Pierre Beaumarchais: 2011

An Interview with Pierre Beaumarchais

Recently, I have had the honor to sit down and talk with the renowned Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. Here, in all of its glory, is our conversation:

Question: Bonjour, Pierre. Its great to be able to sit down and talk with you about your life and work. I know that you grew up the son to a poor Protestant watchmaker in France. Tell me more about your childhood and how that influenced your career in the arts later on in your life.

Answer: Well, I was born in Paris in 1732. As you say, my father, André-Charles Caron was a poor watchmaker in Paris. He was a Protestant and so after the dreadful Edict of Nantes was put back into effect, he was forced to convert to Catholicism. Growing up, we were taught that we were just professing to be Catholics so that we would not have to experience the wrath of the government (Grendel, 1977).

As far as my arts as a young person, I did study several instruments as a child. I studied violin, flute, and harp. I was also able to study Latin which helped my writing later on. As well as all of these things, I continued to work in my father’s watch shop and developed several new inventions (Liukkonen, 2008). One of these is a little mechanism that allowed watches to become smaller (Coward, 2003). These experiences set me up for my career in the arts as you say.

Q: Would you mind telling us a little bit about your mentors, the people who helped you along your path to success in the arts?

A: One of the people who took me under his wing was Joseph Pâris-Duverney. He was not such an artist in his own right, but he was a powerful businessman. To meet him was my good fortune. My first wife, Madeleine-Catherine Franquet, was rather wealthy. Because of her status, I achieved a court position. As I mentioned before, I learned how to play the harp. This is a skill that came to good use because I had gotten a position teaching harp to the daughters of Louis XV. This is where I met Monsieur Pâris-Duverney. He liked my intelligence (Lever, 2009). When I met him he was quite elderly (Grendel, 1977), but he was able to help me out. It was because of him that I was able to gain wealth and my status was elevated more.

Another person that influenced me, although he was not necessarily a mentor to me by the conventional definition of the term, was Voltaire. Later in my life, I made it a goal of mine to keep the works of Voltaire alive. I did this by publishing all of his writings. I admired him greatly and did not want to see the writings of such a great thinker just disappear. It is partly thanks to me, that you even know who Voltaire is. Anyway, I digress. My main point is that I had many who helped me on my path to success.

Q: While you were working for the King and just starting your career in the arts, what was the art world like and how did it begin to change?

A: During the 18th century a lot of changes were taking place. This was the time of the Enlightenment. Before we can talk about what art was like, we must talk about the changes in science. During this time there were many new ideas that were appearing that conflicted with what the Catholic Church was saying. Because my family was already against the Church were accepted these ideas. Some of our thoughts had to be kept inside our heads of course, but nevertheless this influenced the way we thought.

This was causing changes in the arts. People were seeing what was going on in the world of science and they were inspired to try new ideas in art. Just as I was beginning to become somebody in the world of art a lot of new and interesting things were going on. The theatre was becoming more popular. It is easy to get inspiration with so much life and energy in the air.

Q: As you just said, the Enlightenment was a very interesting time to live in. It would be really interesting to hear from you, how did the major cultural, economic and political situations of the time impact your work?

A: There were a lot of cultural changes going on. In music, I experienced first hand that changes occurred. One change that was important for me was the increase in popularity of the opera during the 18th century (Lewis, 1992). As you may or may not know I wrote the three Figaro plays which were later turned into operas. I also collaborated with Antonio Salieri on an opera; he wrote the music, I wrote the libretto (DeWitt, 2009). This is the only opera that I wrote, and I consider it a success. It was first produced by the renowned Paris Opéra on the Eighth of June, 1787 (Justice, 2008).

The other change that was going on at this time that really had an impact on me was in literature. To put it simply, it was the perfect time for someone like myself to begin writing. The subject matter was changing from only religious works to works about people’s lives. Without this change, I would never have been able to write about a simple barber, Figaro.

During my lifetime I was also involved in some areas of economics. I played a big role in helping fund the revolution in America (Butler, 2002). As far as politics are concerned, I am honored that some of my play, The Marriage of Figaro was first described by some as revolutionary (Woods, 2001). This, of course, put me in the same category as Voltaire. On a different note, however, my work in the government made me a victim of these ideas as well. Despite my evident support of the people and of their revolution, my connections with the French monarchy still hinted that perhaps I was still part of this group of aristocrats and I was sent into exile (Asiado, 2009). I wish that the people had been able to see that my intentions of supporting them were genuine.

Q: Pierre, so far in the interview you have mentioned some of your major accomplishments. Would you summarize your major accomplishments for me?

A: Well, I am most known for my plays. My most famous work is my trilogy of plays, the Figaro plays, Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, and La Mére coupable. These titles translate into English as The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Guilty Mother. These plays are considered very important plays in French history because of my revival of the use of comedy. Along with comedy I also tried to paint a picture of some of the problems in France at the time (Ratermans and Irwin, 1961). Later, these plays were made into operas by Mozart and Rossini.

