Thomas Durfey
Thomas Durfey was an English playwright and songwriter notable for his work in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Born in Devonshire, he gained prominence in the courts of several monarchs, including Charles II and Queen Anne, and was once more celebrated than William Shakespeare. Despite struggling with financial issues and facing ridicule for his stuttering, Durfey was known for his keen sense of humor and ability to endure criticism with grace. He achieved notable success with his light comedies, such as *Madam Fickle* and *A Fond Husband*, which often incorporated satire.
Durfey's musical contributions include a variety of political, court, and country songs, with the latter earning him significant popularity among contemporary audiences. His work influenced later composers, as evidenced by the inclusion of his songs in John Gay's *The Beggar's Opera*. Additionally, he had a brief stint as a voice teacher and maintained a vibrant social life, engaging in disputes with fellow writers and occasionally retaliating to criticism in print. Durfey's legacy is characterized by both his artistic contributions and his ability to navigate the complexities of courtly life while facing personal challenges.
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Thomas Durfey
Writer
- Born: 1653
- Birthplace: Exeter, Devon, England
- Died: February 26, 1723
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
Remarkably, in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Thomas Durfey’s plays were more celebrated than those of William Shakespeare. Durfey, who was born in Devonshire, was plagued by persistent financial problems, but he projected an image of affluence. He was a favorite in the courts of King Charles II, James II, and later of Queen Anne. Before his death he had entertained at least five of England’s reigning monarchs.
Although a dramatist, Durfey was best known for his songs in three major categories: political songs, court songs, and country songs. His political songs were often satirical, while his court songs were designed to curry favor with those in power. It is, however, the country songs that gained Durfey his most enthusiastic audiences. These songs were coarse, but at least forty contemporary musicians set Durfey’s words to music. It is significant that ten of the sixty-eight songs in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728) are Durfey’s songs.
When Durfey’s first drama, The Siege of Memphis, was staged in September of 1676, it was a total failure. Two months later, however, Durfey recovered from this disappointment with a light comedy, Madam Fickle, that was produced at the Dorset Garden Theater and was widely acclaimed. He had obviously found his preferred metier in the light comedy, and an edge of satire characterizes such Durfey productions as A Fond Husband, The Fool Turn’d Critic, and Cinthia and Endimion: Or, The Loves of the Deities.
Thomas Durfey had a strange and quite ugly countenance. His face was long and narrow and had a hooked nose. He stuttered except when he sang. People often poked fun at him for this affliction, but one of his distinguishing characteristics was that he bore such ridicule with no visible rancor. Indeed, he had a well-developed sense of humor that made him, unofficially at least, court jester.
At times Durfey’s fellow writers took him to task for the coarseness of some of his songs and for the haste and carelessness with which he sometimes produced his farces, melodramas, and satires. When Jeremy Collier attacked him in print, he retaliated with The Campaigners, and, in the preface to this play, he unburdened himself of any animus that he might have had resulting from Collier’s attack.
Durfey’s only absence from court occurred in 1689, when he spent a year as a voice teacher at a school for young women. Aside from this single interruption, he served every monarch from Charles II to Queen Anne. Some forty composers have set his words to music, including Henry Purcell, with whom Durfey collaborated on a three-part adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote.
A friend of essayists Richard Steele and Joseph Addison, Durfey frequently engaged in public disputes with the writers of his day. A pamphlet, Wit for Money: Or, Poet Stutterer, brutally attacked him following the production of Love for Money. Apparently Durfey was a heavy drinker. It is noted in his epitaph that his thirst was great.