Hérode and Mariamne
| Data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Hérode and Mariamne |
| Genus: | tragedy |
| Original language: | French |
| Author: | Voltaire |
| Publishing year: | 1725 |
| Premiere: | March 6, 1724 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris |
| people | |
|
|
Hérode et Mariamne is a tragedy in five acts by Voltaire . The piece was printed under this title in 1725 after revisions. A year earlier it was premiered on March 6, 1724 under the title Mariamne in Paris .
action
Voltaire took the material of the plot from the 15th book of Jewish antiquities by Flavius Josephus . Hérode et Mariamne is therefore less of a religious than a historical drama. Hérode murders his wife Mariamne on suspicion of plotting with Sohême, King of Solime. He wrote the first version of the piece in the spring of 1723 in Rouen and at the Château de la Rivière-Bourdet . It was premiered under the title Mariamne on March 6, 1764 at the Théâtre français . In 1725 Voltaire replaced the figure of Sohême with that of Varus, praetor of Syria.
Contemporary reception
The first version Mariamne was only moderately well received. Voltaire therefore withdrew the piece after a single performance. Only after a revision and under the new title Hérode und Mariamne was it added to the program again on April 25, 1725. Voltaire added a twenty-page preface to the printed piece, in which he responded to the criticisms of the first version. In the new version, the characters of the main characters appear more reflective and differentiated. The poison death he Mariamne on stage is only recited in the revision. I added three parodies to the new performance and its 26 repetitions: the Quatre Mariamnes by Louis Fuzelier, Le mauvais ménage by Legrand et Dominique and the Huit Mariamnes by Alexis Piron . In his review in Journal III of April 10, 1725, Marais praised Voltaire for the play as our best poet .
Performances and printing
The Paris premiere of Mariamne took place on March 6, 1724 at the Théâtre français with Adrienne Lecouvreur in the title role.
Voltaire had the piece printed by Pissot and Flahault in 1725.
First editions
- Hérode and Mariamne. Noel Pissot and Francois Flahault, Paris 1725 ( books.google.de ).
literature
- Theodore Besterman: Voltaire. Winkler, Munich 1971, p. 77 ff.
- Eric van der Schueren: Hérode et Mariamne. In: Dictionnaire Voltaire. Hachette Livre, 1994, p. 97.
- Siegfried Detemple: Voltaire: The works, catalog for the 300th birthday. Berlin 1994, p. 29.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Eric van der Schueren: Hérode et Mariamne. In: Dictionnaire Voltaire. Hachette Livre, 1994, p. 97.
- ^ Voltaire: The works, catalog for the 300th birthday. Berlin, 1994, p. 134.
- ^ Theodore Besterman: Voltaire, Winkler, Munich, 1971, p. 78.
_-001.jpg){kind=small}