Balthasar Baro

Balthasar Baro (* around 1600 in Valence , † 1650 in Montpellier ) was a French novelist and playwright of the pre-classical period. He was a member of the Académie française .

life and work

Baro, who studied law, was the secretary of Honoré d'Urfé . After his death in 1625 he arranged for the publication in 1627 of the fourth part of the manuscript's enormous novel L'Astrée and in 1628 of the final fifth part (which has been a recognized part of the novel since 1633). In addition, he emerged as a playwright with a total of 10 plays. His piece Célinde (premiered in 1628) attracted particular attention because of the technique of “play in play” used there.

In 1636 he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 38). When the Academy was asked to review Corneille's Cid , Baro (with Germain Habert de Cérisy, Jean Ogier de Gombauld, and Claude de L'Estoile ) was one of the four verse reviewers. Its presence is also recorded in Toulouse and Montpellier. Exact dates of birth and death are not known. A scientific colloquium was dedicated to him in Montpellier in 2002, which was not published until 2018. The first volume of a modern, critical edition of his stage works was published in 2014.

Works

Novel prose

• The conclusion et dernière partie d'Astrée où par plusieurs histoires & sous personnes de bergers & d'autres, sont déduits les divers effets de l'honnête amitié . Paris 1628.

theatre

• Theater complet . Edited by Bénédicte Louvat-Molozay, Pierre Escudé, Pierre Pasquier, Anne Teulade and Noémie Courtès. Vol. 1. Classiques Garnier, Paris 2014.
  • Le Cléosandre, où sont rapportés tous les passe-temps du carnaval de Toulouse, en cette année mil six cent vingt-quatre. 1624.
  • Saint Eustache martyr. Poème dramatique . 1645.
  • Cariste ou les charmes de la beauté. Poème dramatique . 1651.
• Celinde . Poème herroïque. 1628. Paris 1629.
• La Force you destin . 1630 (lost)
• La Clorise. Pastoral. 1631. Paris 1632. (Dedicated to Richelieu)
• La Parthenie . Paris 1642.
• La Clarimonde . Paris 1643.
• Le prince fugitif. Poème dramatique. 1649.
• Rosemonde . Tragedy. Paris 1651.
• L'Amante vindicative . Poème dramatique. Paris 1652.

poetry

• Les Poésies de Balthazar Baro, le continuateur d'Astrée, académicien. Eds. Léon Côte (1888–1966) and Paul Berthet. Grenoble 1913.

literature

• Balthasar Baro. Etudes. Eds. Bénédicte Louvat-Molozay (* 1970) and Pierre Pasquier (* 1949). Presses universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 2018 (Colloquium Montpellier 2002).

Web links

• Information on Balthasar Baro in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
• Literature by and about Balthasar Baro in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)