René-Charles Guilbert de Pixerécourt[1] (22 January 1773 â€" 27 July
1844) was a French theatre director and playwright, active at the
Théâtre de la Gaîté and best known for his modern melodramas such
as The Dog of Montarges, the performance of which at Weimar roused the
indignation of Goethe.He was born at Nancy into a Lorraine family of
rural nobles. His parents, after the sale of the Pixerécourt estate,
bought another in the Vosges, Saint-Vallier, in the hope of recovering
their feudal and manorial rights, and possibly in time acquiring a
marquisate. The château was in poor condition, the kind which "could
make you a marquis and a mendicant in the same instant" in the words
of Jules Janin. The family's hopes were ruined by the Revolution. At
the age of twenty, in 1793, Pixerécourt abandoned his studies of law
and left Nancy "on the day of the King's death" to meet his father at
Koblenz and enter the Breton regiment as an officer in the army of
Condé. At the end of the year he returned to France to make his
fortune, entering via Nancy and arriving in Paris on 27 February 1794
at the height of the Reign of Terror. After the denunciations of the
Committee of Public Safety, Pixerécourt owed his life to the
protection of Lazare Carnot who, for nearly two years, employed him as
a secretary in the Ministry of War. He then obtained two posts, one in
the Administration of Domains and another in that of Registrations,
both of which he was to retain for thirty years and which allowed him,
particularly at the beginning, the pursuit of a career in the theatre.
He would eventually become director of the Théâtre royal de
l’Opéra-Comique (from 1824 to 1827) and of the Théâtre de
l'Ambigu-Comique.The general mistrust of ex-émigrés prompted him to
take the pseudonym of "Charles" for his first works. He had taken only
one book with him into exile: the Nouvelles of Jean-Pierre Claris de
Florian, which gave him the subject of his first two plays: Sélico ou
les Nègres généreux ("Sélico, or The Magnanimous Slaves"),
purchased by the Théâtre-Français, and Claudine ou l’Anglais
vertueux ("Claudine, or the Virtuous Englishman"), taken up by Salle
Favart. His first great success came in 1800 with CÅ"lina ou
l’Enfant du mystère ("Coelina, or The Child of Mystery"). The
following year, in April, Le Pèlerin blanc ou les Enfants du hameau
("The White Pilgrim, or the Children of the Village") ran for 386
performances at L’Ambigu. This was nearly beaten by L'Homme à trois
visages ("The Man With Three Faces") which ran for 378 nights at the
same theatre. In September 1802, La Femme à deux maris ("The Wife
With Two Husbands") continued his good fortune. In 1803, Tékéli,
performed by Tantin and Mme Bourgeois, broke his previous record with
a run of 430 nights. In 1805, La Forteresse du Danube and Robinson
Crusoé ran for a whole year at the Porte-Saint-Martin.In 1809, he
began writing for the Théâtre de la Gaîté, his first play there
being La Citerne; on 30 October 1810, his first hit was Les Ruines de
Babylone. From then until 1814, his success continued, with a major
triumph in the June of that year with Le Chien de Montargis (400
performances). In 1815, after the total failure of Christophe Colomb,
he regained success with Le Monastère abandonné ou la Malédiction
paternelle ("The Abandoned Monastery, or the Paternal Curse") which
lasted 267 performances. And in 1818, still at La Gaîté, Le
Belvédère ou la Vallée de l’Etna ("The Belvedere, or the Valley
of Etna") owed its success not just to the playwright but also to the
magnificent art direction of Louis Daguerre who contributed the
volcanic backdrop. In 1819, he returned to L’Ambigu with La Fille de
l’Exilé ou Huit mois en deux heures ("The Exile's Daughter, or
Eight Months and Two Hours").
1844) was a French theatre director and playwright, active at the
Théâtre de la Gaîté and best known for his modern melodramas such
as The Dog of Montarges, the performance of which at Weimar roused the
indignation of Goethe.He was born at Nancy into a Lorraine family of
rural nobles. His parents, after the sale of the Pixerécourt estate,
bought another in the Vosges, Saint-Vallier, in the hope of recovering
their feudal and manorial rights, and possibly in time acquiring a
marquisate. The château was in poor condition, the kind which "could
make you a marquis and a mendicant in the same instant" in the words
of Jules Janin. The family's hopes were ruined by the Revolution. At
the age of twenty, in 1793, Pixerécourt abandoned his studies of law
and left Nancy "on the day of the King's death" to meet his father at
Koblenz and enter the Breton regiment as an officer in the army of
Condé. At the end of the year he returned to France to make his
fortune, entering via Nancy and arriving in Paris on 27 February 1794
at the height of the Reign of Terror. After the denunciations of the
Committee of Public Safety, Pixerécourt owed his life to the
protection of Lazare Carnot who, for nearly two years, employed him as
a secretary in the Ministry of War. He then obtained two posts, one in
the Administration of Domains and another in that of Registrations,
both of which he was to retain for thirty years and which allowed him,
particularly at the beginning, the pursuit of a career in the theatre.
He would eventually become director of the Théâtre royal de
l’Opéra-Comique (from 1824 to 1827) and of the Théâtre de
l'Ambigu-Comique.The general mistrust of ex-émigrés prompted him to
take the pseudonym of "Charles" for his first works. He had taken only
one book with him into exile: the Nouvelles of Jean-Pierre Claris de
Florian, which gave him the subject of his first two plays: Sélico ou
les Nègres généreux ("Sélico, or The Magnanimous Slaves"),
purchased by the Théâtre-Français, and Claudine ou l’Anglais
vertueux ("Claudine, or the Virtuous Englishman"), taken up by Salle
Favart. His first great success came in 1800 with CÅ"lina ou
l’Enfant du mystère ("Coelina, or The Child of Mystery"). The
following year, in April, Le Pèlerin blanc ou les Enfants du hameau
("The White Pilgrim, or the Children of the Village") ran for 386
performances at L’Ambigu. This was nearly beaten by L'Homme à trois
visages ("The Man With Three Faces") which ran for 378 nights at the
same theatre. In September 1802, La Femme à deux maris ("The Wife
With Two Husbands") continued his good fortune. In 1803, Tékéli,
performed by Tantin and Mme Bourgeois, broke his previous record with
a run of 430 nights. In 1805, La Forteresse du Danube and Robinson
Crusoé ran for a whole year at the Porte-Saint-Martin.In 1809, he
began writing for the Théâtre de la Gaîté, his first play there
being La Citerne; on 30 October 1810, his first hit was Les Ruines de
Babylone. From then until 1814, his success continued, with a major
triumph in the June of that year with Le Chien de Montargis (400
performances). In 1815, after the total failure of Christophe Colomb,
he regained success with Le Monastère abandonné ou la Malédiction
paternelle ("The Abandoned Monastery, or the Paternal Curse") which
lasted 267 performances. And in 1818, still at La Gaîté, Le
Belvédère ou la Vallée de l’Etna ("The Belvedere, or the Valley
of Etna") owed its success not just to the playwright but also to the
magnificent art direction of Louis Daguerre who contributed the
volcanic backdrop. In 1819, he returned to L’Ambigu with La Fille de
l’Exilé ou Huit mois en deux heures ("The Exile's Daughter, or
Eight Months and Two Hours").
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