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Music and the Art

of the Theatre

Books

of the Theatre Series

H. D. INumber 5

A

Albright^ General 'Editor

August 1Ç62

Rare Books of the Theatre project of the American Educational Theatre Association

Frontispiece

— Adolphe Appia before the

Painting by

setting for the sacred forest in Parsifal.

René Martin. From Art Vivant ou Nature Morte?, Milan,

1923.

ADOLPHE APPIA'S "Music and the Art of the Theatre" translated by

Robert W. Corrigan and Mary Douglas Dirks

with a

Foreword by Lee Simonson

Edited by Barnard Hewitt

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI PRESS CORAL GABLES 46, FLORIDA

L? Copyright 1962

by University of

Miami

Library of Congress Catalog Card

Press

Number: 62-20172

MUSIC LIBRAR/

the United States of America PARKER PRINTING, CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA

Printed in

CONTENTS Editor's

Barnard Hewitt

Note

Lee Simonson

Foreword

The

Robert W. Corrigan

Translators' Preface

Mary Douglas Dirks Adolphe Appia's Music and the Art of the Theatre {La Musique et

la

Mise en Scène,

1898), translated by Robert

W. Corrigan

and Mary Douglas Dirks Preface to an English Edition (1918)

1

Preface

7

Part

(1898)

I.

The Mise en Scène

Means Part

II.

of

as

Expression

10

Richard Wagner and the

Mise en Scène Part

III.

104

The Word-Tone Drama

without Richard Wagner

131

Appendix 194

Introduction

The Staging

of Tristan

and

translated by Walther

The Staging

.

.

198

of the Ring, translated

by Walther R. Volbach Designs

Isolde,

Volbach

209

219

EDITOR'S NOTE The American Educational Theatre Association

is

particularly

pleased to be able to publish a translation of "La Musique et la Mise

en Scène," Adolphe Appia's best known work, during the centennial year of his birth. Although the essay was completed in 1898, the

been published.

original has not yet

A

few persons have read the original manuscript

Switzerland, or the incomplete copy in the

However,

its

contents

German translation, Die Musik und die Bruckmann in Munich in 1899, now a of

this translation

Hugo Bruckmann

in Berne,

Public Library.

have become known largely through the

F.

approved

New York

Inscenierung, published by rare book. Although

Appia

by Eisa, Princess von Cantacuzène, wife

of the publishing firm,

it is

not always faithful

to the original.

Both the

original

been used in preparing diagrams in Part in

I

French and the German translation have

this

English version, and

includes the two

it

and notes on the designs, which are found only

Die Musik. The Table of Contents, extremely detailed

original

and

in the

designs are those in for Tristan

and

German version, is here greatly the German version, except that

Isolde,

Act

II,

in

reduced.

the

The

the final one

has been omitted because

it

is

too

dark to reproduce. The Preface which Appia wrote in 1918 for an English version which did not materialize

This volume, like

Work

of Living Art"

,

its

predecessor,

is

here included.

Adolphe Appia's "The

could not have been prepared without the

wholehearted co-operation of Adolphe Appia's nephew, Edmond,

who unhappily did not to Dr. Edmund Stadler

live to see

it

in print.

We

are indebted also

of the Schweizer Theatersammlung, Landes-

bibliothek, Berne, Switzerland, for essential materials

We

are extremely grateful to Walther R.

and information.

Volbach of Texas Christian

University, who, with the aid of his wife, Claire,

and Walton H.

Rothrock, carefully checked the translation for the Adolphe Appia

Foundation and for the American Educational Theatre Association.

Barnard Hewitt University of Illinois ix

FOREWORD The theories that elucidated

the basic aesthetic principles of

modem

fundamental technical problems,

scenic design, analyzed

its

and formed a charter of freedom under which scenic designers appeared

practice,

in

two volumes under quasi-musical

still

La

titles:

Mise en Scène du Drame Wagnérîen (The Staging of Wagner's Music Dramas) and Die Musik und die Inscenierung. The first was published an inconspicuous brochure of fifty-one pages, the

in Paris in 1895,

second as a full-sized volume, translated from the French

Munich

in 1899.

to procure that they

have become

collector's items.

