Author: Soumet, Alexandre
Biography:
SOUMET, Alexandre (1788-1845: NBG)
As a foreign-language author, Soumet warrants only a summary biography. The 1826 translation of his drama Saul in this bibliography was the first in English of any of his works, following other European languages. It is not clear why the place of publication should have been Brussels. Later contemporary English versions (in prose) appeared in London in dual-language editions side by side with the French originals as his “lyric tragedies” and operas were performed on London stages in the following decade or so. The translator, James Biggs (c. 1750-1830), was a dissenting clergyman in Devizes, Wiltshire, who is not known to have published any other literary work, original or translated. Born on 8 Feb. 1788 at Castelnaudary, France, Soumet was destined for a military career but showed such a gift for poetry that he was able to move to Paris by 1810, occupying administrative positions that left him free to exercise his talent. Napoleon was one of his supporters, as was Louis XVIII. He hit his stride in 1822 with the simultaneous success of two plays, Clytemnestra and Saül. In 1824 he was elected to the Académie Française. Other dramas followed, the best known of them reworked as operas, notably Bellini’s Norma. His predilection, however, was for epic poetry and he had a late success in that genre with La divine épopée (1840), after Klopstock, q.v.; at his death he left an unfinished epic on Joan of Arc. Soumet married but the name of his wife has not been found. In some of his later works his collaborator was their daughter Gabrielle Soumet, also a poet (1814-86, with the married name of d’Altenheim). Soumet died at Paris on 30 Mar. 1845 after prolonged suffering from a disease of the spine. The British press reported that “Literature in France has suffered a great loss” (ILN). (NBG; findmypast.com 14 Nov. 2024; “The Borough of Devizes: Religious and Cultural History,” british-history.ac.uk; ILN 26 Apr. 1845) HJ
Other Names:
- Alex Soumet