Joseph Balsamo
Joseph Balsamo or Giuseppe Balsamo , (his pseudonym was Count Alessandro von Cagliostro , * 1743- † 1795), is the first part of the four-volume series of novels Memoirs of a Doctor by the French author Alexandre Dumas , which also includes The Queen's Collar , Ange Pitou and The Countess of Charny , who Dumas, beginning with Joseph Balsamo , published between 1846 and 1855 in the feature pages of the Paris newspaper La Presse .
content
France 1769. In the last reign of Louis XV. and its mistress Madame Dubarry , the French royal court in Versailles has reached the climax of an absolutism turning into decadence and arbitrariness. The Rococo courtyard sinks into a morass of scandals and conspiracy. The Dubarry is nothing more important than the recognition of their position through a formal "introduction" in the circle of the old nobility. To do this, with the help of her brother, she mobilizes all means of flattery and bribery.
Madame Dubarry must hurry with her plan. Because in an unprecedented triumphal procession , Marie Antoinette's coach is already rolling through France. The Austrian Emperor's daughter, whose mother is Maria Theresa , comes to her marriage to the French Dauphin, the Crown Prince and grandson of Louis XV. to Paris. This Habsburg princess is expected to be a little more strict than has been the norm at the French court.
During a stopover in the castle of the impoverished Count von Taverney, the young Dauphine made the acquaintance of three personalities who from now on were closely involved in her life and who will have an impact on her life to an almost unimaginable degree.
- For the first Philippe von Taverney . The young Chevalier, with his heart in the right place, is the first Frenchman that the princess met on French soil, which is why she decided to make her fortune.
- For the second Andrée von Taverney , Philippe's sister. Marie-Antoinette, then only 15 years old, takes the youthful innocence of her character for herself. The princess takes Andrée and her servant Nicole , who looks very much like the queen, with her to Paris.
- Third, Marie-Antoinette meets the black artist Giuseppe Balsamo , alias Cagliostro , alias Acharat, in Taverney Castle , whose enigmatic prophecies cause confusion and astonishment wherever he appears.
While the decadent, fine society at the Versailles royal court ponders the identity of the mysterious man as much as they are amused at his sleight of hand, nobody notices how Balsamo spins an invisible web of intrigues between rulers, favorites and flirtatious high ladies.
As the leader of a Masonic lodge, the magician, whose black eyes cast a spell on everyone, conspires against this despicable, deluded court aristocracy, whose demise he has committed his life to. In order to achieve his goal of worldwide appreciation of the ideal of “freedom, equality, brotherhood” , he believes that he is ready to sacrifice his honor, his personal happiness and that of his fellow human beings.
The love of his wife Lorenza , whose changeable character exposes Balsamo and his political plans time and again to the greatest danger, finally teaches him better. His old, hard-hearted master Althotas , who always accompanied his student Arachat on his travels, imparted his knowledge of the world and alchemy and taught him the art of hypnosis, seeks eternal life. His narrow-minded egoism to pay any price for eternity and not shy away from any cruel means on his way to immortality, Balsamos destroys the blossoming true happiness and almost drives him to suicide.
Gilbert , a young man from the people, a student of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and secretly in love with the beautiful Andrée, whose fate Balsamo abruptly co-determined, gives him back his courage to live with his unshakable belief in a better, more just world, and pays for his unrealistic Optimism, however, fled to the Azores because of a terrible crime, with his life.
In May 1774, with the death of Louis XV, the novel ends and is continued 8 years later in the winter of 1781, in the “Queen's Necklace” .
Film adaptations
- As part of an international co-production, Joseph Balsamo was implemented as a television multi-parter in the 1970s. In France, the corresponding cinematic implementation of the Dumas novel was celebrated as very successful. The German producers didn't see it that way. From the original 360-minute version for French television, Walter Ulbrich and Cagliostro put together an almost completely new story.
literature
- Oliver Kellner & Ulf Marek: Seewolf & Co. - The great adventure four-part series of ZDF , Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, ISBN 3896026321