Charles-Pierre Colardeau (12 October 1732 in Janville – 7 April 1776 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French poet. His most notable works are an imitation of ''

Eloisa to Abelard ''Eloisa to Abelard'' is a verse epistle by Alexander Pope that was published in 1717 and based on a well-known medieval story. Itself an imitation of a Latin poetic genre, its immediate fame resulted in a large number of English imitations thro ...

'' by

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

and a translation of the first two sections of ''

Night-Thoughts ''The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality'', better known simply as ''Night-Thoughts'', is a long poem by Edward Young published in nine parts (or "nights") between 1742 and 1745. It was illustrated with notable engrav ...

'' by

Edward Young Edward Young (c. 3 July 1683 – 5 April 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for ''Night-Thoughts'', a series of philosophical writings in blank verse, reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the mos ...

. They witness to the pre- Romantic sensibility of the 18th century, as also seen in the works of

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and Prévost. He also naturalized

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's term. ''

Heroides The ''Heroides'' (''The Heroines''), or ''Epistulae Heroidum'' (''Letters of Heroines''), is a collection of fifteen epistolary Epistolary means "in the form of a letter or letters", and may refer to: * Epistolary ( la, epistolarium), a Christi ...

'', as '

héroïde A ''héroïde'' is a term in French literature for a letter in verse, written under the name of a hero or famous author, derived from the ''Heroides'' by Ovid. It was invented by Charles-Pierre Colardeau. the ''héroïde'' is a form of tragedy un ...

s', imaginary poetic letters by famous people. The relatively small size of his œuvre is attributed by some to his fragile health (he died aged only 43) and by others to proverbial laziness.

Life and work

Early life

Charles-Pierre Colardeau was the son of Charles Colardeau, collector of salt warehouse of Janville and his wife Jeanne Regnard. Orphaned at age 13, he was raised by his maternal uncle, pastor of

Pithiviers Pithiviers () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, north central France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, subprefectures of Loiret. It is twinned with Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, Eng ...

who sent him to the college of

Meung-sur-Loire Meung-sur-Loire () is a commune in the Loiret department, north-central France. It was the site of the Battle of Meung-sur-Loire in 1429. Geography Meung-sur-Loire lies 15 km to the west of Orléans on the north bank of the river Loire at ...

to complete the humanities that he had begun with the Jesuits of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and College of Beauvais in Paris and then returned to Pithiviers. His uncle had got him a position as a secretary to a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris, with the intention to prepare for the study of law and the legal profession. Colardeau then returned to the capital in 1753 but remained there for only a short time as his health faltered and he had to return to Pithiviers where he indulged his penchant for poetry, translated into verse fragments of holy scripture, undertook the writing of his tragedies ''Nicephore'' and ''Astarbé'', the subject of the first having been taken from the Bible and that of the second from the ''Aventures de Télémaque'' (''Adventures of Telemachus'') of Fénelon .

Literary career

In 1755, with the recall of the Parliaments, Colardeau was able to return to Paris where he finished his tragedy ''Astarbé'' which he read to the Comédiens-Français in July 1756. Before the welcome given to his work, he decided to abandon the law to devote himself entirely to his literary career. ''Astarbé'' however, was not performed immediately, and the assassination of Damiens led Colardeau to withdraw it, however, he composed an imitation of Pope's ''Eloisa to Abelard'', which was a great success and made him immediately famous. ''Astarbé'' was eventually performed in April 1758 and was well received. The same year, continuing in the vein of verse epistles, Colardeau produced an

entitled ''Armide à Renaud''. His second tragedy, ''Calista'', represented in 1760, had some success through the talent of

Mademoiselle Clairon Clair Josèphe Hippolyte Leris (25 January 1723 – 29 January 1803), known as Mademoiselle Clairon or La Clairon was a French actress, born at Condé-sur-l'Escaut, Hainaut (province), Hainaut, the daughter of an army sergeant. She is primar ...

but provoked critical comments, particularly because of its scabrous subject (rape). Colardeau undertook a translation into French of

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

's ''

Jerusalem Delivered ''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade i ...

'', but he destroyed the manuscript before his death. He then tried his hand at a translation of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

'' which he abandoned when he heard that Father Delille was working on an identical project. In 1762, his poem ''Patriotism'' brought him to the attention of the

Duc de Choiseul {{Unreferenced, date=April 2019 Choiseul is an illustrious noble family from Champagne, France, descendants of the comtes of Langres. The family's head was Renaud III de Choiseul, comte de Langres and sire de Choiseul, who in 1182 married Alix ...

and earned him a biting satire to which he responded in his ''Epître à Minette'' (''Letter to Minette''). Returned to Pithiviers in 1766, he wrote a comedy in five acts and in verse, ''Les perfidies à la mode'', which was not performed. In 1770, he put into verse the first two parts of

's ''

'', whose French translation had just been published. In 1772 he published a '' Temple de Gnide'' composed a decade earlier, adapted from

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principa ...

