Joseph Méry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph Méry
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| Born | 21 January 1797 Marseille, France
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| Died | 17 June 1866 (aged 69) |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Author |
Joseph Méry (born January 21, 1797 – died June 17, 1866) was a talented French writer. He was a journalist, wrote novels, poems, and plays. He also wrote librettos, which are the words for operas.
Contents
Joseph Méry's Creative Journey
Joseph Méry was a big fan of Romanticism, a style of art and literature that focused on strong feelings and imagination. He often worked with another writer named Auguste-Marseille Barthélemy. Together, they wrote many satires, which are funny writings that make fun of people or ideas.
Méry is best known today for his work on famous operas. He helped write the words (the libretto) for the original French version of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Don Carlos. This opera first opened in Paris in March 1867. Méry also wrote a play called La Bataille de Toulouse. Verdi later used this play as the basis for his own opera, La battaglia di Legnano, which premiered in January 1849.
People at the time knew Méry for his quick wit and his amazing ability to improvise stories and poems on the spot. He wrote several plays for theatres in Paris. He also worked with Gérard de Nerval to adapt some of William Shakespeare's plays and create other new plays. Méry was a friend of the composer Jacques Offenbach. He wrote the librettos for three of Offenbach's operettas.
In 1854, Méry wrote a novella (a short novel) called Histoire de ce qui n'est pas arrivé. This story is a great example of "alternate history." In it, Méry imagined what would have happened if Napoleon's life had taken a different path in Egypt in 1799. This novella was later translated into English and is part of a collection of Méry's stories called The Tower of Destiny.
In 1864, the famous writer Alexandre Dumas, père invited all the poets in France to show off their skills. They had to write poems using special rhyming challenges chosen by Joseph Méry. Later in his life, Méry received a pension (regular payments) from Napoléon III, who was the Emperor of France.
Joseph Méry's Published Works
Joseph Méry wrote many different kinds of works during his career.
Novels and Short Stories
He wrote many novels and short stories. Some of his notable works include:
- Le Quartier général des jésuites (1829)
- Les Nuits de Londres (1840)
- Un amour dans l'avenir (1841)
- Héva (1844)
- La Juive au Vatican (1851)
- Histoire d'une colline (1855)
- Marseille et les Marseillais (1860)
Poetry Collections
Méry also published several collections of his poems, such as:
- Une revanche de Waterloo (1836)
- Mélodies poétiques (1853)
- Les Vierges de Lesbos (1858)
Plays for the Stage
He wrote many plays that were performed in theatres. Some of these include:
- La Bataille de Toulouse (1836)
- L'Univers et la Maison (1846)
- Le Sage et le Fou (1852)
- L'Essai du mariage (1855)
Librettos for Operas
Méry wrote the words for several operas, working with different composers:
- For Ernest Reyer: Maître Wolfram (1854) and Érostrate (1862)
- For Félicien David: Herculanum (1859)
- For Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlos (1867)
