Victor Hugo, Champion of the Needy, Wants Profits from His Great French Epic Donated to the Poor

From 1830 into the 1860’s, there were a series of massive political upheavals in Europe. Most were caused by the desire of the peoples of many nations to oust their royal elites and attain a fairer and more representative government. At the core of this was a struggle between the haves and have-nots. The elites fought back hard and there was fighting in the streets. There was a revolt in France in 1830, one in which Victor Hugo took part. but it led to the disappointing enthronement of King Louis Philippe. There was a widespread liberal revolution throughout much of the continent in 1848 which was crushed. In 1851 France was again in upheaval and Louis Napoleon seized power and proclaimed himself emperor. By 1860, forces in Italy and Germany sought to unify their respective people in national entities, and wars were in progress that would soon achieve those goals. Thus, there was both a significant reorientation of the political landscape, the frustration of populist movements, and the rise of nationalism and the modern nation state. Meanwhile, in the United States, brother fought against brother, not against royal elites but on behalf of ideals.

In the world of philosophy and literature, the most important year was 1862. That spring, Victor Hugo released to the public a work of great scope – Les Miserables – that brilliantly examined the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that encompassed history, politics, morality, philosophy, law, justice, and religion. It had taken 17 years to complete. It focused squarely on the poor of the streets of France during the French uprising and the protagonists were people with no means or those who had previously been poor. Hugo was a champion of the poor. He left five sentences as his last will, to be officially published: “I leave 50,000 francs to the poor. I want to be buried in their hearse. I refuse [funeral] orations of all churches. I beg a prayer to all souls. I believe in God.”

La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages) is a collection of poems by Hugo, conceived as an immense depiction of the history and evolution of humanity. Written intermittently between 1855 and 1876 while Hugo worked in exile on numerous other projects, the poems were published in three series in 1859, 1877, and 1883. Bearing witness to the unparalleled poetic talent evident in all Hugo’s art, the Légende des Siècles is often considered the only true French epic. In it he contemplated the “wall of the centuries,” indistinct and terrible, on which scenes of the past, present and future are drawn, and along which the whole long procession of humanity can be seen. The poems are depictions of these scenes.

Alphonse Auguste Frédéric Thurner was a musician and friend of Hugo. He published the “Chanson d’Edviradnus” in 1886 (after Hugo’s death) based on “La Légende des Siècles”.

Autograph letter signed, December 15, 1868, to Thurner. “Sir, your book is an excellent treatise. I learned a great many things and thank you. Title these stanzas La Chanson d’Edviradnus. If you published them accompanied by your music and there are sales and profit, kindly fix a sum that you feel appropriate as my takek as author and donate it to the poor.” In French that reads “Si vous les publiez avec votre musique et s’il y a vente et bénéfice, fixez à la somme qui vous plaira mon droit d’auteur, et donnez-le aux pauvres.”

This work was published by Thurner one year after Hugo’s death.