Jean-Baptiste-Denis Despré

Jean-Baptiste-Denis Despré (24 June 1752 – 2 March 1832) was a French playwright, librettist, journalist, and translator.

Biography

Jean-Baptiste-Denis Despré was born in Dijon, Côte-d'Or. He was the secretary of Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt. He also worked for the baron's son, Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur.^[1] Later he became the secretary of Louis Bonaparte, who made him a councillor of state.^[2] In 1783 at the Gaîté, he parodied plays of William Shakespeare, that was adapted by Jean-François Ducis.^[3]

Works

1776: La Bonne femme, ou le Phénix (vaudeville, parody of Alceste), (with Pierre-Yves Barré (1749-1832) and Pierre-Antoine-Augustin de Piis (1755-1832))
1777: L'Opéra de province (parody of Armide in two acts and in verse)
1783: Le Roi Lu (parodie du Roi Lir ou Lear, in one act and in verse)
1792: Cécile et Ermancé (opéra comique)
1793: Nice (one-act comédie en vaudeville, in prose, imitation of Stratonice)
1796: Le Retour à Bruxelles (one-act opéra comique)
1796: La Succession (one-act opéra comique), (with Jacques-Marie Deschamps)
1797: Le Pari (divertissement in one acte, en prose et en vaudevilles), (with Pierre-Yves Barré, Jacques-Marie Deschamps, François-Georges Desfontaines (1733-1825), and Jean-Baptiste Radet (1752-1830)
1798: Le portrait de Fielding (one-act comedy)
1799: L'Allarmiste (comédie en vaudeville)
1800: Le gondolier, ou La soirée venitienne (one-act opera), (with Louis-Philippe de Ségur (1753-1830))
1803: Saül (oratorio mis en action)
1803: Le Poète satyrique (one-act comedy, in verse)
1803: Une soirée de deux prisonniers, ou Voltaire et Richelieu (one-act comedy)
1804: Le pavillon du Calife ou Almanzor et Zobéide (opera)
1805: Le Nouveau magasin des modernes (one-act comedy, in prose)
1805: La Prise de Jéricho (oratorio in three parts)
1814: Le laboureur chinois (one-act opera), (with Jacques-Marie Deschamps (1750?-1826), Étienne Morel de Chédeville (1751-1814) and Henri-Montan Berton (1767-1844))
1822: Mémoires sur Garrick et sur Macklin
1822: Mémoires sur Molière, et sur Mme Guérin, sa veuve (notes and commentary)
1827: Œuvres choisies de Dorat

Translations

1793: Le moine by Matthew Lewis
1794: The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
1798: Camilla, ou La peinture de la jeunesse by Fanny Burney (1752–1840)
1821: Works by Horace
1825–1827: Histoire d'Angleterre depuis l'invasion de Jules-César jusqu'à la révolution de 1688 by David Hume
1826: A Simple Story, by Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821)

References

^ César. Calendrier Électronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
^ Thomas, Joseph (1 January 2010). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. Cosimo, Inc. p. 754. ISBN 9781616400705. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
^ Forman, Edward (2010). Historical dictionary of French theater. Bristol: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 105. ISBN 978-0810874510. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

External links

Jean-Baptiste-Denis Despré on IdRef

[1] César. Calendrier Électronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution. Retrieved 24 December 2023.

[2] Thomas, Joseph (1 January 2010). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. Cosimo, Inc. p. 754. ISBN 9781616400705. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

[3] Forman, Edward (2010). Historical dictionary of French theater. Bristol: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 105. ISBN 978-0810874510. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]