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
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
. After her Paris debut at the
Comédie-Française in 1717, she was immensely popular with the public. Together with
Michel Baron, she was credited for having developed a more natural, less stylized, type of acting.
Despite the fame she gained as an actress and her innovations in her acting style, she was widely remembered for her romance with
Maurice de Saxe
Maurice, Count of Saxony (, ; 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 II the Strong, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania ...
and for her mysterious death. Although there are different theories that suggest she was poisoned by her rival, the
Duchess of Bouillon, scholars have not been able to confirm it.
Her story was used as an inspiration for playwrights, composers and poets. The refusal of the Catholic Church to give her a Christian burial moved her friend
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
to write a poem on the subject.
Life
Early years
Adrienne Lecouvreur was born on 5 April 1692, in the village of
Damery in the province of
Champagne
Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...
. Her father, Robert Couvreur, was a hat maker who, in the hope of more lucrative opportunities, moved with his family to Paris. After the death of his wife, Marie Couvreur, Mr. Couvreur started frequenting taverns, leaving young Adrienne and her sister Marie Marguerite to fend for themselves.
Young Adrienne found her own refuge watching rehearsals in the Comedie Francaise, and joining the rehearsals of a young, clandestine theater troupe that met in the back store of a grocer's shop on the rue Férou. The company premiered at the house of Madame de Gue, wife of a president of ''Parlement''. They played
Corneille's ''Polyeucte'', with Adrienne Lecouvreur playing the role of Pauline.
Marc-Antoine Legrand, a ''sociétaire'' of the
Comédie-Française, was present at this performance, and, impressed by her skills, took her as his pupil. Legrand also advised her to add the
nobiliary particle
A nobiliary particle is a type of onomastic particle used in a surname or family name in many Western cultures to signal the nobility of a family. The particle used varies depending on the country, language and period of time. In some languages, it ...
"''le''" to her name.
Lunéville
At age 14, Adrienne was already on tour.
Her first public performances as a professional actress took place in
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
, where Mademoiselle Fonpré, who had been appointed director of the theatre, was taken aback by Lecouvreur's potential. Shortly after her début, she started getting roles playing tragic queens and princesses. Her next engagements after Lille were in
Lunéville, the capital of the
Duchy of Lorraine
The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...
. During this period, she had a daughter, Elisabeth-Adrienne, whose father was Philippe Le Roy, an officer who served the Duke
Leopold of Lorraine.
She was also engaged to a man referred in her writings as "Baron D.", but he died in an accident before they could marry.
Strasbourg
Shortly after Baron D's death, Adrienne Lecouvreur left Luneville, signing a contract with another theatre under the protection of the Duke of Lorraine; the theatre at
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
.
It was a time of great success for her. In Strasbourg, she met the young Count François de Klinglin, son of the city's chief magistrate. After months of visiting her, they announced their engagement, but one year into their commitment, Adrienne was expecting a second child. The shame of this impending wedding made the magistrate threaten his son with disinheritance, to which he gave in, calling off the engagement and agreeing to a new one, arranged by his family.
In Strasbourg, Lecouvreur earned a considerable income. However, while she was relying on Baron D. and subsequently Klinglin's income beside her own, she incurred serious debt.
Her engagements as an actress required her to pay for her own wardrobe and jewelry, and actresses of Adrienne's status were subject to high expectations in their adornment.
Humiliated after Klinglin's arranged marriage, and with two children to support, Adrienne could no longer sustain herself in Strasbourg.
In 1716, at age 24, she left for
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and in 1717 she received a letter from the first gentleman of the
King's chamber, requesting her to join the
Comédie-Française. The letter read:
"We, Steward and Controller General of the King's silverplate, pleasures, and business of the King's Chamber, order His Majesty's Players (in accordance with the order of Monseigneur the Duc d'Aumont, Peer of France and First Gentleman of the Chamber) to invite Mademoiselle Lecouvreur, immediately after the seasonal opening of their theatre, to perform in a play of her own choosing, in order to judge of any talent she may have for the theatre. Done in Paris this 27th day of March, 1717."
Paris
Adrienne Lecouvreur chose
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon's ''Electre'' and
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
's ''George Dandin'' in the role of Angélique.
She made a surprising first appearance on stage. She wore a simple, white satin Grecian robe; not a heavily elaborated gown as was usual back then
— nor did she wear a heavy headdress, and her acting style was devoid of the typical artificial gestures of that time's declamatory style.
In her first year (1717) she played Corneille and Racine (in particular the roles of Pulchérie in
''Heraclius'', Monime, and Iphigénie), and
Zenobia
Septimia Zenobia (Greek: Ζηνοβία, Palmyrene Aramaic: , ; 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner, and she married the ruler of the ...
in Crébillon's play. In 1718 she played Aristie in Corneille's
''Sertorius'' and Atalide in ''Bajazet''.
In total she gave 139 performances that season; an outstanding number for a beginner, and the most she would give throughout her career.
Acting style

Adrienne Lecouvreur was one of the first actresses who favored a more natural, realistic and less declamatory style. She and actor
Michel Baron sought for a style that was based on everyday speech, as opposed to the predominant ''chantante'' style of the time.
The playwright
Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps wrote on a letter to Mademoiselle Lecouvreur “Finally the true triumphs and the tragic furor give way, on the Stage, to the tender, the emotionally moving. You have made us know and feel the beauty of simplicity and its treasures.”
Charles Collé mentions the direct connection that Adrienne Lecouvreur created between the audience and the role itself: “She develops all the details of a role and makes us forget the actress. We see nothing but the character she represents.”
Lecouvreur took this search for a more natural style into another aspect of her work, her wardrobe. Regardless of the era in which a play had been written, it was customary for actresses to wear elaborate dresses that reflected the
fashion of the time, and sophisticated plumed headdresses.
Lecouvreur, however, made her first appearance at the Comedie Francaise wearing a simple Greek
tunic
A tunic is a garment for the torso, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the ankles. It might have arm-sleeves, either short or full-length. Most forms have no fastenings. The name deri ...
in white satin to play
Crebillon’s ''Electre''.
Legacy

Her life became the inspiration for a tragic 1849 drama ''
Adrienne Lecouvreur'' by
Scribe
A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing.
The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...
and
Legouvé on which
Francesco Cilea's opera ''
Adriana Lecouvreur'' and the
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...
''Adrienne'' (1926) by
Walter Goetze are based. Before them, however, in 1856,
Edoardo Vera premiered his "dramma lirico" ''Adriana Lecouvreur e la duchessa di Bouillon''. In 1913
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...
played her in the silent movie ''Adrienne Lecouvreur''. In 1928,
MGM Studios
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro ...
filmed ''
Dream of Love'', based on the Scribe and Legouvé
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
, ''Adrienne Lecouvreur'', starring
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...
and
Nils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981)[Swedi ...](_blank)
. At least six further films were made based on her life including ''
Adrienne Lecouvreur'' (1938).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lecouvreur, Adrienne
1692 births
1730 deaths
18th-century French actresses
People from Marne (department)
Actresses from Grand Est
Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française
French stage actresses