business and social contacts, played various roles as a diplomat and spy, and had earned a considerable fortune before a series of costly court battles jeopardized his reputation.
An early French supporter of American independence, Beaumarchais lobbied the French government on behalf of the American rebels during the
Beaumarchais is probably best known for his theatrical works, especially the three Figaro plays.
Early life
Beaumarchais was born Pierre-Augustin Caron in the
From the age of ten, Beaumarchais had some schooling at a "country school" where he learned some Latin.[7] Two years later, Beaumarchais left school at twelve to work as an apprentice under his father and learn the art of watchmaking. He may have used his own experiences during these years as the inspiration for the character of Cherubin when he wrote the Marriage of Figaro.[7] He generally neglected his work, and at one point was evicted by his father, only to be later allowed back after apologising for his poor behaviour.[8]
At the time, pocket watches were commonly unreliable for timekeeping and were worn more as fashion accessories. In response to this, Beaumarchais spent nearly a year researching improvements.[9] In July 1753, at the age of twenty-one, he invented an escapement for watches that allowed them to be made substantially more accurate and compact.[10]
The first man to take an interest in this new invention was
The following February, the Academy indeed ruled that the mechanism was Beaumarchais' and not Lepaute's, catapulting Beaumarchais to stardom and relegating Lepaute to infamy, as l'affaire Lepaute had been the talk of Paris. Soon afterwards, he was asked by King Louis XV to create a watch mounted on a ring for his mistress Madame de Pompadour. Louis was so impressed by the result that he named Beaumarchais "Purveyor to the King", and the Caron family business became prosperous.[11]
Rise to influence
Marriage and new name
In 1755 Beaumarchais met Madeleine-Catherine Aubertin, a widow, and married her the following year. She helped Beaumarchais secure a royal office, and he gave up watchmaking. Shortly after his marriage, he adopted the name "Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais", which he derived from "le Bois Marchais", the name of a piece of land belonging to his new wife. He believed the name sounded grander and more aristocratic and adopted at the same time an elaborate coat of arms.[14] His wife died less than a year later, which plunged him into financial problems, and he ran up large debts.
Royal patronage
Beaumarchais' problems were eased when he was appointed to teach Louis XV's four daughters the
Visit to Madrid
In April 1764, Beaumarchais began a ten-month sojourn in Madrid, ostensibly to help his sister, Lisette, who had been abandoned by her fiancé,
Beaumarchais's business deals dragged on, and he spent much of his time soaking up the atmosphere of Spain, which would become a major influence on his later writings. Although he befriended important figures such as the foreign minister
Playwright
Beaumarchais hoped to be made consul to Spain, but his application was rejected.[23] Instead he concentrated on developing his business affairs and began to show an interest in writing plays. He had already experimented in writing short farces for private audiences, but he now had ambitions to write for the theatre.
His name as a writer was established with his first dramatic play, Eugénie, which premiered at the Comédie-Française in 1767. This was followed in 1770 by another drama, Les Deux amis .[18]
Figaro plays
Beaumarchais's Figaro plays are
Le Barbier premiered in Paris in 1775. An English translation premiered in London a year later, and that was followed by performances in other European countries.[25]
The sequel, Le Mariage, was initially passed by the censor in 1781, but was soon banned from performance by Louis XVI after a private reading. Queen
Beaumarchais's final play, La Mère coupable, premiered in 1792 in Paris. In homage to the great French playwright Molière, Beaumarchais also dubbed La Mère coupable "The Other Tartuffe".
All three Figaro plays enjoyed great success, and are still frequently performed today in theatres and opera houses.
Court battles
The death of Duverney on 17 July 1770 triggered a decade of turmoil for Beaumarchais. A few months earlier, the two had signed a statement cancelling all debts that Beaumarchais owed Duverney (about 75,000 pounds), and granting Beaumarchais the modest sum of 15,000 pounds.[24] Duverney's sole heir, Count de la Blache, took Beaumarchais to court, claiming the signed statement was a forgery. Although the 1772 verdict favoured Beaumarchais, it was overturned on appeal the following year by a judge, a magistrate named Goezman, whom Beaumarchais tried in vain to bribe. At the same time, Beaumarchais was also involved in a dispute with the Duke de Chaulnes over the Duke's mistress, with the result that Beaumarchais was thrown in jail from February to May 1773. La Blache took advantage of Beaumarchais' court absence and persuaded Goezman to order Beaumarchais to repay all his debts to Duverney, plus interest and all legal expenses.
