Born at the château de Voisenon near Melun, he was only ten when he addressed an epistle in verse to Voltaire, who asked the boy to visit him. They remained friends for fifty years. Voisenon made his début as a dramatist with L'Heureuse resemblance in 1728, followed in 1739 by a three-act comedy L'École du monde at the Théâtre Français. This was preceded by a verse prologue, L'Ombre de Molière, and a month later Voisenon produced a criticism of his own piece in Le Retour de l'ombre de Molière.[1]
Aduel provoked by Voisenon inspired him with remorse, and he entered a seminary; he was soon promoted to the post of secretary to his relative, the Bishop of Boulogne.[2] He became closely attached to Madame du Châtelet, the mistress of Voltaire, and was intimate with the comte de Caylus and Mademoiselle Jeanne Quinault. He made witty but by no means edifying contributions to the Étrennes de Saint-Jean, the Bals de Bois, etc.[1]
In 1744, he produced the Ménages assortis and in 1746 his masterpiece, the Coquette fixée. He was a close friend of Charles Simon Favart and his wife. His pen was always at the service of any of his friends, and it was generally supposed that he had a considerable share in Favart's most successful operas. Voisenon had scruples all his life about the incongruity between his way of living and his profession, but he continued to write indecent stories for private circulation, and wrote verses in honor of Madame du Barry, as he had done for Madame de Pompadour.[1]
He was elected to the Académie française in 1762. On the disgrace of his patron, the duc de Choiseul, he lost his pensions and honours, but soon recovered his position. He was intimate with the chancellor Maupeou, and was suspected of writing on his behalf in defence of the abolition of the parlement. This and some other incidents brought him into general disgrace. Early in 1775 he retired to the château de Voisenon, where he died.[1]
1765: La Fée Urgèle ou Ce qui plaît aux dames, four-act- comedy miongked with ariettes, given at Fontainebleau 26 October
1770: L'Amant déguisé, ou le Jardinier supposé, one-act comedy mingled with ariettes, music by François-André Danican Philidor, premiered by the Comédiens italiens ordinaires du Roi 2 September
1770: L'Amitié à l'épreuve, comedy in 2 acts and in verse mingled with ariettes, music by André Grétry, presented at Fontainebleau 13 November
1776: Fleur d'Épine, opéra comique in 2 acts and in prose, set in music by Marie Emmanuelle Bayon Louis, mingled with ariettes, from Hamilton, premiered by the Comédiens italiens ordinaires du Roi 22 August.
Allem, Maurice, Anthologie poétique française, XVIIIe, Paris, Garnier Frères, 1919
Anonyme, La Vie authentique de M. l'abbé de Voisenon, mémoires inédits d'un contemporain, publiés par Ad. Van Bever et Charles Martyne, Paris, 1916
Comoy, Jean, Un abbé de cour sous Louis XV. Monsieur de Voisenon, Préface de Wladimir d'Ormesson, Paris, la Science historique, 1959
Grente, Georges Cardinal (dir.), Dictionnaire des lettres françaises. Le XVIIIe, nlle. édition revue et mise à jour sous la direction de fr:François Moureau, Paris, Fayard, 1995
Krakowski, Patrick, "Un académicien dans son temps", l'abbé de Voisenon (correspondences, chroniques, biographie) Lys Éditions Ammatéis, 2007, ISBN978-2-86849-255-5
Pitou, Spire (1985). The Paris Opéra. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Vapereau, Gustave, « Claude-Henri de Fusée de Voisenon », in 'Dictionnaire universel des littératures, Paris, Hachette, 1876, 2 volumes
Viguerie, Jean de Histoire et dictionnaire du temps des Lumières. 1715-1789, Paris, Robert Laffont, coll. Bouquins, 2003 - ISBN2-221-04810-5
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Voisenon, Claude Henri de Fuzée, Abbé de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 177.
