SEDAINE, MICHEL JEAN French dra matist, was born at Paris on July 4, 1719. His father, who was an architect, died when Sedaine was quite young, leaving no fortune, and the boy began life as a mason's labourer. He was later taken as pupil by an architect whose kindness he eventu ally repaid by the help he was able to give to his benefactor's grandson, the painter David. Meanwhile he had done his best to repair his deficiencies of education, and in 1750 he published a Recueil de pieces fugitives, which included fables, songs and pastorals. His especial talent was, however, for light opera. He produced Le Diable a quatre (1756), the music being by several composers; Blaise le Savetier (1759), for the music of Danican Philidor ; On ne s'avise jamais de tout (1761) and others with Pierre de Monsigny ; Aucassin et Nicollet (1780), Richard Coeur de Lion (1784), and Amphitryon (1788) with Andre Gretry.
Sedaine's vaudevilles and operettas attracted the attention of Diderot, and two plays of his were accepted and performed at the Theatre Francais. The first and longest, the Philosophe sans
le savoir, was acted in 1 765 ; the second, a lively one-act piece, La Gageure imprevue in 1768. These two at once took their place as stock pieces. Except these two pieces little or nothing of his has kept the stage or the shelves, but Sedaine may be regarded as the literary ancestor of Scribe and Dumas. He had the practical knowledge of the theatre, which enabled him to carry out the ideas of Diderot and gave him claims to be re garded as the real founder of the domestic drama in France.
Sedaine, who became a member of the Academy (1786), died at Paris on May 17, 1797. He wrote two historical dramas, Raymond V. comte de Toulouse, and Maillard, ou Paris sauve.
His Oeuvres (1826) contain a notice of his life by Ducis.