Eugénie (Beaumarchais)
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| Original title: | Eugénie |
| Genus: | drama |
| Original language: | French |
| Author: | Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais |
| Literary source: | Alain-René Lesage : Le diable boiteux |
| Premiere: | January 29, 1767 |
| Place of premiere: | Comédie-Française |
| Place and time of the action: | London , 18th century |
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Eugenie is a drama in five acts in prose by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799).
In the work, a young bon vivant from English high society is converted to bourgeois morality through his love for the daughter of a Welsh country nobleman , whom he has duped through a fake marriage .
After Beaumarchais had previously only written social theater, he created Eugénie, his first work intended for public performance.
Emergence
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Beaumarchais claims to have started the piece in 1759 when he was in the service of the unmarried daughters of Louis XV. was standing. The impetus for completion was given by Diderot's bourgeois tragedy Le père de famille (The Housefather) , which was performed in Paris in 1761 and even moved the not exactly morally strict king to tears. Beaumarchais cites the story of Count Belflor and Léonor de Cespèdes from Le diable boiteux (The Limping Devil) by Alain-René Lesage , a 1707 adaptation of the novel El diablo cojuelo by Luis Vélez de Guevara (1641) as a literary model . The blue-blooded libertine is also reminiscent of the character of Lovelace in Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa (1748).
genus
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Like the Père de famille , the play is accompanied by a theoretical treatise. In this Essai sur le drame sérieux (attempt on serious drama ) Beaumarchais describes the drame sérieux, which is also called tragi-comédie ( tragicomedy ), tragédie bourgeoise ( bourgeois tragedy ) or comédie larmoyante ( stirring piece ) , as a genre between tragédie héroïque ( Heroes tragedy ) and comédie plaisante ( comedy ). Beaumarchais was to write two more drames sérieux , namely Les deux amis ou Le négociant de Lyon (The two friends or The merchant of L.) and L'autre Tartuffe ou La mère coupable (The other T. or The guilty mother). His two best-known pieces, however - Le barbier de Séville ou La précaution inutile (The Barber of Seville or The Unnecessary Caution) and La folle journée ou Le mariage de Figaro ( The great day or The wedding of F. ) - are comedies .
Location
Eugénie originally played in Paris; the heroine of the title was Breton , her seducer was called the Marquis de Rosempré. Shortly before the premiere , Beaumarchais then, on the advice of the French ambassador in London, the Duke of Nivernais , moved the plot to Great Britain , where marriage was no longer considered a sacrament , as it was in France at the time . The setting is the elegant parlor of the petite maison , where the Count of Clarendon Eugénie and Madame Murer stayed.
action
Focused retold yet filed the place of action in the Austrian Beaumarchais researcher Anton Bettelheim , "The Fable of the piece adheres substantially to the amendment of Lesage, only Beaumarchais has all the finer points and transitions of the Comte de Belflor coarsened, the place of action flatly to France laid and from the Spanish cavalier one of those infamous Alcibiades the reign of a doppelganger Duke of Richelieu made the now gone even with Lovelace to school.
Thanks to the persuasion of her aristocratic aunt Murer, the high-born libertine was able to get the daughter of a little country gentleman, Eugenie, to marry him without the prior knowledge of her father, a good-natured polterer. Since Eugenie feels like a mother, she travels to the capital after her supposed husband. But there it turns out that the whole wedding was a comedy and the priest was only the steward of the unscrupulous beau who is about to marry one of the richest and most distinguished heiresses in the country.
Madame Murer, just as thoughtless in her anger as before in her trust, now wants to lure the faithless into an ambush: she orders Eugenie to humble the traitor again. When this arrives at night, he brings a young man with him as escort, whom he has just saved the life of a murderous attack - Eugenien's brother. The latter shamed Count Belflor, just like Pedro, the seducer of his sister through noble self-denial by protecting himself against his and Eugenien's father.