To garner public support, Beaumarchais published a four-part pamphlet entitled Mémoires contre Goezman. The action made Beaumarchais an instant celebrity, for the public at the time saw Beaumarchais as a champion for social justice and liberty.[27] Goezman countered Beaumarchais's accusations by launching a lawsuit of his own. The verdict was equivocal. On 26 February 1774, both Beaumarchais and Mme. Goezman (who had taken the bribe from Beaumarchais) were sentenced to "blâme" meaning they were nominally deprived of their civil rights. Naturally, Beaumarchais followed few of the restrictions placed upon him. Magistrate Goezman was removed from his post. At the same time, Goezman's verdict in the La Blache case was overturned. The Goezman case was so sensational that the judges left the courtroom through a back door to avoid the large, angry mob waiting in front of the court house.[24]
American Revolution
Before France officially entered the war in 1778, Beaumarchais played a major role in delivering French munitions, money and supplies to the American army.[28][2] In order to secretly funnel aid to the rebels, he helped set up a fictitious business called Roderigue Hortalez and Company.[2]
To restore his civil rights, Beaumarchais pledged his services to Louis XV. He traveled to London, Amsterdam and Vienna on various secret missions. His first mission was to travel to London to destroy a pamphlet, Les mémoires secrets d'une femme publique, which Louis XV considered a libel of one of his mistresses, Madame du Barry. Beaumarchais was sent to London to persuade the French spy Chevalier d'Éon to return home, but while there he began gathering information on British politics and society. Britain's colonial situation was deteriorating and in 1775 fighting broke out between British troops and American rebels. Beaumarchais became a major source of information about the rebellion for the French government and sent a regular stream of reports with exaggerated rumours of the size of the success of the rebel forces blockading Boston.[29]
Once back in France, Beaumarchais began work on a new operation. Louis XVI, who did not want to break openly with
Beaumarchais had dealt with
The Voltaire revival
Shortly after the death of Voltaire in 1778, Beaumarchais set out to publish Voltaire's complete works, many of which were banned in France. He bought the rights to most of Voltaire's many manuscripts from the publisher Charles-Joseph Panckoucke in February 1779. To evade French censorship, he set up printing presses in Kehl, Germany. He bought the complete foundry of the famous English type designer John Baskerville from his widow and also purchased three paper mills. Seventy volumes were published between 1783 and 1790. While the venture proved a financial failure, Beaumarchais was instrumental in preserving many of Voltaire's later works which otherwise might have been lost.
More court battles and the French Revolution
It was not long before Beaumarchais crossed paths again with the French legal system. In 1787, he became acquainted with Mme. Kornmann, who was implicated and imprisoned in an adultery suit, which was filed by her husband to expropriate her dowry. The matter went to court, with Beaumarchais siding with Mme. Kornmann, and M. Kornmann assisted by a celebrity lawyer, Nicolas Bergasse.[34] On 2 April 1790, M. Kornmann and Bergasse were found guilty of calumny (slander), but Beaumarchais's reputation was also tarnished.
Meanwhile, the French Revolution broke out. Beaumarchais was no longer quite the idol he had been a few years before, as he thought the excesses of the revolution were endangering liberty. He was financially successful, mainly from supplying drinking water to Paris, and had acquired ranks[clarification needed] in the French nobility. In 1791, he took up a lavish residence across from where the Bastille once stood. He spent under a week in prison during August 1792 for criticising the government, and was released only three days before a massacre took place in the prison where he had been detained.
Nevertheless, he pledged his services to the new republic. He attempted to purchase 60,000 rifles for the French Revolutionary army from Holland, but was unable to complete the deal.
Exile and death
While he was out of the country, Beaumarchais was falsely declared an émigré (a loyalist of the old regime) by his enemies. He spent two and a half years in exile, mostly in Germany, before his name was removed from the list of proscribed émigrés. He returned to Paris in 1796, where he lived out the remainder of his life in relative peace. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris is named after him.
Operas
In 1786,
Beaumarchais was also the librettist for Antonio Salieri's opera Tarare, which premiered in Paris in 1787.[25]
Private life
Beaumarchais married three times. His first wife was Madeleine-Catherine Franquet (née Aubertin), whom he married on 22 November 1756; she died under mysterious circumstances only 10 months later. He married Geneviève-Madeleine Lévêque (née Wattebled) in 1768. Again, the second Mme. de Beaumarchais died under mysterious circumstances two years later, though most scholars believed she actually suffered from tuberculosis. Before her death in 1770, she bore a son, Augustin, but he died in 1772. Beaumarchais lived with his lover, Marie-Thérèse de Willer-Mawlaz, for 12 years before she became his third wife in 1786. Together they had a daughter, Eugénie.
