Lekain

Lekain

Lekain was the stage name of Henri Louis Cain (31 March 1728 – 8 February 1778), a French actor.[1]

Early career

He was born in Paris, the son of a silversmith. He was educated at the Collège Mazarin, and joined an amateur company of players against which the Comédie-Française obtained an injunction. Voltaire supported him for a time and enabled him to act in his private theatre and also before the duchess of Maine.[2]

Comédie-Française

He made his debut at the Comédie-Française on 14 September 1750 in the role of Titus in Voltaire's Brutus and performed Seïde in Voltaire's Mahomet on 30 September.[3] Owing to the hostility of the actors it was only after a struggle of seventeen months that, by the command of King Louis XV he was accepted at the Comédie-Française.[2] He had performed the leading role of Orosmane at court in Voltaire's Zaïre, causing Louis XV to declare: "He made me weep, and I never weep."[4] Lekain was made a member of the company on a trial basis at a salary of 12,000 livres per year on 4 January 1751 and was received definitively on 8 February 1752.[5]

His success was immediate. Among his best parts were Herod the Great in Mariamne, Nero in Britannicus and similar tragic roles, in spite of the fact that he was short, stout, and lacking in good looks.[2]

Reforms

His name is connected with several important scenic reforms. It was he who had the benches removed on which privileged spectators sat obstructing the stage; Count Lauragais paid the excessive indemnity demanded.[2] Lekain also protested against the method of sing-song declamation which was prevalent, and endeavoured to correct the costuming of the plays, although unable to obtain the historic accuracy at which François Joseph Talma aimed.[2]

Marriage

Lekain married Christine-Charlotte-Josèphe Sirot on 28 July 1750. His wife made her debut at the Comédie-Française in March 1757 and was received on a trial basis on 25 April, and definitively in 1761. She retired with a pension of 1,000 livres in 1767 and died on 18 August 1775.[5]

Death

Lekain died in Paris[6] and was survived by two sons, Bernardin and Louis-Théodore.[5]

His older son published his Mémoires (1801) with his correspondence with Voltaire, David Garrick and others. They were reprinted in Mémoires sur l'art dramatique (1825).[2]

Notes

  1. Campardon 1875; Monval 1900. Britannica 1911 gives his birthdate as 14 April 1728. "Henri-Louis Caïn dit Lekain" at césar has a death-date of 3 March 1778.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Britannica 1911.
  3. Carlson 1998, p. 87.
  4. Quoted by Talma 1825, p. v; cited and translated by Carlson 1998, p. 88.
  5. 1 2 3 Campardon 1875.
  6. Monval 1900.

Bibliography

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