Jean Richepin

Jean Richepin
Born	(1849-02-04)4 February 1849 Médéa, French Algeria
Died	12 December 1926(1926-12-12) (aged 77) Paris, France
Occupation	Poet, novelist and dramatist
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Jean Richepin (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ ʁiʃpɛ̃]; 4 February 1849 – 12 December 1926) was a French poet, novelist and dramatist.

Biography

Son of an army doctor, Jean Richepin was born 4 February 1849 at Médéa, French Algeria.

At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a franc-tireur in the Franco-German War, and afterwards as actor, sailor and stevedore—and an intellectual outlet in the writing of poems, plays and novels which vividly reflected his erratic but unmistakable talent. A play, L'Étoile, written by him in collaboration with André Gill (1840–1885), was produced in 1873; but Richepin was virtually unknown until the publication, in 1876, of a volume of verse entitled La Chanson des gueux, when his outspokenness resulted in his being imprisoned and fined for outrage aux mœurs. The collection was republished, devoid of the contentious pieces, which were republished in Brussels in 1881.

The same quality characterized his succeeding volumes of verse: Les Caresses (1877), Les Blasphèmes (1884), La Mer (1886), Mes paradis (1894), La Bombarde (1899). His novels have developed in style from the morbidity and brutality of Les morts bizarres (1876), La Glu (1881) and Le Pavé (1883) to the more thoughtful psychology of Madame André (1878), Sophie Monnier (1884), Cisarine (1888), L'Aîné (1893), Grandes amoureuses (1896) and La Gibasse (1899), and the more simple portrayal of life in Miarka (1883), Les Braves Gens (1886), Truandailles (1890), La Miseloque (1892) and Flamboche (1895).

(not-executed) playbill by Léon Spilliaert (1917)

His plays, though occasionally marred by his characteristic propensity for dramatic violence of thought and language, constitute in many respects his best work. Most of these were produced at the Comédie française. During the 1880s he had an affair with Sarah Bernhardt, the greatest actress of the time.

A friend of Arthur Rimbaud, Richepin was one of only "seven known recipients" of the first edition of A Season in Hell.

On 14 June 1913 a banquet, the Ligue des Gourmands, Xeme Diner d’Epicure was held at the Hyde Park Hotel in London. The menu was designed and a toast given by August Escoffier, the league's founder and at the time co-president with Richepin. He died in Paris.

His son Jacques Richepin was also a dramatist, and his other son, Tiarko Richepin, a composer of operettas, one of which was sung by André Dassary, primarily remembered today for his rendition of "Maréchal, nous voilà!".

Richepin and composers

Richepin adapted a libretto from his 1883 novel Miarka la fille à l'ours for Alexandre Georges' opera Miarka (Paris, 1905), and Le mage (1891) for the music of Jules Massenet (Paris, 1891). Le Flibustier was made into an opera by César Cui (1888). The ballet L'Impératrice by Paul Vidal is based on a text by Richepin (Paris, 1901) who also wrote the lyrics for his friend Emmanuel Chabrier's concert "scène lyrique" La Sulamite and helped with the libretto of Le roi malgré lui. His novel La Glu was the basis for two other operas, one by Gabriel Dupont (1910) and one by Camille Erlanger. Composer Dagmar de Corval Rybner used Richepin’s text for her song "Te Souvient-il.".

There are over 100 poems by Jean Richepin which have inspired a large number of musicians. Forty poems from "Les Caresses" attracted the attention of composers such as César Cui, Gabriel Dupont, Louis Vierne, Auguste Chapuis, Alfred Bruneau, Camille Erlanger, Nikolay Sokolov, Paul Hillemacher and his brother, Georges Hüe, André Messager, Florent Schmitt, Paul Puget, Ernest Garnier (compositeur), Edmond Missa ('Du mouron pour les p'tits oiseaux') and Ernest Moret. 'Le bateau rose' was his most popular poem with composers, set to music more than ten times.

Over 20 poems from "La Mer" garnered significant interest, particularly for "Larmes" (Pleurons nos chagrins, chacun le nôtre) with 8 different settings, including those by Marie Jaëll, André Caplet, Ange Flégier, Cui, Fauré, Alfredo Casella.

Sixteen poems from La chanson des gueux have been the sources for melodies by Désiré Dihau, Cui, Marguerite Roesgen-Champion, etc. "Miarka la fille à l'ours" particularly inspired Alexandre Georges, while also inspiring two works by Ernest Chausson or Arthur Honegger, and one by Frederick Delius.

Only two poems from La bombarde, contes à chanter have retained the attention of composers : 'Trois petits oiseaux dans les blés' (Gabriel Pierné, Marcel Samuel-Rousseau) and 'Les deux ménétriers' (Cécile Chaminade, Cui, Robert Dussaut - as well as Edith Piaf). There are also six settings of 'La Chanson de la Glu' (Y avait un' fois un pauv' gas) from the novel La Glu (Auguste Chapuis, Georges Fragerolle, Charles Gounod, Joseph Jongen, and others), two poems from Par le Glaive, one set by Ethelbert Nevin and the other one by Richepin himself (who also composed music for 'Les trois bateaux' from Les Truands). Louis Vierne composed on 'Les roses blanches de la lune' (from Les Glas, Poèmes) ; Max Arham and Ange Flégier on 'La requête aux étoiles' and César Cui and Ernest Moret on 'Si mon rival' (all three poems from Les Blasphèmes, as well as 'Le Hun' by Georges Alary (Chœurs sans accompagnement, op. 37), and Alfred Bruneau on ' Ohé! la belle, en vous levant' (from Interludes). One poem from Mes Paradis was also set to music. Octave Fouque composed the melody 'Rêve !' on a poem by Richepin. More recently, singer-songwriter Georges Brassens sang two poems from La Chanson des gueux : 'Les oiseaux de passage' and 'Philistins' (Richepin's title was 'Chanson des cloches de Baptême').

Bibliography

• Nana Sahib (1883, play)
• Monsieur Scapin (1886, play)
• Le Flibustier (1888, play; the basis for an opera of the same name by César Cui)
• Par le glaive (1892, play)
• Vers la joie (1894, play)
• Le Chemineau (1897, play)
• Le Chien de garde (1898, play)
• Les Truands (1899, play)
• Don Quichotte (1905, play)
• L'Aile, Roman des Temps Nouveaux (1911) translated as The Wing by Brian Stableford (2011) ISBN 978-1-61227-053-1
• Mères Françaises (1917, film, translated as Mothers of France), scenario for the war film directed by Louis Mercanton, starring Sarah Bernhardt
• Nouvelle Mythologie Illustree, Tome I & II (1920)
• Le Coin des Fous (1921) translated as The Crazy Corner by Brian Stableford (2013) ISBN 978-1-61227-142-2

References

Sources

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Richepin, Jean". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 305.
• Robb, Graham (2000), Rimbaud, New York: W.W. Norton & Co, ISBN 978-0330482820

Further reading

• Arnold Guyot Cameron (1905). Selections from Jean Richepin, Silver, Burdett and Co.
• Kate Hyde Dunbar (1939). Jean Richepin, Poet and Dramatist, University of Georgia.
• Harry E. Wedeck (1947). "The Last of the French Bohemian Poets," The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 31, No. 8.
• Howard Sutton (1961). The Life and Work of Jean Richepin, Librairie Droz.

External links

• Works by Jean Richepin at Gallica