Improbable Patriot


Book Description

The outrageous true story of the French plot to supply arms and ammunition to Washington's Continental Army, and the bold French spy, inventor, playwright, and rogue behind it all




Beaumarchais and the American Revolution


Book Description

Based on archival research in Europe and the United States, this authoritative study tells the fascinating story of Beaumarchais's role in the American War of Independence as an owner and outfitter of ships and as an arms merchant. It chronicles his dealings with Louis XVI, Vergennes, Benjamin Franklin, and the American Continental Congress and recounts his family's struggle to receive payment for the weapons and materials sent to the American colonists.




The Figaro Trilogy


Book Description

The Barber of Seville * The Marriage of Figaro * The Guilty Mother Eighteenth-century France produced only one truly international theatre star, Beaumarchais, and only one name, Figaro, to put with Don Quixote or D'Artagnan in the ranks of popular myth. But who was Figaro? Not the impertinent valet of the operas of Mozart or Rossini, but both the spirit of resistance to oppression and a bourgeois individualist like his creator. The three plays in which he plots and schemes chronicle the slide of the ancien régime into revolution but also chart the growth of Beaumarchais' humanitarianism. They are also exuberant theatrical entertainments, masterpieces of skill, invention, and social satire which helped shape the direction of French theatre for a hundred years. This lively new translation catches all the zest and energy of the most famous valet in French literature. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.




Beaumarchais


Book Description

Few men of 18th-century letters led a more varied or controversial life than Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. Incorporating letters and firsthand accounts, this is an irresistibly lively and engaging account of an extraordinary life.




Beaumarchais in Seville


Book Description







Beaumarchais and the Theatre


Book Description

William D Howarth sets Le Mariage de Figaro and Beaumarchais's other dramatic works in the broad historical context of pre-revolutionary France, providing a unique and authoritative study of the dramatist and his plays. He presents detailed analyses of the plays themselves, discussing their critical receptions, their influence on drama of the period and their legacy. Included is a discussion of the operatic adaptations: Mozart's Mariage de Figaro and Rossini's Le Barbier de Seville. The author also provides analyses of sketches and fragments only recently re-discovered. Beaumarchais and the Theatre is a comprehensive and much needed study of one of the most significant playwrights of the turbulent eighteenth century. It is invaluable reading for students of theatre history.







Figaro


Book Description

He's getting married in the morning, and the enterprising Figaro (servant, barber, professional troublemaker) couldn't be happier. But with everybody scheming to come between him and his bride, Figaro will need all his cunning to make it down the aisle. This new adaptation of Beaumarchais' comic masterpiece is not only hilariously funny, but has a razor sharp political edge.




The Influence of Beaumarchais in the War of American Independence


Book Description

"The Influence of Beaumarchais in the War of American Independence" in 2 volumes is one of the best-known works by an American historian Elizabeth Sarah Kite. Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799) was a French polymath who rose in French society and became influential in the court of Louis XV as an inventor and music teacher. He made a number of important business and social contacts, and played various roles as a diplomat and spy. An early French supporter of American independence, Beaumarchais lobbied the French government on behalf of the American rebels during the American War of Independence. Before France officially entered the war in 1778, Beaumarchais played a major role in delivering French munitions, money and supplies to the American army. Volume 1: Early life First Financial Successes Business Negotiations in Spain Beaumarchais's Return from Madrid The Famous Memoirs of Beaumarchais Beaumarchais Goes to London in Quality of Secret Agent of Louis XV Beaumarchais's Second Mission Under Louis XVI Playing Figaro upon the Stage of Life Visits the Empress of Austria The Character of Figaro The First Performance of Le Barbier de Séville Founder of the First Society of Dramatic Authors... Volume 2: Beaumarchais's Earliest Activities in the Cause of American Independence First Steps of the Government of France Beaumarchais's Memoirs to the King Beaumarchais's English Connections Memoirs Explaining to the King the Plan of His Commercial House Suspicions of England Aroused Through Indiscretions of Friends of America The Declaration of Independence and Its Effect in Europe Beaumarchais's Activity in Getting Supplies to America Letters to Congress The Mariage de Figaro House of Beaumarchais Searched Declared an Emigré Confiscation of his Goods Imprisonment of his Family The Ninth Thermidor Comes to Save Them Beaumarchais After his Return from Exile Correspondence with Bonaparte Pleads for Lafayette Imprisoned Death of Beaumarchais...