The Fatal Legacy, a Tragedy

…Molière’s troupe of his play La Thébaide; ou, les frères ennemis (“The Story of Thebes; or, The Fratricides”) at the Palais-Royal Theatre on June 20, 1664. Molière’s company also produced Racine’s next play, Alexandre le grand (Alexander the Great), which premiered at the Palais Royal on December 4, 1665. (It…

…with the first performance of La Thébaïde (The Fatal Legacy, a Tragedy), a grim account of the mutual hatred of Oedipus’s sons; this was followed by Alexandre le Grand (performed 1665), his only attempt at the manner of Quinault. The masterpieces date from the highly successful Andromaque (1667), another subject…

…Jean Racine’s first produced play, La Thébaïde (“The Story of Thebes”); in 1665 Racine transferred his next play, Alexandre le Grand, to a longer-established theatre while Molière’s actors were actually performing it, which turned the two men against each other. Molière was constantly harassed by the authorities, especially the ecclesiastical…