Treatises

In this section, we reproduce the texts of treatises and similar works on the theatre published during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

• Apologie de Guillot-Gorju, addressée à tous les beaux esprits, Paris: Augustin Courbé, 1634
  The arguments contained in the Apologie are attributed to Bertrand Hardouin de Saint-Jacques, dit Guillot-Gorju, a famous comedian who trained as a doctor before replacing Gaultier-Garguille in farces at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. He probably made his stage debut in 1634, the date of the publication of this treatise. Text prepared by Hugh Roberts.

• Clairon, Claire-Josèphe-Hippolyte de La Tude, dite Mlle, 'Lettre de Mademoiselle Clairon à Me Huerne de La Motte, Avocat au Parlement, 5 septembre 1760', in Huerne de Lamothe, Libertés de la France contre le pouvoir arbitraire de l'excommunication, Amsterdam, 1761
  Mlle Clairon, the celebrated actress of the Comédie Française, sets out to defend her profession against the excommunication imposed by the Church. Similar arguments are to be found in her Mémoires, published in 1798. Text prepared by Sabine Chaouche.

• Conti, Armand de Bourbon, prince de, Traité de la comédie, Paris: Pierre Promé, 1667
  Although he had been a patron of Molière's troupe, Conti turned against the theatre upon his conversion in 1655. This work was his contribution to the Querelle du théâtre in the 1660s. The first three parts of the treatise - Traité de la comédie et des spectacles, La Tradition de l'Église sur la comédie et les spectacles, Les Sentiments des Pères de l'Église - are paginated separately in the original edition but are here paginated consecutively. The fourth part, containing the Latin sources used in the work, is not reproduced here. Text prepared by Mark Bannister.

• Lebeau de Schosne, abbé Augustin-Théodore-Vincent, Lettre à Monsieur de Crébillon sur les spectacles de Paris, La Haye, Paris: Cailleau, 1761
  In this letter, Lebeau de Schosne begins by denouncing the most obvious examples of lack of realism on the French stage on the grounds that they destroy the dramatic illusion. He then outlines his project to save the Comédie Italienne, which he believes should remain in France, by merging it with the Opéra-Comique and creating a new kind of performance. Within a year, his wish had been granted: the Opéra-Comique and the Comédie Italienne combined to form a single theatre. Text prepared by Sabine Chaouche.

• Riccoboni, Antoine-François, L'Art du théâtre à Madame ***, Paris, Simon fils et Giffart fils, 1750
  Son of the celebrated Lélio (Luigi Riccoboni), the author followed his own career as an actor and playwright and published this Art du théâtre in 1750 when he had just given up the stage. His treatise is aimed at theatre-lovers in general rather than specialists and offers a "poetics" of on-stage action in the form of an explanation of the rules of acting. Text prepared by and reproduced here with the kind permission of Sabine Chaouche.

• Saint-Evremond, Oeuvres meslées, 11 tomes, Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684, tom. 11
  Five short essays on tragedy, comedy, Italian comedy, English comedy and opera. Text prepared by Mark Bannister.

• Scudéry, Georges de, Apologie du théâtre, Paris: Augustin Courbé, 1639
  Scudéry was the author of sixteen plays and also undertook in this treatise to defend the theatre against its detractors. Text prepared by Mark Bannister.

• Scudéry, Georges de, Observations sur le Cid, Paris: au despens de l'auteur, 1637
  This critique of Le Cid was one of the main responses to Corneille's Excuse à Ariste which launched the Quarrel of Le Cid. Text prepared by Marie Carty.