Le roi s'amuse
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Le roi s'amuse (literally, "The King Amuses Himself", or "The King Has Fun"; sometimes translated into English as "The King's Fool") is a play written by Victor Hugo in 1832. While it depicts the escapades of Francis I of France, censors of the time believed that it also contained insulting references to King Louis-Philippe and banned it after one performance.[1] The lawsuit that Hugo brought to permit the performance of the play propelled him into celebrity as a defender of freedom of speech in France. He lost the suit, however, and the play was banned for another fifty years. Léo Delibes later wrote incidental music for its performance.
Giuseppe Verdi based his opera Rigoletto on Hugo's play. Austrian authorities in Venice forced him to move the action from France to Mantua.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hugo, Adèle. Victor Hugo. http://books.google.com/books?id=P3NBAAAAIAAJ&dq=le%20roi%20s'amuse&pg=PA163#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
[edit] External links
- 1843 Frederick Lokes Slous translation at googlebooks
- Full text of the play (in French) at Project Gutenberg.
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