Marie-Emmanuel-Guillaume-Marguerite Théaulon de Lambert (14 August 1787, Aigues-Mortes – 16 November 1841) was a French playwright. A customs inspector, then an inspector of military hospitals, he composed an ''Ode'' on the birth of the

King of Rome The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 ...

which brought him thanks from

Napoleon 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 ...

himself. In 1814 he sang for the Bourbons and put on his first play, ''Les Clefs de Paris, ou le Dessert d’Henri IV'' (The Keys of Paris, or the Deservings of Henry IV), in their honour. In 1815, he composed and organised the posting of proclamations in honour of Louis XVIII. He collaborated on the royalist journals ''Le Nain rose'', ''La Foudre'', ''L’Apollon''.

Selected works

Above all during the

Bourbon restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

, he wrote and put on a large number (sometimes alone, sometimes with collaborators), 250 according to one account. Written extremely quickly, most of them are only sketches, whose style often leaves something to be desired but which do not lack wit and beauty. He wrote two five-act verse comedies, ''L’Artiste ambitieux'' (1820) and ''L’Indiscret'' ( 1825), both put on at the Odéon, which sometimes rise to comic truth. His other pieces include: ''Les fiancés'' (1809); ''Stanislas en voyage'' (1812); ''La clochette'',

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

(1817); ''Le petit chaperon rouge'', opéra comique (1818); ''Paris à Pékin'' (1817); ''Le mariage à la hussarde'' (1819); ''Le grenadier de Fanchon'' (1824); ''Le bénéficiaire'', with Étienne (1825); ''La mère au bal et la fille a la maison'' (1826); ''M. Jovial'', with Choquart (1827); ''Le père de la débutante'', with Bayard, etc.

Sources

* Gustave Vapereau, ''Dictionnaire universel des littératures'', Paris, Hachette, 1876, p. 1959 {{DEFAULTSORT:Theaulon, Emmanuel 19th-century French male writers 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights French opera librettists People from Gard 1787 births 1841 deaths French male dramatists and playwrights