Jean-Paul-André Razins de Saint-Marc explained

Jean-Paul-André des Razins
Birth Date:	29 November 1728
Occupation:	Playwright, librettist

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

A former officer of the French Guards Regiment, Saint-Marc wrote the libretto for Adèle de Ponthieu,^[1] a 1772 opera by Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Pierre Montan Berton, and a 1781 opera by Niccolò Piccinni. He wrote several opéra comique librettos and numerous pieces of fleeting poetry.

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

Voltaire, reçois la couronneQue l’on vient de te présenter;II est beau de la mériter,Quand c’est la France qui la donne!Voltaire, receive the crownThat 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 . 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.

External links

• Adèle de Ponthieu on Gallica
• List of works, Calendrier électronique des spectacles sous l'ancien régime et sous la révolution (CÉSAR) (archived 24 December 2012)

Notes and References

1. Book: Razins Saint-Marc (marquis de), Jean-Paul-André. 1775. Adèle de Ponthieu. Œuvres de monsieur de Saint-Marc : XVIIIe–XIX : 1728–1818. Paris. Monory . French. . Other editions : "Adèle de Ponthieu 1785".
2. Book: Arouet, dit Voltaire, François Marie. 1785. Voltaire. Œuvres complètes de Voltaire . 14 : XVIIe–XVIIIe : 1694–1778. Paris. Société littéraire-typographique . French.
3. , Base Mérimée