NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Casimir Delavigne

Jean-François Casimir Delavigne (April 4, 1793 - December 11, 1843), was a French poet and dramatist. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Poets are authors of poems. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ...

He was born at Le Havre, but was sent to Paris to be educated at the Lycée Napoleon. He read extensively. When, on March 20, 1811 the empress Marie Louise gave birth to a son, named in his cradle as king of Rome, the event was celebrated by Delavigne in a Dithyrambe sur la naissance du roi de Rome, which obtained him a sinecure in the revenue office. Location within France Le Havre is a city in Normandy, northern France, on the English Channel, at the mouth of the Seine. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Marie Louise (December 12, 1791 _ December 17, 1847) was the second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress of The French. ... Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles Bonaparte (March 20, 1811 -July 22, 1832), Duke of Reichstadt, was the son of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his second wife, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. ... Location within Italy The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital city of Italy and of its Latium region. ... A sinecure (from Latin sine, without, and cura, care) means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. ...

About this time he competed twice for an academy prize, but without success. Inspired by the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he wrote two impassioned poems, the first entitled Waterloo, the second, Devastation du muse, both written in the heat of patriotic enthusiasm, and teeming with popular political allusions. A third, less successful poem, Sur le besoin de s'unir après le départ des étrangers, was afterwards added. These stirring pieces, termed by him Messiniennes, found an echo in the hearts of the French people. Battle of Waterloo Conflict Napoleonic Wars Date June 18, 1815 Place Waterloo, Belgium Result Decisive Allied victory Map of the Waterloo campaign The Battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18, 1815, was Napoleon Bonapartes last battle. ... 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Twenty-five thousand copies were sold; Delavigne was famous. He was appointed to an honorary librarianship, with no duties to discharge. In 1819 his play Les Vêpres Siciliennes was performed at the Odéon, then just rebuilt; it had previously been refused for the Théâtre Français. On the night of the first representation, which was warmly received, Picard, the manager, is said to have exclaimed, "You have saved us! You are the founder of the second French Theatre." The Odéon is a theater in Paris, France. ... The Comédie-Française or Théâtre français is the only state theater in France. ...

This success was followed up by the production of the Comédiens (1820), an inferior play, with little plot, and the Paria (1821), which contained some well-written choruses. The latter piece obtained a longer lease of life than its intrinsic literary merits warranted, on account of the popularity of the political opinions freely expressed in itso freely expressed, indeed, that the displeasure of the king was incurred, and Delavigne lost his post. But Louis-Philippe of France, willing to gain the people's good wishes by complimenting their favourite, wrote to him as follows: Louis-Philippe of France (October 6, 1773–August 26, 1850), served as the Orleanist king of the French from 1830 to 1848. ...

Accordingly Delavigne became librarian at the Palais Royal, a position he retained for the rest of his life. It was here that he wrote the École des vieillards (1823), his best comedy, which gained his election to the Académie Française in 1825. To this period also belong La Princesse Aurilie (1828), and Marino Faliero (1829), a drama in the romantic style. A librarian is a person who looks after the storage and retrieval of information. ... The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ...

For his success as a writer Delavigne was largely indebted to the nature of the times in which he lived. The Messiniennes had their origin in the excitement resulting from the occupation of France by the allies in 1815. Another crisis in his life and in the history of his country, the revolution of 1830, stimulated him to the production of a second masterpiece, La Parisienne. This song, set to music by Daniel Auber, was on the lips of every Frenchman, and rivalled in popularity the Marseillaise. A companion piece, La Varsovienné, was written for the Poles, by whom it was sung on the march to battle. Other works of Delavigne followed each other in rapid succession: Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, was a revolt by the middle class against Bourbon King Charles X which forced him out of office and replaced him with the Orleanist King Louis-Philippe. ... Daniel François Esprit Auber (January 29, 1782 - May 13, 1871), French composer, the son of a Paris print-seller, was born in Caen in Normandy. ... This article is about the anthem La Marseillaise. A sculpture popularly called La Marseillaise is part of the sculptural programme of the Arc de Triomphe. ... Warszawianka 1831 roku, La Varsovienné (The Song of Warsaw 1831) written by Casimir François Delavigne, music by Karol Kurpinski. ...

In 1843 he quitted Paris to seek in Italy the health his labors had cost him. At Lyons his strength altogether gave way, and he died on the 11th of December. 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

By many of his own time Delavigne was looked upon as unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Every one bought and read his works. But the applause of the moment was gained at the sacrifice of lasting fame. As a writer he had many excellences. He expressed himself in a terse and vigorous style. The poet of reason rather than of imagination, he recognized his own province, and was rarely tempted to flights of fancy beyond his powers. He wrote always as he would have spoken, from sincere conviction.

His Poèsies and his Théâtre were published in 1863. His Œuvres completes (new edition, 1855) contains a biographical notice by his brother, Germain Delavigne, who is best known as a librettist in opera. See also Sainte-Beuve, Portraits littéraires, vol. v.; A Favrot, Étude sur Casimir Delavigne (1894); and F Vuacheux, Casimir Delavigne (1893). Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (December 23, 1804 – October 13, 1869) was a literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

Categories: 1911 Britannica | French poets | 1793 births | 1843 deaths | Members of the Académie française Antoine François Claude, comte Ferrand (July 4, 1751 - January 17, 1825), French statesman and political writer, was born in Paris, and became a member of the parlement of Paris at eighteen. ... The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (December 23, 1804 - October 13, 1869) was a literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history. ...