Thomas Corneille at the age of 81

Thomas Corneille (August 20, 1625 - December 8, 1709) was a French dramatist. He was the brother of Pierre Corneille. August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events March 27 - Prince Charles Stuart becomes King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events January 12 - Two-month freezing period begins in France - The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail and at least 24. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was a French tragedian tragedian who was one of the three great 17th Century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. ...

Born in Rouen being nearly twenty years after his brother, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself early. At the age of fifteen he composed a play in Latin which was performed by his fellow-pupils at the Jesuits' college of Rouen. His first play in the French language, Les Engagements du hasard, was acted in 1647. Le Feint Astrologue, imitated from the Spanish of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, and itself imitated in Dryden's An Evening's Love, came the following year. Location within France Rouen Cathedral The entrance to Rouen Cathedral Abbey church of Saint-Ouen, (chevet) in Rouen Rouen, medieval house Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France, and presently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. ... // Events March 14 - Thirty Years War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm. ... Pedro Calderon de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca (January 17, 1600 – May 25, 1681), Spanish dramatist and poet, was born in Madrid. ... John Dryden John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. ... An Evenings Love, or The Mock-Astrologer is a comedy in prose by John Dryden. ...

On his brother's death he succeeded to his vacant chair in the Académie française. He then turned his attention to philology, producing a new edition of the Remarques of CF Vaugelas in 1687, and in 1694 a dictionary of technical terms, intended to supplement that of the Academy. A complete translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (he had published six books with the Heroic Epistles some years previously) followed in 1697. The Académie française, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Claude Favre de Vaugelas (January 6, 1595 _ February 1650) was a French grammarian and man of letters. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ...

In 1704 he lost his sight and was constituted a "veteran," a dignity which gave him the privileges of an academician, whilst exempting him from the duties. He did not allow his blindness to put a stop to his work, and in 1708 produced a large Dictionnaire universel géographique et historique in three volumes folio. This was his last major work. He died at Les Andelys, aged eighty-four. Events Building of the Students Monument in Aiud, Romania. ...

Thomas Corneille has often been regarded as one who, but for his surname, would merit no notice. Others feel he was unlucky in having a brother who outshone him, as he would have outshone almost anyone else. The brothers were close, and practically lived together. Of his forty-two plays (this is the highest number assigned to him), the last edition of his complete works contains only thirty-two, but he wrote several in collaboration with other authors. Two are usually reprinted as his masterpieces at the end of his brother's selected works. These are Ariane (1672) and the Comic d'Essex, in the former of which Rachel attained success. But of Laodice, Camma, Stilico and some other pieces, Pierre Corneille himself said that "he wished he had written them," and he was not wont to speak lightly. Camma (1661, on the same story as Tennyson's Cup) especially deserves notice. Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ...

Thomas Corneille is in many ways remarkable in the literary gossip-history of his time. His Timocrate boasted of the longest run (80 nights) recorded of any play in the century. For La Devineresse he and his cowriter Jean Donneau de Visé, founder of the Mercure galant (to which Thomas contributed), received over 6000 livres, the largest sum known to have been thus paid. Lastly, one of his pieces (Le Baron des Fondrières) contests the honour of being the first which was hissed off the stage. Jean Donneau de Visé (1638 - 1710) was a French journalist, royal historian (historiographe du roi), playwright and publicist. ... The Mercure de France was a French gazette and literary magazine first published from 1672 to 1724 (with an interruption in 1674-1677) under the title Mercure galant (sometimes spelled Mercure gallant) (1672-1674) and Nouveau Mercure galant (1677-1724). ...

There is a monograph, Thomas Corneille, sa vie rises ouvrages (1892), by G Reynier. See also the Fragments inédits de critique sur Pierre ci Thomas Corneille of Alfred de Vigny, published in 1905.

Initial text from a 1911 Encyclopedia. Please update as needed. The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclop dia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

External link

• Thomas Corneille Bibliography from the 1911 version of Encyclopedia Britannica
• Biography, Bibliography, Analysis, Plot overview (in French)