François Ponsard

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François Ponsard. Graphic by Adolf Neumann.

François Ponsard (born June 1, 1814 in Vienne ( Département Isère ), † July 7, 1867 in Paris ) was a French playwright .

life and work

François Ponsard was the son of a lawyer and destined for a legal career. He devoted himself to the study of law in Paris, after which he settled in his hometown Vienne as a lawyer. But he was more enthusiastic about poetry and in 1837 translated the work Manfred (1817) by the English poet Lord Byron into French. He achieved great fame with his anti-romantic, five-act drama Lucrèce , which was in keeping with the zeitgeist of the time and premiered on April 22, 1843 in the Odéon in Paris. The then significant tragedy Rachel contributed much to Ponsard's great success. The verse drama Les burgraves by Victor Hugo , which was current at the same time, was less well received by the audience. In 1845 Ponsard received a prize from the Académie française for his tragedy "which opposed the romantic trend" . In the work, the author took up a material from the ancient Roman legend: after the decent Lucretia was raped by Sextus Tarquinius , she wanted to commit suicide - less because of the desecration itself, but because of its social evaluation.

The later works of Ponsard received less attention. After the drama Agnès de Méranie, written in 1847, he wrote the tragedy Charlotte Corday in 1850, which was again approaching romanticism . This work on Marat's murderess was probably inspired by Lamartine's Histoire des Girondins (1847). The comedy Horace et Lydie , also made in 1850, was followed by the classic tragedy Ulysse in 1852 . Ponsard's comedy L'honneur et l'argent (1853), in which he denounced greed for money and positions of honor, was relatively successful . The satirical comedy La bourse (1856) showed the same tendency .

Without much enthusiasm, Ponsard resigned himself to the era of the Second Empire and was given a position as librarian of the Senate in February 1852, which he gave up again in April 1852. In 1855 he was accepted into the Académie française .

In the last two years of his life, the author, who was already seriously ill, wrote two more dramas: In 1866, in Le lion amoureux , he drew a faithful moral image of the conditions prevailing at the time of the Directory ; in early 1867 he wrote the tragedy Galilée, which was sharply rejected and initially forbidden by the clergy . In the same year he died in Paris at the age of 53. A memorial was erected to him in his hometown of Vienne in 1872.

Works

Drama Lucrèce by F. Ponsard, final scene, 1843
  • Lucrèce (1843; German 1873)
  • Agnès de Méranie (1847)
  • Charlotte Corday (1850; German 1880)
  • Horace et Lydie (1850; German 1885)
  • Ulysse (1852; German 1853)
  • L'honneur et l'argent (1853; German 1853)
  • La bourse (1856)
  • Le lion amoureux (1866; German 1874)
  • Galilée (1867; German 1875)

Complete edition

  • Œuvres complètes (3 volumes, Paris 1875–1876)

literature

Web links

Commons : François Ponsard  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ponsard, François
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French playwright
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienne , Isère department
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1867
Place of death Paris