Alfred de Musset

In 1833, he fell in love with a French writer, Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, known by her pseudonym George Sand. Their passionate love affair was one of the most famous ones of that era.

They spent a winter together in Italy but infidelity on both sides broke their relationship and they separated upon their return to Paris. This love affair left him in despair and wrecked his remaining life. Although he wrote some of his finest works after this incident, he never fully recovered from his emotional turmoil.

He died in his sleep on May 2, 1857 due to heart failure. It was later described as the combined effect of alcoholism and a longstanding aortic insufficiency. He was buried in P�re Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

He was born on December 11, 1810 in the heart of old Paris to a noble but poor family. His father, Victor de Musset, held various key government positions and is chiefly remembered as the editor and biographer of Rousseau.

His mother was a social woman and often gathered friends over drawing-room parties, luncheons, and dinners which she held in the Musset residence. He had an older brother, Paul de Musset, who encouraged his talent of writing and helped him throughout his life.

At the age of nine, he entered Lyc�e Henri-IV and graduated with honors in 1827. Same year, he won the Latin essay prize in the Concours g�n�ral. He decided to pursue a career in medicine but dropped the idea later on due to his distaste for dissections.

After opting for various career options such as law, drawing, English, and piano, he finally decided to become a writer.

He wrote his first collection of poems, ‘Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie’ in 1829, which was a phenomenal success.

His wrote his first play, ‘La Nuit v�nitienne’, in 1830. It did not receive a positive response from the audience and due to this failure thereafter his plays were only published and not performed on stage until 1847.

He wrote another play called ‘Les Caprices de Marianne’ in 1833 which later became the basis of the 1939 French movie called ‘The Rules of the Game’.

He became the librarian of the French Ministry of the Interior under the July Monarchy. He also took part in argumentation related to Rhine crisis of 1840, caused by the French Prime Minister, Adolphe Thiers.

After the revolution of 1848, he was dismissed from his previous post of the librarian by the new minister, Ledru-Rollin. In 1853, he was appointed as the librarian of the Ministry of Public Instruction.

His finest poetry was published in his collection titled ‘Po�sies nouvelles’(1850). It contains his famous poems inspired by his love for George Sand such as ‘La Nuit de mai’, ‘La Nuit de d�cembre’, ‘La Nuit d'ao�t’ and ‘La Nuit d'octobre’.

In 1834, he wrote a powerful drama ‘Lorenzaccio’ which is considered as one of the finest French plays of the 19th century. The play is set in 16th-century Florence and depicts the tale of conspiracy, adultery and deceit in an empire.