Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

1732–1799

Nationality: French

Historical Period: The 18th Century

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) was a watchmaker and a court musician, before he turned to writing plays. He is best known for having dared to publish Voltaire and two anti-aristocratic plays of his own - The Barber of Seville (1775) and The Marriage of Figaro (1781). During the American Revolution he acted on behalf of the French crown to supply guns and other weapons to the American revolutionaries.

• Author: The Barber of Seville, or the Useless Precaution
• Author: The Marriage of Figaro (or the Follies of a Day)
• Author: Mozart’s Opera Marriage of Figaro