Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais He was born on January 24, 1732 in Paris. The French writer was the author of two outstanding intrigue comedies that still retain their freshness, Le Barbier de Séville (1775; El Barbero de Sevilla, 1776) and
Le Mariage de Figaro (1784, The Marriage of Figaro, 1785).
Despite Beaumarchais did not invent the typical character of the scheming butler (who has appeared in comedies since Roman times), his Figaro, hero of both works, he became the highest expression of the genre. The servant’s wit and cunning were portrayed by Beaumarchais with clear class-conscious sympathy. Le Barbier de Séville it became the basis for a popular opera by the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini. The second work, which inspired Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro (1786), is openly critical of aristocratic privilege and somewhat anticipates the social upheavals of the Revolution of 1789.
The life of Beaumarchais rivals his work as a drama of controversy, adventure, and intrigue. The son of a watchmaker, he invented a mechanism with a new type of escapement, and the problems related to his patent led to the first of his many legal actions. For his defense in these trials he wrote a series of brilliant polemics (Memoires), which forged its reputation. This matter was brought to the notice of the court; he was appointed, or at least called himself, the king’s watchmaker, who ordered him a watch similar to the one he had made for Madame Pompadour.
The beautiful figure and cold security of Caron they allowed him to make his way into court. Madame Franquet, the wife of a former court official, persuaded her husband to take over the young watchmaker and, a few months after her husband’s death, she married the beautiful watchmaker. Caron at the same time he assumed the name of Beaumarchais, and four years later, when acquiring the position of secretary of the king obtained a patent of nobility.
Beaumarchais did his first essay as a theatrical writer with the sentimental drama Eugenie (1767). Two years later it was followed by Les Deux AmisBut neither of the two works was more than moderately successful. Of his dramatic works, only his two classic comedies had lasting success.
After 1773, due to his legal problems, Beaumarchais he left France to carry out secret royal missions to England and Germany for Louis XV and Louis XVI. Despite his growing popularity as a playwright, Beaumarchais he was addicted to financial speculation. He bought weapons for the American revolutionaries and produced the first complete edition of Voltaire’s works.
Due to his wealth, he was accused of hiding weapons and corn in his home, but when his home was searched, nothing more than about a thousand copies of the edition (1783-1790) of Voltaire’s works that he had printed in his house were discovered. private press in Kehl Baden. He was accused of treason against the republic and imprisoned in the abbey on August 20, 1792, but, through the intervention of a former lover, he was released. He took refuge in Holland and England.
His courage and happy disposition never left him, although he was persecuted as an agent of the Convention in Holland and England, while in Paris he was banned as an émigré. He returned to Paris in 1796, and died there, suddenly, on May 18, 1799.