Alexandre-Louis-Bertrand Robineau, called ''de Beaunoir'', (4 April 1746 – 5 August 1823) was an 18th-century French playwright.

Biography

Intended for the service of the Church, he indeed became abbot, but quickly turned away, fascinated by the life of Paris. Passionate about theater, he began writing for the fair troupe of

Jean-Baptiste Nicolet Jean-Baptiste Nicolet (16 April 1728 – 27 December 1796) was an 18th-century French actor and Talent manager, manager. He was the eldest son of puppeteer, dance master and violinist Guillaume Nicolet. He set up the Grands-Danseurs du Roi, the pr ...

. His first play, ''La Bourbonnaise'' (1768), was highly applauded, to the point that Nicolet hired him to replace

Toussaint-Gaspard Taconet Toussaint-Gaspard Taconet (July 1730 –– 29 December 1774) was an 18th-century French comic actor, the main character in Jean-Baptiste Nicolet's plays. He made his debut as machinist at the Opéra de Paris, then was a prompter at the Comédie-F ...

. He wrote up to three plays a week, under the name Abbé Robineau, and earned 18 pounds per play. In 1777, he had his ''L'Amour quêteur'' presented, little play quite scandalous but an immediate success. The Archbishop of Paris made Robineau disrobed, who immediately took the pseudonym Beaunoir,

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of his name. Beaunoir served Nicolet until 1780, then composed more ambitious plays which were given at the

Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes The Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes was a theatre company in Paris. History In 1778, Louis Lécluse (or Lécluze), a former actor at the Opéra-Comique turned dentist, opened a theatre at foire Saint-Laurent, which shortly afterwards he trans ...

and the Comédie Italienne. Around 1770, he had become King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

's librarian, but his reputation as a

libertine A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...

author undermined the dignity of his colleagues who demanded in 1783 that he write anonymously. For some years, it is his wife, Louise-Céline Cheval (1766-1821), who signed his works under the name Mme de Beaunoir. En 1788, Beaunoir left Paris to become theatre director of the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. One year later, a disastrous management ended with a resounding bankruptcy which pushed him out of France and he emigrated in Brussels. In the midst of the Brabant Revolution, he did not hesitate to break into the two parties, sometimes flattering Vonck, sometimes

van der Noot Van der Noot is a Dutch or Flemish surname, with several variations. Van der Noot may refer to: * The noble family of the Count van der Noot, the current Marquess of Assche: **Philips Erard van der Noot, 13th Bishop of Ghent. **Roger-Wauthier van ...

. Disgusted with his theatrical setbacks, he began composing brochures and pamphlets, writing papers. Repudiated by van der Noot, he wrote his "historical drama" ''Histoire secrète et anecdotique de l'Insurrection belgique, ou Vander-Noot'' (1790), scandalous pamphlet in which he denounced the failures of revolutionaries. In search for a shelter from the wrath of the tyrant he described, Beaunoir fled to Holland where he wrote another satire, ''Les Masques arrachés'' which rapidly spread in Belgium and lead to the fall of van der Noot. Leaving the Netherlands, Beaunoir went to Neuwied and joined a colony of French men of letters, including

Louis-François Metra Louis-François MetraAlso spelt Métra and Mettra. (1738 – 11 December 1804) was an 18th-century French journalist. Banker and correspondent of Prussian king Frederick the Great, Metra mismanaged his business and took refuge in Neuwied, where ...

who had him collaborate to his '. In 1791, after spending some months in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

where he wrote ''L'Ami des hommes ou le Vengeur'', Beaunoir reconciled with theatre and started writing plays for the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Bruxelles where he gave ''Le Grand dénouement de la constitution'' (1791), ''Le Commissionnaire et le jockey'' (1792), ''La Nouvelle dibutade'' (1793), ''L'Hommage de Bruxelles'' (1793), ''Le Bouquet'' (1793), ''La Séparation'' (1794) and ''Le Médecin et l'apothicaire'' (1794). In 1796, Beaunoir was in St-Petersburg where he directed the theaters of the court, but was banished at the end of the year with all the other French. He then spent several years in Berlin, waiting for the right moment to return to France. He eventually returned January 1, 1800, but found neither his friends and protectors, nor his public nor his place among the French society of the

French Consulate The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...

. In 1802, he still made an attempt in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

to direct the Theatre, which resulted in a new bankruptcy, then returned to Paris the following year, where he finally found a position at the Paris Police Prefecture. He died in 1823 in complete destitution. His wife had died two years earlier.

Works (selection)

He wrote more than 170 plays. *1777: ''L'Amour quéteur'' *1777: ''Vénus pèlerine'' *1780: ''Jeannot'' *1781: ''Jérôme Pointu'' *1784: ''Fanfan et Colas'' *1790: ''Histoire secrète et anecdotique de l'Insurrection belgique, ou Vander-Noot'' * ''Les Masques arrachés'' * ''L'Ami des hommes ou le Vengeur'' *1791: ''Le Grand dénouement de la constitution'' *1792: ''Le Commissionnaire et le jockey'' *1793: ''La Nouvelle dibutade'' *1793: ''L'Hommage de Bruxelles'' *1793: ''Le Bouquet'' *1794: ''La Séparation'' *1794: ''Le Médecin et l'apothicaire''

Bibliography

* The most comprehensive study on Beaunoir is the long article by E. B. Abbott, ''Robineau, dit de Beaunoir, et les petits théâtres du XVIIIe'', in ''Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France'', 1936, (p. 20–54) et (p. 161–180). *

Jacques-Alphonse Mahul Jacques-Alphonse Mahul (31 July 1795 - 25 August 1871) was a French columnist and politician. A liberal activist, he was affiliated with the Carbonari, and was imprisoned for some time at La Force Prison. He participated in the editing of many ...

, ''Annuaire nécrologique, ou Supplément annuel et continuation de toutes les biographies ou dictionnaires historiques'', 4e année, 1823, Paris : Ponthieu, 1824, (p. 16–21
read online

Sources

Dictionnaire universel d’histoire et de géographie Bouillet Chassang
on wikisource

External links

De Beaunoir
on data.bnf.fr
His plays
o
CÉSAR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaunoir, De 1746 births 1823 deaths 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers 18th-century French journalists French librarians French theatre managers and producers Writers from Paris