Corrèze
Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...
). After studying with the
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
Cantal
Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
; and in 1745, acting on the advice of
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 ...
, he set out for
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
to try for literary success.
From 1748 to 1753 he wrote a succession of tragedies: ''Denys le Tyran'' (1748); ''Aristomene'' (1749); ''Cleopâtre'' (1750); ''Heraclides'' (1752); ''Egyptus'' (1753). These literary works, though only moderately successful on the stage, secured Marmontel's introduction into literary and fashionable circles.
He wrote a series of articles for the '' Encyclopédie'' evincing considerable critical power and insight, which in their collected form, under the title ''Eléments de Littérature'', still rank among the French classics. He also wrote several comic operas, the two best of which probably are '' Sylvain'' (1770) and '' Zémire et Azore'' (1771). In the Gluck– Piccinni controversy he was an eager partisan of Piccinni with whom he collaborated in Roland (Piccinni) (1778) and Atys (1779), both using Jean Baptiste Lully's libretto by Quinault as basis, '' Didon'' (1783) and ''Penelope'' (1785).
In 1758 he gained the patronage of Madame de Pompadour, who obtained for him a place as a civil servant, and the management of the official journal '' Le Mercure'', in which he had already begun the famous series of ''Contes moraux''. The merit of these tales lies partly in the delicate finish of the style, but mainly in the graphic and charming pictures of French society under King
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...
. The author was elected to the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
in 1763. In 1767 he published ''Bélisaire'', now remarkable in part because of a chapter on religious toleration which incurred the censure of the Sorbonne and the archbishop of Paris. Marmontel retorted in ''Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'empire du Perou'' (1777) by tracing the cruelties in Spanish America to the religious fanaticism of the invaders.
He was appointed historiographer of France (1771), secretary to the Academy (1783), and professor of history in the Lycée (1786). As a historiographer, Marmontel wrote a history of the regency (1788). Reduced to poverty by the French Revolution, Marmontel retired during the
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
Eure
Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.Jean Baptiste Massillon, whom more than half a century previously he had seen at Clermont, to Honoré Mirabeau. The book was nominally written for the instruction of his children. It contains an exquisite picture of his own childhood in the Limousin; its value for the literary historian is great.
Marmontel lived for some time under the roof of Madame Geoffrin, and was present at her famous dinners given to artists; he was welcomed into most of the houses where the encyclopaedists met, and was a contributor to the '' Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''. He thus had at his command the best material for his portraits, and made good use of his opportunities. After a short stay in Paris when elected in 1797 to the ''Conseil des Anciens'', he died at Abloville.
He was a member of the Masonic lodge Les Neuf Sœurs.
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...
named him as one of the three people in history who were the most influential for him. In his autobiography,
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...
credits ''Mémoires d'un père'' with curing him of depression.
Works
Theatre
Marmontel published many opera librettos and mostly operas comiques librettos, a genre in which he excelled but could not compete with Charles-Simon Favart.
*1748: ''Denys le tyran'', tragedy, 5 February
*1749: ''Aristomène'', tragedy, 30 April
*1750: ''Cléopâtre'', tragédie, 20 May
*1751: '' La Guirlande'', acte de ballet, music by
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...
*1751: '' Acante et Céphise'', pastorale héroïque in three acts, music by Jean-Philippe Rameau
*1752: ''Les Héraclides'', tragedy, 24 May
*1753: ''Égyptus'', tragedy
*1753: '' Lisis et Délie'', pastorale héroïque in 1 act, music by Jean-Philippe Rameau
*1753: '' Les sibarites'', acte de ballet, music by Jean-Philippe Rameau
*1761: '' Hercule mourant'', tragédie lyrique, music by Antoine Dauvergne
*1762: '' Annette et Lubin''
*1766: ''La Bergère des Alpes''
*1768: '' Le Huron'', opera comique, music by André Grétry
*1769: '' Lucile'', opéra comique, music by André Grétry
*1770: ''Sylvain'', opéra comique, music by André Grétry
*1771: ''L'amie de la maison'', opéra comique, music by André Grétry
*1771: '' Zémire et Azor'', opéra comique, music by André Grétry
*1773: '' Céphale et Procris'', ballet héroïque, music by André Grétry
*1775: ''La Fausse magie'', opéra comique, music by André Grétry
*1783: '' Didon'', opera, music by Niccolò Piccinni
*1785: '' Pénélope'', opéra comique, music by Niccolò Piccinni
*1788: '' Démophoon'', music by Luigi Cherubini.
Poetry
* ''Polymnie'', satire en 11 chants
*1751: ''L’établissement de l’École militaire'',
*1752: ''Vers sur la convalescence du Dauphin'',
*1753: ''La naissance du duc d’Aquitaine'',
*1760: ''Épître aux poètes'',
*1820: ''La Neuvaine de Cythère'', (licencious poem)
Novels
*1755–1759: ''Contes moraux'',
*1767: '' Bélisaire'', Reprinted in 1787 by the Bibliothèque amusante. (see the two paintings by Jacques Louis David '' Bélisaire demandant l'aumône'')
*1777: ''Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'empire du Perou''
*1792: ''Nouveaux contes moraux''
Essays
*1763: ''Poétique française'', 3 parts: a work in which Racine and Boileau are strongly attacked.
*1777: ''Essai sur les révolutions de la musique en France'',
*1785: ''De l’Autorité de l’usage sur la langue'',
*1787: ''Éléments de littérature''. Modern edition at Desjonquères, presented, established and annotated by Sophie Le Ménahèze, 2005.
*1788: ''Mémoire sur la régence du duc d’Orléans''
*1792: ''Apologie de l’Académie française''.
Varia
*1746: '' L'Observateur littéraire '': literary journal established with Jean-Grégoire Bauvin (or Beauvin); « ''Cette feuille, écrira-t-il, n'étant ni la critique infidèle et injuste des bons ouvrages, ni la satire amère et mordante des bons auteurs, elle eut peu de débit.''» . The title was revived by abbé de La Porte in 1758.
*1712–1714: ''The Rape of the Lock'' by Alexander Pope, translated into verse ''La boucle de cheveux enlevée'', 1746. Edition bilingue moderne chez Rivages poche, 2010, 142 pages ()
*1759: édition remaniée de ''Venceslas'' by Rotrou,
*1766: ''La Pharsale de Lucain'', translated into prose,
*1775: édition des ''Chefs d’œuvres dramatiques de Mairet, Du Ryer et Rotrou'', with a ''Commentaire'',
*1800: ''Mémoires d’un père pour servir à l’instruction de ses enfants'',
*1806: ''Leçons d’un père à ses enfants sur la langue française''.