THE EVOLUTION of the ROMANTIC BALLET: the LIBRETTI and ENCHANTER CHARACTERS of SELECTED ROMANTIC BALLETS from the 1830S THROUGH the 1890S
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1995 The volutE ion of the Romantic Ballet: The Libretti and Enchanter Characters of Selected Romantic Ballets From the 1830s Through the 1890s. Tamara Lee Gebelt Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Gebelt, Tamara Lee, "The vE olution of the Romantic Ballet: The Libretti and Enchanter Characters of Selected Romantic Ballets From the 1830s Through the 1890s." (1995). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6012. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6012 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. 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Ann Arbor.Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THE EVOLUTION OF THE ROMANTIC BALLET: THE LIBRETTI AND ENCHANTER CHARACTERS OF SELECTED ROMANTIC BALLETS FROM THE 1830s THROUGH THE 1890s A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Theatre by Tamara Lee Gebelt B.A., Northern Kentucky U niversity, 1978 B.F.A., Northern Kentucky U niversity, 1980 M.A., U niversity of South Carolina, 1984 August 1995 UMI Number: 9609086 UMI Microform 9609086 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under T itle 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann A rbor, MI 48103 To my dear patient mother with love ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Gerilyn Tandberg and Dr. Bill Harbin, the chairpersons of my dissertation committee and the Department of Theatre, respectively, for their kind help and guidance during this project. I also wish to thank my mother for her patient understanding, support, and encouragement. Thanks aiso go to my committee members and all the library personnel across the country who helped me find old and unusual materials. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 THE ZENITH BA LLETS........................................................................... 13 2 THE DECLINE BALLETS ...................................................................... 47 3 THE REVIVAL BALLETS ...................................................................... 75 4 SOCIOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND............................. 99 5 CONCLUSION: TRANSITIONS AND TRENDS .....................................127 WORKS CITED ........................................ 140 APPENDIXES .................................................................................................................145 A LA SYLPHTDE, 1832 (ZENITH)...............................................................145 B GISELLE OU LES WILTS. 1841 (ZENITH)..........................................153 C E.T.A. HOFFMANN’S PER SANDMANN. 1 8 1 5 ...................................... 159 D CQPPELTA. OR THE CTRL WTTH ENAMEL EVES 1870, (DECLINE) ........................................................... 163 E SWAN T.AKEt 1877 (DECLINE) ............................................................... 171 F SLEEPING BEAUTY. 1890 (REVIVAL)...................................................178 G NUTCRACKER, 1892 (REVIVAL) ............................................................ 186 H DROSSELMEIER'S "STORY OF THE HARD NU T " ........................... 191 VITA .................................................................................................................................. 195 iv ABSTRACT With the collapse of Neoclassicism and its worn-out mythological subject matter, the middle class increasingly attended performances previously dominated by aristocratic audiences. New artistic tastes developed; people sought a return to nature and all its mysteries. An interest in folklore, fairy tales, legends, and old literature accompanied a timeless human need for periodic escapism and fantasy. Ballet became a major vehicle for that need. When Marie Taglioni initiated dancing on pointe as the Sylphide in La Svlphide (1832), ballet gained favor, and the Romantic era was born in dance. Ballet flourished, and new scientific methods for training dancers included a focus on the technical invention of the pointe shoe, which produced a totally new effect of weightlessness and femininity. For the first time, supernatural creatures could move on the stage with startling lightness. Overshadowed, male danseurs became mere porters of female sylphs, Wilis, peris, and other w eightless mysterious creatures. Romantic ballet experienced three distinct phases. Its zenith phase, the 1830s-1840s, produced the well-known T,a Svlphide and Giselle. The decline phase, 1850s-1880s, introduced Onpp£lia and Swan Lake. The revival phase, 1890s prior to Diaghilev, yielded Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. All six ballets utilized enchantment/magic as an impetus for the action, and their plots depended upon enchanter characters to further that action. The treatment of particularly the female enchanter characters in the libretti, all written by men, exemplified the Romantic view and v status ©f women in general* The idolized ballerina, the supernatural creature on the stage, epitomized women's fascinating combination of sensuality and innocence. Balletomanes found the duality erotic, and Romantic men sought simultaneously to exploit and protect the "weaker" sex. The evolution of these major Romantic ballets is evident through an examination of each ballet's plot and source(s) of the libretto, supernatural elements, and character treatment. The study exposes the groundwork underlying the magical elements surrounding the scenarios and characters' actions. It also examines reasons why female enchanters outnumbered male enchanters, and how they reflected the status of women in Romantic society. INTRODUCTION The world was changing. Ancient Greek and Roman themes became tiresome to a rising middle class, who, unlike the nobility and aristocracy before them, had no real interest in watching various gods and goddesses strut across the stage. Neoclassical austerity had long dominated ballet. Since 1672, the Paris Opera presented with regularity one classical ballet after another, such as bes Muses (1703), Las Amours da Mars at da Y&nus (1712), Las EStas Grac.ques at Romaines (1723), bes Romans (1736), Pygmalion (1748), and Medee et. Jason (1776). Napoleon's reverence for classical literature encouraged Neoclassicism's tenure in the arts in France, where ballet, like opera, entertained the aristocracy. In ballet, the new Romantic movement represented a desire to push the mythological deities aside. During the 1780s, the middle class increasingly attended ballets, exerting more and more influence on subject matter and approach. Finally, in 1786, appeared the first comedic ballet, La Fille Mai Gardee, which concerned village life and peasants, helping to usher in the Romantic movement. 1 Not surprisingly, the theatres swelled with the attendance of a new segment of the population. Ballet provided a much needed escape from the dreary oppressiveness of the Industrial Revolution. Feelings of fear and alienation accompanied the scientific and technological advancements. People felt a need for the return to nature and the not so threatening past. Middle class audiences wanted good stories with emotional content