Chronology of Events Reported in the Confessions
1672
December 28: Birth of Rousseau’s father, Isaac Rousseau.
1673
February 6: Birth of Rousseau’s mother, Suzanne Bernard.
1704
Marriage of Rousseau’s parents.
1705
Birth of Rousseau’s brother, François.
1712
June 28: Birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
1722
October: Rousseau’s father leaves Geneva after his quarrel with Captain Gautier, and Rousseau is sent to Bossey to live with the Lamberciers.
1724
Rousseau returns to Geneva to live with his uncle, Gabriel Bernard. Rousseau is apprenticed to the city clerk, M. Masseron.
1725
April: Rousseau is apprenticed to the engraver, Abel Du Commun.
1728
March 14: Rousseau decides to run away from Geneva after finding the city gates locked.
1728
March 21: Rousseau meets Mme de Warens in Annecy.
April 12: Rousseau enters the hospice for the catechumens in Turin.
April 23: Rousseau is baptized a Catholic.
July: Rousseau enters the service of Mme de Vercellis.
December: Death of Mme de Vercellis.
1729
February: Probable beginning of Rousseau’s employment with the Gouvon family.
Summer: Rousseau returns to Mme de Warens in Annecy.
Summer-Fall: Rousseau studies at the Lazarist Seminary and then begins to study music with M. Le Maître.
1730
April: Rousseau abandons M. Le Maître in Lyon.
1730
July: Rousseau escorts Merceret to Fribourg and presents himself as Vaussore de Villeneuve, a French musician, in Lausanne.
Winter: Rousseau teaches music in Neuchâtel.
1731
April: Rousseau becomes the interpreter for the fake Archimandrite of Jerusalem.
June: Rousseau visits Paris for the first time.
September: Rousseau travels to Chambéry by way of Lyon to rejoin Mme de Warens.
1731
October: Rousseau begins work in the King’s survey.
1732
June: Rousseau leaves the survey and begins to teach music.
1733
July: Rousseau travels to Besançon to study with the Abbé Blanchard. (This might have taken place either a year earlier or a year later.)
1734
March: Death of Claude Anet.
Probable date of Rousseau’s and Mme de Warens’s first stay at Les Charmettes.
1737
June: Rousseau is injured in an accident during a chemistry experiment.
July: Rousseau returns to Geneva to receive his share of his mother’s estate.
September: Rousseau leaves Chambéry for Montpellier to consult Dr. Fizes.
1738
February: Probable date of Rousseau’s return to Chambéry.
1740
April: Rousseau becomes tutor to the children of M. de Mably in Lyon.
1741
May: Rousseau returns to Chambéry.
1741
End of December: Earliest possible date for Rousseau’s arrival in Paris with his new system of musical notation.
1742
August 22: Rousseau reads his Project Concerning New Signs for Music to the Academy of Sciences.
1743
January: Publication of the Dissertation on Modern Music.
July 10: Rousseau leaves Paris to begin working as secretary to M. de Montaigu, the French Ambassador to Venice.
September 4: Rousseau arrives in Venice.
1744
August 6: Rousseau leaves the Embassy after a quarrel with M. de Montaigu.
October: Rousseau arrives in Paris.
1745
March: Rousseau meets Thérèse Levasseur.
July: Rousseau completes The Gallant Muses.
Fall: Rousseau works on Ramirro’s Festival.
1746
Winter: Rousseau begins working as a secretary for the Dupin family. Birth of Rousseau’s first child, who is put in the Foundling Hospital.
1747
May: Death of Rousseau’s father.
Fall: Rousseau writes The Reckless Engagement.
1748
Birth of Rousseau’s second child.
1749
January–March: Rousseau writes articles on music for the Encyclopedia.
July 24: Diderot is imprisoned in Vincennes.
1749
August: Rousseau meets Grimm.
October: On the way to visit Diderot, Rousseau reads the essay topic proposed by the Academy of Dijon, “Has the restoration of the sciences and arts tended to purify morals?” and immediately begins to write the Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts.
1750
July: The First Discourse is awarded the prize by the Academy of Dijon.
1751
January: Publication of the First Discourse.
