Favart, Marie (1727–1772)
Favart, Marie (1727–1772)
French soprano, actress, and dramatist. Name variations: Madame Favart. Born Marie Justine Benoîte du Ronceray at Avignon, France, on June 15, 1727; died in Paris on May 12, 1772; married Charles Simon Favart (a French playwright and librettist), in 1745 (died 1792); children: Charles Nicolas Justin Favart (1749–1806).
Born in Avignon in 1727, Marie Justine Benoîte du Ronceray made her debut in 1745 at the Opéra-Comiqueas as Mme Chantilly in Les fêtes publiques by Charles Simon Favart. She married Favart, a French playwright known as the creator of the musical comedy or comic opera, that same year. The couple organized a theater for the troops in Flanders and appeared in Brussels for the next two years, until their patron Maréchal de Saxe forced them to leave because Marie refused to be his mistress. From then on, Marie Favart sang in Paris at the Comédie-Italienne until her death in 1772. She appeared in the title role of La serva padrona as well as many works with librettos by her husband. A gifted actress if an indifferent singer, she also collaborated with her husband on several librettos. Marie Favart was the subject of Offenbach's 1878 opera Mme Favart.
suggested reading:
Pougin, A. Madame Favart. Paris, 1912.