La Sémiramis de Voltaire, tragédie néo-antique

Abstract

The creation of Sémiramis by Voltaire at the Comédie-Française on August 29, 1748 and its decisive revivals by Lekain from 1756 are a perfect example of the interdependence between theatrical forms and ancient forms. The success of the play is in fact contemporary with the publication of the writings of Caylus returning from Rome, and those of Winckelmann edited in France from 1755. The article analyzes the antiquity represented in the text of the play and in its settings as a probable turning point in the history of theater and in the history of art in France. Voltaire, as a precursor, illustrates with his new tragedy another option of the return to the ancient, archaic and oriental at the same time, whose ardor and violence oppose, by strengthening them, the « noble simplicity » and the « calm grandeur » of neo-antique aesthetics.

Keywords

• scenography
• Winckelmann (Johann Joachim)
• East
• Caylus (count of)
• neoclassical