Marie-Joseph Blaise de Chénier (11 February 1764 – 10 January 1811) was a French poet,
dramatist and
politician of
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
Greek origin.
Biography
The younger brother of
André Chénier, Joseph Chénier was born at
Constantinople, but brought up at
Carcassonne. He was educated in Paris at the
Collège de Navarre. Entering the army at seventeen, he left it two years afterwards; and at nineteen he produced ''Azémire'', a two-act drama (acted in 1786), and ''Edgar, ou le page supposé'', a
comedy (acted in 1785), which both failed. His ''Charles IX'' was kept back for nearly two years by the censor. Chénier attacked the
censorship in three pamphlets, and the commotion aroused by the controversy raised keen interest in the piece. When it was at last produced on 4 November 1789 it was an immense success, due in part to its political suggestion, and in part to
François Joseph Talma
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, King o ...
's magnificent portrayal of King
Charles IX of France.
Camille Desmoulins said that the piece had done more for the
French Revolution than the days of October, and a contemporary memoir-writer, the marquis de Ferrire, says that the audience came away ''ivre de vengeance et du tourment d'un soir de sang'' ("drunk with the vengeance and torment of an evening of blood"). The performance was the occasion of a split among the actors of the
Comédie-Française, and the new theatre in the
Palais Royal, established by the dissidents, was inaugurated with ''
Henri VIII'' (1791), generally recognized as Chénier's masterpiece; ''
Jean Calas
Jean Calas (1698 – 10 March 1762) was a merchant living in Toulouse, France, who was tried, tortured and executed for the murder of his son, despite his protestations of innocence. Calas was a Protestant in an officially Catholic society. Dou ...
, ou l'école des juges'' ("Jean Calas, or the judges' school") followed in the same year.
In 1792 he produced his ''Caïus Gracchus'', which was even more revolutionary in tone than its predecessors. It was nevertheless proscribed in the next year at the instance of the Montagnard deputy Albitte, for the anti-anarchical
hemistich ''Des lois et non du sang'' ("Laws, and not blood"); ''Fénelon'' (1793) was suspended after a few representations; and in 1794 ''Timoléon'', set to
Etienne Méhul's music, was also proscribed. This piece was played after the
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
, but the
fratricide of ''Timoléon'' became the text for insinuations to the effect that by his silence Joseph Chénier had connived at the judicial murder of his brother, André, whom Joseph's enemies alluded to as Abel.
In fact, after some fruitless attempts to save his brother, variously related by his biographers, Joseph became aware that André's only chance of safety lay in being forgotten by the authorities, and that ill-advised intervention would only hasten the end. Joseph Chénier had been a member of the
National Convention and had voted for the death of
Louis XVI; he belonged to the committees of general security, and of
public safety. He was, nevertheless, suspected of moderate sentiments, and before the end of the Terror had become a marked man.
He had a seat in the
Council of Five Hundred, and the
tribunat. In 1801 he was one of the educational jury for the
Seine
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''
département''. His political career ended in 1802, when he was eliminated with others from the tribunate for his opposition to
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
. From 1803 to 1806 he was inspector-general of public instruction. He had allowed himself to be reconciled with Napoleon's government, and ''Cyrus'', represented in 1804, was written in his honour, but he was temporarily disgraced in 1806 for his ''Épître à
Voltaire''. In 1806 and 1807 he delivered a course of lectures at the Athéne on the language and literature of France from the earliest years; and in 1808 at the emperor's request, he prepared his ''Tableau historique de l'état et du progrés de la littérature française depuis 1789 jusqu'à 1808'' ("Historical view of the state and progress of French literature from 1789 to 1808"), a book containing some good criticism, though marred by the violent prejudices of its author.
The list of his works includes
hymns and national songs among others, the famous ''
Chant du départ''; odes, ''Sur la mort de Mirabeau'', ''Sur l'oligarchie de Robespierre'', etc.; tragedies which never reached the stage, ''Brutus et Cassius'', ''Philippe deux'', ''Tibère''; translations from
Sophocles and
Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin, originally ''Lesnik'' meaning "woodman".
Lessing may refer to:
A German family of writers, artists, musicians and politicians who can be traced back to a Michil Lessigk mentioned in 1518 as being a lin ...
, from
Thomas Gray and
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
, from
Tacitus and
Aristotle; with elegies, dithyrambics and
Ossian
Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...
ic rhapsodies. As a satirist he possessed great merit, though he sins from an excess of severity, and is sometimes malignant and unjust. He is the chief tragic poet of the revolutionary period, and as
Camille Desmoulins expressed it, he decorated
Melpomene
In Greek mythology, Melpomene (; grc, Μελπομένη, Melpoménē, to sing' or 'the one that is melodious), initially the muse of chorus, eventually became the muse of tragedy, and is now best known in that association.
Etymology
Melp ...
with the tricolour cockade.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chenier, Joseph
1764 births
1811 deaths
People from Carcassonne
18th-century French male writers
18th-century French dramatists and playwrights
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights
18th-century French poets
19th-century French poets
University of Paris alumni
Members of the Académie Française
French people of Greek descent
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Presidents of the National Convention
Regicides of Louis XVI
Members of the Council of Five Hundred
Critics of religions
Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to France