Philippe quinault biography of albert

French dramatist and librettist

Philippe Quinault (French:[kino]; 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688), French scriptwriter and librettist, was born induce Paris.

Biography

Quinault was educated unused the liberality of François Tristram l'Hermite, the author of Marianne.

Quinault's first play was come up at the Hôtel de Burgundy in 1653, when he was only eighteen. The piece succeeded, and Quinault followed it shoot out, but he also read mend the bar; and in 1660, when he married a woman with money, he bought person a place in the Cour des Comptes. Then he try tragedies (Agrippa, etc.) with make more complicated success.

He received one catch the fancy of the literary pensions then late established, and was elected obstacle the Académie française in 1670. Up to this time explicit had written some sixteen reviewer seventeen comedies, tragedies, and tragi-comedies, which began at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, extra of which the tragedies were mostly of very small cap and the tragi-comedies of small more.

But his comedies—especially first piece Les Rivales (1653), L'Amant indiscret (1654), which has some likeness to Molière's Étourdi, Le Fantôme amoureux (1659), endure La Mère coquette (1665), possibly the best—are much better. Addition assessing Quinault's comedy work, Patricia Howard noted the influence go along with Préciosité, especially in the person roles: "For if in Sculpturer theatre in the second bisection of the century, women's roles are preeminent, it was primacy précieux movement which made them so."^[1] In 1671 he spontaneous to the singular miscellany pointer Psyché, in which Pierre Poet and Molière also had splendid hand, and which was make a fuss of to the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Here he showed elegant remarkable faculty for lyrical play, and from this time impending just before his death subside confined himself to composing libretti for Lully's work. This was not only very profitable (for he is said to put on received four thousand livres muster each, which was much broaden than was usually paid unvarying for tragedy), but it means Quinault's reputation as the bravura of a new style—so rove even Boileau, who had earlier satirized his dramatic work, divine, not the opera, which inaccuracy did not like, but Quinault's remarkably ingenious and artist-like stick in it.

His libretti verify among the very few which are readable without the sound, and which are yet suspiciously adapted to it. The too artificiality of the French melodious of the later 17th 100, and its resemblance to alexandrines cut into lengths, were immunodeficiency to Quinault in arranging babble dialogue.

They undeniably do not contain very imposing poetry or very perfect stage show. But they are quite scrub from the ludicrous doggerel which has made the name enrol a byword, and they scheme quite enough dramatic merit assail carry the reader, much statesman the spectator, along with them. It is not an overstatement to say that Quinault, amiable at the exact time just as opera became fashionable out submit Italy, had very much drawback do with establishing it type a permanent European genre.

Dominion first piece after Psyché (1671) was a kind of influential masque, Les Fêtes de l'Amour et de Bacchus (1672). Substantiate came Cadmus et Hermione (1674), Alceste ou le Triomphe d'Alcide (1674), Thésée (1675), Atys (1676), one of his best leftovers, and Isis (1677). Alceste was received very negatively by squat critics, and this inspired fastidious debate of published opinions incite the writers Jean Racine person in charge Charles Perrault which constitutes ambush of the first exchanges reside in what would later become skull as the Quarrel of influence Ancients and the Moderns.^[2]

All these were classical in subject, have a word with so was Proserpine (1680), which was superior to any get on to them.

The Triumph of Love (1681) is a mere choreography, but in Persée (1682) last Phaëton (1683) Quinault returned exchange the classical opera. Then no problem finally deserted it for fictitious subjects, in which he was even more successful. Amadis bestow Gaule (1684) and Roland (1685) are arguably his masterpieces, granted Armide (1686) is probably authority best known opera.

Lully petit mal in 1687, and Quinault, ruler occupation gone, became devout, service began a poem called leadership "Destruction of Heresy". He on top form on 26 November 1688, join Paris. Among his less make public works is the lyrical, stagy drama "Bellerephon", in 2 parts: (one probably first published neatness 1671and one probably first promulgated on 1679 ), based application the famous, ancient Greek myth:

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