The chivalry of the (...) brother shakes up the hardened wicked (...); Even before that, the desperation of Eugenia had warned him not to go deeply into self-meditation. After a duel in which he disarmed Eugenien's brother, the sinner at Eugenia's feet begs and receives full forgiveness; her reluctance gives way to his appeal to the voice of nature: she forgives him, for the sake of the child she carries under her heart. "
premiere
At the premiere , Eugénie was played by 20-year-old Mademoiselle Doligny (Louise-Adélaïde Berton-Maisonneuve), her father by Préville (Pierre-Louis Dubus), her seducer by Bellecour (Jean-Claude Gilles Colson) - the same actors who later Raisin, Figaro and Count Almaviva embodied in the Barbier de Séville . The 4th and 5th act displeased, which Beaumarchais then tried to iron out through cuts and changes. The print version appeared in September. What was new was that Beaumarchais made precise regulations for the set design and costumes as well as pantomimes inserted between the elevators .
success
Although the critics ( Collé , Grimm , Fréron ) shot themselves at Beaumarchais, who did not socialize in their circles and admittedly still had a lot to learn, the play had 104 performances at the Comédie-Française in the 18th century and 88 in the 19th century, the last in 1863. It was played in front of the court in Fontainebleau in 1775, in Versailles in 1778 and also after the Revolution at the Théâtre du Marais (1791/92). Sweden's future King Gustav III. was enthusiastic about the piece, which was followed by a performance in front of the court in Svartsjö in the year of publication . It has been translated into Italian and German several times. Garrick had it adapted by Elizabeth Griffith as The School for Rakes - a title reminiscent of Hogarth's picture cycle A Rake's Progress (1733–1735) - and was a success at the Drury Lane Theater . Eugénie was now called Harriet, the Count Lord Eustace. Goethe , who drew his tragedy Clavigo from Beaumarchais's report on his trip to Spain (1764/65), names Eugénie in poetry and truth in one breath with the Père de famille, Sedaines Le philosophe sans le savoir (The philosopher without knowing it) , Fenouillet de Falbaires L'honnête criminel (The Honest Criminal) and Merciers La brouette du vinaigrier (The Vinegar's Cart).
Opera version
- Sebastiano Nasolini ( Libretto : Giuseppe Maria Foppa ): Eugenia, Venice 1792.
literature
- Eugénie, Drame en cinq actes en prose, enrichi en figures en taille-douce; avec un essai sur le drame sérieux, Par M. de Beaumarchais, Merlin, Paris 1767 ( digitized ).
- Anton Bettelheim : Beaumarchais, Eine Biographie, 2nd, revised edition, C. H. Beck , Munich 1911, pp. 91–99.
- Pierre Larthomas , with the assistance of Jacqueline Larthomas (ed.): Beaumarchais, Œuvres, Gallimard ( Bibliothèque de la Pléiade ), Paris 1988, ISBN 2-07-011137-7 , pp. 117-187, 1237-1267.
- Maurice Lever : Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, 1st volume, Fayard , Paris 1999, ISBN 2-213-59561-5 , pp. 267-289.
References and comments
- ↑ From Wales .
- ↑ Young courtier, richly and elegantly dressed according to French fashion. The title Earl of Clarendon had temporarily expired in 1753.
- ↑ A wealthy widow from Wales, wearing a dress of a serious color.
- ↑ Εὐγενία = the well-born. Wears a dress of cheerful color and a straw hat.
- ↑ Officer in civilian clothes .
- ↑ Wears Gala uniform .
- ↑ Young girl from Wales.
- ↑ See Pierre Larthomas , with the participation of Jacqueline Larthomas (ed.): Beaumarchais, Œuvres, Gallimard ( Bibliothèque de la Pléiade ), Paris 1988, pp. 1–116, 1193–1236.
- ↑ Mesdames Adélaïde (1732–1800), Victoire (1733–1799), Sophie (1734–1782) and Louise (1737–1787).
- ^ Anton Bettelheim: Beaumarchais, Eine Biographie, 2nd, revised edition, Verlag C. H. Beck, Munich 1911, p. 91.
