Although he befriended important figures such as the foreign minister Grimaldi , his attempts to secure the contracts for Duverney eventually came to nothing and he went home in March Beaumarchais considered turning the affair into a play, but decided to leave it to others—including Goethe , who wrote Clavigo in Beaumarchais hoped to be made consul to Spain, but his application was rejected. He had already experimented in writing short farces for private audiences, but he now had ambitions to write for the theatre.
This was followed in by another drama, Les Deux amis. Figaro and Count Almaviva, the two characters Beaumarchais most likely conceived in his travels in Spain, were with Rosine, later the Countess Almaviva the only ones present in all three plays. They are indicative of the change in social attitudes before, during, and after the French Revolution. Figaro and Almaviva first appeared in Le Sacristain , which he wrote around and dubbed "an interlude, imitating the Spanish style.
Upon first reading a manuscript of Beaumarchais's play, King Louis XVI stated that "this man mocks everything that must be respected in a government" and refused to let it be performed. To a lesser degree, the Figaro plays are semi-autobiographical. Meanwhile, some of the Count monologues reflect on the playwright's remorse over his numerous sexual exploits.
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Le Barbier premiered in Paris in An English translation premiered in London a year later, and that was followed by performances in other European countries. The sequel, Le Mariage , was initially passed by the censor in , but was soon banned from being performed by Louis XVI after a private reading. Queen Marie-Antoinette lamented the ban, as did various influential members of her entourage.
Nonetheless, the King was unhappy with the play's satire on the aristocracy and overruled the Queen's entreaties to allow its performance. Over the next three years, Beaumarchais gave many private readings of the play, as well as making revisions to try to pass the censor. The King finally relented and lifted the ban in The play premiered that year and was enormously popular even with aristocratic audiences. Mozart's opera based on the play, Le Nozze di Figaro premiered just two years later in Vienna.
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All three Figaro plays enjoyed great success, and are still frequently performed today in theatres and opera houses. The death of Duverney on 17 July triggered a decade of turmoil for Beaumarchais. A few months earlier, the two had signed a statement cancelling all debts that Beaumarchais owed Duverney about 75, pounds , and granting Beaumarchais the modest sum of 15, pounds. Although the verdict favoured Beaumarchais, it was overturned on appeal the following year by a judge, a magistrate named Goezman, whom Beaumarchais tried in vain to bribe.
At the same time, Beaumarchais was also involved in a dispute with the Duke de Chaulnes over the Duke's mistress, which resulted in Beaumarchais being thrown into jail from February to May La Blache took advantage of Beaumarchais' court absence and persuaded Goezman to order Beaumarchais to repay all his debts to Duverney, plus interest and all legal expenses. The action made Beaumarchais an instant celebrity, for the public at the time saw Beaumarchais as a champion for social justice and liberty.
The verdict was equivocal. On 26 February , both Beaumarchais and Mme.
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Naturally, Beaumarchais followed few of the restrictions placed upon him. Magistrate Goezman was removed from his post.
At the same time, Goezman's verdict in the La Blache case was overturned. The Goezman case was so sensational that the judges left the courtroom through a back door to avoid the large, angry mob waiting in front of the court house.
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Before France officially entered the war in , Beaumarchais played a major role in delivering French munitions, money and supplies to the American army. To restore his civil rights, Beaumarchais pledged his services to Louis XV. He traveled to London, Amsterdam and Vienna on various secret missions. Beaumarchais was sent to London to persuade the French spy Chevalier D'Eon to return home, but while there he began gathering information on British politics and society. Britain's colonial situation was deteriorating and in fighting broke out between British troops and American rebels.
Beaumarchais became a major source of information about the rebellion for the French government and sent a regular stream of reports with exaggerated rumours of the size of the success of the rebel forces blockading Boston.
Mémoires de Beaumarchais dans l'affaire Goezman | Open Library
Once back in France, Beaumarchais began work on a new operation. Louis XVI , who did not want to break openly with Britain , [29] allowed Beaumarchais to found a commercial enterprise, Roderigue Hortalez and Company , [23] supported by the French and Spanish crowns, that supplied the American rebels with weapons, munitions, clothes and provisions, all of which would never be paid for. This policy came to fruition in when John Burgoyne 's army capitulated at Saratoga to a rebel force largely clothed and armed by the supplies Beaumarchais had been sending; it marked a personal triumph for him.
Beaumarchais was injured in a carriage accident while racing into Paris with news of Saratoga. For these services, the French Parliament reinstated Beaumarchais's civil rights in In , Beaumarchais' hopes were fulfilled when the French government agreed to the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. France officially entered the American War of Independence soon after, followed by Spain in and the Dutch Republic in Shortly after the death of Voltaire in , Beaumarchais set out to publish Voltaire's complete works, many of which were banned in France.
He bought the rights to most of Voltaire's many manuscripts from the publisher Charles-Joseph Panckouck in February To evade French censorship, he set up printing presses in Kehl , Germany. He bought the complete foundry of the famous English type designer John Baskerville from his widow and also purchased three paper mills.
Seventy volumes were published between and While the venture proved a financial failure, Beaumarchais was instrumental in preserving many of Voltaire's later works which otherwise might have been lost. It was not long before Beaumarchais crossed paths again with the French legal system. In , he became acquainted with Mme.
Korman, who was implicated and imprisoned in an adultery suit, which was filed by her husband to expropriate her dowry. The matter went to court, with Beaumarchais siding with Mme. Korman assisted by a celebrity lawyer, Nicolas Bergasse. On 2 April , M. Korman and Bergasse were found guilty of calumny slander , but Beaumarchais's reputation was also tarnished. Meanwhile, the French Revolution broke out. Beaumarchais was no longer quite the idol he had been a few years before, as he thought the excesses of the revolution were endangering liberty.
He was financially successful, mainly from supplying drinking water to Paris, and had acquired ranks [ clarification needed ] in the French nobility. In , he took up a lavish residence across from where the Bastille once stood. He spent under a week in prison during August for criticising the government, and was released only three days before a massacre took place in the prison where he had been detained.
Nevertheless, he pledged his services to the new republic.
He attempted to purchase 60, rifles for the French Revolutionary army from Holland, but was unable to complete the deal. He returned to Paris in , where he lived out the remainder of his life in relative peace. Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris is named after him. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?
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