Name Pierre-Charles Roy | Role Poet | |
Died October 23, 1764, Paris, France People also search for Andre Cardinal Destouches Libretti Callirhoe, Philomele, Les elemens, Semiramis, Bradamante, Ariane | ||
Pierre-Charles Roy (1683 — 23 October 1764) was a French poet and man of letters, noted for his collaborations with the composers Francois Francoeur and Andre Cardinal Destouches, to produce librettos for several opera-ballets, on classical subjects or pseudo-classical pastiches, for seven tragedies, and for his rivalry with the young Voltaire, who immortalised Roy with some disdainful public words.
In an early letter of 1719 to Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, Voltaire says, "I have been so unfortunate under the name of Arouet that I have taken another one especially to be confused no more with the poet Roy."
Roy was born and died in Paris. His first opera libretto, Philomele, was performed at the Paris Opera on 20 October 1705. By 1718 he had provided texts for seven tragedies en musique and was being hailed as a successor to Quinault. His involvement with musicians was not always positive: He was involved in a public brawl with composer Rameau after penning a derogatory poem about the latter.
Roy won prizes from the Academie Francaise and was elected to the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, but his attempts to become an immortelle of the Academie Francaise were repeatedly rejected, occasioning some clandestine satires and epigrams on his part; however, the Duchess of Maine invited him to write for the Grandes Nuits de Sceaux in 1714 and 1715. He was appointed a Chevalier of the Order of St-Michel (1742), the first man of letters to be so honoured; and Mme de Pompadour had his works performed at her Theatre des Petits Cabinets in the Petite Galerie at Versailles, 1747-51.