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Claude Dufresne
Claude Dufresne (19202011) was a French writer, best known as the author of numerous historical biographies. He won many prizes among them the Prix Goncourt for biography. Among his subjects were Ninon de Lenclos, Anne de Bretagne, Francois I, George Sand, Balzac, Chopin, Morny, Bernard Blier, Hortense Schneider, the Marquise de Sevigne, Marie Antoinette, Marie Walewska, Jacques Offenbach, Luis Mariano, Tristan Bernard, Berlioz, Mistinguette Mistinguett (, born Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois; 5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956) was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. Early life The daughter of Antoine Bourgeois, a 31-year- ..., etc. He was also a well-known playwright and librettist for the stage. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Dufresne, Claude French writers 1920 births 2011 deaths ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but results in considerable recognition and book sales for the winning author. Four other prizes are also awarded: prix Goncourt du Premier Roman (first novel), prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle (short story), prix Goncourt de la Poésie (poetry) and prix Goncourt de la Biographie (biography). Of the "big six" French literary awards, the Prix Goncourt is the best known and most prestigious. The other major literary prizes include the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, the Prix Femina, the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallié and the Prix Médicis. History Edmond de Goncourt, a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his estate for the foundation and maintenance of the Académie Goncourt. In honour of hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She became dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen. Marie Antoinette's position at court improved when, after eight years of marriage, she started having children. She became increasingly unpopular among the people, however, with the French ''libelles'' accusing her of being profligate, promiscuous, allegedly having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies—particularly her native Austria. The false accusations of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace damaged her reputation further ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Writers
Chronological list of French language authors (regardless of nationality), by date of birth. For an alphabetical list of writers of French nationality (broken down by genre), see French writers category. Middle Ages * Turold (eleventh century) * Wace (1110 – c.1180) * Chrétien de Troyes (c.1135 – c.1183) * Richard the Lionheart (Richard Coeur de Lion) (1157–1199) * Benoît de Sainte-Maure (12th-century) * Herman de Valenciennes (12th-century) * Le Châtelain de Couci (d.1203) * Jean Bodel (12th century – c.1210) * Conon de Béthune (c.1150–1220) * Geoffroi de Villehardouin (c.1160 – c.1213) * Béroul (c.1170) * Thomas d'Angleterre (c.1170) * Aimeric de Peguilhan (c.1170 -c. 1230) * Gace Brulé (c.1170) * Marie de France (c.1175) * Gautier de Coincy (1177/8–1236) * Gautier de Dargies (c.1170–after 1236) * Gautier d'Espinal († before July 1272) * Gillebert de Berneville ( fl c.1255) * Gontier de Soignies ( fl c.1180–1220) * Guiot de Dijon ( fl c.1200– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mistinguette
Mistinguett (, born Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois; 5 April 1873 – 5 January 1956) was a French actress and singer. She was at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world. Early life The daughter of Antoine Bourgeois, a 31-year-old day-labourer, and Jeannette Debrée, a 21-year-old seamstress, Jeanne Bourgeois was born at 5 Rue du Chemin-de-Fer (today Rue Gaston-Israël), in Enghien-les-Bains, Val-d'Oise, Île-de-France, France. The family moved to Soisy-sous-Montmorency where she spent her childhood; her parents later worked as mattress-makers.Flanner, Janet, ''Paris Journal, Volume Two, 1956—1964'' (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1965), page 6 At an early age Bourgeois aspired to be an entertainer. She began as a flower seller in a restaurant in her hometown, singing popular ballads as she sold blossoms. Entertainer After taking classes in theatre and singing, she began her career as an entertainer in 1885. One day on the train to Paris for a violin lesson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tristan Bernard
