Catulle Mendès

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Catulle Mendès

Catulle Mendès (born May 22, 1841 in Bordeaux , † February 7, 1909 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye ) was a French writer and poet.

Life

Mendès comes from a Jewish-Portuguese family and spent his childhood and youth in Toulouse. In 1859 he came to Paris, where he quickly became one of Théophile Gautier's protégés . In 1860 he founded La Revue Fantaisiste , in which Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam especially collaborated. He published his first volume of poetry, Philoméla, in 1863. After a trip to Germany, he enthusiastically supported the composer Richard Wagner .

Mendès then joined the circle of writers around Charles Leconte de Lisle , which included François Coppée , Léon Dierx , José-Maria de Heredia and Théodore de Banville . He joined the Parnassiens and was able to publish some poems in the anthology Le Parnasse contemporain initiated by Alphonse Lemerre .

Mendès died at the age of 67 under unclear circumstances. His body was found on February 7th in the railway tunnel of Saint-Germain-en-Laye : It is believed that he had opened the door of his wagon because he believed he was already at the destination.

The daughters of Catulle Mendès , Auguste Renoir

Mendès had married Judith Gautier , daughter Théophile Gautier , in 1866 . After this marriage failed, he moved in with the composer Augusta Holmès in 1869 . The couple had five children before separating in 1886. Auguste Renoir depicted three of the daughters in his painting Les filles de Catulle Mendès , which is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City . Mendès finally married one last time: the poet Jeanne Nette

plant

His signature

The extensive work of Catulle Mendès has almost been forgotten today. In a letter to the editor published in Figaro (May 1, 1906), Catulle Mendès wrote that after reading "Les Religions et les Philosophies de l'Asie centrale" by Count de Gobineau in 1868, he had the idea of ​​a play about the Persian poet and follower of the Báb name Tahéreh (also called Táhirih or Qurrat al-´Ain). He is as a representative of an aestheticism of the fin de siècle considered, which used a searched and brilliant vocabulary. The critics of his time accused him of superficiality and of following contemporary fashions. His poetry exudes a decadent perfume, as it were; she was very much appreciated by Verlaine . He also wrote erotic short stories.

Seals

  • Philoméla (1863);
  • Hesperus (1872);
  • Contes Epiques (1872);
  • Poésies (1892);
  • Poésies nouvelles (1893);
  • Nouveaux Contes de Jadis (1893), Editeur Paul Ollendorff, Paris
  • 12 French folk songs: from: Les plus jolies chansons du pays de France (Ger.), Chansons tendres, choisies / par Catulle Mendès. With the notation of the print edition. and with German replicas as Ms. f. his friends reproduced by the translator Arthur Heidenhain. Paris: Plon (1899).

Plays and opera libretti

  • La Part du roi (1872);
  • Les Frères d'armes (1873);
  • Justice (1877);
  • Les Mères ennemies (1882)
  • Le Capitaine Fracasse (1878);
  • Rodrigue et Chimène (1878), libretto for Claude Debussy ; the opera remained a fragment
  • Gwendoline (1886), libretto for Chabrier's opera  ;
  • La Femme de Tabarin (1887);
  • Isoline (1888), libretto for the opera by André Messager  ;
  • Médée (1898);
  • La Reine Fiammette (1898);
  • Le Fils de l'étoile (1904);
  • Scarron (1905);
  • Ariane (1906) libretto for the opera by Massenet  ;
  • Glatigny (1906);
  • Bacchus (1909) Libretto for the opera by Massenet .

Critical works

  • Les 73 journées de la Commune: du 18 mars au 29 mai 1871 (1871) Archive.org , German: The 73 days of the Commune : From March 18 to May 29, 1871 (1871) Internet Archive and books.google ;
  • La Légende du Parnasse contemporain (1884);
  • Richard Wagner (1886);
  • L'Œuvre wagnérienne en France  ;
  • Rapport sur le mouvement poétique français de 1867 à 1900 (1902).

Novels

  • Incendies (2006) (collection of novels) (Stalker éditeur)
  • La Vie et la mort d'un clown (1879);
  • Les Mères ennemies (1880);
  • Le Roi vierge (1881);
  • Zo'Har (1886);
  • L'Homme tout nu (1887);
  • La Première maîtresse (1894)  ;
  • Gog (1896).

Film adaptations

  • 1946: Fate of a Night ( La grande Maguet )

literature

  • Stéphane Verstaevel-Magnier: Catulle Mendes: le poète protée , [Charleston, SC]: [CreateSpace], [2016?], ISBN 978-1-5171-4688-7

Web links

Commons : Catulle Mendès  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ À La Hauteur by Isma Forghani ISBN 978-2-343-17990-2 L´Harmattan
personal data
SURNAME Mendès, Catulle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer and poet
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Bordeaux
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 1909
Place of death Saint-Germain-en-Laye