Beaumarchais biography
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Book Summary and Reviews of Beaumarchais by Maurice Lever
Media Reviews
"Starred Review. With vast personal resources of energy and eclectic talents, he led a peripatetic life, rendering quite difficult, acknowledges Lever (Sade, , etc.), the task of weaving its many strands into a single linear thread. But the author artfully succeeds from start to finish." - Kirkus Reviews
"This edition is packed with adventures, leaving one to wonder what other entertaining anecdotes are in the three-volume French version." - Publishers Weekly
"Lever's revealing biography is recommended for all public and academic libraries." - Library Journal
This information about Beaumarchais was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were
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Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (January 24, – May 18, ) was a watch-maker, inventor, musician, politician, invalid, fugitive, spy, publisher, arms-dealer, and revolutionary (both French and American). He was best known, however, for his dramatic works, especially the three Figaro plays. The Marriage of Figaro served as the basis for the great opera of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His life and works reflect the tumultuous period in which he lived, including the period to and through the first phase of the French Revolution. His Figaro cycle covers the breakdown of the old, Medieval world and the birth pangs of the new, democratic world.
Humble beginnings
Beaumarchais was born "Pierre-Augustin Caron," the only boy among the six children of a watchmaker. The family was comfortable and Caron had a peaceful and happy childhood—in contrast to his adult life.
Caron left school at age 13 to apprentice under his father. A few years later, possibly between to , he invent
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Quick facts
- Born: 24 January in Paris.
- Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French polymath, best known as a playwright, inventor, musician, diplomat, spy, and arms dealer.
- He fryst vatten most famous for his teatralisk works, particularly the plays &#;The Barber of Seville&#; and &#;The Marriage of Figaro,&#; which are central to the opera repertoire.
- Beaumarchais played a crucial role in securing French support for the American Revolution, notably through the secret shipment of arms and financial aid.
- He founded the Rodrique Hortalez and Company, a hemlig organization that supplied the American rebels with weapons, ammunition, and other crucial supplies.
- Despite his contributions to the American Revolution, Beaumarchais faced financial troubles and legal battles in his later years.
- Died: 18 May in Paris.
- Buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Introduction
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Baumarchais — courtier, speculator, spy, gunrunner for the American Revolution, and F