|
|
|
|
|
French author and writer on music, daughter of the writer Théophile Gautier and Ernesta Grisi, sister of the Istrian-born ballerina, Carlotta Grisi. She was raised in absolute liberty and spent her youth in the countryside where she lived the life of the free; but she also knew convent life at Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde where she boarded which she felt down. At a tender age, she is exposed to Banville, Flaubert, Goncourt, Baudelaire, Champfleury, Arsène Houssaye, Gustave Doré whom are frequent visitors of her father. Her first article, a critique of Eureka`s translation of Edgar Poe by Charles Baudelaire, is published in Le Moniteur where she is acclaimed as a poet. Familiarly nicknamed "The hurricane", Baudelaire predicts she will "sink" many. When she is but a young girl, her father assists a Chinese mandarin, political refugee, Ding Dunling. At the age of 14, she commented on Edgar Allen Poe: "On aurait tort de croire qu'Edgar Poe en écrivant Eureka avait seulement l'idée de faire un po"eme; il était bien absolument convaincu qu'il avait découvert le grand secret de l'univers, et il employait toute la force de son talent à développer son idée. [...] Il trouve d'abord Dieu, puis il attribue la diffusion de cette matière dans l'espace à un effort de la volonté divine ou à la puissance du souffle de Dieu. Un effort contraire ramènerait tous les atomes à leur source, et l'explication de l'Univers serait contenue en ces mots: expiration et aspiration de Dieu. Là est l'idée principale d'Eureka, idée très belle et très neuve qui rattache le commencement à la fin, marque le point de départ dans le point d'arrivée, et, si on l'admet, jette beaucoup de clarté dans l'ensemble de l'astronomie." Under her father's leadership, Gautier translates, copies, recopies, and adapts books and manuscripts; she specializes in Chinese literature and civilizations. She extended her expertise to Japan and all of the Far East. She recreated the atmosphere of various countries through a rare poetical finesse, as her gracious Chinese tales show, where her art perfectly captures the subject. It is known that Hugo had literally hundreds of mistresses, among whom Juliette Drouet was a life-long companion. At one point, he even maintained three households, and his sexual powers were undiminished into old age. At the age of 70 - when he was beginning a new novel and reviving a play - he became involved in several intense romances. Judith Gautier was one, and other was with the renowned actress Sarah Bernhardt who was starring in his play. Hugo dedicated his best love poem, "Ave, Dea: moriturus te salutat" to Judith:
Judith was an enthusiast for Richard Wagner's work from an early age, thus being one of the first in France to discover him. She met the equally devoted Catulle Mendès in the early 1860 (the librettist of Debussy’s first opera, Roderique et Chimnen in 1892). They were married in 1866. Together with the poet Villiers de l'Isle Adam, the Mendès couple visited the Wagner family at 'Tribschen' in 1869 and again the following year.
In 1874 Judith and Catulle decided to separate (she had concluded that he was neither a faithful husband nor a writer of talent, she later married Pierro Loti), and by the time of the first Bayreuth festival, Judith had embarked on an affair with an amateur composer called Louis Benedictus. Her relationship with Benedictus did not discourage Wagner from courting her. She had an affair with Wagner during the 1876 Festival, but how far it went is uncertain. Their relationship may or may not have been consummated, but they continued to conduct a clandestine and intimate correspondence until 1878 - with Judith's letters being sent to Wagner's barber. When Cosima, Wagner's wife, discovered some of the letters, she put the affair to an end and burned a number of Judith's letters.
