Charles Simon Favart facts for kids

Charles-Simon Favart, 1757, a pastel portrait by Jean-Étienne Liotard

Charles Simon Favart (born November 13, 1710 – died May 12, 1792) was a famous French writer of plays and a theatre director. A well-known theatre in Paris, the Salle Favart, is named after him. He wrote many popular plays, especially comedies and "opéras-comiques," which are like light operas with spoken parts.

Who was Charles Simon Favart?

Early Life and Career

Charles Simon Favart was born in Paris. His father was a pastry-cook. Charles went to a good school called the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. After his father passed away, Charles ran the family pastry business for a while.

His first big success as a writer was a poem about Joan of Arc called La France delivrée par la Pucelle d'Orléans. This poem even won an award! After his first play, Les Deux Jumelles (which means The Two Twins), was performed in 1734, he was able to leave the pastry business. He then spent all his time writing for the theatre.

At first, he wrote many plays without putting his name on them. But in 1741, he finally put his name on a play called La Chercheuse d'esprit (The Seeker of Wit).

A Director and Playwright

Some of his most successful plays include Annette et Lubin, Le Coq du milage (1743), Ninette à la cour (1753), Les Trois Sultanes (1761), and L'Anglais de Bordeaux (1763).

Favart became the director of the Opéra-Comique, a type of theatre that mixed singing and acting. In 1745, he married Marie Justine Benoîte Duronceray. She was a beautiful young dancer, singer, and actress. She was known as "Mlle Chantilly" and had become famous the year before.

Together, Charles and Marie Justine made the Opéra-Comique very popular. It became so successful that it made the rival theatre, the Comédie-Française, jealous. Because of this, the Opéra-Comique was eventually closed down.

Favart and the Army

After the Opéra-Comique closed, Favart needed a new job. He accepted an offer from a military leader named comte Maurice de Saxe. Favart became the director of a group of actors who traveled with Maurice's army into Flanders.

Favart's job was to write poems and plays on the spot about what was happening in the war. This helped to entertain the soldiers and keep their spirits up. Favart and his acting group were so popular that even the enemy soldiers wanted to see them perform! So, sometimes, battles and comedies would happen one after another.

Maurice de Saxe, the military leader, showed too much interest in Favart's wife, Marie Justine. To escape him, she went to Paris. This made Maurice de Saxe angry at Charles Favart. A special royal order was issued for Favart's arrest, but he managed to escape to Strasbourg and hide.

Later Life and Legacy

After Maurice de Saxe died in 1750, Favart returned to Paris. He continued to write plays. Around this time, he became friends with the abbé de Voisenon, who helped him with his writing.

Charles Simon Favart lived for twenty years after his wife passed away. Towards the end of his life, he became almost blind. He died in Paris. The Favarts' second son, Charles Nicolas Favart, also became an actor and a writer of plays.

Favart's plays have been published many times. His letters, written between 1759 and 1763 to Count Durazzo (who directed theatres in Vienna), were published in 1808. These letters give us important information about what theatre and writing were like in the 1700s.

Favart's plays also inspired his close friend, the artist François Boucher. Boucher created many paintings featuring characters from Favart's plays, like "the little Shepherd" and the shepherdess "Lisette." Examples include Boucher's The Agreeable Lesson (1748) and An Autumn Pastoral (1749). These paintings, in turn, inspired artists at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory to create figurines of these characters.

What Plays Did Favart Write?

Charles Simon Favart wrote about 150 plays, mostly comedies and opéras-comiques. About 60 of these were published during his lifetime in 10 volumes. Here are some of his works:

Favart also left behind his own memories, which were published in 1808 by his grandson.

Fun Facts About Favart

• Favart and his wife appear as characters in a fictional play called Madame Favart. This play was an opéra comique written by Jacques Offenbach in 1878.
• Favart changed Rinaldo di Capua's play La Zingara into his own version called La Bohemienne.
• Favart's play Hippolyte et Aricie (1742) is a funny copy (a parody) of an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau that has the same name.

See also

In Spanish: Charles-Simon Favart para niños