Tristan Bernard (7 September 1866 – 7 December 1947) was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer. Life He studied law, and after his military service, he started his career as the manager of an aluminium smelter. In the 1890s, he managed the ''Vélodrome de la Seine'' at Levallois-Perret and the Vélodrome Buffalo, events that were an integral part of Parisian life, being regularly attended by personalities such as Toulouse-Lautrec. He reputedly introduced the bell to signify the last lap of a race. He identified as an anarchist. Works Plays *''Les Pieds nickelés'' (1895) *' (''French Without a Master'') (1899) *''Triplepatte'' (with André Godfernaux, 1905) *''The Brighton Twins'' (''Les Jumeaux de Brighton'') (1908) *''Le Danseur inconnu'' (1909) *''Le Costaud des épinettes'' (with Alfred Athis, 1910) *'' The Little Cafe'' (''Le petit café'') (1911) *''Les Deux Canards'' (with Alfred Athis, 1913) *''Jeanne Doré'' (1913) *''Coeur de lilas'' (with , 192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luis Mariano
Luis Mariano Eusebio González García (13 August 1914 – 14 July 1970), also known as Luis Mariano, was a popular tenor of Spanish origin who achieved celebrity in 1946 with "La belle de Cadix" ("The Beautiful Lady of Cadix") an operetta by Francis Lopez. He appeared in the 1954 film ''Adventures of the Barber of Seville'' and ''Le Chanteur de Mexico'' (1957) and became popular in France as well as his native Spain. Biography Luis Mariano was born in Irun, Spain on 13 August 1914, the son of a garagiste and taxi-driver and showed interest in singing as a child. His family moved to France at the start of the Spanish Civil War and settled in Bordeaux where he studied at the Conservatoire, and also sang in cabarets.Gänzl K. ''The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre.'' Blackwell, Oxford, 1994. Jeanne Lagiscarde, who was in charge of the classical department of a record store in Bordeaux, took Mariano under her wing, and gave up her job to nurture his talent in Paris. To earn a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' remains part of the standard opera repertory. Born in Cologne, the son of a synagogue cantor, Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire but found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Walewska
Marie Walewska, Countess Walewska (née Łączyńska; pl, Maria Walewska; 7 December 1786 – 11 December 1817) was a Polish noblewoman and an important figure at the court of Emperor Napoleon I with the role to influence him positively for the Polish cause. In her later years she married count Philippe Antoine d'Ornano, an influential Napoleonic officer. Early life Walewska was born as first child into a wealthy noble family in Kiernozia, to Count Mathieu (Mateusz) Łączyński, a landowner and starosta of Gostyń; and Eva Zaborowska, whose family was wealthy as well. Walewska had six siblings: Benedykt Jozef, Hieronim, Teodor, Honorata, Katarzyna and Urszula-Teresa. She grew up in her ancestral home, Kiernozia palace, where she received upper-class education. Nicholas Chopin, Frédéric Chopin's father, for instance, was one of her tutors. In 1794 her father participated in the military struggle for Polish independence and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Maciejowic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ninon De Lenclos
Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclos, also spelled Ninon de Lenclos and Ninon de Lanclos (10 November 1620 – 17 October 1705), was a French author, courtesan and patron of the arts. Early life Born Anne de l'Enclos in Paris on 10 November 1620,Sources also list her birth date as 9 January 1623; see and she was nicknamed "Ninon" at an early age by her father, Henri de l'Enclos, a lutenist and published composer, who taught her to sing and play the lute. In 1632, he was exiled from France after a duel. When Ninon's mother, Marie Barbe de la Marche, died ten years later, the unmarried Ninon entered a convent, only to leave the next year. For the remainder of her life she was determined to remain unmarried and independent. Life as a courtesan and author Returning to Paris, she became a popular figure in the salons, and her own drawing room became a centre for the discussion and consumption of the literary arts. In her early thirties she was responsible for encouraging the young Molière, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hortense Schneider
Hortense Catherine Schneider, ''La Snédèr'', (30 April 1833 in Bordeaux, France – 5 May 1920, in Paris, France) was a French soprano, one of the greatest operetta stars of the 19th century, particularly associated with the works of composer Jacques Offenbach. Biography Born in Bordeaux, where she studied with Schaffner, she made her debut in Agen in 1853, as Inès in ''La favorite''. She came to Paris and was turned down by the director of the Théâtre des Variétés but was noticed by Jacques Offenbach who invited her to the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, where she made her debut in 1855 in '' Le violoneux''. She enjoyed immediate success and created for Offenbach the role of Boulotte in '' Barbe-bleue'' and the title roles in ''La belle Hélène'', ''La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' and ''La Périchole'', all resounding triumphs. She also appeared in London and Saint Petersburg, to great acclaim. An accomplished singer and actress, she was much admired for her brio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
