Pierre Mousson

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Pierre Mousson SJ ( Latinized Petrus Mussonius ; * 1559 in Verdun ; † October 3, 1637 in Orléans ) was a French Jesuit, professor of rhetoric and tragedy poet.

Live and act

Pierre Mousson entered the Jesuit order in 1576 and then studied literature, philosophy and theology. After teaching at the Collège de Verdun (today: Collège Buvignier) and at the Collège de l'Arc in Dôle, he succeeded the rhetoric professor P. Louis Rivier at the University of Pont-à-Mousson in 1594 . According to his own statements, he taught there for 5 years. In 1604 he moved to the newly built Collège Henri-IV de La Flèche and taught there as a rhetoric professor before he was prefect of studies from 1612 to 1617. During this time René Descartes was also a student in La Flèche. Due to his services, the superior general of the Societas Jesu Claudio Acquaviva gave him the choice of his retirement home in 1620 . Mousson opted for the Collège de Orléans, where he also died in 1637.

While other professors of rhetoric saw the writing, rehearsal and performance of dramas only as part of their work, the plays play a central role in Mousson's work. Apart from a Latin account of the death of the Marquis Guillaume Fouquet de la Varenne, no other works are known besides them. Mousson was the first French author to bring Latin school dramas to a significant extent on the stage of a Jesuit college. During his time in Pont-à-Mousson, the repertories document the performances of five Latin tragedies: Eustachius sei Placidas Repertus; Catharina rota diffracta convulsaque Victrix; Josephus agnitus; Mauritius imperator purgatus; Antiochus furens, aut evisceratus

A performance of a Darius victus from Alexandro is recorded for 1601, the re-performance of which took two whole days in 1618. Rudolf Rieks suspects that this piece is at least partially identical to the later Darius proditus , since this is Mousson's longest work with 2394 verses. While Mousson's early works have not survived, four other tragedies based on biblical, ancient and ecclesiastical material have come down to us from his time at La Flèche: Pompey Magnus; Croesus liberatus; Cyrus punitus; Darius proditus .

The tragedies of La Flèche comprise a total of 7808 verses and were printed by Georges Griveau in 1621. In this issue Mousson announced the printing of four more tragedies: Chlodovaeus unctus; Alaricus superatus; Antiochus furens; Amanus suspensus . Why this further volume, whose works were probably ready for printing, never appeared is unknown.

expenditure

  • Tragoediae seu diversarum gentium et imperiorum magni principes dati in theatrum collegii regii Henrici magni auctore P. Petro Mussonio, Virdunensi, SJ Flexiae apud G. Griveau, 1621
  • Rudolf Rieks , Klaus Geus (ed.): Petrus Mussonius: Tragoediae. The Latin tragedies by Pierre Mousson SJ (= Classica et Neolatina , Volume 2). Peter Lang, Frankfurt / M. et al. 2000, ISBN 3-631-35178-X .
  • Bernhard Paul (Ed.): Petrus Mussonius, "Pompeius Magnus" - a neo-Latin tragedy. Text, translation and interpretation (= contributions to antiquity , volume 325). De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-031357-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tragoediae , incorporated. u. ed. v. Rudolf Rieks with the assistance of v. Klaus Geus. (= Classica et Neolatina 2). Peter Lang, Frankfurt / M. u. a. 2000, pp. 27-31.
personal data
SURNAME Mousson, Pierre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mussonius, Petrus (Latin); Musson, Peter; Musson, Pierre; Musson, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Jesuit, professor of rhetoric and tragedy poet
DATE OF BIRTH 1559
PLACE OF BIRTH Verdun
DATE OF DEATH October 3, 1637
Place of death Orleans