L'Échange
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| Title: | L'Échange |
| Genus: | comedy |
| Original language: | French |
| Author: | Voltaire |
| Publishing year: | 1761 |
| Premiere: | January 26, 1761 in the Comédie-Italienne |
| Place of premiere: | Paris |
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L'Échange (The Confusion), with additional titles Le Comte de Boursoufle (The Count Boursoufle) and Quand est-ce q'on me marie? (When will I be married?) Is a comedy in three acts and in prose by Voltaire . The piece, written before 1734, was only released on January 26, 1761 in Paris in the Comédie-Italienne under the title Quand est-ce q'on me marie? Premiered. The first book edition was published in Vienna in 1761 by Johann Leopold van Ghelen.
action
The action takes place in the French province in the village of De la Canardière. Count Fatenville intends to marry Gotton the daughter of the Baron de la Canardière, who is provided with a dowry of 500,000 francs. His penniless younger brother the Chevalier, whom he refuses to pay 10,000 francs, anticipates him with the help of the scheming and corrupt wedding broker Trigaudin. When the count arrives, he is mistaken for a con man. When the misunderstandings cleared up after the Chevalier's wedding with Gotton, the Count and the Baron lost out. Gotton, on the other hand, is satisfied that the Chevalier brings her to the Paris she longs for.
Literary source and biographical references
Voltaire wrote the play before 1734 under the title Le Conte de Boursoufle for the entertainment of the company of Cirey . The few surviving manuscripts contain a one-act version (Le petit Boursoufle) and a three-act version (Le grand Boursoufle). Voltaire took the plot from the play The Relapse by John Vanbrugh , which he had seen during his stay in London in the Dury Lane Theater.
Performances and contemporary reception
The comedy was first performed privately in Cirey in the spring of 1734. The author himself appeared in the prologue. On January 26, 1761, the play was published in the Comédie-Italienne under the title Quand est-ce q'on me marie? first publicly performed with renamed roles.
Going to press
L'Échange was first printed as a two-act version in 1761 by Johann Leopold van Ghelen in Vienna. A second and third edition followed in 1765 and 1768.
Addition
In the prologue, Voltaire tries to persuade Madame du Tour (meaning Émilie du Châtelet) to take on the leading role.
First editions
- L'Echange, ou Quand est-ce qu'on me marie? comédie en deux actes , Vienna, Ghelen, 1761, 8 °, 54 pp.
- L'Echange, ou Quand est-ce qu'on me marie? comédie en deux actes , Vienna, Ghelen, 1765, 8 °, 47 pp.
- L'Echange, ou Quand est-ce qu'on me marie? comédie en deux actes , Vienna, Ghelen, 1768, 8 °, 47 pp.
- Le Comte de Boursoufle, ou les Agrémens du droit d'Aînesse, comédie par feu Monsieur de Voltaire , Paris, Renouard, (1826), 32 °, 64 pp.
- Le Comte de Boursoufle, ou les Agrémens du droit d'Aînesse, comédie par feu Monsieur de Voltaire , Paris, Touquet, (1826), 32 °, 64 pp.
literature
- Erich Böttcher: The English origin of the comte de Boursoufle ... , Rostock, University printing house of Adlers Erben, 1906, 87 p.
- Valérie André: L'Échange , in: Dictionnaire Voltaire, Hachette Livre, 1994, p. 67.
- Siegfried Detemple: The Count Boursoufle , in: Voltaire: The works. 300th birthday catalog. Reichert, Wiesbaden 1994, p. 136 f.