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Artémire (tragedy)
'' Artémire '' was Voltaire's second tragedy in five acts. When it failed at its premiere on February 15 1720 at the Comédie-Française, Voltaire withdrew it and cancelled the printing. Action The action is set in Larissa in Thessaly after the death of Alexander the Great. Artémire, the virtuous wife of the usurper Cassandre, who actually loves the rightful aspirant of Philotas, is persecuted by her husband, and is ultimately saved by his unexpected death. The publishers of the Kehl edition of Voltaire's complete works could not find a synopsis for the play, so their arrangement of the surviving fragments was based on a parody of ''Artémire'' listed in the Comédie-Italienne in an act by Dominique, only two days after the premiere. Contemporary reception The play was originally conceived as a vehicle for the famous actress Adrienne Lecouvreur, who was to become Voltaire's lover. It was first performed at Sully by a group of aristocratic amateurs, guests of the Duke. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippe II, Duke Of Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. He was the son of Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, and Madame Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth by the title of Duke of Chartres. In 1692, Philippe married his first cousin Françoise Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter (''légitimée de France'') of King Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Named regent of France during the minority of Louis XV, his great-nephew and first cousin twice removed, the period of his ''de facto'' rule was known as the Regency (french: la Régence) (1715–1723). The Regency came to an end in February 1723, and the Duke of Orléans died at Versailles in December. Parents In March 1661, Monsieur Ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tragedy Plays
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain hatawakens pleasure", for the audience. While many cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, the term ''tragedy'' often refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilization. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity—"the Greeks and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as Raymond Williams puts it. From its origins in the theatre of ancient Greece 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a frac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plays By Voltaire
Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Play Mobile, a Polish internet provider * Xperia Play, an Android phone * Rakuten.co.uk (formerly Play.com), an online retailer * Backlash (engineering), or ''play'', non-reversible part of movement * Petroleum play, oil fields with same geological circumstances * Play symbol, in media control devices Film * ''Play'' (2005 film), Chilean film directed by Alicia Scherson * ''Play'', a 2009 short film directed by David Kaplan * ''Play'' (2011 film), a Swedish film directed by Ruben Östlund * ''Rush'' (2012 film), an Indian film earlier titled ''Play'' and also known as ''Raftaar 24 x 7'' * ''The Play'' (film), a 2013 Bengali film Literature and publications * ''Play'' (play), written by Samuel Beckett * ''Play'' (''The New York Times ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Desfontaines
The Abbé Pierre François Guyot-Desfontaines (1685 in Rouen – 16 December 1745 in Paris) was a French journalist, translator and popular historian. Known today for his quarrels with Voltaire, Desfontaines can be regarded as the founder of the new literary criticism and journalism in France, insofar as he sought to found his criticism on aesthetic and ethical lines, rather than merely summarising, reproducing or paraphrasing. Biography Desfontaines entered the order of Jesuits after being raised by them, and taught rhetoric in Bourges before devoting himself exclusively to letters until 1715. In 1724, he became a contributor to the Journal des scavans, attempting to introduce an amenity of style into his scientific articles, avoiding dryness and pedantry. He then published, with various collaborators such as Élie Fréron, Granet, the Abbé Destrées, periodical collections of criticism: ''Le Nouvelliste du Parnasse'' 'The Short-Story Writer of Parnassus''">Parnassus.ht ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hérode Et Mariamne
''Hérode et Mariamne'' or ''Mariamne'' is a 1724 tragedy by Voltaire. Adapted from the writings of the historian Josephus, it is set in ancient Jerusalem, and portrays the tragic death of Mariamne at the hands of her jealous husband, Herod the Great, king of Judea, who suspects her of an intrigue with Varus, the Roman governor of Syria. The play premiered with Adrienne Lecouvreur as Mariamne, Baron as Hérode and Duclos as Salome, but it was withdrawn after just one performance when the audience gave it a critical reception. This failure encouraged Augustin Nadal to produce his ''Mariamne'' in February 1725, but that was also hostilely received, with calls for the return of Voltaire's version of the story. Nadal accused Voltaire of ensuring Nadal's play's failure by filling the audience with his supporters, and this led to a bitter war of words between them. Within months of Nadal's play, Voltaire managed to revise his play (responding to criticisms in the characterisation, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oedipus (Voltaire Play)