But

difficult

their influence

Appia was that rare combination, a creative of exceptional imagination and a rigorously logical theorist.

was immediately artist

script, in

Both the book and the booklet are now so felt,

for

Die Musik und die Inscenierung contained eighteen

illustrations of

projected stage settings for Wagner's operas which embodied Appia's aesthetic principles with such finality that they

of a totally

new kind

of stage setting

strange as the outlines of a

new

became a

and stage

continent seen at

revelation

lighting,

then as

dawn and now

so

These drawings revealed a unity and simplicity of design

familiar.

that could be

made an

inherent part of stage settings in a

no one had hitherto conceived, Wagner stagecraft

were converted by a

least of

all.

way

that

Practitioners of

set of illuminations to a gospel

which

most of them never read.

Appia expressed

in

dogmatic form much of what the Duke of

Saxe-Meiningen had demonstrated pragmatically. But in promulgating his theory of stage setting

the plasticity of light

demonstrated in

he completed

itself,

detail,

its

unification

by

insisting

on

He how

which no one before had conceived.

both as a theorist and as a draftsman,

stage lighting could be used

and controlled so as

to

establish a

completely three-dimensioned world on the stage. In Appia's theories, as well as in his drawings, the light

which first

in paintings

had already been

called dramatic,

time brought into the theatre where

utilized.

its

was for the

dramatic values could be

Chiaroscuro, so controlled as to reveal essential or significant

form, with which painters had been preoccupied for three centuries, xi

became, as Appia described

it,

an expressive medium for the scene

The light and shade of Rembrandt, Piranesi, Daumier, and Meryon was finally brought into the theatre, not splashed on a backdrop as romantic scene painters had used it, but as an ambient meddesigner.

ium, actually

filling

space and possessing actual volume;

it

was an

impalpable bond which fused the actor, wherever and however he

moved, with everything around him. The

plastic unity of the stage

was made continuous. If

—

one looks

at reproductions of stage settings before

and the history of stage

in general is divided

everything

is

setting

by B.C.

—they

are filled with even radiance;

of equal importance. In Appia's drawings, for the

time the stage

is

a microcosm of the world.

It

noon, from noon to dewy eve" and on through night.

And

Appia

might be divided by B. A. as history

the actors in

it

seem

sunlight or moonlight into light

living beings

first

moves "from dawn all

to

the watches of the

who move

and shadow. Beneath

as

we do from

their feet

is

not

the floor of a stage but the surface of the earth, over their heads not a

backdrop but the heavens, as we see them, enveloping and remote. There

is

depth here that seems hewn and distance that recedes

infinitely further

than a mathematical vanishing point.

In attacking the conventions of scene painting Appia created

an ultimate convention. For the transparent trickery of painted sions of

form he substituted the

illusion of space built

transient

structures

of the

stage

up by the

and controlled, can give

transfiguration that fight, directed

illu-

to the

The third dimension, mind for four centuries,

carpenter.

incessant preoccupation of the occidental

defined by metaphysicians, explored by scientists, simulated by paint-

was re-created in terms of the theatre, made actual. The stage more completely than ever became a world that we could vicariously inhabit; stage settings acquired a new reality. The light in Appia's first drawings, if one compares them to the designs that preceded his, ers,

seems the night and morning of a First Day. -

The

art of the theatre

today finds

its full

freedom within the

boundaries of Appia's original concepts in a stage setting that completely plastic

—

is

plastic in the sense of being infinitely malleable; xii

plastic also in the sense of being consistently three-dimensional.

More

recent experiments in production continue to play with our sensations

and our emotional reactions

of space

implied, of the third dimension.

We

to projections, either actual or

accept the dynamic relations of

a three-dimensional actor moving through the third dimension.

