Larive
Encyclopedia
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
on 6 August 1747 and died at Montlignon
Montlignon
Montlignon is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.-References:** -External links:* *...
on 30 April 1827.
Life
The son of a grocer, he left his father's home to devote himself to the theatre and presented himself to LekainLekain
Lekain was the stage name of Henri Louis Cain , a French actor.He was born in Paris, the son of a silversmith. He was educated at the Collège Mazarin, and joined an amateur company of players against which the Comédie-Française obtained an injunction...
in Paris for a job. Engaged in Madame Montansier's company, he played at Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
, then at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, and came back to Paris where Mademoiselle Clairon took him under her protection.
Larive made his debut at the Comédie-Française
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....
on 3 December 1770 but was not well-received. He left for Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
where D'Hannetaire
D'Hannetaire
Jean-Nicolas Servandoni, stage name D'Hannetaire, was a French actor and theatre director.-Life:He was born in Grenoble, the son of the Florentine painter Jean-Nicolas Servandoni and his wife Marie-Josèphe Gravier; he was probably the nephew of the famous Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, known for his...
engaged him for the lead rôles at the Théâtre de la Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
and where he spent 4 years, acting alongside Dazincourt
Dazincourt
Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Albouy , stage name Dazincourt, was a French actor.-Life:Educated by the Oratorians, Dazincourt entered the service of the maréchal de Richelieu in 1766 and had a taste of acting in comedies of manners...
, Grandmesnil
Grandmesnil (actor)
Jean-Baptiste Fauchard , stage name Grandmesnil or Grand-Ménil), was a French actor and playwright.-Life:...
and Florence
Florence (actor)
Nicolas-Joseph Billot de La Ferrière, stage-name Florence was a French actor....
. It was here that he got to known his future wife, Eugénie D'Hannetaire
Eugénie D'Hannetaire
Marie-Louis-Philippine-Eugénie Servandoni , stage name Eugénie D'Hannetaire, was a French actress. She was the daughter of the actor-director D'Hannetaire and the actress Marguerite Huet . She made her debut at the Théâtre de la Monnaie aged 8, in child roles, then from 15 as a dancer...
, the director's eldest daughter, who he married in Paris on 18 June 1776 (they divorced in 1794). He was a friend of Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
and interpreted many of his lead roles.
On 29 April 1775, Larive made another first appearance at the Comédie-Française and was admitted as a sociétaire
Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française
The sociétaires of the Comédie-Française are chosen from among the pensionnaires who have been in the company a year or more.They are decided upon in the course of a general assembly of the company's administrative committee, made up of 6 existing sociétaires, the senior sociétaire, and the general...
on the following 18 May. Three years later, the death of Lekain
Lekain
Lekain was the stage name of Henri Louis Cain , a French actor.He was born in Paris, the son of a silversmith. He was educated at the Collège Mazarin, and joined an amateur company of players against which the Comédie-Française obtained an injunction...
put him in first place among the sociétaires. He regularly toured the provinces and appeared in his birthplace in 1780, as well as in Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. He left the Comédie-Française in 1788 but returned to it in 1790, after appearing in Lille.
Supplanted by Talma
François-Joseph Talma
François Joseph Talma was a French actor.He was born in Paris. His father, a dentist, moved to London, gave him a good English education. He returned to Paris, where for a year and a half he practised dentistry...
, he was imprisoned several times during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and retired to his property at Montlignon
Montlignon
Montlignon is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.-References:** -External links:* *...
, becoming the town's mayor.
Works
- Réflexions sur l'art théâtral (1801)
- Cours de déclamation (1810)
These were both referred to by Louis Jouvet
Louis Jouvet
Louis Jouvet was a renowned French actor, director, and theatre director.- Life :Overcoming speech impediments and sometimes paralyzing stage fright as a young man, Jouvet's first important association was with Jacques Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, beginning in 1913...
in his course at the Conservatoire.