#la fayette

Dealing with loss

We all know the narrative, concerning La Fayette and slavery. Him as a fierce abolitionist who tried to persuade Washington and Jefferson among other to free their enslaved people and that he only ever owned enslaved people in an attempt to free them and to show that emancipation can be done – aaaaand here is where I have to burst a few people’s bubbles. Because when it came to the topic of enslavement, La Fayette was not always as glorious as some people like to believe and as the popular narrative often goes. While the abolishment of enslavement was something that was dear to his heart and that he worked towards, this opinion was nothing he was born with. A lot of education and experience went into forming his believes and even then, La Fayette and his efforts were not perfect.

The matter at hand is a really good example of how La Fayette’s actions and believes changed with age and experience. While I mentioned this specific matter in a couple of other posts, it is significant enough to get a post of his own.

In August, 1777, Edmund Brice, an aide-de-camp to La Fayette wrote the following promissory note to Doctor A. Murray:

August 1777 I promise to pay A. [crossed out] Murray the sum of one hundred & eighty pounds Currincy[?] for value [?] of him for the use of the Marquis de la Fayette --- as witness my hand & Seal Edmund Brice

The reverse holds a second note:

Edmund Brices Note to Doct. Murray for a negro Boy for the Marquis August 4 1777 Paid by James Brice

H. Furlong Baldwin Library, Maryland Center for History and Culture, Brice and Jennings Families Papers, Promissory note from Edmund Brice to A. Murray, 1777-08, 2 pages, MS 1997. (05/02/2026)

(Please note that the collection transcribes the second note as Edmund Brices Note to Doct. Murray for a negro Boy for the Mary wife, but based on the context as well as the writing, I believe the word in question is indeed Marquis.)

James Brice was Edmund’s brother and while he did not serve in the Marquis’ staff as his brother did, he was a soldier during the Revolutionary War. He was first a Captain in the city militia and later a Lieutenant in the county militia. His services would earn him the honorary title of Colonel later on.

The above mentioned promissory note is one of only two documents that mention this “purchase” by the Marquis de La Fayette. The other is a letter written by Henry Laurens to La Fayette on October 23, 1777:

I have not seen the french Gentleman who did me the honour to bring your Letter, but will enquire of your black Servant where he may be found & you may depend upon me Sir to attempt, at least, to Serve him, nor shall the Subject concerning Mr. De Valfort depart from my mind.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 1, December 7, 1776–March 30, 1778, Cornell University Press, 1977, p. 124 (edited).

Now, Laurens manages to address three things in one sentence, but we are only interested in the passage highlighted here. A few interesting notes with regards to the context and the timeline of events. There is no surviving letter where La Fayette asks Laurens about the “black Servant” – he mentions Monsieur de Valfort at length in his letters and introduced the gentleman delivering his letter to Laurens previously but he did not ask for help in this other matter. Actually, there is no surviving document by La Fayette on the matter at all. No note to Murray or Edmund Brice that he wanted to make the purchase, no letter by Brice informing the Marquis that he had acquired the boy, no letter by James Brice that he paid the 180 pounds (for whatever reason), nor a letter by La Fayette that he is going to reimburse him.

There is also next to nothing that we know about the “black Servant”. We only know that he never arrived at camp and that previously to being bought in La Fayette’s name he was enslaved by Doctor A. Murray. The word “boy” in the promissory note suggests that the person was still rather young but there is no record of an exact age, of a name, a background or a family – there is also no reconstructing of what happened to that person after August 1777.

I find the lack of information deeply frustrating because there are a number of (more or less) possible scenarios what motivated the people involved in this matter – but to be honest, none of these make them look particularly good. While there are scenarios in which La Fayette could be the "hero" in this story, I would err on the side of caution and say that La Fayette most likely was not the "hero" in this story – quite the opposite in fact.

