Armande Béjart

Armande Béjart.

Armande-Grésinde-Claire-Élisabeth Béjart (* 1642 ; † 1700 ) was a French actress from the Parisian comedian family of the same name . She was the wife of the playwright and theater director Molière and after his death took over the management of the company for several years.

origin

It is not clear whether Armande Béjart was the youngest child of the actor Joseph Béjart and his wife Marie Hervé or the child of their eldest daughter Madeleine Béjart , Molière's long-term partner and companion. In view of the death date of Joseph Béjart (1643) and the age of Madeleine (* 1618), both assumptions are possible. It should be noted that, on the one hand, Béjart's estate document lists an unbaptized little girl among his children ("une petite non baptisée") who could be Armande, and on the other hand, Madeleine had already given birth to an illegitimate daughter on July 3, 1638, Françoise.

Most contemporaries thought Armande was Madeleine's daughter, and opponents of Molière even ascribed paternity to her, on the basis of a rumor presumably circulated by the rival troops of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Accordingly, they accused him of incest when he married Armande in 1662. Molière is said to have justified himself against this accusation by presenting Louis XIV. Armandes today lost birth certificate. In any case, a little later the king took over the sponsorship of their first child.

Marriages

First page of the marriage contract between Béjart and Molière.

Molière, 20 years his senior, was married on February 20, 1662 in the parish church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois . The couple had three children: Louis (* January 1664), who died at the age of 8 months, Esprit-Madeleine (* August 1665, † without offspring 1723) and Pierre-Jean-Baptiste-Armand (* 1672), who was only a few Days old. Armande's marriage to Molière was not always happy. From 1666 she lived apart from him for a while.

After Molière's sudden death on February 17, 1673, Armande managed to break the parish priest's resistance and obtain permission for a Christian burial in the cemetery of the parish church of St-Eustache de Paris, thanks to the help of the king, who brought in the Archbishop of Paris to obtain. However, it was stipulated that this had to be done secretly and at night. However, Armande could not prevent a large crowd from escorting Molière by the light of 100 torches.

She then took over the management of the troupe, which shortly afterwards merged with that of the Théâtre du Marais (see below).

On May 29, 1677 she married an actor from the Marais, Isaac François Guérin d'Estriché, for the second time .

Acting activity

Armande Béjart was part of Molière's troupe very early on. As early as 1653 she appeared in children's roles under the name Mademoiselle Menou. Later she played among others the Elmire in Tartuffe (1664), the Célimène in Der Menschenfeind (1666), the Lucile in Der Bürger als Edelmann (1670), the Henriette in The scholarly women (1672) and the Angélique in The imagined sick (1673 ). But she also took on tragic roles such as Cléophile in Alexandre by Jean Racine , Flavie in Attila and Bérénice in Tite et Bérénice by Pierre Corneille . Even after Molière's death, she continued to play the roles he had written for her. In 1694 she retired.

Preserving Molière's legacy

After Molière's death, she took over the management of the company, supported by the actor La Grange. However, this was decimated by poaching the so-called "grands comédiens" of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in the rue Monconseil and lost the hall of the Palais Royal to Lully , who installed an opera there. On the other hand, Armande managed to merge with another Parisian troupe, the des Marais (to which her later second husband belonged), and to win the ballroom of the Jeu de Paume de La Bouteille in rue Guénégaud as a new venue .

In 1680, seven years after Molière's death, the Troupe de l'Hôtel Guénégaud joined forces with their rivals from the Hôtel de Bourgogne on the orders of the king, which is considered the founding act of the Comédie-Française .

The resulting troupe also played in the Hôtel Guénégaud after 1680, but had to vacate it in 1687 due to the opening of the neighboring Collège des Quatre Nations , which Mazarin had ordered in his will. Looking for another room, she was turned down everywhere: in the Hôtel de Soudis (rue de l'Arbre Sec, corner rue des Fossées Saint-Germain) because of the objection of the pastor of the parish church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois , in the hotel de Nemours (between rue de Savoie and Quai des Grands Augustins ) because of the rejection of the parish priest of St. André-des-Arts , in the Hôtel de Lussan (rue des Petits Champs) because of the protest of the parish priest of St-Eustache de Paris, who objected that it was enough that he already had the Comédie Italienne in his parish. In the meantime, this was indeed playing in the Hôtel de Bourgogne. Eventually, despite opposition from the parish priest of St-Sulpice de Paris, the company was allowed to move to the old ballroom Jeu de Paume de l'Etoile from 1547, which they bought for £ 60,000.

The architect François d'Orbay waived the fee for the design of the renovation of the building, the beautiful Italian room of which was inaugurated on April 18, 1689 with performances by Racines Phèdre and Molières Le Médecin malgré lui and the troops for around 80 years, until 1770 , served. Today only the facade remains as number 14 of the current rue de l'Ancienne Comédie in the 6th district of Paris.

Armande Béjart died in 1700 and was buried in the church of St-Sulpice de Paris .

literature

• Friedrich Hartau: Molière in self-testimonies and photo documents. (= Rowohlt's monographs; 24). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2000, ISBN 3-499-50245-3 .
• Johannes Hösle: Molière. His life, his work, his time . Piper, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-492-11563-2 .
• Henry Lyonnet: Mademoiselle Molière. Armande Béjart . Edition Alcan, Paris 1925.

Web links

Commons : Armande Béjart  - collection of images

• Molière on the website of the "ODYSSEE Theater" syndicate
• The bejarts in the online dictionary toutmoliere (french)