Appia, designing for opera, evolved a type of stage setting so

compact, so directly related to the emotional flux of drama, that he anticipated the development of scenic design in the theatre. Light fluctuates in Appia's drawings as

and gives

to canvas

forms

just

does on the stage of a theatre,

it

such simplifications of

mass and outline

Appia indicated in his light-plot for Act II of Tristan and Isolde. Such a light-plot is now an accepted part of every modem production. It is separately rehearsed, memorized by the stage electrician, and is part of the stage manager's prompt book. The fewest of its changes as

are dictated by actual stage directions such as the extinguishing of a torch; the vast majority are an

emphasize the atmospheric

accompaniment

to action

and aim to

qualities of a stage setting in a

can project variations of dramatic

mood and

way

that

thereby intensify the

emotional reaction of an audience. It

was the

singular limitation of Appia's

temperament that he

could find no basis for the interpretation of drama except that dictated

by the tempo and timbre of a musical

His imagination could be

score.

stimulated in no other way. But in indicating both theoretically and graphically the complete mobility of stage fighting he has possible for any play to be accompanied as directly expressive as a musical integrafiy a part of a play as

by a

light-score that

made is

it

almost

accompaniment and can be made as in Wagner's music dramas.

music was

Lee Simonson

xni

THE TRANSLATORS' PREFACE Eric Bentley once wrote, "If despair, the translator's

We

life

life

begins on the other side of

begins on the other side of impossibility."

can think of nothing more appropriate than

describe the almost impossible task of translating

"La Musique work which

in is

remark to

Mise en Scène."

et la

First, there

was the problem of

French but

it

text (s).

was published only

not always faithful to the original.

and German, relying principally on the

York

this

Adolphe Appia's

in a

Appia wrote the

German

translation

We have used both French

original

French

in the

New

Public Library's typed copy, supplemented by sections from the

copy in the Schweizer Theatersammlung, Landesbibliothek, Berne,

Edmund

Switzerland, kindly supplied by Dr.

Stadler.

Our second problem was that this was of necessity a work of collaboration. The four people who worked on it lived in totally different sections of the country and the work was spread over several years. The procedure went something like this: one of us translated the French text and the other the German, and then our efforts were combined into a new version that stayed as close to the French as possible but which also included some material from the German. This version was then sent to the Editor, Barnard Hewitt of the University of Illinois, and to Walther R. Volbach of Texas American representative of the Adolphe

Christian University, the

Appia Foundation, each back

to us a large

of

whom

number

checked the translation and sent

of suggested revisions.

Some

of these

somewhat altered Thus the translation revised by Professors Hewitt and

suggestions were incorporated in the text and a

version was sent to them for their final revisions.

published here

is

our version as

Volbach.

The other

big problem

to free translation. In order to

alterations

were made

But the question of and

in the

style

difficult to translate

was

—

was the question of

make

form of

thornier. Appia's style

in fact

it is

literal

as

opposed

book more readable, several the text and these still stand.

the

is

highly personal

almost impossible to render his

convoluted and florid phrasings into smooth and easily readable

XV

For

English.

this reason,

translation, being in

English. Since

we cannot have

accuracy than style

—

stand on the side of a "free"

at the

expense of bad

we would

rather surrender

"Accuracy must not be bought

this issue:

principle

we took our

complete accord with Eric Bentley's position on

that, finally,

is

everything,

.... The

unless the original

clinching argument in favor of this

bad Enghsh cannot be an accurate

bad German, bad French, or what have

in

is

translation

you."

Up

we became aware that we we had produced more of an interpretation of Appia than a translation. From this we were rescued by Professors Hewitt and Volbach, and we trust

had

to a point

we were

right,

but

fallen into a trap that awaits the free translator

that the version here published

and tone, and

true to Appia's text in content, form,

same time readable.

at the

is

is

—

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Frances

translators wish to

unpubhshed

their debt to Ulric

and Hugh Barnes whose

and

earlier

book were exceedingly helpful in Acknowledgment is also due Mrs. Karen

translations of this

the present undertaking.

