Hi Friends and fellow theatrical time-travellers. Welcome to 19th Century France. Meet Sophie Bawr.
? Bawr wrote a total of twelve stage plays, as well as musical theatre, novels, educational texts, her own memoir and even songs.
? Wrote under multiple aliases including Comtesse de Saint-Simon, Baronne de Bawr, and M. François, which she used for her first three comedies.
? Her most successful play was the comedy ‘La Suite d’un bal masqué’ receiving 246 performances between 1813 and 1869!
? She was the daughter of the opera singer Madeline-Virginie Vian and Marquis Charles-Jean de Champgrand. Despite being illegitimate, she was raised by him and studied music with several luminaries of the day such as André Grétry, Nicolas Roze and Adrien Boieldieu and singing with Pierre Garat and Jean Elleviou.
? Her 1861 biographer, Elise Gagne (the pseudonym for poet Élise Moreau), Bawr wrote to earn money, keeping her distance from the theatre scene and its shady reputation ?.
? Bawr married three times. Her second marriage, to Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon, ended in divorce in 1801.
? Her third marriage, to Baron de Bawr, ended when he died in an accident.
? Her first marriage took place in secret during the Terror, to a young aristocrat who was executed by the republic soon after. They had a son. He died in 1797.
Playography
La Suite d’un bal masqué, 1813
Un quart d’heure de dépit, 1813 (unperformed)
Les Chevaliers du lion, 1804
Léon, ou le château de Montaldi, 1811
La Méprise, 1815
Charlotte Brown, 1835
HER FULL STATS:
Born Alexandrine-Sophie Goury de Champgrand, on 8th October, 1773.
Died on 31st December 1860 in Paris.
You can read a digital copy of the original ‘La Suite d’un bal masqué’ here:
Flash Card
If you like what you’ve read, why not share the image below to Pinterest and help spread the word about Female Playwrights!
1 thought on “The Terror Won’t Stop Sophie Bawr”