Details
FRANCE -- THEATRE. David GARRICK (1717-1779). Autograph letter signed to 'Monsieur Le Kain', Hampton, 25 July 1765, in French, 2½ pages, 4to, address panel, seal (small tears in top edges of both leaves, seal tear in blank portion of 2nd leaf); [with]: Henri-Louis CAÏN, known as Lekain (1729-1778). Autograph letter signed to his son [Nicolas], Paris, 26 April 1768, 2½ pages, 4to; [and]: François- Joseph TALMA. Autograph document, a draft contract for the Théâtre royal de Bruxelles including cancellations and revisions and a note of expenses and his pension, n.p., n.d. [1821], 3½ pages, 4to; and an autograph letter signed to [Louis] Ducis (his brother-in-law), Brussels, 3 May 1825, 2 pages, 4to, address leaf.
STARS OF THE 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY THEATRE.
Garrick addresses Lekain as friend and colleague, deploring the news of his threatened resignation from the theatre [as the result of a complicated feud between the court and the leading actors]: 'Quoi donc, Mons[ieu]r, c'est tout de bon que votre resolution est prise de quitter le theatre? pauvre Paris, que je te plains! les Le Kains et les Clairons ne peuvent pas etre trouvé tous les jours sur le pont neuf; malgré qu'on les croyeroit assez communs par la manière que vos Ducs les ont traité', contrasting his own situation in which 'it is not in the power of the first man in the kingdom to do me the smallest wrong', and declaring that he is almost ready to quit the theatre himself. Le Kain is warmly invited to come to England, where Garrick has 'une fort jolie maison de Campagne, un petit ordinaire, et assez bon vin dans ma cave', and even more, a heart ever open to his friends among whom Lekain is numbered.
Lekain sends fatherly advice to a son who is leaving France [for San Domingo], wishing him good fortune, and referring to the approaching end of his own career; Talma, much occupied in Brussels with rehearsals and performances, writes to his brother-in-law on family matters and, disapprovingly, the marriage plans of [his nephew] Charles, 'la plus insigne folie qu'il puisse faire'; the second part of the letter describes his visits to [Jacques-Louis] David, 'fort malade, bien affaibli et bien changé!'. The draft agreement is for Talma's appearances in Bruxelles over five or six years, when on leave from the theatre in Paris.
The friendship between Garrick and Lekain (known to Voltaire as 'mon cher Garrick de France') was well known, and each had a great respect for the other's art. Garrick visited Paris in the autumn of 1763, and again in 1764, returning to London in April 1765. Talma, who wrote about Lekain is his Mémoires, was a pioneer of realism in costume and scenery. Liberal in outlook, he was a friend of Joseph Chénier, Camille Desmoulins, and Danton, and in particular of the painter David. His correspondent Louis Ducis had been among the latter's pupils, as had Antoine Gros and Anne-Louis Girodet. David, exiled to Brussels in 1815, died six months after the date of Talma's present letter. (4)
STARS OF THE 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY THEATRE.
Garrick addresses Lekain as friend and colleague, deploring the news of his threatened resignation from the theatre [as the result of a complicated feud between the court and the leading actors]: 'Quoi donc, Mons[ieu]r, c'est tout de bon que votre resolution est prise de quitter le theatre? pauvre Paris, que je te plains! les Le Kains et les Clairons ne peuvent pas etre trouvé tous les jours sur le pont neuf; malgré qu'on les croyeroit assez communs par la manière que vos Ducs les ont traité', contrasting his own situation in which 'it is not in the power of the first man in the kingdom to do me the smallest wrong', and declaring that he is almost ready to quit the theatre himself. Le Kain is warmly invited to come to England, where Garrick has 'une fort jolie maison de Campagne, un petit ordinaire, et assez bon vin dans ma cave', and even more, a heart ever open to his friends among whom Lekain is numbered.
Lekain sends fatherly advice to a son who is leaving France [for San Domingo], wishing him good fortune, and referring to the approaching end of his own career; Talma, much occupied in Brussels with rehearsals and performances, writes to his brother-in-law on family matters and, disapprovingly, the marriage plans of [his nephew] Charles, 'la plus insigne folie qu'il puisse faire'; the second part of the letter describes his visits to [Jacques-Louis] David, 'fort malade, bien affaibli et bien changé!'. The draft agreement is for Talma's appearances in Bruxelles over five or six years, when on leave from the theatre in Paris.
The friendship between Garrick and Lekain (known to Voltaire as 'mon cher Garrick de France') was well known, and each had a great respect for the other's art. Garrick visited Paris in the autumn of 1763, and again in 1764, returning to London in April 1765. Talma, who wrote about Lekain is his Mémoires, was a pioneer of realism in costume and scenery. Liberal in outlook, he was a friend of Joseph Chénier, Camille Desmoulins, and Danton, and in particular of the painter David. His correspondent Louis Ducis had been among the latter's pupils, as had Antoine Gros and Anne-Louis Girodet. David, exiled to Brussels in 1815, died six months after the date of Talma's present letter. (4)
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