Victor Joseph Etienne de Jouy
Encyclopedia
Victor-Joseph Étienne called de Jouy (19 October 1764 – 4 September 1846), French
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...
dramatist, who abandoned an early military career for a successful literary one.
Victor-Joseph Étienne was born at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
. At the age of eighteen he received a commission in the army, and sailed for South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
in the company of the governor of Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
. He returned almost immediately to France to complete his studies, and re-entered the service two years later. He was sent to India, where he met with many romantic adventures which were afterwards turned to literary account. On the outbreak of the 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...
he returned to France and served with distinction in the early campaigns, attaining the rank of adjutant-general. He drew suspicion on himself, however, by refusing to honor the toast of Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
, and had to flee for his life.
At the fall of the Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
he resumed his commission but again fell under suspicion, being accused of treasonable correspondence with the English envoy, James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury
James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury GCB was an English diplomatist.-Early life :...
who had been sent to France to negotiate terms of peace. He was acquitted of this charge, but, weary of repeated attacks, resigned his position on the pretext of his numerous wounds.
Jouy now turned his attention to literature, and produced in 1807 with immense success the libretto for Gaspare Spontini
Gaspare Spontini
Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini was an Italian opera composer and conductor, extremely celebrated in his time, though largely forgotten after his death.-Biography:...
's opera La vestale
La vestale
La vestale is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra in Paris on December 15, 1807 and is regarded as Spontini's masterpiece...
. The piece ran for a hundred nights, and owing in part to its libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
, was characterized by the Institut de France
Institut de France
The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...
as the best lyric drama of the day. Other opera librettos followed, including Spontini's Fernand Cortez and Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
's Abencérages, but none obtained so great a success. From 1811 to 1814 he published in the weekly Gazette de France
La Gazette
La Gazette , originally Gazette de France, was the first weekly magazine published in France. It was founded by Théophraste Renaudot and issued its first number on May 30, 1631. It progressively became the mouthpiece of one royalist faction, the Legitimists...
a series of satirical sketches of Parisian life, later collected under the title of L'Ermite de la Chaussée d'Antin, ou observations sur les moeurs et les usages français au commencement du xixe siècle (1812–1814, 5 vols.), which was warmly received and made his name as a journalist; he contributed to Le Nain jaune, La Minerve française
La Minerve (French newspaper)
La Minerve, later La Minerve française, was a daily French newspaper first published on 1 April 1818. Liberal and in favour of the Charte constitutionnelle, it was suspected under the Bourbon Restoration of being the organ of Bonapartists and Republicans...
, Le Miroir, Pandore and L'Obervateur. Étienne de Jouy was also one of the founders of the Biographie nouvelle des contemporains, who encouraged contributions from the young journalist François Buloz
François Buloz
François Buloz was a French littérateur, magazine editor, and theater administrator.He was born in Vulbens, Haute-Savoie, near Geneva, and died in Paris....
whom he had employed in his chemical factory and who would have a distinguished career guiding the Revue des deux mondes
Revue des deux mondes
The Revue des deux Mondes is a French language monthly literary and cultural affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829....
.
In 1821 his tragedy of Sylla gained a triumph due in part to the genius of the actor Talma, who had studied the title-rôle from Napoleon; it opened 27 Decemnber 1821 at the Théâtre-Français. Under the Restoration Jouy consistently fought for the cause of freedom, and if his work was overrated by his contemporaries, they were probably influenced by their respect for the author himself. He died in rooms set apart for his use in the Château de St Germain-en-Laye, 4 September 1846.
Out of the long list of his opera librettos, tragedies and miscellaneous writings may be mentioned:
- La VestaleLa vestaleLa vestale is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra in Paris on December 15, 1807 and is regarded as Spontini's masterpiece...
(1807), opera, music by Spontini - Fernand CortezFernand CortezFernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique is an opéra in three acts by Gaspare Spontini with a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Joseph-Alphonse d’Esmenard...
(1809), opera, in collaboration with J.-A. EsménardJoseph-Alphonse EsménardJoseph-Alphonse Esménard was a French poet and the brother of the journalist Jean-Baptiste Esménard.-Life:...
, music by Spontini - Les amazones, ou La fondation de ThèbesLes amazonesLes amazones, ou La fondation de Thèbes is an opera in three acts by the French composer Étienne Méhul with a libretto by Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 17 December 1811 with the Emperor Napoleon and his new wife, Marie-Louise in the audience...
, opera (1811), music by Étienne MéhulÉtienne MéhulEtienne Nicolas Méhul was a French composer, "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution." He was also the first composer to be called a "Romantic".-Life:... - Tippo Saeb, tragedy (1813)
- Les Abencérages, ou L'étendard de GrenadeLes AbencéragesLes Abencérages, ou L'étendard de Grenade is an opera in three acts by Luigi Cherubini with a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy, based on the novel Gonzalve de Cordoue by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian...
, opera (1813), music by CherubiniLuigi CherubiniLuigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries.... - Belisaire, tragedy (1818)
- Les Hermites en prison (1823), written in collaboration with Antoine JayAntoine JayAntoine Jay was a French writer, journalist, historian and politician.-Life:At first an Oratorian at Niort, he studied law at Toulouse and became a lawyer, then briefly administrator of the district of Libourne...
, like himself a political prisoner - Guillaume Tell (1829), with Hippolyte Bis, music by RossiniGioacchino RossiniGioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
.