February: Rousseau gives up his position with the Dupins and starts to work as a music copyist.
Spring: Birth of Rousseau’s third child.
October: Rousseau responds to the King of Poland’s attack on the First Discourse.
November: Rousseau responds to Gautier’s Refutation with his Letter to Grimm.
April: Rousseau responds to Bordes’s attack with his Response to M. Bordes.
Spring–Summer: Rousseau composes The Village Soothsayer.
Performance of The Village Soothsayer at Fontainebleau.
December 18: Unsuccessful performance of Narcissus.
1753
January: Publication of Narcissus along with its Preface.
November: Rousseau begins writing the Second Discourse. Publication of the Letter on French Music.
1754
June 1: Rousseau leaves Paris for Geneva.
June 12: Rousseau dates the dedication to the Second Discourse from Chambéry.
August 1: Rousseau regains his Genevan citizenship.
October: Rousseau returns to Paris.
1755
April 24: Publication of the Second Discourse.
1756
April 9: Rousseau moves into the Hermitage near Montmorency.
August: Rousseau sends his letter to Voltaire on providence, responding to Voltaire’s poems On Natural Law and On the Disaster at Lisbon.
End of Summer: Rousseau begins writing Julie.
1757
March–April: Quarrel and reconciliation of Rousseau and Diderot over Diderot’s The Natural Son.
Spring: Rousseau falls in love with Sophie d’Houdetot.
End of August: Exchange of notes between Rousseau and Mme d’Epinay over his suspicions of her.
October 10: Publication of Vol. VII of the Encyclopedia, containing the article, Geneva.
October 25: Mme d’Epinay leaves for Geneva.
November: Grimm breaks with Rousseau.
December 5: Diderot visits Rousseau at the Hermitage.
December 15: Rousseau leaves the Hermitage and moves into the house at Mont-Louis in Montmorency.
1758
March: Rousseau finishes writing the Letter to d’Alembert.
Spring: Diderot informs Saint-Lambert about Rousseau’s love for Mme d’Houdetot.
September: Rousseau finishes writing Julie.
October: Publication of the Letter to d’Alembert, along with an inserted announcement of Rousseau’s rupture with Diderot.
October 29: Rousseau has reconciliation dinner with Saint-Lambert and Mme d’Houdetot.
1759
April: Rousseau makes the acquaintance of the Duc de Luxembourg.
May 6: At the invitation of the Duc de Luxembourg, Rousseau moves into the Little Chateau while repairs are made on his house at Mont-Louis.
July: Rousseau returns to Mont-Louis.
1760
July: Rousseau assists in obtaining the Abbé Morellet’s release from prison.
1761
January: Julie goes on sale in Paris one month after going on sale in London.
November: Duchesne begins printing Emile.
November: Rousseau expresses his fears of a Jesuit conspiracy against Emile.
1762
April: Publication of the Social Contract.
May: Publication of Emile.
June 9: A Warrant is issued for Rousseau’s arrest; he flees Montmorency.
1762
June 14: Rousseau arrives at Yverdon.
June 19: Emile and the Social Contract are burned at Geneva.
July 10: Rousseau is driven out of Yverdon and goes to Môtiers.
July 29: Death of Mme de Warens.
November 18: Rousseau dates the Letter to Beaumont.
March: Publication of the Letter to Beaumont.
April 17: Rousseau is made a citizen of Neuchâtel.
May 12: Rousseau renounces his Genevan citizenship.
1764
May 18: Death of the Duc de Luxembourg.
December: Publication of the Letters Written from the Mountain.
December: Voltaire publishes the Sentiments of the Citizens.
1765
Spring: Rousseau is summoned before the Consistory at Môtiers.
September 6–7: Rousseau’s house is stoned.
September 12: Rousseau arrives at the Island of St. Pierre.
October 16: Rousseau is expelled from the island.
October 29: Rousseau leaves Bienne for Berlin (although he is eventually persuaded to go to England).
1770
December: Rousseau completes the Confessions and gives his first readings from them.
1771
Rousseau gives the last of his readings from the Confessions, which cease after Mme d’Epinay protests to the police.