DDLC… DDHC.. just one letter of difference

Probably intrigued then boosted by the gradual arrival of Foreign Musicals on French soil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil would collaborate to give birth, unknowingly, to the very first 100% French Musical : " La Révolution Française "

( * if these two names are not very familiar to you, they are simply the creators of Les Mis )

Choosing the French Revolution of 1789 as the subject of the show was a brilliant idea ! It's an event in French history important enough to be known by all generations and vague enough to allow for the creation of stories and memorable characters, even if, originally, this beautiful project was only intended to be a simple album, without any stage ambitions ...

This album was released in 1973

Accompanied by a short comic strip illustrating the story

DISTRIBUTION :

The Charlots : Priests

Alain Bashung : Robespierre

Antoine : Napoleon

Jean Schultheis : Antoine Fouquier-Tinville

Claude-Michel Schönberg : Louis XVI

Franca di Rienzo : Marie-Antoinette

Noëlle Cordier : Isabelle de Montmorency

Jean-Pierre Savelli : Charles Gauthier

Gérard Blanc : Danton

Jean-Max Rivière : Marat

Jean Bentho : La Fayette

Gérard Rinaldi : Talleyrand

Françoise Boublil : Charlotte Corday

Élisabeth Vigna : Madame Sans-Gêne

Gérard Layani : La Terreur

Jean-François Michael : Les Chouans

Martin Circus : Tiers-État

****

The story follow the impossible love story of Charles Gauthier, a poor boy from the shallows , for Isabelle de Montmorency, daughter of aristocrats during the bloody events of 1789

( * This plot will be plagiarized without any embarrassment for another Musical " 1789 les Amants de la Bastille" many years later , I will probably talk about it in more detail one day )

This album was an unexpected success !!

So successful, in fact, that a stage adaptation was hastily staged at the Palais des Sports in October of the same year with Alain Bashung still in the role of Robespierre , and then at the Théâtre Mogador the following year with a new cast without the stars of the album

Despite its success, the show does not appear to have been filmed in its entirety , only the original album remains and some video archives :

The hype will continue to grow, the show will be performed by small amateur troupes all over the country, in holiday camps and even in schools ( I'll mention here that in France schools don't have musical theatre clubs and almost never put on end-of-year shows ) before disappearing completely all at once !

Completely overshadowed by all the Musicals who succeeded him , the show could very well have fallen into oblivion forever ...

Without the intervention of producer Pierre-Amar Chalal, who brought the show back to life at the Théâtre du Treizième Art in 2024 with multidisciplinary musician singers :

DISTRIBUTION :

Clara Poirieux : Marianne

Sébastien Duchange : Robespierre

Émilien Marion : Napoleon / Camille Desmoulins

Billy Boguard : Antoine Fouquier

Matthieu Vinel : Louis XVI

Julie Denn : Marie-Antoinette

Lucie Wendremaire : le Dauphin

Anne-Flore Roublique : la Dauphine

Marion Perronnet : Isabelle de Montmorency

Pierre Étienne : Charles Gauthier

Thomas Roditi : Danton / Charette

Henri Pauliat : Marat

Remi Torrado : Talleyrand

Diane Fourès : Charlotte Corday

Cindy Renou : Madame Sans-Gêne

Margaux Le Dorze : Olympe de Gouges

Laurine Dalbin : Théroigne de Méricourt

Madison Golaz : Pauline Léon

Antonin Holub / Madison Golaz / Romane Pollet / Laurine Dalbin

ANECDOTES :

The term " Comédie Musicale " used today to define musical in France had not yet been invented / democratized , that's why La Révolution Française and the shows that followed until the end of the 80s are classified in the "Opera Rock " category

...

In the album and on stage, a very young backing vocalist goes unnoticed , Yet, this is Daniel Balavoin who would become six years later the iconic face and voice of Starmania, one of the best French Musicals !!

Here , with the long green jacket in the middle ⤵️

...

It's true that this show has a slightly old-fashioned feel (I'd even say it's a bit cobbled together), but without it, without the audacity to try and equal shows performed abroad, perhaps Les Misérables would never have existed ? And perhaps no one would have had the courage to create what would later become the very precise norms and codes of French musicals