Les Burgraves is a historical play by Victor Hugo, first performed by the Comédie-Française on 7 March 1843.[1][2] It takes place along the Rhine and features the return of Emperor Barbarossa. The play failed commercially and was the last of Hugo's plays to be produced in his lifetime.[3] It was the subject of an orchestral overture by the composer Guillaume Lekeu in 1890.
The play is associated thematically with Hugo's Le Rhin, an essayistic book about the Rhine; both were inspired by a trip along the river Hugo took with Juliette Drouet.[4] Les Burgraves was published with a preface indicating that its depiction of a united Germany was part of a larger vision of a united Europe in which France would play a central role.[5]
References
External links
Media related to Les Burgraves at Wikimedia Commons
