Marie Champmeslé

See also: Champmêlé (homonymy), Desmares

Marie Desmares , known as Champmeslé , is a Actrice and French Tragédie born with Rouen the February 18th 1642 and died in Auteuil the May 15th 1698.

Girl of a receiver of the field of Normandy, Marie very early makes her beginnings of actress in Rouen. She marries at 15 years the actor Pierre Fleurye who dies a few years later. Young widow, it remarie in 1666 with the actor Charles Chevillet, known with the scene under the name of “Mister de Champmeslé”. In 1668 they integrate the troop of the Théâtre of the Marsh, where it incarnates Venus in the Venus Festival of the abbot Claude Boyer. The following year, it is Hermione in Andromaque of a young playwright: Jean Root. It obtains with this role a great success with the Hôtel of Burgundy where it plays in front of the queen. She then binds friendship impassioned with Racine, which composes some of its finer tragedies for her. Champmeslé does not confine therefore its repertory with the tragedies, but Phèdre undoubtedly remains its greater triumph. She is turn with all Bérénice (1670), Monime in Mithridate (1673), Iphigénie (1674), Phèdre (1677).

This last part does not obtain awaited success and Champmeslé leaves Racine for the count of Clermont-Thunder. A quatrain circulates then in Paris:

With the most tender love it was intended,

Which took Racine in its heart a long time;

But by a badge misfortune

the Thunder came, which has it die marbled.

Two years later it passes, with her husband, in the troop of Molière, with the Hôtel Guénégaud. It takes again the roles there that Racine had written to him and seizes the tragic repertory that Molière puts at the poster, such as the majority of the tragedies of Corneille.
When the two French troops amalgamate to give rise to the Comédie-Française (1680), Champmeslé is one of principal the members. She dies during the representations of Oreste and Pylade , tragedy of Lagrange-Chancel.
the Fountain dedicated to him its fable Belphégor and Boileau immortalisée it by these worms:

Never Iphigénie in Aulide immolée,
did not cost so many tears assembled Greece
Que, in the happy spectacle in my spread out eyes,
made some under its name pour Champmeslé .

His/her brother, Nicolas Desmares (1650-1714) and his nieces, Desmares and M {{lle}} Dangeville were also actors.

Random links: To hate (film, 1979) | Characters of the series May Otome | Magadino | Armin Veh | Two moms for Christmas | Hamelin