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Theater As Machine, Theater of Machines in Seventeenth-Century France

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Theater As Machine, Theater of Machines in Seventeenth-Century France THEATER AS MACHINE, THEATER OF MACHINES IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE Catherine A. Viano A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Romance Studies in the Department of Romance Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2018 Approved by: Ellen R. Welch Dominique Fisher Dorothea Heitsch John D. Lyons Hassan Melehy Jessica Lynn Wolfe © 2018 Catherine A. Viano ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Catherine A. Viano: Theater as Machine, Theater of Machines in Seventeenth-Century France (Under the direction of Ellen R. Welch) According to traditional historiography, seventeenth-century French theater is characterized by a pure, unified, classical and disciplined aesthetic known as Classicism. However, several theatrical pieces resist this Classical ideal with special effects and the use of theater machines. My dissertation examines this “spectacular aesthetic” that plays a fundamental role in theater production throughout the century. I show that theater machines were used across genres, in tragedies, comedies, tragi-comédies, comédie-ballets, ballets de cour and operas. The ubiquity of machine effects in all kinds of dramatic entertainment testifies to the power or popularity of the spectacular throughout the Classical period. This project also examines how playwrights and engineers use machines to stage powerful acts or perhaps undermine the authority behind those acts. My dissertation unfolds in three chapters, each devoted to exploring the efficacy of dramatic spectacle from aesthetic, critical and cultural early modern perspectives. By focusing on the value playwrights, machinists, and actors had for the effects theater machines produced, I will expand upon our understanding of how dramatists interpreted the range of affective responses to theater, including but not limited to Aristotle’s catharsis. Moreover, by comparing seventeenth-century approaches to the spectacular with more recent thinking about the role of technology in producing wondrous effects in entertainment, the dissertation compares seventeenth-century notions with today’s understandings of the affective responses to spectacle. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: THE GROTTO, THE GROTESQUE, AND THE SPECTACULAR .................................................................................................................... 11 The Grotto and the Grotesque in Early Seventeenth-century ballets de cour ............................................................................................................................. 17 The Grotto and Artistic Freedom in Cornelian Drama ............................................... 27 Power Plays of Horror ................................................................................................ 36 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 43 CHAPTER 2: THE GENRE OF “DESSEINS” ...................................................................... 45 Privileging Wonder in the Dessein for La Naissance d’Hércule ................................ 53 Spectacle, Technology, and Authority ........................................................................ 68 The Trope of the Jaded Spectator ............................................................................... 77 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 88 CHAPTER 3: UNVEILING THE MACHINE IN META-THEATRICAL PLAYS .................................................................................................................................... 90 Staging Spectator Response in Meta-theater at the Hôtel de Bourgogne ................... 95 Machine Effects in Meta-Theater at the Guénégaud ................................................ 121 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 134 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 137 iv INTRODUCTION The tragedy with machines La Cheute de Phaëton (1639) by L’Hermite de Vozelle opens with an address “A Qui Lit” in which the author exhibits a level of hubris comparable to that of the play’s mythological hero. Although he begins the preface with a modesty trope, (“c’est une production qui a plus besoin d’indulgence que de justice”), he then boasts: Si j’avois peu combattre l’inclination que j’ay d’escrire, je n’aurois point produit cet ouvrage, & si j’avois peu vaincre les prieres de mes Amis je ne l’aurois point mis au jour. Excusez donc de grace les fautes que je n’ay faites que par foiblesse & par violence.” 