Haller

acknowledge

Moore, Viola Oliver,

who typed

many

the

versions of the manuscript, and the Tulane

University Council on Research for a grant supporting this project.

We

also wish to express our gratitude to

Swartzfager find our

who

way through

the

Barnard Hewitt and Walther Volbach. Without them

would not

exist,

and

rather than editors Finally,

Alexander M.

Drummond

in a very real sense they

and

this

book

have been co-translators

advisors.

we should

Drummond

won't see

been pleased to read

to

impossible for us adequately to express our indebtedness

It is

to

John Dirks and Esther Jane

up with us while we were trying labyrinthine ways of Appia's prose.

so patiently put

this

acknowledge our debt to the

like to

of Cornell University.

volume,

we

feel certain

at its publication. All his life

and study Appia, and

it is

late

Although Professor he would have

he encouraged students

probably safe to say that without

xvi

his

stimulation, enthusiasm,

and encouragement

would not have been done. Nearly everyone ever been involved with the translation of

Scène can trace of inspiration

—

his or her

so

this

translation

in this country

La Musique

involvement back to

this

et la

who

has

Mise en

common

source

no publication of the book would be complete

without acknowledging

this debt.

R.W.C. M.D.D.

xvn

ADOLPHE APPIA'S "Music and the Art of the Theatre"

TO Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who alone knows the I

life

which

enclose within these pages.

ADOLPHE APPIA

"Music never expresses the phenomenon but only the inner essence of the phenomenon."

SCHOPENHAUER

"When music

reaches

its

noblest

power,

it

becomes form." SCHILLER

Preface to an English Edition (1918) 1892-1897 and

This work was written during the years published in 1899. years

it still

may

It

perhaps seem strange that after twenty-five

As

has sufficient significance to merit translation.

a matter

of fact, mise-en-scène has remained ifi-defined, subject as

changing tastes and fashions, and

its

is

it

to

practical application has remain-

ed purely empirical. Music, on the other hand, has enjoyed a far greater development.

The purpose

of this preface

is

to indicate briefiy

why, in

had once to work of Richard

order to be understood, ideas of general significance

be related to a particular

Wagner

—and how

work, which

At

artistic

the

creation,

these ideas have a value independent of Wagner's

publication today.

justifies their

the time

when

I

wrote and published

this

volume, the

problem of production, and consequently of dramatic concern to no one. The audience, as well as the field,

was preoccupied

art,

was of

specialists in the

through an ever

solely with innovation

in-

more condemned the

creasing sumptuousness in setting, or else through an ever

complete realism: dramatist to

toward stage

this attitude

mark

time.

(Incidentally,

I

setting

trust

we

are

no longer

deluded by productions of adulterated Greek dramas performed in sacrilegiously factitious ruins.) In that period, only the exceptional

nature of the productions at Bayreuth and the Festival Theatre

were

truly significant attempts at reform.

raised, the settings

on stage

Still,

when

itself

was

the curtain

offered nothing whatever to correspond

with what was wondrous in the score. This continual and ever-renew-

ed

we

conflict, this painful

shall see,

artistic

dichotomy,

made

the

work

the fountainhead of one of the

revolutions.

And

that

is

at

most

Bayreuth, as

fruitful

why Wagner's work

will

of

all

always

remain inseparable from the dramatic and scenic reforms which are in the process of being realized. •

1

For some, Wagner's work has transformed the Idea of drama itself

by

virtue of the fact that

internal action, to

it

locates the center of gravity in the

which music and only music holds the key, but of

which, nevertheless, the actor must remain the corporeal embodiment

on the

stage. Later,

we

shall note the

arose from this concept. So decisively enriched,

and Bayreuth

will

if

much in

its

that the stage

always stand as the classic example of interiorization caused others,

own

The

right.

was most

its

potential,

this

advance.