Beaumarchais was accused by his enemies of poisoning his first two wives in order to lay claim to their family inheritance. Beaumarchais, though having no shortage of lovers throughout his life, was known to care deeply for both his family and close friends. However, Beaumarchais also had a reputation of marrying for financial gain, and both Franquet and Lévêque had previously married into wealthy families. While there was insufficient evidence to support the accusations, whether or not the poisonings took place is still the subject of debate.
List of works
- 1760s – Various one-act comedies (parades) for private staging.[18]
- Les Député de la Halle et du Gros-Caillou
- Colin et Colette
- Les Bottes de sept lieues
- Jean Bête à la foire
- Œil pour œil
- Laurette
- 1765(?) – Le Sacristain, interlude (precursor to Le Barbier de Séville)
- 1767 – Eugénie, drama, premiered at the Comédie-Française.[18]
- 1767 – L'Essai sur le genre dramatique sérieux.[18]
- 1770 – Les Deux amis ou le Négociant de Lyon , drama, premiered at the Comédie-Française
- 1773 – Le Barbier de Sévilleou la Précaution inutile, comedy, premiered on 3 January 1775 at the Comédie-Française
- 1774 – Mémoires contre Goezman
- 1775 – La Lettre modérée sur la chute et la critique du "Barbier de Sérville"
- 1778 – La Folle journée ou Le Mariage de Figaro, comedy, premiered on 27 April 1784 at the Comédie-Française
- 1784 – Préface du mariage de Figaro
- 1787 – Opéra de Paris (full-text)
- 1792 – La Mère coupable ou L'Autre Tartuffe, drama, premiered on 26 June at the Théâtre du Marais
- 1799 – Voltaire et Jésus-Christ, in two articles.[18]
- Clavigo (1774), a tragedy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe based on Beaumarchais's experiences in Spain
- Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero La precauzione inutile (1782), an opera based on the title play, libretto by Giuseppe Petrosellini, and music by Giovanni Paisiello, revised in 1787
- Le nozze di Figaro (1786), an opera based on the title play, libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, and music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Ta veseli dan ali Matiček se ženi (1790) by Le Mariage de Figaro
- Il barbiere di Siviglia (1796), an opera based on the play, music by Nicolas Isouard
- La pazza giornata, ovvero Il matrimonio di Figaro (1799), an opera based on the title play, libretto by Gaetano Rossi, and music by Marcos Portugal
- Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816), an opera based on the title play, libretto by Cesare Sterbini, and music by Gioachino Rossini
- I due Figaro o sia Il soggetto di una commedia (1820), an opera based on the play Les deux Figaro ou Le sujet de comédie by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly, libretto by Felice Romani, and music by Michele Carafa
- I due Figaro o sia Il soggetto di una commedia (1835), an opera based on the play Les deux Figaro ou Le sujet de comédie by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly, libretto by Felice Romani, and music by Saverio Mercadante
- Chérubin (1905), an opera based on the title role, music by Jules Massenet, libretto by Francis de Croisset and Henri Caïn
- Die Füchse im Weinberg (Proud Destiny, Waffen für Amerika, Foxes in the Vineyard) (1947/48), by Lion Feuchtwanger – a novel mainly about Beaumarchais and Benjamin Franklin beginning in 1776's Paris
- Beaumarchais (1950), a comedy written by Sacha Guitry
- La mère coupable (1966), an opera based on the title play, libretto by Madeleine Milhaud, and music by Darius Milhaud
- The Ghosts of Versailles (1991), an opera based loosely on La Mère coupable, music by John Corigliano, libretto by William M. Hoffman, in which Beaumarchais and Marie Antoinette are principal characters
- Den brottsliga modern (1991), an opera based on La Mère coupable, music by Inger Wikström, libretto by Inger Wikström and Mikael Hylin .
- Beaumarchais l'insolent (1996), film based on Sacha Guitry's play, directed by Édouard Molinaro
- Beaumarchais, a six-episode radio series based on his life starring Henry Goodman, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996.
References
- ^ He died during the evening of 17–18 May (Morton & Spinelli 2003, p. 315); the date 18 May is most frequently seen in sources.
- ^ a b c d "H. Rept. 18-64 - Report of the select committee, to whom was referred the message of the President of the United States in relation to the representatives of the late Caron de Beaumarchais. February 16, 1824. Read: Ordered that it lie upon the table". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ a b Lever 2009, pp. 3–4
- ^ Lever 2009, p. 4.
