Pierre Dupont
Encyclopedia
Pierre Dupont French
song-writer, the son of a blacksmith, was born in Lyon
.
His parents both died before he was five years old, and he was brought up in the country by his godfather, a village priest. He was educated at the seminary of L'Argentire, and was afterwards apprenticed to a notary at Lyon. In 1839 he found his way to Paris
, and some of his poems were inserted, in the Gazette de France and the Quotidienne. Two years later he was saved from the conscription and enabled to publish his first volume--Les Deux Anges--through the exertions of a kinsman and of Pierre Lebrun
.
In 1842 he received a prize from the Academy, and worked for some time on the official dictionary. Gounod's appreciation of his peasant song, J'ai deux grands boeufs dans mon étable (1846), settled his vocation as a song-writer. He had no theoretical knowledge of music, but he composed both the words and the melodies of his songs, the two processes being generally simultaneous. He himself remained so innocent of musical knowledge that he had to engage Ernest Reyer
to write down his airs.
He sang his own songs, as they were composed, at the workmens' concerts in the Salle de la Fraternité du Faubourg Saint-Denis; the public performance of his famous "Le Pain" was forbidden; "Le Chant des ouvriers" was even more popular; and in 1851 he paid the penalty of having become the poet laureate
of the socialistic
aspirations of the time by being condemned to seven years of exile from France.
The sentence was cancelled, and the poet withdrew for a time from participation in politics. He died at Lyon, where his later years were spent, on the 24th of July 1870. His songs have appeared in various forms:
Among the best-known are "Le Braconnier," "Le Tisserand," "La Vache blanche," "La Chanson du ble," but many others might be mentioned of equal spontaneity and charm. His later works have not the same merit.
See also Sainte-Beuve
, Causeries du lundi, iv.; Charles Baudelaire
, Notice sur P. Dupont (1849); Dbchaut, Biographie de Pierre Dupont (1871); and Ch. Lenient, Posie patriotique en France (1889), ii. 352 et seq.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
song-writer, the son of a blacksmith, was born in 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....
.
His parents both died before he was five years old, and he was brought up in the country by his godfather, a village priest. He was educated at the seminary of L'Argentire, and was afterwards apprenticed to a notary at Lyon. In 1839 he found his way to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and some of his poems were inserted, in the Gazette de France and the Quotidienne. Two years later he was saved from the conscription and enabled to publish his first volume--Les Deux Anges--through the exertions of a kinsman and of Pierre Lebrun
Pierre-Antoine Lebrun
Pierre-Antoine Lebrun was a French poet.Lebrun was born in Paris. An Ode à la grande armée, mistaken at the time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention, and secured for the author a pension of 1200 francs. Lebrun's plays, once famous, are now forgotten...
.
In 1842 he received a prize from the Academy, and worked for some time on the official dictionary. Gounod's appreciation of his peasant song, J'ai deux grands boeufs dans mon étable (1846), settled his vocation as a song-writer. He had no theoretical knowledge of music, but he composed both the words and the melodies of his songs, the two processes being generally simultaneous. He himself remained so innocent of musical knowledge that he had to engage Ernest Reyer
Ernest Reyer
Ernest Reyer, the adopted name of Louis Étienne Ernest Rey, was a French opera composer and music critic .- Biography :...
to write down his airs.
He sang his own songs, as they were composed, at the workmens' concerts in the Salle de la Fraternité du Faubourg Saint-Denis; the public performance of his famous "Le Pain" was forbidden; "Le Chant des ouvriers" was even more popular; and in 1851 he paid the penalty of having become the poet laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
of the socialistic
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
aspirations of the time by being condemned to seven years of exile from France.
The sentence was cancelled, and the poet withdrew for a time from participation in politics. He died at Lyon, where his later years were spent, on the 24th of July 1870. His songs have appeared in various forms:
- Chants et chansons (3 vols., with music, 1852–1854)
- Chants et poesies (7th edition, 1862)
Among the best-known are "Le Braconnier," "Le Tisserand," "La Vache blanche," "La Chanson du ble," but many others might be mentioned of equal spontaneity and charm. His later works have not the same merit.
See also Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history.-Early years:...
, Causeries du lundi, iv.; Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
, Notice sur P. Dupont (1849); Dbchaut, Biographie de Pierre Dupont (1871); and Ch. Lenient, Posie patriotique en France (1889), ii. 352 et seq.