Jean-Paul-André Razins de Saint-Marc

Jean-Paul-André des Razins, marquis de Saint-Marc, (29 November 1728 – 11 September 1818) was an 18th-century French playwright and librettist.

Jean-Paul-André des Razins
Born29 November 1728
château des Razins in Saint-Selve
Died11 September 1818(1818-09-11) (aged 89)
Bordeaux
OccupationPlaywright
Librettist

A former officer of the Gardes françaises, Saint-Marc wrote the libretto for Adèle de Ponthieu,[1] a five-act tragedy set to music by Niccolò Piccinni. He composed several opéra comique librettos and numerous pieces of fugitive poetry.

In 1778, attending in Paris the famous presentation of Irène, after which the bust of Voltaire was crowned,[2] the marquis de Saint-Marc improvised this quatrain which made him famous:

Voltaire, reçois la couronne
Que l’on vient de te présenter;
II est beau de la mériter,
Quand c’est la France qui la donne!

Voltaire, receive the crown
That one just presented to you;
It is beautiful to deserve it,
When it is France who gives it!

Saint-Marc was a member of the Académie de Bordeaux. The mansion in the city where he lived and died was registered as Monument historique 23 July 1921.[3]

Sources
  • Actes de l’Académie nationale des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Bordeaux, Paris, E. Dentu, 1880, p. 39.

References
  1. Razins Saint-Marc (marquis de), Jean Paul André (1775). Adèle de Ponthieu. Œuvres de monsieur de Saint-Marc : XVIIIe-XIX : 1728-1818 (in French). Paris: chez Monory.. Other editions : Adèle de Ponthieu 1785. Notice Bnf n° FRBNF39325381
  2. .Arouet, dit Voltaire, François Marie (1785). Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (in French). 14 : XVIIe-XVIIIe : 1694-1778. Paris: Impr. de la Société littéraire-typographique..
  3. Mérimée
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