Jacques Testu de Belval

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jacques Testu de Belval (* 1626 in Paris ; † June 1706 ibid) was a French clergyman, author and member of the Académie française .

life and work

Career

Jacques Testu was the typical court abbé. He was one of the king's 20 almsmen and court preacher. In 1662 he came into the possession of the benefice of the Belval Abbey ( Abbaye de Belval au Bois-des-Dames in Belval-Bois-des-Dames ) and called himself Abbé de Belval . In 1681 he was still prior of the Paris priory of Saint-Denis de la Chartre . From 1688 he received a pension from the king and became a kind of secret employee of Cardinal Noailles . His friendship with the order reformer Rancé is known .

The Salon Abbé

At the same time Testu frequented the literary salons of the precious . There he became especially friends with Anne Poussart de Fors de Vigean (1622–1684), who was first called Madame d'Albret because she was married to François d'Albret , then Duchess of Richelieu, because she was in second marriage to Armand Jean de Vignerot du Plessis (1639–1715), Duke of Richelieu , was married, also to Madame Scarron, who later became Madame de Maintenon , and to Marie-Madeleine Gabrielle Adélaïde de Rochechouart de Mortemart, from the house of Rochechouart , called Madame de Fontevraud, because from 1670 to 1704 she was Commendatar Abbess of Fontevraud Abbey .

Academician and Author

In 1665 Testu was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 15). In 1669 he published Christian poetry in the form of stanzas , which appeared in seven editions by 1728 and was successfully set to music twice. In it he expressed disdain for the world in an unpathetic form. Both settings, by Bénigne de Bacilly (1625–1690) and Claude Oudot († 1696), contradict in their virtuosity and musical refinement the escape from the world and moral rigor advocated in the text and are therefore, according to the judgment of Thierry Favier (* 1964) , Expression of Testus' conflict between salon life and monastic mortification. Réflexions chrestiennes sur les conversations du monde (1697) and Réflexions sur les prédicateurs (1697) are also attributed to him .

Works (selection)

  • Stances chrestiennes sur divers passages de l'Escriture sainte & des pères . Paris 1669. 5th expanded edition 1703. The Hague 1713, Basel 1728.

Settings

  • Bénigne de Bacilly: Les airs spirituels de Mr. de Bacilly sur les Stances chrétiennes de M. l'Abbé Testu . 1672, 1677, 1688
  • Claude Oudot: Stances chrétiennes de MLT mises en musique . 1692, 1696, 1704, 1722.

literature

  • Roger Graffin: Jacques Testu, abbé de Belval, membre de l'Académie française 1626–1706 . Picard et fils, Paris 1901. Revue historique ardennaise 7–8, 1900–1901, p. 55 ff.
  • Jacques Levron (1906-2004): Un abbé de cour. Jacques Testu . In: Revue des deux mondes May 1, 1968, pp. 48–59.
  • Thierry Favier: Les Stances chrétiennes de l'Abbé Testu (1669) mises en musique. De la contradiction intérieure au paradoxe artistique . In: Poésie et Bible de la Renaissance à l'Age classique 1550–1680. Actes du colloque de Besançon of 25 and 26 March 1997 . Eds. Pascale Blum and Anne Mantero. Champion, Paris 1999, pp. 243-254.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Testu de Belval, Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Belval, Abbé de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French clergyman, author and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH 1626
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH June 1706
Place of death Paris