In the beginning, I must confess, My plays were not quite as, how shall I say...they were not quite as grand. My first play was Eugénie which I wrote in 1767. Another of my early plays was Les Deux Amis in 1770. Unfortunately, many people did not like the latter (Coward, 2003). Still, they dealt with many of the same issues that I am known for: The values of the middle class (Rivers, 1922). These plays that I have listed are some of my most important works.

Q: Are there certain turning points and key opportunities you had that led to success for you, and if so, what are they?

A: One of the biggest opportunities I had was to become harp tutor for King Louis XV’s daughters. This allowed me to develop many opinions about the upper class. I began to feel the unfairness that came with the unfortunate event of being a pauper after being brought up in that lower class. I strived in my plays to display a message that equality was needed and the monarchy needed to be dismantled.

Another key moment for me was the opportunity to be in charge of Roderigue Hortalez and Company, the phony company that was the French governments way of secretly funding the American Revolution. I visited the colonies several times. It was quite a joy to see the revolutionaries across the Atlantic gain their freedom from a monarchy. Having this experience with the revolution in America further convinced me of the people’s need for freedom.

Q: What choices did you make in your personal life that led you to success?

A: I did make several choices that helped me be successful. First off, I was fortunate enough to marry a wealthy widow. I was able to gain some of her wealth which helped to elevate me in status (Coward 2003). The way I thought about society changed because of this. Unfortunately, she died.

When I went into espionage for the King, I was forced to take time away from working on my plays. Still this was valuable experience. I learned a great deal about the way that people are naturally. This helped me a great deal when it came to creating characters for the Figaro Trilogy. Some of my characters are based on people I had dealings with in real life.

Q: What kind of hardships did you experience in order to become an artist?

A: Luckily for me, I did not face many hardships in my path to becoming a playwright. As a 13 year old boy, however, I was apprenticed to my father to learn how to make watches. When I was young I just wanted to play my harp. Several times he caught me neglecting my work in the workshop to go practice my music. Angry with my behavior he kicked my out of the house. Later I did make a deal with him to focus on my work.

After my disagreement with my father, I was fairly lucky as far as pursuing my artistic career goes. One thing that may seem like a trouble to some, but was actually a positive occurrence was when once I was jailed. This was because of a dispute over some assets that were left to me by-Pâris-Duverney when he died. I was most frustrated by the ordeal and wrote a little piece of work about what had happened. Eventually, I won my case and the writing had advanced my popularity with the people even more than ever. Thus, the whole ordeal was more beneficial than detrimental.

Despite my successes overall, sometimes my work was not liked. The biggest instance of this was towards the beginning of my career. I had just completed The Marriage of Figaro and it was originally rejected. Later on, though, they finally saw how great the play was and it received much acclaim.

Q: What about limitations you faced in your personal life?

A: Well, I have had some troubles with my wives. My first wife died and I went off and had several fine adventures. One of these was going to help my sister in Spain. She had married the architect of the King of Spain and was in a bit of trouble. I went to try to help her out and also to pursue some business for the French government. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful, but I was still ever popular with the French people. Then I married my second wife. This was where if she had ever found out about certain things, I would have gotten into big trouble. You see, I always have had a way with the ladies. I suppose it is my natural charm and way with words that they like about me. Whatever the reason I sometimes strayed a little bit away from my wife, Geneviéve-Madeleine Wattebled.

Unfortunately, she died as well. After her death, I continued to work on my plays. I wrote the Figaro plays and had courtships with several women. I was also involved with my work in other countries during this time. After a loose lifestyle I finally married my third and final wife, Marie-Thérèse de Willer-Mawlaz.

Q: Well Pierre, It has been fabulous getting to know you and learn about your life. To conclude our interview, would you share a little anecdote that really illustrates your successes in the arts?

A: It has been good discussing my life; I am always happy to share my experience and wisdom with others. It gives me great pleasure. It just so happens that there is a favorite little story of mine that I am willing to share.

After I was done with my play The Barber of Seville, I soon fell to boredom. Then I began to wonder what happened to my characters. Now that this part of their story was done, where would they go, what would they do? So, of course, my imaginative brain dreamt up a little plot. In this I turned the comedy to drama and created a gruesome, additional ending. I believe this is what compelled me to write two more plays, The Marriage of Figaro and The Guilty Mother, with these characters (Coward, 2003). Although there is not much action in this little story that I have just told you, I believe it captures exactly why I decided to dedicate my life to writing for the theatre. I have so many ideas, but by putting them into real characters...well then the ideas are free to live forever. Deep down, that is my goal for everything I do and write--to preserve ideas for those to come.