William Congreve (Author)

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William Congreve (Author).

William Congreve (born January 24, 1670 in Bardsey near Leeds , † January 19, 1729 in London ) was an English playwright and poet .

Congreve grew up as the son of the garrison commander of Youghal in Ireland and studied law at Trinity College in Dublin . There he met Jonathan Swift , who remained his friend for life. After graduating from college, Congreve caught the attention of John Dryden and began writing plays. Dryden and Thomas Southerne helped the young colleague with his first play The Old Bachelor .

Congreve wrote as one of the main representatives of the Restoration comedy ( Restoration Comedy ) some of the most popular plays of the era of the late 17th and early 18th century (the era of restoration ). By the age of 30 he had already written five major pieces, including Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700). Two of his comedies, The Old Bachelor and The Double Dealer , were even set to music by the respected composer Henry Purcell . In 1701 he published the libretto for a Masque The Judgment of Paris , for the setting of which a composition competition was organized, which John Weldon won before John Eccles .

Love for Love brought Congreve a stage success, and the piece saw many performances well into the 18th century. The plot is considered simple, but the figure drawing and the brilliant dialogue are rightly considered successful.

Strictly speaking, The Way of the World is no longer a classic restoration comedy. The conventions of the genre are broken towards a stronger focus on sensation and behavior. In the piece it goes u. a. to what extent contracts (ie marriage contracts within the arranged marriages) play a role in interpersonal relationships. On the one hand, contracts serve to protect against greedy strangers, on the other hand, they are a means of exploitation. The subject of the contract is negotiated in a playful way between the main characters Millamant and Mirabell: the so-called proviso scene is famous , in which the lovers set their conditions under which they are ready for a marriage. The dialogues in the piece are masterful and polished, the widow Lady Wishfort is sure to be remembered, who communicates in different language levels depending on the social environment (sometimes there are elements of malapropism).

Congreve's career ended almost as suddenly as it began after audience tastes had turned from the intelligent, sexually charged "comedy of manners" in which Congreve had specialized by 1700. On Jeremy Colliers criticism in the pamphlet A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage he reacted allegedly particularly tempted to publication of a long answer ( Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations ).

From the gout plagued, he gave the theater completely on, went to live on the royalties of his earlier works and was treated to three sinecures which his patron, later Lord Halifax gives him. He was also active on the Whigs side in politics and held several minor political offices. Throughout his life, Congreve was an attentive observer and collector of his dreams, which he - in addition to poetry - felt as "the language of our actual nature". Voltaire visited him, seeing in Congreve a true representative of English literature.

Around 1705–1706, a libretto about the mythical king's daughter Semele was created , which John Eccles set to music in 1707 as one of the first fully sung English-language operas. A contemporary performance of the opera has not been proven. In 1743 it was set to music a second time as the dramatic oratorio Semele in an arrangement by Newburgh Hamilton by Georg Friedrich Händel , and this version has been on the repertoire of opera houses since the 20th century.

After 1706 he only published occasional poems and a few translations (e.g. by Molières Monsieur de Pourceaugnac ).

Congreve died in a carriage accident in London in 1729 and was buried in the " Poets' Corner " of Westminster Abbey .

Works

Stage works:

  • The Old Bachelor (1693), set to music by Henry Purcell
  • The Double-Dealer (1693), set to music by Henry Purcell
  • Love For Love (1695)
  • The Mourning Bride (1697)
  • The Way of the World (1700)
  • The Judgment of Paris (Masque, 1701)
  • Semele (Opera, 1705–1706)

Lyric:

  • The Mourning Muse of Alexis (1695)
  • A Pindarique Ode, Humbly Offer'd to the King on His Taking Namure (1695)
  • The Birth of the Muse (1698)
  • A Hymn to Harmony (1703)
  • The Tears of Amaryllis for Amyntas (1703)
  • A Pindarique Ode, Offer'd to the Queen on the Victorious Progress of Her Majesty's Arms (1706)

Other works:

  • Incognita or Love and Duty Reconcil'd (Roman, 1692)
  • Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations (1698)
  • A Discourse on the Pindarique Ode (contained in A Pindarique Ode, Offer'd to the Queen ... of 1706)
  • An Impossible Thing (narrative, 1720)

literature

  • Complete plays . Ed. H. Davis. Chicago, 1967.
  • The Complete Works . Ed. Montague Summers. 4 vols. London, 1923.
  • David Schmid: William Congreve. His life and his comedies . Braumüller, Vienna and Leipzig 1897
  • Julie Stone Peters: Congreve, the Drama, and the Printed Word . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1990

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Congreve, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English playwright and poet
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1670
PLACE OF BIRTH Bardsey near Leeds
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1729
Place of death London