Balthazar Baro
Encyclopedia
Balthazar Baro was a French poet, playwright and romance
-writer.
, Baro studied at Tournon-sur-Rhône
then at Valence, where he gained his law doctorate in 1615.
Becoming secretary to Honoré d'Urfé
, who he had met when they attended the same collège in Tournon
, he published Urfé's L'Astrée
and wrote a fifth book for it himself (from his master's notes) in 1628. Coming to Paris, he attended on Madame de Chevreuse, sworn enemy of cardinal Richelieu, but even so the immense success of L'Astrée gained him entry to the Académie française
in 1636. After being gentleman to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, he held two jobs towards the end of his life, that of procurer to the présidial de Valence and that of treasurer of France at Montpellier
.
, Edmond Rostand
evoked a production of Baro's La Clorise in order to mock it:
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
-writer.
Life
The son of a professor at the university of ValenceUniversity of Valence
The University of Valence was founded 26 July, 1452, by letters patent from the Dauphin Louis, afterwards Louis XI of France, in a move to develop the city of Valence, then part of his domain of Dauphiné. It existed until the French Revolution.-History:...
, Baro studied at Tournon-sur-Rhône
Tournon-sur-Rhône
Tournon-sur-Rhône is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.-Geography:It is located on the right bank of the Rhône River, opposite Tain-l'Hermitage, which is located in the Drôme département...
then at Valence, where he gained his law doctorate in 1615.
Becoming secretary to Honoré d'Urfé
Honoré d'Urfé
Honoré d'Urfé, marquis de Valromey, comte de Châteauneuf was a French novelist and miscellaneous writer.- Life :...
, who he had met when they attended the same collège in Tournon
Tournon-sur-Rhône
Tournon-sur-Rhône is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.-Geography:It is located on the right bank of the Rhône River, opposite Tain-l'Hermitage, which is located in the Drôme département...
, he published Urfé's L'Astrée
L'Astrée
L’Astrée is a pastoral novel by Honoré d'Urfé, published between 1607 and 1627.Possibly the single most influential work of 17th century French literature, Astrée has been called the "novel of novels", partly for its immense length but also for the success it had throughout Europe: it was...
and wrote a fifth book for it himself (from his master's notes) in 1628. Coming to Paris, he attended on Madame de Chevreuse, sworn enemy of cardinal Richelieu, but even so the immense success of L'Astrée gained him entry to the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1636. After being gentleman to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, he held two jobs towards the end of his life, that of procurer to the présidial de Valence and that of treasurer of France at Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
.
Works
Baro's œuvre is made up of four dramatic poems, three tragedies, two odes, a pastoral and a heroic poem. That heroic poem- L'Astrée de Messire Honoré d'Urfé (1618–28) (5 volumes) - Its end, la Conclusion d'Astrée, was called by Paul PellissonPaul Pellissonthumb|Paul Pellisson,Paul Pellisson was a French author.He was born in Béziers, of a distinguished Calvinist family. He studied law at Toulouse, and practised at the bar of Castres. Going to Paris with letters of introduction to Valentin Conrart, a fellow Calvinist, he was introduced to the...
"[Baro's] greatest and principal work ... in which he seems to have been inspired by his master's genius". - Célinde, poème héroïque (1629) - a five act prose work in the middle of which the author introduces a passage of around 300 lines of poetry evoking the tragedy of HolofernesHolofernesIn the deuterocanonical Book of Judith Holofernes was an invading general of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar dispatched Holofernes to take vengeance on the nations of the west that had withheld their assistance to his reign...
, which constituted the first play within a play in French literature - La Clorise, pastorale (1632)
- Contre l'autheur d'un libelle, ode pour Monseigneur l'éminentissime cardinal duc de Richelieu (1637)
- La Parthénie, dédiée à Mademoiselle (1642)
- La Clarimonde, dédiée à la Reine (1643)
- Le Prince fugitif, poëme dramatique en cinq actes en vers (1649)
- Sainct Eustache martyr, poëme dramatique (1649)
- Cariste, ou les Charmes de la beauté, poëme dramatique (1651)
- Rosemonde, tragédie (1651)
- L'Amante vindicative, poëme dramatique (1652)
In later literature
In Act I scene I.1 of his Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac (play)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....
, Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
evoked a production of Baro's La Clorise in order to mock it:
- LE JEUNE HOMME (to his father) - What are we going to play ?
- LE BOURGEOIS - Clorise.
- LE JEUNE HOMME - Who's it by?
- LE BOURGEOIS - By monsieur Balthazar Baro. It's a play !