Pierre-Jean de Beranger

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Pierre-Jean de Beranger.

Pierre-Jean de Béranger (born August 19, 1780 in Paris ; † July 16, 1857 there ) was a French poet and songwriter in the early 19th century . The author, nowadays hardly noticed in literary studies, was one of the great poets of France around 1830, who was put on a par with Victor Hugo or Alphonse de Lamartine .

Youth and literary beginnings

Béranger came from a small Parisian background (contrary to what the noble-sounding name suggests) and grew up with his grandparents in Paris and then with an aunt in the provinces after his parents separated. In 1796 he returned to his hometown. He had not had any schooling, after all, his aunt had taught him to read and write. At first he got by more badly than well. B. as a caretaker of a bookstore or as a typesetter, but he was already practicing his pen.

In 1803 he sent some poems to the younger Napoleon brother Lucien Bonaparte and received a small pension through him and in 1809 a clerk's post in the school administration, which gave him time to read and write and which he kept until 1821.

The years of success and fame

After hard-working but unsuccessful attempts as a playwright, epic poet and serious poet, Béranger discovered his talent in 1812 to compose new texts on familiar melodies, which initially celebrated love, drinking and joie de vivre, initially intended for recitation and singing in relevant wine bars.

Suddenly he became known throughout France in 1813 with the covert political chanson Le Roi d'Yvetot , a song of praise to a kind-hearted and peaceful village "king", who represented a lovable counter-image to the incessantly warring and increasingly dictatorial Emperor Napoleon.

After his fall in 1814 and the return of the old royal family of the Bourbons with Louis XVIII. However, Béranger soon went back into the opposition and wrote satirical chansons against the bearers and beneficiaries of the Restoration , i. H. Nobles who have returned from emigration, power-hungry Jesuits, opportunist military and nouveau riche bourgeoisie. In addition, he wrote songs of praise to the once hated Napoleon and thus became one of the fathers of the Napoleon legend that emerged around 1820, i.e. H. the political myth of the great emperor who not only increased the fame of France with a strong hand and freed Europe from the yoke of absolutist despots, but supposedly also cared for the well-being of the common people.

When Béranger published a two-volume complete edition of his poems in 1821 (a first collection, Chansons morales et autres , had already appeared in 1815), it was banned because he did not spare the king and the church in it and he had to briefly go to prison for the first time, which his reputation was enormous increased. The Chansons nouvelles, published in 1825, consecrated him to the most popular poet of the time, whose catchy texts were well received by all classes of the population, especially the lower ones. When, after the publication of his fourth collection in 1828 ( Chansons inédites ), he again, u. a. He was jailed for insulting majesty, there were protests from all over Europe, he was now so famous outside of France.

The slow descent

Pierre-Jean de Béranger by David d'Angers (1829).

After the July Revolution of 1830 , Béranger joined the new regime of the “bourgeois king” Louis-Philippe , which robbed him of the beloved and fruitful role of the opposition. Although he tried a vaguely critical commitment to the lower classes neglected by the new rulers, he no longer had the old bite. In 1833 he published a last collection ( Chansons nouvelles et dernières ), some of which consisted of politically aggressive texts that were written up to 1830, and some of those that only preach humanitarian and social affection.

After that he hardly published any more, but administered his position as a moral authority that was respected and courted throughout the country. In 1848 he was elected to the National Assembly without any action, but very quickly withdrew from politics. In his final years, Béranger had to see his income shrink and his work rapidly losing respect. Although, after his death, Emperor Napoléon III. a state funeral and a nimble publisher quickly printed his memoirs and a collection of Dernières chansons , but his name was soon forgotten.

Works

  • Dear was the king, oh-la-la! Satirical and patriotic chansons, translated by Martin Remané. [Einl. by Jan O. Fischer from d. Czech. trans. by Ilse Teweleit] Berlin: Rütten & Loening 1981. 267 pp.

literature

Web links

Commons : Pierre-Jean de Béranger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Pierre-Jean de Béranger  - Sources and full texts (French)
Wikiquote: Pierre-Jean de Béranger  - Quotes

notes

  1. ↑ Lawrence S. Thompson: The Great Brockhaus. I: A-Beo . In: Books Abroad . tape 27 , no. 4 , 1953, ISSN  0006-7431 , p. 416 , doi : 10.2307 / 40092487 .
  2. ↑ also about Jean de La Fontaine , Molière , Alain-René Lesage , Diderot , Madame de Staël , Jean de La Bruyère , Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac . French text, 1832, scan
personal data
SURNAME Beranger, Pierre-Jean de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French lyric poet and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH July 16, 1857
Place of death Paris