- ^ Lever 2009, p. 5.
- ^ Profile of Marie-Josèphe Caron at the Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800.
- ^ a b Lever 2009, p. 6
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Lever 2009, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Thomas 2006, pp. 7–8
- ^ a b Fenton, Robert. "Honor and Rebellion in the Theater: Beaumarchais, Mozart and Figaro". Academia.edu. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ^ Kite, Elizabeth S. (1918). Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence. The Gorham Press. p. 50. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ISBN 9780690012101. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ^ Lever 2009, p. 11.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 19–20, 30.
- ^ a b c d e f Beaumarchais: Le Mariage de Figaro – comédie, with preface, biography, and annotations by Pol Gillard, Bordas, 1970.
- ^ Lever 2009, p. 22.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 25–30.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Lever 2009, pp. 31–32.
- ^ a b c d e Beaumarchais: The three Figaro plays, translation and notes by David Edney, Doverhouse, 2000.
- ^ a b c John Wood, Introduction, The Barber of Seville/The Marriage of Figaro, Penguin Classics, 1964
- ISBN 0-75381-305-X.
- Maupeouto modernise Justice and make it less corrupt, widely and vociferously denounced as tyranny by the noblesse de robe having lost some of their privileges and their political defender (the Parlement).
- ^ Harlow Giles Unger, Improbable Patriot: The Secret History of Monsieur de Beaumarchais, the French Playwright Who Saved the American Revolution (University Press of New England; 2011)
- ^ Gaines 2007, pp. 40–42.
- ^ Morton & Spinelli 2003, p. [page needed].
- ^ "S. Doc. 26-236 - Report from the Secretary of the Senate, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, a list of private claims which have been before the Senate since the commencement of the Fourteenth Congress, with the proceedings of the Senate thereon. January 4, 1841. Read. January 5, 1841. Ordered to be printed". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 42. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ Schiff 2006, pp. 106–108.
- ^ Roche 2005, p. 245.
- ISBN 978-1-324-03558-9.
Sources
- Gaines, James R. (2007). For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette and their Revolutions. Norton.
- ISBN 9780374113285.
- Morton, Brian N.; Spinelli, Donald C. (2003). Beaumarchais and the American Revolution. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739104682.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671–1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. pp. 325–326. OCLC 165892922.
- Schiff, Stacy (2006). Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of America. Bloomsbury.
- Thomas, Hugh (2006). Beaumarchais in Seville: An Intermezzo. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300134643. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
Further reading
- Barzun, Jacques From Dawn to Decadence(Harper Collins, 2000) pp 399–404
- Bass, Streeter (Spring 1970). "Beaumarchais and the American Revolution". Studies in Intelligence. 14 (1). Central Intelligence Agency: 1–18. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Released 22 September 1993
- Howarth, William D. Beaumarchais and the Theatre (Routledge, 2008)
- Review by Benjamin Ivry of the English translation by Susan Emanuel of Maurice Lever's biography of Beaumarchais, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 May 2009
- Morton, Brian N. (1977). "'Roderigue Hortalez' to the Secret Committee: An Unpublished French Policy Statement of 1777". JSTOR 389445.
- de Langlais, Tugdual, L'armateur préféré de Beaumarchais Jean Peltier Dudoyer, de Nantes à l'Isle de France, Éd. Coiffard, 2015, 340 p. (ISBN 9782919339280).
- Paul, Joel Richard "Unlikely Allies, How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution" (Riverhead Books, Penguin Group)
- Ratermanis, Janis Bernhards, and William Robert Irwin. The comic style of Beaumarchais (Greenwood Press, 1961)
- Stillé, Charles J. "Beaumarchais and 'The Lost Million' ". JSTOR 20083176
- Sungolowsky, Joseph. Beaumarchais (New York: Twayne, 1974)
- Whitridge, Arnold. "Beaumarchais and the American Revolution" History Today (February 1967), vol. 17, issue 2, pp. 98–105
- York, Neil L. "Clandestine Aid and the American Revolutionary War Effort: A Re-Examination." JSTOR 1987384
Fictional
- Lion Feuchtwanger, Proud Destiny (1947, Viking) – a novel based mainly on Beaumarchais and Benjamin Franklin
External links
- Media related to Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Pierre Beaumarchais at Wikiquote
- Works by Pierre Beaumarchais at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Pierre Beaumarchais at Internet Archive
- Works by Pierre Beaumarchais at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- The Comédie-Française Registers Project includes performances of his plays from 1680 to 1791
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- "The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
- "Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.
- Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais at Find a Grave