, as the poem by

Nicolas-Germain Léonard Nicolas-Germain Léonard (16 March 1744 – 26 January 1793) was a poet and one of Guadeloupe's first writers. Léonard was born in Guadeloupe, but spent most of his life in France, travelling back and forth frequently. He first moved to France ...

appeared shortly before. In 1774 he published his ''Epître à M. Duhamel de Denainvilliers'' (''Letter to Mr. Duhamel Denainvilliers'') on the charms of the countryside and a descriptive poem ''Les Hommes de Prométhée'' (''The Men of Prometheus'') which describes the awakening of romantic love in the first two human beings.

Family life

The '' Mémoires Secrets pour servir à l'histoire de la République des Lettres en France'' attributed the death of the writer to a venereal disease contracted during a fleeting relationship with a "courtesan ungrateful and treacherous". The siren that ''Mémoires ...'' designate as Demoiselle Verrières would be Marie Rinteau (1730–1775) called Marie Verrières or De Verrières . Marie and her sister had a welcoming house at Auteuil and provided a beautiful theatre. A liaison with

Maurice de Saxe Maurice, Count of Saxony (german: Hermann Moritz von Sachsen, french: Maurice de Saxe; 28 October 1696 – 20 November 1750) was a notable soldier, officer and a famed military commander of the 18th century. The illegitimate son of Augustus I ...

produced a girl born in 1748, Aurore, who became the grandmother of

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

. Marie was unable to make provisions for her education and the Dauphine took Aurore from her mother to be educated in a convent: after the death of Marshal Saxe (1750) Marie's name is associated in the chronicles of the time with a number of gentlemen among whom there is the enduring presence of Denis Joseph Lalive d'Epinay, from a family of '' fermiers généraux'', husband of

Louise d'Epinay Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

(who was a lover of Louis Dupin Francueil Aurore, future husband and grandfather of George Sand). The romance of Marie with Colardeau—a penniless poet—was an all too brief interlude, and poor Charles-Pierre was first requested "to leave for two years" to make way for a richer protector and then finally returned to his desk. The chronicle of ''Mémoires ...'' for the year of his death informs us that, once convinced of his disgrace, Charles-Pierre circulated in Paris a "bloody satire" in which Marie was cruelly treated. Colardeau lived for several years up to his death—as did many penniless writers of his time—in the house of an aristocrat, the Marquise de Viéville, of whom the ''Mémoires ...'' say "she was a woman of wit and philosophy, adding that "the rumor was that she had married or would marry him (Colardeau)". It seems that the marquise fought hard to get her poet made a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

but bear in mind that—again according to the authors of ''Mémoires ...''—Colardeau had a reputation in the world of letters for writing very little but to be the best versifier in France. In January 1776, Colardeau succeeded Duc de Saint-Aignan in the Académie française. But he did not even have time to deliver his acceptance speech as he died April 7, 1776, aged only 43 years.

Works

* ''Lettre d'Héloïse à Abailard'', in imitation of

, (1756) ; * ''Astarbé '' (1758), tragédie ; * ''Armide à Renaud'' (1758) ; * ''Caliste '' (1760), tragédie ; * ''Le Patriotisme'' (1762) ; * ''Epître à Minette'' (1762) ; * ''Les Perfidies à la Mode'' (1766), comédie ; * ''Les Nuits d'Young'' (1770) ; * '' Le Temple de Gnide'' (1772) ; * ''Epître à M. Duhamel de Denainvilliers'' (1774) ; * ''Les Hommes de Prométhée'' (1774). His works form 2 volumes in-8, 1779.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Renata Carocci, ''Les

Héroïde A ''héroïde'' is a term in French literature for a letter in verse, written under the name of a hero or famous author, derived from the ''Heroides'' by Ovid. It was invented by Charles-Pierre Colardeau. the ''héroïde'' is a form of tragedy un ...

s dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siecle'', Fasano et Paris, Schena-Nizet, 1988 * ierre Jabineau de la Voûte « Vie de M. Colardeau », in : ''Œuvres de Colardeau'', Paris, Billard et Le Jay, 1779, 2 vol. * Jean-Noël Pascal, ''La belle Pénitente (La belle Pénitente de Mauprié, Caliste de Colardeau)'', Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 2001

External links

*
His plays and productions of them
o
CÉSAR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colardeau, Charles-Pierre 1732 births 1776 deaths People from Eure-et-Loir 18th-century French writers 18th-century French male writers 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights Members of the Académie Française