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The play premiered at the Comédie-Française on Thursday 29 August 1748. It was performed 68 times by Lekain between 1756 and 1778.
This manuscript gives the names of the actors and their roles as follows:
- Sémiramis – Marie Dumesnil
- Arzace – Henri Louis Lekain
- Azéma – Sophie Hus
- Assur – Jean Claude Gilles Colson, a.k.a. Bellecour
- Oroès – Charles-François Racot de Gradval
- Otane – Dubois
- Mitrane – Mr Deborneval
- Cédar – Mr Dubreuil
The copy is found within a collection of female roles. The roles pertain to French performances given at the Stuttgarter Hofttheatre between 1758 and 1767.
The translation was produced by L.C.C. v. Thienen.
This MS is a copy of Acts One and Two only. It is probable that the princess drew parallels between Lusignan’s fate and her own captivity. After her liberation, engraved words etched into the wallpaper of her antechamber at the prison were found. These read: ‘je désire Zaïre, Alzire, Amenaïde’.
An account of the Princess writing this manuscript survives. Alcide de Beauchesne noted that the guardian of the Temple prison, Gomin, found the Pricess with a copy of Zaire the day after the death of the Dauphin. He writes: ‘elle écrivait, elle avait un livre ouvert sous les yeux ; ce livre c’était un volume du théâtre de Voltaire, et ce qu’elle copiait, c’était la tragédie de Zaïre. Je possède les deux premiers actes de cette tragédie écrits, sous les verrous du Temple, de la main de la jeune Marie-Thérèse’. A letter from Gomin’s widow, Jeanne Madeleine Antoinette Lafontaine, to Alcide de Beauchesne was sold alongside this MS copy of Zaïre in which she bequeaths him several manuscripts including this one.
This MS played a part in the production of the edition of Mérope published by Prault fils in 1758. The play was first performed at the Comédie-Française on Wednesday 20 February 1743 at the Jeu de Paume de l’Etoile.
Voltaire begins by saying that he is sending an addition for his Sophonisbe, which he felt was too short. He asks the d’Argental’s to send it the Lekain. Voltaire then discusses briefly war and peace before asking for details on the movements of de Mairet and the duc de Duras. The letter is followed by an extract, in verse, concerning Scipio.