Placide Cappeau
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2022) |
Placide Cappeau | |
---|---|
Born | Placide Cappeau 25 October 1808 |
Died | 8 August 1877 | (aged 68)
Placide Cappeau (25 October 1808 – 8 August 1877) was a French poet and the author of the poem, "Minuit, chrétiens" (1847), set to music by Adolphe Adam and known in English as the carol "O Holy Night" or "Cantique de Noël".
Biography
He was born on 25 October 1808 in
After studying in Nîmes, where he received a baccalauréat littéraire (A level in literature), he studied law in Paris and was awarded a license to practice law in 1831. Following in his father's footsteps, he became a merchant of wines and spirits.
Cappeau's was known locally as a poet. On a business trip to Paris in December 1847, at the request of his local priest, he composed his Christmas-themed text and, as his local priest had requested, presented it to Adam to set it to music, the request based on their shared acquaintance with a singer, a certain Madame Laurey, who was then living near Roquemaure where her husband, a civil engineer, was supervising the construction of a bridge.
Cappeau's other works include the 4000-line philosophical poem Le château de Roquemaure (1876),[1] Le roi de la fève, La poésie, Le papillon and La rose. He wrote in Provençal as well as in French.
He was a friend of some of the great writers of the Félibrige, including Frédéric Mistral, Joseph Roumanille, and Alphonse Daudet. He knew Alphonse de Lamartine as well.
Late in life he apostatized and adopted views at odds with his fame as the author of a Christmas text as non-Christian and freethinker.
Cappeau opposed slavery and inequality in all forms and was sympathetic to socialism.[1]
He died on 8 August 1877 in Roquemaure at the age of 68. He was buried in his family's crypt in Roquemaure cemetery.[3]
References
- ^ ISBN 9781136591457. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ^ Sortais, Gaston (20 September 1911). "Bulletin d'Histoire de l'Art". Études (in French). 128: 838.
- ^ "Roquemaure (30): cimetière". Cimetières de France et d’ailleurs (in French). Retrieved 21 December 2022.
Bibliography
- Durieu (abbé René), L'auteur du "Minuit chrétiens", Placide Cappeau, Nîmes, Lacour, 1996.
External links
- Works by Placide Cappeau at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)