who, moreover,

development, to turn in the opposite

later in the

direction, to the cultivation of the

medium

unexpected developments which

came about

not in actual practice, at least in

Such excessive followed

it

first

human body

as

an expressive

school of thought, declaring that

Wagner's drama was addressed primarily to our aural sense, sought to

make

a legitimate aesthetic correlation between what the music

brings to our ears and

must

our eyes.

offer to

what the It

was

the crude distortion inflicted

magnificent

As

to this concept

order to be meaningful,

which

I

subscribed; and

by contemporary staging upon Wagner's

work impelled me I

setting, in

delved deeper,

to this study.

the

me

evidence forced upon

Wag-

reaHzation that an inescapable contradiction exists within the

nerian drama

itself;

that during performance, there

compromise between the music and the sound and rhythm and the any attempt

art of plastic

actor,

is

the

a continual

between the

art of

and dramatic movement, and

at traditional stage setting for this

drama can

rest only

on a compromise, a compromise which must somehow be transcended

The more I sought to transcend this compromise, the more urgently was I assailed by the vital question: Which of the elements must be sacrificed, the music, or the actor? On the other hand, some who were not enthralled by the overwhelming power of the music, and consequently could not plumb the dramatic depths of Wagner's work, found the compromise far less trying: the diminution of the scope and intensity of the music was a if

aesthetic truth

is

to be attained.

matter of indifference to them; the harmonious glorification of the

human body little

suited their aesthetic aim, although in pursuit of

it

they

suspected the problems they were to raise for themselves.

Approaching each other from almost completely opposite

by the only work

directions, aroused sufficiently

extreme say,

at that time

whose form was

powerful to push affirmation as well as contradiction to

limits, these

two groups of

collided head-on

And

—

—and

met

artists

the crossroads

at

here at the crossroads,

we

.

I

should better

.

.

find ourselves today, in direct

confrontation.

Wagner's urge to create

human drama

expression of the

in

homogeneous form the

in all

its

purity

more compelling than the influence of opera. Master could not encompass everything; it did not occur infinitely

sacrifice

even a modicum of

integral

and profundity was

his prodigious musical genius,

the

Still,

to

him

to

and hence

could not resolve the cruel conflict in which he struggled, even with

some degree of awareness was no suitable expression :

the conflict between music for which there in the living

body of

the performer, music

which could not achieve such externalization without the having

its

own

identity suppressed

of presenting the music and the

One

like

soul, will never

inspired

me

me, who has

human body felt

simultaneously.

this tragic conflict in his

with compassion, thus setting

pointed out the

me from

way and

risk of

the necessity, nevertheless,

disavow Wagner the man, or

has preserved

itself

—and

me

free.

Wagner's work

presenting an arbitrary case, for

constrained

me

own

his works, for they

to follow

it

it

has

almost involun-

tarily. I was writing the chapter on the Actor (I), I some kind of rhythmic movement which would serve as link and intermediary between the actor and the music must be brought to fight. It seemed to me that although there was unfortunately little possibility of resolving the Wagnerian compromise, this concept might prove to be a means of making it less obvious, and

In 1895, as

felt intuitively that

perhaps even serve as a device for orienting the actor (and, with him, the

dramatist)

towards a more effective dramatic form for the

coexistence of actor and music on stage. Eleven years later, I

acquainted with the Eurythmies of Jaques-Dalcroze,

became

who was

just

beginning his experiments; and there

By

passionate desire for synthesis!

found the answer

I

discipline of the body, I discovered the living

which music

in

splendor which

subjugated to

is

it,

after all illusory, at least during

will

of scenic expression, to which

performance, nor

all

supreme

the primary and

it

other elements of production

be subordinated. This was a marvelous voyage of discovery! Although

further

and further

my

frequently to

afield in

work

my

all

—

Wagnerian compromise

the

By

results.

its

Wagner took

the

first,

dramatic action,

rhythm

and

because of

duration,

this lack of

to manifest violence

—and

there

own

its

it

it

its

self-

with the dramatist

But he

simply as the visible

existed

activity of the life

to

body

as

it

independent of that

an impassable

understanding, he subjected the

from beginning

of

discipline

from

suspecting that between the

little

rhythm and duration of the music, and the preserved in spite of everything

the

the decisive step.

