Corneille, Pierre

Corneille, Pierre (1606–84), French tragic dramatist, born in Rouen. His first plays were mainly comedies, produced in Paris 1629–33. His first tragedy Médée (1635) was well but not ecstatically received, and after a quarrel with Richelieu he returned to Rouen. There he dipped into Spanish literature and on Las mocedades del Cid by Castro y Bellvís he based Le Cid. Its production, probably early in 1637, is regarded as marking the beginning of the great age of French drama. First seen at the Marais with Montdory in the title-role, it was an immediate success; it was played in translation in London by Beeston's Boys (see BEESTON, WILLIAM) in the same year. A Spanish version was played in Madrid and Corneille's original script was soon translated into several other languages.

The success of Le Cid created a number of enemies for Corneille, and a fierce pamphlet war, the querelle du Cid, was waged. The public, however, remained faithful to the playwright and was ready to applaud his Horace (1640), Cinna (1641), and Polyeucte (1642). These were all given at the Marais with Floridor in the title-roles. The year 1643 saw the production of another tragedy, La Mort de Pompée, and Corneille's finest comedy Le Menteur, based on Ruiz de Alarcón's La verdad sospechosa, in which Floridor played Dorante with Jodelet as Cliton. Its great success was not repeated with its sequel La Suite du menteur (1644). With Rodogune, Théodore (both 1645), and Héraclius (1646), Corneille was established as France's major dramatist, and in 1647 he was elected a member of the French Academy. Nicomède (1651), one of his best and most popular plays which Molière chose for his reappearance in Paris in 1658, was preceded by the rather weak Don Sanche d'Aragon (1649) and by Andromède (1650), a machine play written to show off Torelli's new scenic devices at the Petit-Bourbon. After the disastrous failure of Pertharite (1652) Corneille abandoned the theatre until 1659, when Oedipe was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. It was followed by another machine play La Toison d'or (1660), written for the marriage of Louis XIV. Sophonisbe (1663) and Othon (1664) had little success.

Corneille's diminishing appeal came about partly because of the increasing popularity of Racine. Agésilas (1666) was hampered by the author's employment of a new verse form, while Attila (1667) was overshadowed by the success of Racine's Andromaque in the same year. Attila had been produced by Molière, one of Corneille's greatest admirers, who followed it by a production of Corneille's Tite et Bérénice (1670), given at the same time as Racine's play on the same subject at the rival Hôtel de Bourgogne. In Corneille's play the young Baron had his first adult part as Domitien and Molière's wife Armande Béjart was Bérénice. The play was moderately successful, and was followed by one of Corneille's most charming works, Psyché (1671), written in collaboration with Molière and Quinault. Pulchérie (1672), at the Marais, and Suréna (1674), at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, were Corneille's last plays, and both, though successful for a short time, soon fell out of the repertory.

Corneille was brusque and shy with strangers, had none of Racine's easy graces—but was probably a far finer character—and was sometimes too pleased with himself and his work. Yet even Racine at his best could not easily prevail against the popularity of Corneille in his decline. His fame was a little eclipsed in the 18th century, but the 19th restored him to his true place and the best of his plays still hold the stage.