Sémiramis (Voltaire)
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| Title: | Sémiramis |
| Genus: | tragedy |
| Original language: | French |
| Author: | Voltaire |
| Publishing year: | 1749 |
| Premiere: | August 29, 1748 in the Comédie-Française |
| Place of premiere: | Paris |
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Sémiramis , is a 1746 tragedy in five acts and verses by Voltaire . The piece premiered in 1748 and was published in book form in 1749.
action
The action takes place in a courtyard surrounded by columns in front of the palace of the Sémiramis in Babylon , behind which the hanging gardens extend. On the left is the Temple of the Magi, on the right the Mausoleum of Ninos. After the amicable poisoning of her husband Ninos by Assyrian, Sémiramis took control of the Babylonian Empire. Years later she decides to marry the stranger Arsace instead of Assur. Arsace learns that he is the surviving Ninias, the son of Sémiramis and Ninos. Assur wants to eliminate his rival Arsace in the mausoleum. Sémiramis wants to save the son, but is fatally injured by him in a scuffle. Arsace / Ninias involuntarily avenged the death of the father on the mother. The high priest sums up: "Tremor, you kings on the throne and fear the justice of the gods"
Literary source and biographical references
Voltaire wrote his version of the Sémiramis in 1746. Frederick II received a copy in February 1747. The censor Prosper Jolyot Crébillon had already successfully processed the material into a tragedy of the same name in 1717. Crébillon retaliated with numerous requests for changes and the immediate approval of a parody. Voltaire edited the Sémiramis several times on the occasion of the following performances.
Performances and contemporary reception
The tragedy premiered on August 29, 1748 at the Comédie-Française . Voltaire had come from Lunéville for the premiere with Stanislaus I. Leszczyński . It was his last stay in Paris before his exile. The Sémiramis became one of Voltaire's great stage successes. The popularity resulted not least from the scenery and the staffage . In addition, a ghost appeared for the first time as a novelty in French theater history. The Sémiramis were given in the European capitals. A performance was not performed in St. Petersburg because Catherine the Great displeased a queen who was murdering her husband in the leading role . Gioachino Rossini processed the subject matter of Voltaire's Sémiramis for the opera Semiramide in two acts based on a libretto by Gaetano Rossi .
Going to press
La Sémiramis was published by Lambert in Paris in 1749 without specifying the author. Three unauthorized prints followed in the year of the first edition.
Additions
Voltaire preceded the edition with a treatise on ancient and modern tragedy. The text was followed by an appendix in honor of the dead officers in the war of 1741 .
First editions
- La Tragédie de Sémiramis et quelques autres pièces de littérature du même Auteur qui n'ont point encore paru , Paris, Chez P.-G. Le Mercier, ... et chez Michel Lambert, 1749, 12 °, 176 pp.
- La Tragédie de Sémiramis et quelques autres pièces de littérature du même Auteur qui n'ont point encore paru , Paris, Chez P.-G. Le Mercier, ... et chez Michel Lambert, 1749, 12 °, 182 pp.
- La Tragédie de Sémiramis et quelques autres pièces de littérature du même Auteur qui n'ont point encore paru , Paris, Chez P.-G. Le Mercier, ... et chez Michel Lambert, 1749, 16 °, 143 S. online
- La Tragédie de Sémiramis, Tragédie par Monsieur de Voltaire , La Haye without printer, 1749, 12 °, 176 pp.
literature
- Theodore Besterman : Farewell to Cirey (1747–1750), in: Voltaire, Winkler, Munich, 1971, p. 227 ff.
- Robert Niklaus: Sémiramis, in: Dictionnaire Voltaire, Hachette Livre, 1994, p. 211 f.
- Siegfried Detemple: Semiramis, in: Voltaire: The works. 300th birthday catalog. Reichert, Wiesbaden 1994, p. 85 f.