Jean-Baptiste-Denis Despré

Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després
Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després, portrayed around 1820, wearing a Dutch order, sitting on a chair on the terrace of his house overlooking the village of Crécy-la-Chapelle, where he was the mayor. The church of the village can be seen in the background.
Born24 June 1752
Dijon, France
Died2 March 1832 (aged 80)
Paris, France
OccupationsJournalist, publisher, playwright, librettist, translator and private secretary

Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després (1752–1832) was a French journalist, publisher, playwright, librettist and translator, who was educated at the College Mazarin.

He also achieved fame and renown as a loyal private secretary, confidant and advisor to influential personalities, including writers, diplomats, military leaders and kings.[1]

Secretary and confidant of the personalities of his time

From the mid-1770s Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després was the secretary for Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, at the baron's residence in Paris, the Hôtel de Besenval. After the baron's death in 1791, he remained in the service of his son, Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur, who lived for a time in the Hôtel de Besenval after his father's death.[2][3]

The Baron de Besenval and Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després shared a close friendship and a deep relationship of trust. And so he wrote in a letter in 1787 about the baron:

"The Baron de Besenval was one of those men who succeeded in everything."

— Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després in a letter addressed to Maria Anna, Baronne von Roll von Emmenholz, née de Diesbach de Torny, wife of Franz Joseph, Baron von Roll von Emmenholz, a relative of the baron from Solothurn[4]

On the request of the Vicomte de Ségur, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després sorted the literary estate of the Baron de Besenval, which included his memoirs, published by the Vicomte de Ségur between 1805 and 1806. The publication caused a scandal among the aristocracy, as the baron did not shy away from describing life and customs at the French royal court in the last years of the Ancien Régime in all its scandalous details, including the names of the protagonists.[5][6]

In September 1793, whilst he was still working for the Vicomte de Ségur, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després organised a house viewing for the wife and daughter of Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, the architect of the famous nymphaeum in the basement of the Hôtel de Besenval, Anne Louise Brongniart, née Degrémont (1744–1829), and Emilie Louise Alexandrine (1780–1847). He showed them the various rooms, including the nymphaeum, furnished with precious furniture and works of art, which at that time, two years before the famous auction of 10 August 1795, conducted by Alexandre Joseph Paillet, were still on site at the Hôtel de Besenval, including the painting La Gimblette. Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després then invited the two ladies to lunch in the dining room of the Hôtel de Besenval, which had also been designed by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart in 1782.[7]

In 1805, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després became the secretary of Louis Bonaparte, who was King of Holland from 1806 to 1810 and appointed him to the Council of State. He was also a confidante of Hortense de Beauharnais, the Queen of Holland. Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després was a trusted official who ensured official communication between the queen and the various departments or interlocutors concerned, thus facilitating the management of the queen's affairs.[8][9]

Revolutionary times

After the death of his father, the Baron de Besenval, Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur, used the Hôtel de Besenval as the editorial headquarters for the monarchist newspaper La Feuille du jour, which he published together with the journalist Pierre-Germain Parisau and Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després. On 13 October 1793, the Vicomte de Ségur and Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després were arrested at the Hôtel de Besenval. They were accused of being pamphleteering counter-revolutionaries. Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després later managed to escape and the Vicomte de Ségur was released on 28 July 1794. The charges against him were dropped because the files could no longer be found. A friend of the Vicomte de Ségur, the actor Charles de La Buissière, managed to get himself employed at the Bureau of the Committee for Public Health. Charles de La Buissière destroyed the accusation file for Joseph-Alexandre Pierre de Ségur along with those of many other personalities of the Parisian scene, saving their lives.[10][11]

Literary and academic work

In 1783 at the Gaîté, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després parodied plays of William Shakespeare, that was adapted by Jean-François Ducis.[12]

Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després and Joseph-Alexandre Pierre de Ségur, were founding members of the Société: Les dîners du Vaudeville, a singing society, which was founded on 23 September 1796. From 1796 to 1797, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després was the editor of the Journal littéraire. On 25 February 1803, the Chamber of Commerce of Paris was founded and he was appointed Secretary of the Council of Commerce. In 1810, he was chosen a member of the Council of the University of Paris. During the Restoration, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després contributed to the following literary publications: Le Spectateur politique et littéraire and La Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, ou Histoire, par ordre alphabétique, de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents, leurs vertus ou leurs crimes.[13][14]

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

References

  1. ^ César. Calendrier Électronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  2. ^ César. Calendrier Électronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  3. ^ Jean-François Barrière: Bibliothèque des Mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France pendant le 18ème siecle – Mémoires du Baron de Besenval, tome IV, Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, rue Jacob 56, Paris, 1846, p. 3
  4. ^ Jean-François Barrière: Bibliothèque des Mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France pendant le 18ème siecle – Mémoires du Baron de Besenval, tome IV, Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, rue Jacob 56, Paris, 1846, p. 5 (citation de la lettre de 1787)
  5. ^ Jean-François Barrière: Bibliothèque des Mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France pendant le 18ème siecle – Mémoires du Baron de Besenval, tome IV, Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, rue Jacob 56, Paris, 1846, pp. 2, 3
  6. ^ Andreas Fankhauser: "Pierre Victor Besenval de Brunnstatt" in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  7. ^ Jacques Silvestre de Sacy: Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, 1739–1813, sa vie – son oeuvre, Éditions d'histoire et d'art, Librairie Plon, Paris, 1940, p. 62 [Lettre inédite. Archives privées de Louis de Launay (1860–1938)]
  8. ^ Thomas, Joseph (1 January 2010). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. Cosimo, Inc. p. 754. ISBN 9781616400705. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  9. ^ Contemporary information on the back of the portrait: Confidant of Hortense de Beauharnais, the Queen of Holland, ensuring official communication between the queen and the various departments
  10. ^ Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval: Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles, Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994, pp. 195–196
  11. ^ César. Calendrier Électronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  12. ^ Forman, Edward (2010). Historical dictionary of French theater. Bristol: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 105. ISBN 978-0810874510. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  13. ^ César. Calendrier Électronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  14. ^ Thomas, Joseph (1 January 2010). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology. Cosimo, Inc. p. 754. ISBN 9781616400705. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

Further reading

In alphabetical order

  • Jean-François Barrière: Bibliothèque des Mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France pendant le 18ème siecle – Mémoires du Baron de Besenval, tome IV, Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, rue Jacob 56, Paris, 1846
  • Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt: Mémoires de M. Le Baron de Besenval, écrits par lui-même, imprimés sur son manuscrit original et publiés par son exécuteur testamentaire M. A. J. de Ségur, imprimerie de Jeunehomme, rue de Sorbonne no. 4, Paris, 1805 – chez F. Buisson, libraire, rue Hautefeuille no. 31, Paris
  • Gabriel de Broglie: Ségur sans cérémonie (1757–1805) ou la gaieté libertine, Librairie Académique Perrin, Paris, 1977
  • Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015
  • Jean-Jacques de Dardel: L'hôtel de Besenval – siège de l'ambassade de Suisse en France, Labor et Fides, Genève, 2013
  • Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Le Baron Pierre-Victor de Besenval, Delachaux et Niestlé, Lausanne – Paris, 1993
  • Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval: Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles, Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994
  • Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994
  • Jean-Pierre Samoyault: L'Hôtel de Besenval – Ambassade de Suisse en France, Editions internationales du Patrimoine, Paris, 2017
  • Jacques Silvestre de Sacy: Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, 1739–1813, sa vie – son oeuvre, Éditions d'histoire et d'art, Librairie Plon, Paris, 1940
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