neglected the role of the body: he regarded carrier of the

in

freeing the music

centered and unnatural isolation, and by joining in a fruitful union,

went

of the essential ideas contained in this

mine had found confirmation

of

Eurythmies, and in

I

explorations, nevertheless I returned

starting point

realized with pleasure that

old

art,

in a

a dramatic art which will direct the body towards

an externalization in space, and thus make

means

germ of a dramatic

no longer separated from the human body

is

my

to

musical

closely following this

And

abyss.

human body

end of the productions. But

now, with the hberation of the body, music

is

once again

free.

No

longer will the poet be a separate and conflicting entity with regard to the music: This vital step has at last

become

been taken. The poet

will

the prime focus; he alone will consecrate the divine union

of music with the

human

body.

Today, the resurgence of the body as an expressive medium essential to

our aesthetic culture

is

a concept which possesses

minds, animates the imagination, and gives ments^ doubtless not

same reform. to

come

all

of equal value, but

We now feel

rise to all

many

diverse experi-

directed toward the

that the performer tends, almost implicitly,

closer to the spectator;

we

also feel

sensitively than others) a mysterious

(some more deeply and

involvement on the part of the

—

Our modem productions used to force us into such miserable passivity that we veiled our humiliation in the shadowy recesses of the auditorium. But now, as we behold the body's spectator with the performer.

our emotion

effort finally to rediscover itself,

we wish

collaboration: is

now

almost a fraternal

is

be that body on stage; our role of spectator

to

a responsibility; the social instinct awakens in us, an instmct

which has been heartlessly the stage

now, and the barrier between

stifled until

and the audience now

strikes us

own

unfortunate disassociation, the result of our

And

here

we

face the

most

as

an unpleasant and egoism. reform.

critical factor in theatre

Incontestably a reciprocity exists between the dramatist's

conception and the methods

original

which he can depend.

reaUzation upon

scenic

of

would be more accurate

It

to say that this

reciprocity should exist, for in our time, unfortunately, with very

exceptions, the determining influence lies

on one

side only:

few

quite

simply, what forces the dramatist to limit his concept, to restrict his vision,

is

modem

our

concept of stage and theatre; there

when

reciprocity possible for the dramatist

it

comes

is

no

to the staging

of his work.

Let us proclaim to liberate his vision

if

it

he

strongly: the dramatist will never be able

insists

upon

separated from the audience. This it

projecting

may

it

in a space rigidly

be desirable on occasion, but

must never be taken as the norm. It is

hardly necessary to point out that the construction of

our theatres should evolve toward a dramatic

art.

Sooner or

later

freer,

we shaU

more

flexible

concept of

achieve what will be

known

as

the Salle [hall, auditorium], cathedral of the future, which, in a free, vast,

and

festations

flexible space, will bring together the

of

our social

dramatic art to flourish

form

in

which

and

if it

life

—

the

most diverse maniperfect

place

with or without an audience. There

social solidarity

drama, particularly

artistic

is

retums to

its

noble origins in the coHective

human

transforming them into our modern image.

The Eurythmies pline

art

can be better expressed than in the

realization of great religious or patriotic feeling, or simply of feeling,

no

for

which

first

initiated

by Dalcroze

awakens the wiU and

is still

the only disci-

vital aspirations of the

human

body, and then offers the means by which they can be expressed freely

and joyously

We it

in space. In this, beauty

is

not the aim, but the

beauty assures us of the purity of our aspirations.

result; thus

have seen that the harmonious culture of the body, as

obeys the profound commands of the music created for

overcome our passive

purpose,

tends

changing

it

somehow

implicit in the very fact of a production.

to

into a feeling of

tion will gradually less.

