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Recent Studies in Renaissance Scenography
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Extract
One of the most sumptuous and surely also one of the most important among the nearly thirty volumes pertaining to the theatre which have been published so far by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique is Le Lieu théâtral à la Renaissance. It will be remembered that the 1962 Colloquium at Royaumont dealt with Les Tragédies de Sénèque et le théâtre de la Renaissance. Some of the scholars who presented papers on that occasion returned to address the Congress of the following year (J. L. Flecniakoska, R. Lebègue,J. Lefebvre). In fact, as we read in the Avant-propos to the volume dealing with the influence of Seneca, ‘quelques séances furent consacrées à des travaux préparatoires en vue du Colloque international des Sciences Humaines, “Le lieu theatral a la Renaissance.”’
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1966
References
* Etudes reunies par Jean Jacquot avec la collaboration d'Elie Konigson et Marcel Oddon. Colloques Internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Sciences Humaines. Royaumont, 22-27 mars 1963. Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1964. x-f-532 pp. 68 pis. 98 Fr.
1 Instead of Parme, an error that stands out since it occurs in the title. For other obvious misprints I refer to pp. 27, 67,146, 365, 389,427, and 480, a total that certainly is not large.
2 The medieval giostra evolved, via the tornei a soggetto towards the ‘chivalrous’ ballet with an allegorical playlet as prologue, culminating in the 1561 tournament at Ferrara ‘[où] nous avons déjà pénétré dans le monde dynamique et illusioniste du théâtre baroque.’ See Elena Povoledo, ‘Le Théâtre de tournoi en Italie pendant la Renaissance’ (pp. 95-104 and esp. 103 for the gigantic mise en scène).
3 For the use of the courtyard as a ‘lieu theatral’ during the Renaissance, see André Chastel, ‘Cortile et théâtre’ (pp. 41-47).
4 Cf. Lebègue, art. tit., p. 354: ‘Les farces sont jouées aux moindres frais, sans décors, ou bien, comme sur les gravures de Trechsel … avec un ou plusieurs rideaux.’
5 Compare with a similar situation in France, Lebègue, art. cit., p. 354: ‘Les Italiens et leurs associés francais qui jouent la commedia dell'arte, se tiennent devant un ou deux rideaux, ou bien entre deux praticablcs, représentant deux maisons avec porte et fenêtre.’
6 ‘Emblème et image: Quelques remarques sur la manière de figurer et de représenter le lieu sur la scène anglaise au xvie siècle,’ p. 320.
7 At the beginning of his contribution, ‘Une Maquette de décor récemment retrouvee pour le Ballet de la prospérité des armes de France dansé à Paris, le 7 février 1641: Etude sur la mise en scène au Grand Théâtre du Palais Cardinal avant l'arrivée de Torelli’ (pp. 377-403).
8 I have supplied the name of the composer. Nowhere in the text, including other articles, is there any mention of Sacrati. However, I did find the title in the Catalogue, with the indication ‘drama del Sig. Giulio Strozzi’ and, lo and behold, in the Index to Le Lieu théâtral this Strozzi, the librettist, is given credit for the opera. This is like saying that Otello is an opera by Arrigo Boito. For additional clarification, also on the Paris performance, see Nino Pirrotta's article in Encidopedia dello Spettacolo, vm, under SACRATI.
9 J. G. McManaway, ‘L'Heritage de la Renaissance dans la mise en scène en Angleterre (1642-1700),’ p. 470.
10 That externals can still smother a production in our own day was proven on opening night at the new Metropolitan Opera. Franco Zemrelli, the librettist and producer of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, appears as a latter-day Torelli in the review of Harold C. Schonberg: ‘Things were screwed, locked and bolted; and things were pushed, and things were pulled, and things revolved. Sets nobly and ponderously arrived from the rear, slowly and majestically, like a Sherman tank passing over a wheat field. A great Sphinx was turned this way and that—profile, head on, rear. In the background, Cleopatra's barge floated on a silver Nile, oars moving in unison. There was a camel. There were goats and horses. Far in the distance a wee Egyptian fleet set out to fight the Romans. The moon disappeared. The sun r o s e … . It was all very technological.… And, it must be confessed, sometimes so vulgar: artifice masquerading with great flourish as art.’ (The New York Times, Sept. 18, 1966, p . 78.)