''Oedipus'' (french: Œdipe) is a tragedy by the French dramatist and philosopher Voltaire that was first performed in 1718. It was his first play and the first literary work for which he used the pen-name Voltaire (his real name was François-Marie Arouet). Composition Voltaire completed the play in 1717 during his 11-month imprisonment. In a letter of 1731 Voltaire wrote that when he wrote the play he was "full of my readings of the ancient authors [...] I knew very little of the theater in Paris." In adapting Sophocles' Athenian tragedy ''Oedipus Rex'', Voltaire attempted to rationalise the plot and motivation of its characters. In a letter of 1719 he indicated that he found it improbable that the murder of Laius had not been investigated earlier and that Oedipus should take so long to understand the oracle's clear pronouncement.Burian (1997, 245). Voltaire adds a subplot concerning the love of Philoctète for Jocasta, Jocaste. He also reduces the prominence of the theme of ince ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine
Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (german: Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz), (french: Princesse Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat); known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722) was a German member of the House of Wittelsbach and, as ''Madame'' (''Duchesse d'Orléans''), the second wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (younger brother of Louis XIV of France), and mother of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, France's ruler during the Regency. She gained literary and historical importance primarily through preservation of her correspondence, which is of great cultural and historical value due to her sometimes very blunt descriptions of French court life and is today one of the best-known German-language texts of the Baroque period. Although she had only two surviving children, she not only became the ancestress of the House of Orléans, which came to the French throne with Louis Philippe I, the so-called "Citizen King" from 1830 to 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Château De Sully-sur-Loire
The Château de Sully-sur-Loire (; en, Castle of Sully-sur-Loire) is a castle, converted to a palatial seigneurial residence, situated in the commune of Sully-sur-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The château was the seat of the Duke de Sully, King Henry IV of France's minister Maximilien de Béthune (1560–1641), and the later dukes of Sully. It is a ''château-fort'', a true castle, built to control one of the few sites where the Loire can be forded. History The Original Site Layout The Chateau of Sully Sur Loire sits on the south side at a natural fording point of the Loire, at the confluence of the Loire and the River Sange. Set into the river north of the southern fording point were 3 grouped islands that were only submerged in the worst Loire floods. It is on these three islands that the Chateau of Sully was built. The Northwestern island is now taken up with the main keep, the ditch that ran between it and the southwestern island is now filled in. This southwes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—especially of the Roman Catholic Church—and of slavery. Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and scientific expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. His polemics witheringly satirized intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrienne Lecouvreur
Adrienne Lecouvreur (5 April 1692 – 20 March 1730), born Adrienne Couvreur, was a French actress, considered by many as the greatest of her time. Born in Damery, she first appeared professionally on the stage in Lille. After her Paris debut at the Comédie-Française in 1717, she was immensely popular with the public. Together with Michel Baron, she was credited for having developed a more natural, less stylized, type of acting. Despite the fame she gained as an actress and her innovations in her acting style, she was widely remembered for her romance with Maurice de Saxe and for her mysterious death. Although there are different theories that suggest she was poisoned by her rival, the Duchess of Bouillon, scholars have not been able to confirm it. Her story was used as an inspiration for playwrights, composers and poets. The refusal of the Catholic Church to give her a Christian burial moved her friend Voltaire to write a poem on the subject. Life Early years Adrienne Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comédie-Italienne
Comédie-Italienne or Théâtre-Italien are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed by the French court under the Italian-born queens Catherine de Medici and Marie de Medici. These troupes also gave public performances in Paris at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, probably the earliest public theatre to be built in France. The first official use of the name Comédie-Italienne was in 1680, when it was given to the commedia dell'arte troupe at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, to distinguish it from the French troupe, the Comédie-Française, which was founded that year, and just as the name Théâtre-Français was commonly applied to the latter, Théâtre-Italien was used for the Italians. Over time French phrases, songs, whole scenes, and eventually entire plays were incorporated into the Comédie-Italienne's performances. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
