Les hydropathes

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Title page of the January 1879 issue with Émile Goudeau
Title page of the April 1879 issue with Sarah Bernhardt

Les Hydropathes was a Parisian circle of intellectuals , painters, musicians, authors and journalists. They were early representatives of fin de siècle and its forerunners such as symbolism in literature and the visual arts .

The name

In October 1878, Georges Lorin , the Marquis de Puyferrat, Émile Goudeau , Maurice Rollinat and Charles Cros founded the artists' association Les Hydropathes. The name has the meaning of those suffering from water . However, the origin of the name is uncertain. It is certain that Émile Goudeau, the later chairman, was the namesake. Allegedly, Goudeau already loved Josef Gung'l's funny hydropathic waltz as a child . So the waltz was intoned with the appropriate text. Goudeau was approached about the music after the performance and the name was born. Another interpretation says that the artist movement of Henri Murgers , the buvant d'eau , the water drinkers, caused a countermovement due to their extreme seriousness. As a result, people drink wine instead of water.

history

The Hydropathes were founded in the Latin Quarter , in a small brasserie on Rue Racine. The first meetings took place in a small room at the intersection of Rue Cujas and Rue Victor-Cousin. There was a move to a café, which was also on the Rive Gauche . However, a larger venue was sought and a hall was finally found on Rue de Jussieu. The headquarters of the Hydropathes was in the basement of a café in the 5th arrondissement on Quai Saint-Michel. However, the meetings were often held in a well-known venue, La Plume .

In the following years the performances were always on Saturdays, sometimes with interruptions of several months. The events were almost always stormy, tumultuous and were led by Émile Goudeau, with his pervasive, southern French dialect . His extraordinary talent for improvisation came to his aid. The performances were regularly continued on the streets of the Latin Quarter after the performance, which was tolerated by politicians and not least the police. The program was of a poetic and artistic nature, but in which social grievances, religion, morals and, last but not least, love were targeted. There was a lot of singing and performing both monologically and scenically.

Chansoners like Maurice Mac-Nab or Georges Fragerolle and comedians like Félix Galipaux were always part of the party. But budding politicians also dared to take the stage. So were Gustave Rivet and Stéphen Pichon to see. There are also painters, caricaturists and of course poets.

In 1881 the Hydropathes found a permanent venue in Chat Noir , but not all members liked that and so a part split off into Les Hirsutes . The Hydropathes disintegrated in May 1883, but reunited with the Hirsutes in 1884, only to finally disband that same year.

The Hydropathes had an official magazine of the same name. This appeared between 1878 and 1880 in a total of 31 issues.

There were several commemorative events for the Hydropathes, for example a one-off banquet took place in 1899, still under Goudeau. In 1919, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the last meeting, a major hydropathic day was held in the Sorbonne under the auspices of Education Minister Léon Bérards . On the 50th anniversary of the founding, one last major event was held in memory of the Hydropathes, also at the Sorbonne.

Members (excerpt)

The author and publisher Jules Lévy, who was himself part of the Hydropathes, put the number of former members at around 180.

literature

  • Émile Goudeau, le père des hydropathes , in Le Temps , edition of October 9, 1928, p. 3, digitized
  • Le cercle des hydropathes , in Je sais tout: magazine encyclopédique illustré , January 15, 1921, pp. 515ff., Digitized

Web links

Commons : Les Hydropathes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Léo Trézenik : Les hirsutes , Paris: L. Vanier, 1884, digitized , accessed on September 14, 2018
  2. ↑ Le Mouvement social , issue 7, 1992, p. 137 digital copy , accessed on September 14, 2018
  3. ↑ Émile Goudeau: Poèmes parisiens , digitized version , accessed on September 14, 2018
  4. ↑ Gil Blas : Echos & Nouvelles , edition of November 30, 1899, p. 1, digitized version , accessed on September 14, 2018
  5. ↑ Comoedia: Les Hydropathes ont donné hier leur fête du Souvenir , edition of November 29, 1919, p. 3, digitized , accessed on September 14, 2018
  6. ↑ Le Progrès: Les Hydropathes à la Sorbonne , edition of October 23, 1928, p. 1, digitized version , accessed on September 14, 2018
  7. ↑ Figaro: Les Hydropathes en Sorbonne , edition of December 29, 1919, p. 1, digitized version , accessed on September 14, 2018