Colley Cibber

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Colley Cibber.

Colley Cibber , occasionally Cooley Cibber , (born November 6, 1671 in London , † November 12, 1757 ibid) was a British actor, theater director, impresario , playwright and poet .

Life

Colley Cibber was a son of the sculptor Cajus Gabriel Cibber and his second wife Jane Colley (1646-1697). He had a brother and a sister. Cibber wrote a number of plays which were performed by his own theater company at the Theater Royal Drury Lane in London. In addition to his own pieces, he adapted a number of plays (including by William Shakespeare and Molière ) for his ensemble and was repeatedly criticized for this plagiarism . His non-juror is barely veiled, the Tartuffe by Molière and the plays Tragical History of King Richard III. and Papal tyranny in the reign of King John are paraphrases to Shakespeare's dramas.

Cibber saw himself primarily as an actor; with the portrayal of comic roles in restoration comedies , such as "Lord Foppington" in John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse , he had great success. In tragic roles he was considered to be the wrong choice and was repeatedly the victim of ridicule. As manager of the Theater Royal on Drury Lane, he discovered Kitty Clive at a young age.

Cibber's cheeky, extroverted personality did not always find favor with his contemporaries. He was repeatedly accused of tasteless, theatrical productions, questionable business methods and political and social opportunism . The honor of a royal court poet, ( Poet Laureate ), Cibber is said to have received only because of his connections. He was also the main target of Alexander Pope's satirical poem The Dunciad .

Nowadays he is no longer given any importance as a poet. Some of his comedies clearly show how public tastes changed at the beginning of the 18th century - especially in comparison with the plays by John Vanbrugh . His autobiography Apology for the life (1740) is also an excellent source for the theater of the early 18th century. Cibber thus established a tradition of anecdotal and therefore often epic autobiographies. Contemporary rumors put this autobiography under the authority of the writer Henry Fielding .

Colley Cibber died in London on November 12, 1757 at the age of 86.

Works

prose

  • An apology for the life of Mr. Colley Cibber - London, electronic edition
  • The character and conduct of Cicero considered (1747)
  • A letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope (1742)

Poems

  • The blind boy. In the translation of Jacheluttas by Franz Schubert set to music as "The blind boy"
    D. 833

Plays

  • The careless husband (1704)
  • The comical lovrs ( 1707 )
  • The double gallant (1707)
  • The lady's last stake (1707)
  • Love makes a man or the fop's fortune (1700)
  • Love's last shift or the fool in fashion (1696)
  • The non-juror (1717)
  • The papal tyranny in the reign of King John ( 1736 )
  • The provoked husband or a journey to London (1728)
  • The refusal or the ladies philosophy (1721)
  • The rival fools (1709)
  • She wou'd and she wou'd not or the kind impostor (1702)
  • The schoolboy or the comic rival (1707)
  • The tragical history of King Richard III. (1700)
  • Woman's wit or the lady in fashion (1677)

literature

  • Leonard RN Ashley: Colley Cibber. Revised Edition. Twayne, Boston MA 1989, ISBN 0-8057-6969-2 ( Twayne's English Authors Series. TEAS 17)
  • Helene Koon: Colley Cibber. A biography. University Press of Kentucky, Lexington KY 1986, ISBN 0-8131-1551-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Jaeger: Cibber, Cajus Gabriel . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 1. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1970, p. 110
personal data
SURNAME Cibber, Colley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cibber, Cooley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater director, impresario, playwright and poet
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1671
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1757
Place of death London