Grimm, Friedrich Cupronickel

As a student of the gymnasium, he entered into correspondence with Gottshed, under whose influence he wrote (1743) the extremely weak tragedy of Vanis. Soon he received the post of secretary of the Saxon envoy to the German Sejm.

In 1748 he came to Paris, where he spent most of his life, intimately familiar with all the celebrities of that time. The pamphlet Lettre de M. Grimm sur Omphale, tragédie lyrique (1752), where he gives a critical assessment of French music, attracted the attention of the public. When the Italian opera that arrived in Paris that year made a strong split among French music lovers, Grimm wrote a witty pamphlet called Le petit prophête de Boehmischbroda , which was a huge success.

Newspaper

The monarchs of that time had their special correspondents in Paris, who told them all the news in the field of literature, science, art and public life, and Grimm occupied this niche. So, from 1747 there were " Nouvelles littéraires ", which the abbot of Reynal composed for the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha. Grimm, having begun his Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique in 1753, began to send her to the same duchess and soon completely supplanted Reinal.

Grimm's “ Correspondance ” (a kind of hand-written newspaper), which lasted until 1792, diverged in 15–16 copies; its subscribers were King Gustav III of Sweden , Empress Catherine, King of Poland Stanislav Augustus Ponyatovsky and others. For the first twenty years (from 1753 to 1773), Correspondance was composed primarily by Grimm himself; when he left Paris, the sheets were compiled by Didro , Grimm's friend Ms. Epine and others. The pages of the Correspondance discussed all the literary and theatrical novelties of Paris, which is why it is the most precious source for studying that time.

“Grimm’s literary correspondence is one of those books,” says Saint-Beuve , “which I turned to most often for my studies of the eighteenth century; the more diligently I used it, the more I became convinced that its author was a man of a subtle, penetrating mind, who had his own view on everything. ”

Nevertheless, reviews of Grimm as a writer, with the exception of very few, were very unfavorable. This was facilitated by the unsightly traits of his character - obsequious flattering, constant “on my mind” and many others, which explain, perhaps, and the fact that none of his encyclopedic friends in his memoirs even mention him. The exception is Russo , who in his Confession draws him in an extremely unsympathetic form.

While living in Paris, Grimm was first secretary to the Earl of Friesen, then the Duke of Orleans , and in 1759 he was appointed envoy of the city of Frankfurt at the Court of Versailles. Forced as a result of a clash with the Frankfurt government, to abandon this post, he secured a place for himself as a Saxe-Gothic resident in Paris. He obtained the Baron title in Vienna.

Correspondence with Catherine

In the retinue of the Hesse-Darmstadt landgrafine, who was going to marry her daughter with Pavel Petrovich , Grimm arrived in Petersburg, liked Catherine and received an invitation to stay in Russia, which he refused.

Having met in St. Petersburg with the family of Count Rumyantsev, he accompanied his sons on a trip to Europe. In 1776, Grimm was a second time in St. Petersburg and especially close friends with the empress, who spent whole hours talking with him. In 1792, he was appointed a Russian resident in Gotu, and later in Hamburg.

The correspondence of Grimm with Catherine, begun in 1764, continued until the death of the empress. If Correspondance Littéraire is a precious literary monument and shows Grimm's mind and education, then letters to Catherine, empty in content, filled with the lowest flattery and accompanied by incessantly different kinds of requests, expose the author’s personality in the most unattractive way.

The empress’s response letters, on the contrary, are characterized by ease, simplicity and, touching a wide variety of subjects, are important material for characterizing her personality, and in part her activity.

Being the official commissioner of the Empress (mainly for the purchase of various works of art, among which were Voltaire's portraits of the work of Grimm's close friend - the artist Jean Hubert ), Grimm received many awards from her and large sums (in general, about 500,000 rubles), incurring on the part of the enemies, accusations (seemingly unfounded) of dishonesty. Catherine's care reached the point that she ensured the fate of his close granddaughter M-me Epine, giving her a dowry and marrying her.

Emperor Paul continued to treat Grimm with the same favor, fulfilled his various requests, gave him instructions; between the latter, an assignment is interesting - through Galler (the son of the famous poet), who enjoyed Bonaparte's special trust - to try to draw the latter to the side of Louis XVIII.

Soon after arriving in Hamburg, Grimm almost completely lost his sight. After moving to Gotu, he died here in old age in 1807.

• Correspondance littéraire is first published in full Maur. Tourneux (Par., 1877 et seq.).
• His correspondence with Empress Catherine was published by J. K. Grot in the XXIII, XXXXII and XLIV vols. "Collection of Russian Imp. histor. society ”; * Correspondence with the Counts Rumyantsevs is in Russian Antiquity (1889, No. 3).
• G.'s note on his relations with Catherine was published in the 2nd volume of “Sat. Russ. historical community. ". WITH
• Edm. Scherer, "Melchior G." (P., 1887);
• Hillebrand, "Katharina II und Grimm" (Deutsche Rundschau, 1881, No. 7);
• J. K. Grot, "Catherine II in Correspondence with Grimm" (St. Petersburg, 1884).

• Braudo A.I. Grimm, Friedrich Cupronickel // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Profile of Frederick Melchior Grimm on the RAS official website