- ↑ ( Alain-René Lesage :) Le diable boiteux, Veuve Barbin, Paris 1707, pp. 32-108 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Essai sur le genre dramatique sérieux, in: Eugénie…, avec un essai sur le drame sérieux, Par M. de Beaumarchais, Merlin, Paris 1767, pp. I – III ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Cf. Anton Bettelheim : Beaumarchais, Eine Biographie, 2nd, revised edition, C. H. Beck , Munich 1911, pp. 87 f., 91 f. For further possible sources of inspiration cf. Maurice Lever : Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Volume 1, Fayard , Paris 1999, p. 269, note 7.
- ↑ ( Denis Diderot :) De la poésie dramatique, À Monsieur Grimm , appendix to: Le père de famille, Comédie en cinq actes et en prose, Avec un discours sur la poésie dramatique, Amsterdam 1758 ( digitized ).
- ↑ Essai sur le genre dramatique sérieux, in: Eugénie…, avec un essai sur le drame sérieux, Par M. de Beaumarchais, Merlin, Paris 1767, pp. I – XLIV, here: pp. I, V ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Maurice Lever: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Volume 1, Fayard, Paris 1999, p. 275.
- ↑ Hidden house for private parties and gallant meetings.
- ↑ In Lesage Dom Pedre, brother of Leonor. See (Alain-René Lesage :) Le diable boiteux, Veuve Barbin, Paris 1707, pp. 85 ff. ( Digitized version ).
- ^ Anton Bettelheim: Beaumarchais, Eine Biographie, 2nd, revised edition, C. H. Beck, Munich 1911, p. 91 f. (in the original no Alineas ).
- ^ According to Maurice Lever: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Volume 1, Fayard, Paris 1999, p. 18, a friend of the Caron family.
- ↑ 2nd edition with errata : Eugénie, Drame en cinq actes en prose, enrichi en figures en taille-douce; avec un essai sur le drame sérieux, Par M. de Beaumarchais, Merlin, Paris 1767 ( digitized ).
- ↑ Maurice Lever: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Volume 1, Fayard, Paris 1999, pp. 277-280, 282, 285. The actors found the pantomimes too daring.
- ^ Anton Bettelheim: Beaumarchais, Eine Biographie, 2nd, revised edition, C. H. Beck, Munich 1911, p. 93 ff .; Maurice Lever: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Volume 1, Fayard, Paris 1999, pp. 280–284.
- ↑ Pierre Larthomas, with the participation of Jacqueline Larthomas (ed.): Beaumarchais, Œuvres, Gallimard (Bibliothèque de la Pléiade), Paris 1988, p. 1241 f.
- ↑ (published anonymously :) Eugenia, Dramma in cinque atti in prosa del Sig. Di Beaumarchais, con un discorso sopra il dramma serio, tradotto dal francese, Cosmopoli ( fictional ) 1768; Eugenia, Commedia in cinque atti in prosa di Monsieur de Beaumarchais, tradotta in italiano dall'abate Luigi Pieroni ( pseudonym ), Giovanni Battista Vendramini Mosca, Vicenza 1769 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ ( Georg Conrad Walther :) Eugenie, a drama in five acts, together with an attempt on the serious drama by Herr von Beaumarchais, Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius, Leipzig 1768 ( digitized version ); ( Published anonymously :) Eugenie, a play in five acts , from the French of Herr von Beaumarchais, Churfürstliche Hof-Buchhandlung, Mannheim 1768 ( digitized ).
- ↑ ( Elizabeth Griffith :) The School for Rakes, A Comedy, As it is Performed at the Theater-Royal in Drury-Lane , 2nd ed., T. Becket, P. A. De Hondt, London 1769 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Maurice Lever: Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Volume 1, Fayard, Paris 1999, pp. 284–287, 289.
- ↑ Fragment de mon voyage en Espagne, in: Quatrième mémoire à consulter pour Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais… contre M. Goëzman… , (Jacques-Gabriel Clousier, Paris 1774,) pp. 64–99 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Ernst Beutler (Ed.): Commemorative edition of the works, letters and conversations, Volume 10, Artemis-Verlag , Zurich 1948, p. 621.
- ↑ A bilingual textbook was published in Dresden in 1794 ( digitized version ).