1 In this self-presentation, the author cannot vanquish his burning creative ambition, despite the risk of failure. 2 The play expands on the themes of creative desire and ambition introduced in this preface. After Jupiter’s son insults his lineage Phaeton resolves to visit his father the Sun. The goddess Diane promises to help him satisfy “le beau feu qui te brusle le sein.” 3 With her help, Phaeton travels to the sky and meets the Sun, who describes to him in exquisite detail the finely manufactured treasures of heaven: 1 L’Hermite de Vozelle, La Cheute de Phaëton, (Paris: Chez Cardin Besonge, 1639). 2 We do not know for sure who authored La Chute de Phaëton (1639). It is possible that Tristan l’Hermite de Vozelle is the known playwright Tristan (François) l’Hermite de Vozelle. However, the Parfrait brothers claim that Tristan l’Hermite de Vozelle is the brother of the playwright Tristan (François) l’Hermite de Vozelle. They write: “Tristan l’Hermite de Vozelle, Auteur dramatique, n’est pas connu que par la pièce suivante. La Chute de Phaëton, Tragédie, 1639.“ The Parfait brothers then explain that Tristan (François) l’Hermite de Vozelle authored the following original plays: La Mariamne (1636), Panthée (1637), La Folie du Sage (1644), La Mort de Sénéque (1644), La Mort de Chrispe, ou Les Malheurs Domestiques du Grand Constantin (1645), Le Parasite (1654). Tristan (François) l’Hermite de Vozelle also augmented and added to the work of Amarillis, ou La Célimene (1652) by Jean Rotrou. Claude Parfaict and François Parfaict, Dictionnaire des théâtres de Paris, Tome cinquième, (Paris: Chez Lambert, 1756), 564. 3 L’Hermite de Vozelle, La Chute de Phaëton , 19. 1 Là sur des trosnes d’or la Nature & le Temps, Achevent tous les jours cent projets importans Là mille diamans viendront à l’imporveuë Te satisfaire l’ame et de frappant la veuë; Mais tout cela n’est rien à l’esgal du tresor Qui brille sur mon char, le timon en est d’or… Mais mon enfant suy-moy, cet artifice extreme T’aprendra quel il est beaucoup mieux que moy-mesme.” 4 The dialogue inflames Phaeton’s desire to see these marvels. Although he recognizes his error, denouncing “Guide Aveugle & Brutal, Ambitieux Desir,” Phaeton drives the Sun’s chariot and falls. 5 With its compelling story of burning desire to see marvelous creations, and the tragic consequences of that desire, La Cheute de Phaëton is a good starting point for exploring seventeenth-century France’s ambivalent attitude toward spectacle. Several theatrical critics of this time denigrate the spectacular dramatic aesthetic. For example, in his Poétique published in the same year as La Chute de Phaëton , Hippolyte-Jules Pilet de la Mesnardière explicitly denounces plays with theater machines: “Les Ouvrages dont la beauté est attachée aux Machines, sont des corps défectueux.”6 Comparing spectacular pieces to defective bodies, he implies that special effects do not fit in seamlessly with theatrical illusion. According to La Mesnardière, theatrical machinery fails to conform to tragic aesthetics because the decorators or machinists lack understanding of how theater should work: “nos Décorateurs de Scénes sont bien loin de sçavoir l’Art de les composer d’eux-mesmes selon le dessein de la Fable, puisque mesme ils ne sçavent pas les choses les plus ordinaires qui 4 Ibid., 31-32. 5 Ibid., 33. 6 Hippolyte-Jules Pilet de la Mesnardière, La Poétique, (Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 2011), 419. 2 concernent le Théatre.”7 La Mesnardière suggests that theater machines can only interfere with the unfolding of a perfect, unified action on stage due to the machinists’ ignorance. Theater machines can be visually pleasurable: “Il est vray que ces artifices [machines] plaisent quelquefois à la veuë”; but they break the illusion of representation as reality. 8 Similarly critical of those who incorporate theater machines into productions, François Hédelin, dit l’abbé d’Aubignac also denounces the use of theatrical machinery: En un mot, tous les effets d’une puissance surnaturelle, tous les miracles de la Nature, tous les Chefs-d’oeuvre de l’art, et tous les caprices de l’imagination ont formé ces beautés et ces ornements, qui firent tant de fois les plus doux amusements des Grecs et des Romains… bien que la Cour ne les ait pas désagréables, et que le peuple fasse foule à toutes les occasions de voir quelque chose de semblable, je ne conseillerais pas à nos Poètes de s'occuper souvent à faire de ces Pièces de Théâtre à Machines: Nos Comédiens ne sont ni assez opulents, ni assez généreux pour en faire la dépense; et leurs Décorateurs
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