CHENIER, MARIE-JOSEPH(-BLAISE) DE

born April 28, 1764, Istanbul died Jan. 10, 1811, Paris poet, dramatist, politician, and supporter of the French Revolution from its early stages. The brother of the Romantic poet Andr de Chnier, Marie-Joseph attended the Collge de Navarre, then joined the regiment of Montmorency for two years. A member of the Convention and the Council of Five Hundred, as well as the Committee of General Security and the Committee of Public Safety, he wrote patriotic songs and hymns such as the "Chant du dpart" and the "Hymne la libert." His tragedies, based on historical subjects, served as vehicles for his own political ideals. They include Charles IX (1789) and Henri VIII (1791). After his disapproval of the violence of the Reign of Terror was expressed in Fnelon (1793) and Caius Gracchus (1792), his tragedies were censored. He entered the Acadmie Franaise in 1803. ptre sur la calomnie (1797; "Treatise on Calumny") was an eloquent reply to the false accusations that he conspired to bring about his brother's death.