We

shall

tomorrow

will

mutual

isolation

as

this

spectators,

responsibility, of collaboration

become an anachronism, and

The term produc-

finally

even meaning-

wish to act in harmonious unity. The dramatic art of

be a social

act, in

which each of us

who knows, perhaps one day we transition, at majestic festivals in

shall

arrive,

will assist.

after

which a whole people

a period of will partici-

pate,

where each of us

joys,

no longer content to remain a passive onlooker. Then

will express

And,

our feelings, our sorrows, our

the dramatist triumph!

Adolphe Appia October, 1918

will

Preface (1898) It is

always dangerous to attempt to deal with an aesthetic

question without reference to the criticism never

and there

is

means much, the

no need

work

of art

description

to sustain the concept

find myself here doubling as critic

and

itself.

Indeed, the

completely imaginary,

is

by abstract reasoning.

theoretician,

whom

standpoints, exposed to the deserved scorn of the artists for I

am

writing. Therefore, I wish to assure

study with unusual reluctance.

moreover,

most

my

thesis includes

am by

I

them

I

and from both

that I undertake this

nature not a writer and,

a discussion of music, that element

elusive of critical analysis. Finally, I cannot develop

my

thesis,

without pointing out some lack in the dramatic work of Richard

Wagner, and many readers If I

only because

will

deem

this

an uncalled-for pretension.

have not been dissuaded by these considerations, I

know

me

which seem to

to

it

is

no other way to communicate those

beliefs

have considerable significance for the

art of

of

the theatre.

To

the discussion of a

knowledge of the

work of

effect of a given

one need bring only

art,

age upon the

except for that, the simple presence of the work ingful

ence

and more convincing than any subtle

commands

silence,

and the work of

artist

and

itself is

his

more mean-

analysis; besides, rever-

art

needs above

all

surrounded by reverence. The influence of the age manifests

many ways;

it

can

affect

to

be

itself in

not only the making, but also the very

conception of the work, subjecting the

When

work;

artist

to

positive tyranny.

that happens, the relevant theoretical considerations

become

indispensable and have direct applicability without reference to the art

work which

necessarily will always remain irrelevant.

has always been bound the age,

strictly

The

theatre

by the special conditions imposed by

and consequently, the dramatist has always been the

independent of

artists,

because he employs so

many

least

distinct elements,

all

of which

must be properly united

in his work. If

one of these

elements remains subject to the conventions of the age, while the others free themselves to obey the will of the creative result will

be a lack of balance which

artist,

alters the essential

the

nature of

the dramatic work.

The use

of music, as revealed to us by Richard Wagner,

has completely transformed the elements of expression at the dramatist's

command; on

the other

hand those elements not

depen-

strictly

dent upon the personal will of the dramatist have been subject to the crippling influence of the theatrical conventions of the period.

The former have developed without conflict; whereas the latter have remained unchanged. In a work of art where harmony must reign supreme, this defect is all the more serious and necessarily produces a kind of inner dislocation in our receptivity which disturbs our

judgment and by the same token must extend to other manifestations of

modem

art. It is

therefore necessary to free those

now outmoded

representational elements of production from the constraints which

have hindered

their vital progress in the general evolution,

and

to that

end, to allow them a fruition comparable to that achieved by the

elements of poetic-musical expression: this

is

the task I have en-

deavored to accomplish.

The question which correspond

Can

1.

of

reform presents three different aspects

to the principal parts of

my

study:

the existing elements furnish, independently of

particular dramatic work, a principle applicable to the mise

And

if

so,

what

will

any

en scène?

be the effect of that principle on existing theatre

techniques? 2.

What

this creativity 3. first

obstacles prevented Richard

Wagner from

exercising

on the visual elements of the drama?

What

part of this

effect will the theory of

book have on

production developed in the

the artist of the theatre

and on today's

audience?

Wagner comes

Since the question directly related to it

is

obvious that an aesthetic principle does

the great

German

master's dramas, which

is

exist,

second,

independent of

applicable to all forms

of theatrical production. This principle will eliminate those subjective

8

•

and arbitrary elements so incompatible with the manifestation of genius and will even oblige us to relate directly to the

because

we can

an integral part of

it is

Armed

it.

work

of art

with the ideas thus gained,

consider the situation today and discern the opportunity for

a reform in theatrical production, whether for Richard Wagner's

dramas or for others in

its

appeared at

works.

later

We

first

less

though

a

much

it

will bring

inspiration of this book.

