Nicolas Brazier
Encyclopedia
Nicolas Brazier was a French chanson
nier and Vaudeville
playwright.
. At first a jeweller's apprentice, then employed in the "Droits réunis" (the French indirect tax
es administration of the time), he showed a talent for verse and was encouraged and guided by Armand Gouffé. Following his first success at the Théâtre des Délassements-Comiques, in 1803, he left his job to devote himself to chansons and to the theatre, following courses at school to fill in the gaps in his education.
His witty, spirited and lively chanson
s often proved popular, though the vulgarity of his style has led to them being forgotten. The Société du Caveau keeps their memory alive.
Brazier collaborated on over 200 witty vaudeville pieces, above all on the couplets. His collaborators included Dumersan
, Désaugiers, Merle, Mélesville, Théaulon
, Carmouche
, etc. The best known of his pieces are : le Soldat laboureur ; les Cuisinières ; les Bonnes d’enfants ; le Ci-devant jeune homme ; Le Coin de rue ; Les Cuisinières ; Préville et Taconnet ; la Carte à payer ; La Laitière de Montfermeil ; le Savetier et le Financier ; Je fais mes farces ; le Philtre champenois ; etc.
Brazier also wrote a Histoire des petits théâtres de Paris (Paris, 1838, 2 vol. in-8), a light, amusing, useful and curious chronicle, despite its errors. Besides a chanson collection in honour of the Bourbons
, under the title Souvenirs de dix ans (Paris, 1824), two editions of his other couplets survive (Paris, 1835, 1836). He wrote, in the Vert-Vert, a series of articles on les Abbés chansonniers, etc.
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
nier and Vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
playwright.
Life
Son of a boarding school master and author of school manuals, Brazier's education was however strongly neglected due to the French RevolutionFrench 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...
. At first a jeweller's apprentice, then employed in the "Droits réunis" (the French indirect tax
Indirect tax
The term indirect tax has more than one meaning.In the colloquial sense, an indirect tax is a tax collected by an intermediary from the person who bears the ultimate economic burden of the tax...
es administration of the time), he showed a talent for verse and was encouraged and guided by Armand Gouffé. Following his first success at the Théâtre des Délassements-Comiques, in 1803, he left his job to devote himself to chansons and to the theatre, following courses at school to fill in the gaps in his education.
His witty, spirited and lively chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
s often proved popular, though the vulgarity of his style has led to them being forgotten. The Société du Caveau keeps their memory alive.
Brazier collaborated on over 200 witty vaudeville pieces, above all on the couplets. His collaborators included Dumersan
Théophile Marion Dumersan
Théophile Marion Dumersan was a French writer of plays, vaudevilles, poetry, novels, chanson collections, librettos, and novels, as well as a numismatist and curator attached to the Cabinet des médailles et antiques of the Bibliothèque royale.-Life:The family's real surname was Marion but – to...
, Désaugiers, Merle, Mélesville, Théaulon
Emmanuel Théaulon
Marie-Emmanuel-Guillaume-Marguerite Théaulon de Lambert was a French playwright.A customs inspector, then an inspector of military hospitals, he composed an Ode on the birth of the King of Rome which brought him thanks from Napoleon himself...
, Carmouche
Pierre Carmouche
Pierre-François-Adolphe Carmouche was a French playwright. He wrote more than 200 successful plays, comedies, vaudevilles and texts for opéras comiques, in collaboration with diverse collaborators - Brazier, Dumersan, Mélesville, de Courcy, etc.In 1824 he married the actress Jenny Vertpré.He also...
, etc. The best known of his pieces are : le Soldat laboureur ; les Cuisinières ; les Bonnes d’enfants ; le Ci-devant jeune homme ; Le Coin de rue ; Les Cuisinières ; Préville et Taconnet ; la Carte à payer ; La Laitière de Montfermeil ; le Savetier et le Financier ; Je fais mes farces ; le Philtre champenois ; etc.
Brazier also wrote a Histoire des petits théâtres de Paris (Paris, 1838, 2 vol. in-8), a light, amusing, useful and curious chronicle, despite its errors. Besides a chanson collection in honour of the Bourbons
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
, under the title Souvenirs de dix ans (Paris, 1824), two editions of his other couplets survive (Paris, 1835, 1836). He wrote, in the Vert-Vert, a series of articles on les Abbés chansonniers, etc.
External links
Source
- Gustave Vapereau, Dictionnaire universel des littératures, Paris, Hachette, 1876, p. 322