Wagner claimed that he needed the intoxication of at least Judith's spiritual presence (see Wagner's Muse), as well as the silks, satins and exotic perfumes that she procured for him in Paris for his workroom at 'Wahnfried' while he composed Parsifal. Her intellectual contribution to Wagner's work consisted of a translation of the Parsifal libretto into French, various writings on Wagnerian topics, and a three-volume memoir of the composer. Wagner’s ideas were disseminated throughout French-speaking culture in a literary magazine, La revue wagnérienne (1883-1889), edited by Eduard Dujardin, to which visual artists also often contributed. The magazine reprinted much of Wagner’s writing on art and aesthetic in translations prepared by Judith Gautier. An oil painting of Judith Gautier by John Singer Sargent entitled "A gust of wind", painted in 1886-7 (see above) sold at Sotheby's on December 3, 1997 to a private collector for $1,652,000. (Gautier had written a favourable article on Sargent's famous "Madame X".) The first woman to become a member of the Goncourt Academy, she died at Saint-Enogat, near Dinard, on December 26, 1917. Literary works:
Theatrical works (in collaboration with Pierre Loti):
A musicologist, she finally published "Les Musiques bizarres" for the 1900 world exhibition (Chinese music, Javanese, Indo-Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Malagasy) and "Richard Wagner and his poetical works" (1882). Recently available works:
Works about Judith Gautier:
|
|||||||
|
Fille de Théophile Gautier et d’Ernesta Grisi (sœur de la danseuse Carlotta Grisi). Élevée dans une absolue liberté, Judith passe sa petite enfance à la campagne où elle mène une existence de sauvageonne; aussi la règle de la vie de couvent, celui de Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde où elle se retrouve pensionnaire, lui paraît-elle lourde. Dès son plus jeune âge, elle fréquente, dans le salon de son père, Banville, Flaubert, les Goncourt, Baudelaire, Champfleury, Arsène Houssaye, Gustave Doré. Son premier article, une critique de la traduction d’Eureka d’Edgar Poe par Charles Baudelaire, est publié dans Le Moniteur et lui vaut les félicitations du poète. Comme on la surnomme Ouragan en famille, Baudelaire lui prédit qu’elle causera "des naufrages". Alors qu’elle n’est encore qu’une petite fille, son père recueille un mandarin chinois réfugié politique, Ding Dunling. Sous sa conduite, Judith Gautier traduit, recopie, adapte livres et manuscrits; elle se spécialise en littérature et civilisation chinoises. Elle étendra son champ d’investigation au Japon et à tout l’Extrême-Orient, ainsi qu’aux civilisations du Moyen-Orient. Elle recrée l’atmosphère des pays évoqués avec un sens poétique rare, comme en témoignent ses gracieux contes chinois, où l’art du récit confine à la perfection. Son œuvre se compose de recueils poétiques (Le Livre de jade, publié sous le pseudonyme de Judith Walter à l’âge de dix-sept ans, poèmes traduits du chinois; Poèmes de la libellule, traduits du japonais), de romans (Lucienne, 1877; Isoline, 1882), de romans exotiques, genre où elle a excellé (Le Dragon impérial, 1869, signé Judith Mendès; L’Usurpateur, 1875; Iskender, histoire persane, 1894; Le Vieux de la montagne, 1893; Les Princesses d’amour, 1900), de contes (Les Cruautés de l’amour, 1879, où elle fait preuve d’un sens du comique savamment dosé; La Femme de Putiphar, 1884; Fleurs d’Orient, 1893), d’études sur les civilisations de l’Orient et de l’Extrême-Orient et de récits de voyages (Les Peuples étranges, 1879; En Chine, 1911; Dupleix, 1912; l’Inde éblouie, 1913), de mémoires (Le Collier des jours, 1904). Judith Gautier a aussi écrit pour le théâtre (Le Jeu de l’amour et de la mort, La Marchande de sourires, 1888), en collaboration avec Pierre Loti. Musicologue, elle a enfin publié Les Musiques bizarres à l’Exposition de 1900 (musiques chinoise, javanaise, indochinoise, japonaise, égyptienne, malgache) et Richard Wagner et son œuvre poétique (1882). En 1866, Judith avait épousé Catulle Mendès dont elle divorça vite, ayant pris conscience qu’il n’était ni un mari modèle ni un écrivain génial. Douée d’une beauté aussi saisissante que son intelligence était vive, elle ne manqua pas d’adorateurs; parmi eux, deux génies se détachent: Victor Hugo, qu’elle admirait depuis son enfance, auquel elle fit sans doute les premières avances et qui lui offrit un de ses plus beaux poèmes d’amour, Ave, Dea: moriturus te salutat (Toute la lyre, V, 34); Richard Wagner, qu’elle avait découvert une des premières en France et dont elle fut la dernière passion en même temps que la propagandiste intrépide (voir Lettres à Judith Gautier par Richard et Cosima Wagner, 1964; les originaux des lettres sont en français). From: © 1997 Encyclopædia Universalis Franc Copyright © 1999 Association
de généalogie des familles GAUTHIER
|
|
This page compliments of Marisa Ciceran Created: Saturday,
May 11, 2002. Last Updated:
Thursday, February 28, 2008
|
Blessed with a great beauty, as becoming as her quick mind, she did not suffer from a lack of admirers. Among these, two are worthy of note: Victor Hugo, whom she admired since childhood, who surely received her early advances,
and Richard Wagner. 
