'' Artémire '' was

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

's second tragedy in five acts. When it failed at its premiere on February 15 1720 at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

, Voltaire withdrew it and cancelled the printing.

Action

The action is set in Larissa in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

after the death of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. Artémire, the virtuous wife of the usurper Cassandre, who actually loves the rightful aspirant of Philotas, is persecuted by her husband, and is ultimately saved by his unexpected death. The publishers of the Kehl edition of Voltaire's complete works could not find a synopsis for the play, so their arrangement of the surviving fragments was based on a parody of ''Artémire'' listed in the

Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne or Théâtre-Italien are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were commedia dell'arte companies employed b ...

in an act by Dominique, only two days after the premiere.

Contemporary reception

The play was originally conceived as a vehicle for the famous actress

Adrienne Lecouvreur Adrienne Lecouvreur (5 April 1692 – 20 March 1730), born Adrienne Couvreur, was a French actress, considered by many as the greatest of her time. Born in Damery, she first appeared professionally on the stage in Lille. After her Paris debut ...

, who was to become Voltaire's lover. It was first performed at Sully by a group of aristocratic amateurs, guests of the Duke. After being withdrawn from the public theatre, ''Artémire'' had seven further performances by request of the Regent's mother

Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (german: Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz), (french: Princesse Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat); known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722) was a German m ...

. The literary review ''L'Europe savante'' reported the play had had few performances, and that it contained the same weaknesses and favourable points as Voltaire's first tragedy '' Oedipe'' though it failed where ''Oedipe'' had succeeded. Voltaire reused some of the material from ''Artémire'' in his 1724 play '' Hérode et Mariamne''. Although not popular with the theatre-going public, ''Artémire'' was sufficiently well-received at court to secure Voltaire's permission to return to Paris, from where he had been banished for offending the Regent.

Printed editions

Voltaire retained the manuscript of the play. Two short fragments from the fourth act were first published by Pierre Desfontaines in the appendix to the Bernard edition of ''La Ligue'' in Amsterdam in 1724. A summary and arrangement of the surviving fragments was contained in the 1785 in the Kehl edition of Voltaire's works. Additional fragments from a manuscript of Decroix were incorporated into the Beuchot edition of the works of Voltaire (1829-1840).

References

External links

Fragments of ''Artémire'' on wikisource (French)
{{Voltaire, state=expanded Plays by Voltaire Tragedy plays 1720 in France 1720 plays