'' Artémire '' was
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
'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
Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...
in
Thessaly
Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...
after the death of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
. 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.
After being withdrawn from the public theatre, ''Artémire'' had seven further performances by request of the
Regent's mother
Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine.
The literary review ''L'Europe savante'' reported the play had had few performances, and that it contained the same weaknesses and favourable points as Voltaire's first tragedy ''
Oedipe'' though it failed where ''Oedipe'' had succeeded. Voltaire reused some of the material from ''Artémire'' in his 1724 play ''
Hérode et Mariamne''.
Although not popular with the theatre-going public, ''Artémire'' was sufficiently well-received at court to secure Voltaire's permission to return to Paris, from where he had been banished for offending the Regent.
Printed editions
Voltaire retained the manuscript of the play. Two short fragments from the fourth act were first published by
Pierre Desfontaines in the appendix to the Bernard edition of ''La Ligue'' in Amsterdam in 1724. A summary and arrangement of the surviving fragments was contained in the 1785 in the Kehl edition of Voltaire's works. Additional fragments from a manuscript of Decroix were incorporated into the Beuchot edition of the works of Voltaire (1829–1840).
References
External links
Fragments of ''Artémire'' on wikisource (French)
{{Voltaire, state=expanded
Plays by Voltaire
Tragedy plays
1720 in France
1720 plays