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Jean-Nicolas Servandoni, stage name D'Hannetaire, (3 November 1718 - 1 January 1780) was a French actor and theatre director.


Life

He was born in
Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
, the son of the Florentine painter Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni (also known as Jean-Nicolas Servandoni) and his wife Marie-Josèphe Gravier, known for his façade for the église Saint-Sulpice in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
. D'Hannetaire seems to have begun his acting career in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, around 1740. He played at the château d'Arolsen, for the prince of Waldeck, around 1743 and was in
Aix-la-Chapelle Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
in 1744, from whence he arrived in Liège around the end of the year. In November he presented a ''Divertissement nouveau de chants et de danses'' for prince-bishop
Jean-Théodore of Bavaria Johann Theodor of Bavaria (3 September 1703 – 27 January 1763) was a cardinal, Prince-Bishop of Regensburg, Prince-Bishop of Freising, and Prince-Bishop of Liège. Early life Johann Theodor was a son of Elector Maximilian II Emanuel of B ...
and, also whilst in Liège, married the comic-actor Marguerite-Antoinette Huet (stage name Mademoiselle Danicourt) on 17 February 1745. The couple arrived in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in October 1745 and D'Hannetaire took up leadership of the
Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...
, from which he was dislodged four months later by Favart. He and his wife integrated into the troupe of maréchal de Saxe and he once again took direction of the theatre on the departures of the French troupes at the end of 1748. He then played at
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...
and
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 prefecture ...
, then made his debut at the
Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real ...
on 27 April 1752 in the rôle of Orgon in ''
Tartuffe ''Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite'' (; french: Tartuffe, ou l'Imposteur, ), first performed in 1664, is a theatrical comedy by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical thea ...
''. However, he preferred to return to Brussels, in Durancy's troupe, in which he was entrusted "les rôles à manteaux" and "les rôles de Crispin". In 1755 he took over from Durancy as head of this troupe, and stayed so until 1771, sometimes alone, sometimes in association with other actors. D'Hannetaire and his wife had 8 children, 2 of whom also became notable actors : *
Eugénie Eugénie is the French version of the female given name Eugenia. Eugénie or Eugenie may refer to: People * Eugénie de Montijo (1826–1920), 9th Countess de Teba; later Empress Eugénie, Empress Consort to Napoléon III * * Princess Eugenie ...
(1746–1816), married the comic-actor Larive, it was to her that the
prince de Ligne Prince of Ligne is a title of Belgian nobility that belongs to the House of Ligne, which goes back to the eleventh century. It owes its name to the village in which it originated, between Ath and Tournai. The lords of Ligne belonged to the en ...
dedicated his ''Lettres à Eugénie sur les spectacles'' (1774) * Angélique (1749–1822), mistress of vicomte Desandrouins, then of the same prince de Ligne. In 1768, he renounced acting to become a
notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...
, in the historic context of the
excommunication of actors This article is about the relationship between the Catholic Church and theatre. Overview Many bishops, priests, and monks have strongly condemned theatrical amusements, and they even declared the actors to be 'instruments of Satan', 'a curse to ...
"in virtue of an old usage of comedy". Nevertheless, he continued to act at Brussels for several years, before having to retire until his death in Brussels.


Works

*''Observations sur l'Art du Comédien, et sur d'autres objets concernant cette Profession en général'', known in 8 editions, at first anonymous, then under the pseudonym ''Dhannetaire'' (1772, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1778 and 1800).


Sources

* Henri Liebrecht, ''Comédiens français d'autrefois à Bruxelles'', Paris, Bruxelles, Labor, 1932. See chapter II, "Un comédien grand seigneur : Jean Nicolas Servandoni D'Hannetaire, seigneur d'Haeren". * Carlo Bronne, ''Financiers et comédiens au XVIIIe siècle'', Ed. Goemaere, Bruxelles, 1969. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannetaire 1718 births 1780 deaths Male actors from Grenoble Directors of La Monnaie Actors of the Austrian Netherlands 18th-century French male actors