Composers and their stage works 


 

Francis Beaumont

(c1584 - 1616)

English dramatist.

Stage Works

All were first performed in London. An exact attribution is almost impossible. So popular were the plays of Beaumont and John Fletcher that their joint authorship was often claimed for plays written singly or in collaboration with others. The two folios of their "collected" plays (1647 and 1679) served to strengthen the belief that their collaboration was far more extensive than in fact it was.

  1. The Woman Hater. Comedy. Published 1607 (Stationers' Register, May 20, 1607); with subtitle The Hungry Courtier, 1649. Produced Children of St. Paul's, ca. 1606.
  2. The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Comedy. Published 1613. Produced Queen's Revels, ca. 1607.
  3. Wit at Several Weapons. (With Fletcher?) Comedy. Published 1647. Produced (?) ca. 1609/10? Possibly Beaumont and Fletcher's. Authorship is extremely doubtful. Thomas Middleton and William Rowley may be the authors.
  4. Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding. (With Fletcher). Tragicomedy. Published 1620 (Stationers' Register, Jan. 10, 1620). Produced Globe Theatre (King's Men), ca. 1608/10.
  5. The Coxcomb. (With John Fletcher). Comedy. Published 1647. Produced Queen's Revels, ca. 1608/10. The extant text may have been revised by Philip Massinger or William Rowley.
  6. The Maid's Tragedy. (With John Fletcher). Tragedy. Published 1619 (Stationers' Register, April 28, 1619). Produced King's Men, ca. 1608/11.
  7. A King and No King. (With John Fletcher). Tragicomedy. Published 1619. Produced King's Men, December 26, 1611.
  8. The Captain. (With John Fletcher). Comedy. Published 1647. Produced at court (King's Men), ca. 1609/12. Beaumont's collaboration is extremely doubtful. Other possible collaborators are Ben Jonson, Massinger, and Rowley.
  9. Cupid's Revenge. (With John Fletcher). Tragedy. Published 1615. Produced Queen's Revels, Jan. 5, 1612. Based on parts of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1590).
  10. Four Plays, or Moral Representations in One: (With Fletcher). The Triumph of Honour, The Triumph of Love, The Triumph of Death, and The Triumph of Time. Plays. Published 1647. Produced ca. 1612? Almost nothing is known about this group of masque-like pieces.
  11. The Honest Man's Fortune. (With John Fletcher). Tragicomedy. Published 1647. Produced Lady Elizabeth's Men (?), 1613. Beaumont's hand is doubtful. Robert Daborne, Nathan Field, Massinger, and Cyril Tourneur have also been suggested as Fletcher's possible collaborators.
  12. The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. (With John Fletcher). Masque. Published Stationers' Register, February 27, 1613. Produced Whitehall, February. 20, 1613.
  13. The Scornful Lady. (With John Fletcher). Comedy. Published 1616 (Stationers' Register, Mar. 19, 1616). Produced Queen's Revels, 1615/16.
  14. The Tragedy of Thierry, King of France, and His Brother Theodoret. (With John Fletcher). Play, 5 acts. Published 1621. Produced King's Men. Indications of Beaumont are exceedingly slight. Daborne, Field, and Massinger have also been suggested as Fletcher's possible collaborators, Massinger as a reviser.
  15. The Faithful Friends. (With John Fletcher?) Comedy. Published 1812. Produced (?), 1604?/after 1621? Probably not by either Beaumont or Fletcher. Daborne, James Shirley, and Massinger and Field have been suggested.
  16. Love's Cure, or The Martial Maid. (With John Fletcher). Comedy. Published 1647. Probably extensively revised by Massinger. The play belonged to the repertory of the King's Men by 1641.