2190) Moliere (15.01.1622–17.02.1673), Playwright, Actor and Poet, France: 400th Birth Anniversary: La Poste, France (French Post) has issued a postage stamp of 1.43 Euro celebrating the milestone: Date/Year of Stamp issue: 17.01.2022:
400 years since the birth of Molière:
Jean-Baptiste (15.01.1622–17.02.1673), known by his stage name "Molière" was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world literature.
His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière".
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin came from a family of wealthy merchant-upholsterers in the Halles district - his father even had the charge of the king's valet de chambre upholsterer who ensured access to Louis XIV's “petit lever” - and he gave up his law studies in 1643 to form a troupe of actors (“L'Illustre Théâtre”) with some friends of his age.
Like all the actors of his time, he then invented a fancy lordship with a country name and called himself "le sieur de Molière" and therefore Molière.
Born into a prosperous family and having studied at the Collège de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped him polish his comedic abilities while he began writing, combining "Commedia dell'arte" elements with the more refined French comedy.
After the failure of L’Illustre Théâtre, he was recruited in 1646 by a renowned “campaign troupe” that criss-crossed the south of France.
Through the patronage of aristocrats including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans—the brother of Louis XIV—Molière procured a command performance before the King at the Louvre.
He soon became its leader, began to write short one-act plays for her, returned to Paris in 1658 where he triumphed by establishing himself as an extraordinary comic actor and by proposing a new way of writing comedies. A long series of masterpieces then followed, from Les Précieuses ridicules to the Imaginary Malade, including L’Ecole des femmes, Le Misanthrope, Le Tartuffe, L’Avare, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme ...
Performing a classic play by Pierre Corneille and a farce of his own, "The Doctor in Love," Molière was granted the use of "salle du Petit-Bourbon" near the Louvre, a spacious room appointed for theatrical performances.
Later, he was granted the use of the theatre in the Palais-Royal. In both locations, Molière found success among Parisians with plays such as "The Affected Ladies", "The School for Husbands", and "The School for Wives".
This royal favour brought a royal pension to his troupe and the title "Troupe du Roi" ("The King's Troupe"). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
Despite the adulation of the court and Parisians, Molière's satires attracted criticism from churchmen.
For "Tartuffe's impiety", the Catholic Church denounced this study of religious hypocrisy, which was followed by a ban by the Parlement, while "Don Juan" was withdrawn and never restaged by Molière.
His hard work in so many theatrical capacities took its toll on his health and, by 1667, he was forced to take a break from the stage.
In 1673, during a production of his final play - "The Imaginary Invalid", Molière, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, was seized by a coughing fit and a haemorrhage while playing the hypochondriac "Argan". He finished the performance but collapsed again and died a few hours later.
Molière is the greatest Western comic writer after having been the greatest comic actor of his time. Translated during his lifetime into the main European languages, he remains the most performed French author in the world.
As much applauded by his Parisian audience as by King Louis XIV and his Court, he stunned the spectators by making laugh at the behavior of his contemporaries - he was nicknamed "the painter" - and by inventing forms of theater unknown to him. like the musical, called “comedy-ballet”.
If he had kept a comic power intact and an unequaled influence, it is because by showing the madness and the blindness of men prey to passions or fixed ideas, he seemed to have touched the eternal flaws of the - "To be human".
The Commemorative Stamp:
A Collectible
A Philatelic Document giving brief details about Moliere in French
Technical details:
Issue Date: 17.01.2022
Designer: Humbert Basset
Illustrator: Humbert Basset
Process: Taille Douce
Links to other posts on Metropolis Tiffany Art Coin Series:
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