''Mariamne'' is a 1725 French

tragedy 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 ...

by Augustin Nadal based around the Herodian dynasty. Nadal was encouraged to produce the play after his rival

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—es ...

's play on the same story had failed after only one performance the previous year (1724). However, at the play's February 1725 premiere at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

, the audience booed its opening scenes and demanded that Voltaire's play be put on instead. Nadal was convinced his own ''Mariamne'' had failed because of Voltaire's ''"brigue horrible et scandaleuse"'' that set Paris against it, and said so in the preface to the printed play, accusing him of bringing a cabal into the audience at the premiere to disrupt it. This gave Voltaire the opportunity to reply under a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

with withering compliments ("Lettre de M. Thieriot à M. l'Abbé Nadal", 1725), commiserating with Nadal, that it was solely the machinations of Voltaire's intrigues "that one hears it said so scandalously that you are the worst versifier of the century and the most tiresome writer."''"qu’on entend dire si scandaleusement que vous êtes le plus mauvais versificateur du siècle, et le plus ennuyeux écrivain."'' Voltaire's fine-honed savagery inspired Nadal to excise the uncomplimentary remarks about Voltaire in his prefaces when he came to collect and publish the plays in 1736 with others of his poems, in three small volumes. But it is in Voltaire's response that the abbé Nadal is remembered.

References

Sources

Marvin Carlson, Voltaire and the Theatre of the Eighteenth Century
(Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998), pages 16–17 French plays Cultural depictions of Herod the Great Plays set in the 1st century Plays based on real people 1725 plays {{18thC-play-stub