Monrose (actor)

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Claude-Louis-Séraphin Barizain , better known under the stage name Monrose (born December 6, 1783 in Besançon , † April 20, 1843 in Montmartre ) was a French theater actor and comedian.

Barizain comes from a family of actors. His father Jean-François Barizain already bore the stage name Monrose . He gained his first stage experience at the Théâtre des Jeunes-Artistes and the Théâtre Montansier . Further engagements followed in Bordeaux , Nantes , Italy and Lyon . Finally, he made his debut on May 11, 1815 at the Théâtre Français . Despite the political circumstances during the reign of the Hundred Days that drew public interest away from the theater, the new actor's talent was hailed as a sensation. Under pressure from the public, he was accepted into the ensemble in 1816, contrary to the custom, which provided for a probationary period for a newcomer.

When earlier forces were reinstated in their functions in the course of the second restoration , they refused to recognize Barizain's acquired status. They forced him to make a new debut on April 1, 1817. After that, membership in the ensemble should be guaranteed to him on a permanent basis. Barizain celebrated his greatest successes in Beaumarchais' Le Barbier de Séville and in Molières Die Schelmenstanzen Scapins .

Monrose was short, thin in stature. He compensated for his slightly less graceful facial features with witty and lively play. While he seemed happy and lively on stage, his life apart from the theater remained sad. Finally he died on April 20, 1843 at the age of 59 in a hospital in Montmartre of "incurable melancholy".

His son Louis-Martial Barizain (1809-1883) followed in his father's footsteps and also appeared under the name Monrose . In 1866 he succeeded Joseph Isidore Samson as a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris .