Jean Mauduit de Larive

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Mauduit de Larive

Jean Mauduit de Larive (born August 6, 1747 in La Rochelle , † April 30, 1827 in Montlignon ) was a leading French actor of the 18th century.

Early life

Jean Mauduit de Larive was the son of a shopkeeper. He escaped from his parents' house at the age of less than twelve and went to a monastery in Bourbonnais , where he entered the order of La Trappe after reaching legal age . When he returned to his father's house, he enthused, gifted with an unusual talent for imitation, and from then on passionate about theatrical performances, and his parents' forbidding him to go to the theater further aroused that passion. His parents felt compelled to put him in a strict pension in Paris , which he secretly left at the age of 16 out of love for a young girl and followed her to Honfleur . His parents then had him embark on punishment for Saint-Domingue , but this did not diminish his enthusiasm for the theater. During the crossing to Saint-Domingue as well as during his five-year stay there, he began to study the representation of people through encounters with the most diverse people and observing their emotions.

Theater career

How Larive finally managed to fulfill his wish to become an actor is reported by himself. After returning from Saint-Domingue, his first step was to introduce himself to the famous tragic actor Lekain and to make him aware of his career aspirations. Lekain heard him declaim a role and advised him to keep going as he was going to be a great actor. Larive, flattered by this declaration, then left Lekain and soon found an engagement with Mademoiselle Montansier at the Theater zu Tours . When he first appeared on the stage, he was pleased and, after two years of practice, found himself able to perform at the capital's theater. After he had made his acclaimed debut in Lyon to fully develop his talent and had now gained a reputation, he came to Paris. There he made his debut at the Théâtre-Français on December 3, 1770 as the protégé of the famous Claire Clairon , but was not accepted there.

Larive then went to Brussels , where D'Hannetaire engaged him for the Théâtre de la Monnaie and where he played for four years at the side of Dazincourt , Grandmesnil and Florence . Here he also met his future wife Eugénie D'Hannetaire , the theater director's eldest daughter. She was one and a half years older than Larive and married him on June 18, 1776 in Paris, where he made his debut at the Théâtre-Français again on April 29, 1775 and became its member on May 13th.

After Lekain's death (1778), Lavire, who had become friends with Voltaire , received his first roles at the Théâtre-Français for ten years and excelled in those of Warwick, Orosman, Philoctet and Spartacus , those of his physical beauty and his melodious, everything penetrating organ most appealed to. Here he appeared to his compatriots as a classic role model. He regularly toured the French provinces, performed in his native city in 1780 and appeared on stages in Lille , Geneva , Bordeaux and other cities. In 1788 he left the Théâtre-Français temporarily, but where he returned - after playing seasons especially in Lille - on May 4, 1790 in the role of Oedipus for a short time.

Incarceration during the French Revolution

As a not unconditional supporter of the French Revolution that broke out in 1789 , Larive was jailed along with most of the other members of the Théâtre-Français during the period of horror . She was saved by a clerk at the Public Security Committee's office, who appreciated the great talents of Larive, Dazincourt, Préville , François-René Molé , Louise Contat and others, all of whom were destined for guillotine execution Gradually secretly put aside and destroyed all the documents relating to the process to be carried out by these artists. Before new evidence could be gathered against them , the fall of Robespierre on 9th Thermidor (July 27, 1794) meant the salvation for them too. Larive now joined forces with those members of the Théâtre-Français who played under the direction of Mademoiselle Raucourt at the Théâtre Louvois .

Next life

However, irritated by Julien Louis Geoffroy's often malicious reviews and jealousy of the ever-growing success of François-Joseph Talmas , Larive finally withdrew from the stage. He settled on an estate in Montlignon, which was located in the charming valley of Montmorency , became mayor of Montlignon in 1802 and did a great job for the public good. Here, after divorcing Eugénie D'Hannetaire in 1794, he married Catherine Van den Hove (* 1771; † 1816) from Brussels on March 13, 1804.

In 1804, Larive also held a public course on lecturing art. Joseph Bonaparte invited him to Naples in 1806 to set up a French theater there. When Joseph Bonaparte became King of Spain in 1808, Lavire returned to Montlignon. At the age of 68, he appeared again on April 25, 1816 for a charitable cause at the Théâtre-Italien as Tankred and received extensive applause. He died on April 30, 1827 at the age of 79 on his estate near Montlignon.

Fonts

Larive also wrote about his art. He left behind the much-appreciated Cours de déclamation divisé en douze séances (Paris 1804) and Cours de déclamation prononcé à l'Athénée de Paris (2 volumes, Paris 1810). He also wrote the lyric scene Pyrame et Thisbé (Paris 1784; 2nd edition 1791), which faithfully reproduces Ovid's account of the saga of Pyramus and Thisbe and was performed on June 2, 1783, as well as Réflexions sur l'art théâtral (Paris 1801) ,

literature

personal data
SURNAME Mauduit de Larive, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Larive, Jean Mauduit de; Mauduit, Jean (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1747
PLACE OF BIRTH La Rochelle
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1827
Place of death Montlignon