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GRESSET, JEAN BAPTISTE LOUIS (1709-1777)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 584 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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GRESSET, JEAN BAPTISTE LOUIS (1709-1777)

GRESSET, See also:
JEAN
JEAN See also:
BAPTISTE
BAPTISTE See also:
LOUIS
LOUIS (804–876)
LOUIS (893–911)
LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
LOUIS (1709-1777) , See also:

French poet and dramatist, was See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born at See also:

AMIENS

Amiens on the 29th of See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August 1709. His poem Vert Vert is his See also:

main See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title to fame. He spent, however, the last twenty-five years of his See also:

LIFE

life in regretting the frivolity which enabled him to produce this most charming of poems. He was brought up by the See also:

JESUITS

Jesuits of Amiens. He was accepted as a novice at the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of sixteen, and sent to pursue his studies at the See also:

COLLEGE (Collegium)

College Louis le See also:

GRAND

Grand in See also:

Paris. After completing his course he was appointed, being then under twenty years of age, to a See also:

POST

post as assistant See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master in a college at See also:

ROUEN

Rouen. He published Vert Vert at Rouen in 1734. It is a See also:

story, in itself exceedingly humorous, showing how a See also:

PARROT (according to Skeat, from Fr. Perrot or Pies-rot, the diminutive of the proper name Pierrel)

parrot, the delight of a See also:

CONVENT (Lat. conventus, from convenire, to come together)

convent, whose talk was all of prayers and pious ejaculations, was conveyed to another convent as a visitor to please the nuns. On the way he falls among See also:

BAD, BCD

bad companions, forgets his convent See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language, and shocks the sisters on arrival by profane See also:

SWEARING (O. Eng. swerian, to swear, originally to speak aloud, cf. andswerian, to answer, Ger. schworen, Dan. svaerge, &c., all from root sorer-, to make a sound, cf. " swarm," properly the buzzing of bees, Lat. susurrus)

swearing. He is sent back in disgrace, punished by solitude and See also:

PLAIN (O. Fr. plain, from Lat. plenum)

plain See also:

BREAD

bread, presently repents, reforms and is killed by kindness. The story, however, is nothing. The treatment of the subject, the See also:

APPLAUSE (Lat. applaudere, to strike upon, clap)

applause.

It is said that the study of the See also:

SCORE (O.E. scor, from sceran, to cut, notch, cf. " shear ")

score of one of Monsigny's operas, See also:

LENT (0. Eng. lenclen, " spring," M. Eng. lenten, lente, lent; cf. Dut. lente, Ger. Lenz, " spring," 0. H. Ger. lenzin, lengizin, lenzo, probably from the same root as " long " and referring to " the lengthening days ")

lent to him by a secretary of the French See also:

EMBASSY

embassy in See also:

Rome, decided See also:

GRETRY

Gretry to devote himself to French comic See also:

OPERA (Italian for " work ")

opera. On New See also:

YEAR

Year's See also:

day 1767 he accordingly See also:

LEFT

left Rome, and after a See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short stay at See also:

Geneva (where he made the acquaintance of See also:

VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE (1694–1778)

Voltaire, and produced another operetta) went to Paris. There for two years he had to contend with the difficulties incident to poverty and obscurity. He was, however, not without See also:

friends, and by the intercession of See also:

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

Count See also:

CREUTZ, GUSTAF FILIP, COUNT (1729-1785)

Creutz, the See also:

SWEDISH

Swedish See also:

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

ambassador, Gretry obtained a libretto from See also:

MARMONTEL, JEAN FRANCOIS (1723-1799)

Marmontel, which he set to See also:

MUSIC

music in less than six See also:

WEEKS, EDWIN LORD (1849-1903)

weeks, and which, on its performance in August 1768, met with unparalleled success. The name of the opera was Le See also:

Huron. Two others, Lucile and Le Tableau parlant, soon followed, and thenceforth Gretry's position as the leading composer of comic opera was safely established. Altogether he composed some fifty operas. His masterpieces are Zemire et Azor and See also:

Richard Cceur de See also:

Lion,—the first produced in 1771, the second in 1784. The latter in an indirect way became connected with a See also:

GREAT

great historic event. In it occurs the celebrated See also:

ROMANCE

romance, 0 Richard, o mon roi, l'univers t'abandonne, which was sung at the banquet—" fatal as that of Thyestes," remarks See also:

Carlyle—given by the bodyguard to the See also:

OFFICERS

officers of the See also:

VERSAILLES

Versailles See also:

garrison on See also:

OCTOBER

October 3, 1789. The Marseillaise not See also:

long after-wards became the reply of the See also:

PEOPLE

people to the expression of See also:

LOYALTY

loyalty borrowed from Gretry's opera. The composer himself was not uninfluenced by the great events he witnwsed, and the titles of some of his operas, such as La Rosiere republicaine and La Fete de la raison, sufficiently indicate the See also:

EPOCH (Gr. E7roxij, holding in suspense, a pause, from E1rxav, to hold up, to stop)

epoch to which they belong; but they are See also:

mere pieces de circonstance, and the republican See also:

ENTHUSIASM

enthusiasm displayed is not genuine.

Little more successful was Gretry in his dealings with classical subjects. His genuine See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power See also:

lay in the delineation of See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character and in the expression of See also:

TENDER

tender and typically French sentiment. The structure of his concerted pieces on the other See also:

hand is frequently flimsy, and his See also:

INSTRUMENTATION

instrumentation so feeble that the orchestral parts of some of his See also:

WORKS

works had to be rewritten by other composers, in See also:

order to make them acceptable to See also:

MODERN

modern audiences. During the revolution Gretry lost much of his See also:

PROPERTY

property, but the successive governments of See also:

France vied in favouring the composer, regardless of See also:

POLITICAL

political See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences. From the old See also:

court he received distinctions and rewards of all kinds; the See also:

REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

republic made him an inspector of the See also:

CONSERVATOIRE (the Fr. equivalent of Ital. Conservatorio, Ger. Conservatorium, from Med. Lat. conservatorium, a place where anything is preserved, Lat. conservare, to preserve)

conservatoire; See also:

NAPOLEON

Napoleon granted him the See also:

CROSS

cross of the See also:

LEGION (Lat. legio)

legion of See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour and a See also:

PENSION (Lat. pensio, a payment, from pendere, to weigh, to pay)

pension. Gretry died on the 24th of See also:

SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September 1813, at the Hermitage in See also:

Montmorency, formerly the See also:

house of See also:

Rousseau. Fifteen years after his See also:

DEATH

death Gretry's See also:

heart was transferred to his birthplace, permission having been obtained after a tedious lawsuit. In 1842 a See also:

COLOSSAL

colossal See also:

BRONZE

bronze statue of the composer was set up at See also:

Liege. See See also:

Michael Brenet, See also:

Vie de Gretry (Paris, 1884) ; Joach. le See also:

Breton, See also:

NOTICE

Notice historique sur la vie et See also:

les ouvrages de Gretry (Paris, T814); A. Gretry (his See also:

NEPHEW

nephew), Gretry en famille (Paris, 1814) ; See also:

Felix See also:

van Hulst, Gretry (Liege, 1842); L. D. S.

Notice biographique sur Gretry (Bruxelles, 1869).

End of Article: GRESSET, JEAN BAPTISTE LOUIS (1709-1777)

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