And

evolution

cannot be reduced to an abstraction, has nonethe-

provided the sole motivating force for that evolution in theatrical

production, the nature and results of which I seek.

ask

reform

greater importance than

glance.

Music has been the in music,

shall see that this

wake and thus take on

my

I

must, therefore,

reader to contribute to the reading of this book

sensitivity to

music that he possesses. Naturally

I

all

the

do not mean that

he should be himself a musician, in the usual sense of the word:

above

all,

music

is

an emotional inclination which one

may

possess

without necessarily being a master of musical technique or even an appreciative audience of the crude exhibitions of our concert halls

and our operatic

stages. Sensitivity to

for contemplation,

significance of certain proportions their content of intensity It is in this

music. This

is

the only

many

of

my

readers,

and

I

to grasp the

aesthetic

respond spontaneously to

appeal to the reader's sensitivity to

demand my I

to

and harmony.

sense that

convinced that in undertaking of

music requires a special aptitude

which makes one quick

it I

was

study makes, and

if I

were not

in accord with the secret desires

should never have had the courage to begin

it.

Adolphe Appia Montbrillant (Bière)

March, 1897

PART

I

THE MISE EN SCENE AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSION IN THE ART OF THE THEATRE Chapter

I.

The Mise en Scène and Music

The Mise en Scène In every

work of art

must be a harmonious relationship

there

between feeHng and form, a perfect balance between the idea which the artist wishes to express

one of the means seems of the idea, or

if

and the means he uses to express

to us clearly

the artist's idea

—

it.

If

unnecessary to the expression

the object of his expression

—

is

only imperfectly communicated to us by the means he employs, our aesthetic pleasure

is

weakened,

if

not destroyed.

The greater the number of media necessary for the realization of the work of art, the more elusive is harmony. The drama (by which I mean all works written for actual production on the stage) is the most complex of all the arts because of the great number of media the dramatist must use If

in order to

communicate.

the poet, painter, and sculptor see the

develop and always have

it

in their control,

work is identical with its form, and so and the means employed to communicate their

equivalent, this

is

not control the final form of his

in the

their

work

the object of expression it

to us are in a

way

not the case for the dramatist. Not only does he art,

but that form seems relatively

independent of his dramatic intention. This

two stages

form of

because the content of

making of a drama.

is

so because there are

First, the

dramatist must trans-

pose his idea into a dramatic form; then the resultant text must be transposed to meet the demands of production for an audience.

10

•

Unfortunately, this second step in the process, the creation of the

mise-en~scène

,

is

not controlled by the dramatist.

The means by which utmost importance literature; that

What

is,

to

for

is this

those

the text

who

whom drama

is

realized in the theatre are of

dramatic

distinguish

is

inseparable from

its

from

art

production.

form so indispensable to the dramatist and over

which he has no control?

What do we mean when we speak Until now it has been thought of on the stage

for the eyes of the audience

of the mise en scène? as the

means

of realizing

any dramatic conception.

However, the dramatic conception of an author

is revealed to us by work containing only that portion of the drama which is directed to our understanding. The action of course is therein determined in its continuity and its proportions, but only from a dramatic standpoint and without determining the formal process by which these elements are to be shown on stage. The result of this is that production is subject to all sorts of whims and tastes. This is why the same drama may be produced in the most divergent styles ac-

a written

cording to individual tastes or those of the times. that the

of

drama

all arts,

may

(as

produced on stage)

is

It

follows therefore

not only the most complex

but also the only one of which one of the basic elements

medium

not be judged as a

of expression in the dramatist's

drama

control, a condition acutely diminishing the integrity of

an

art

form and relegating It

may be argued

over the production,

it still

to great advantage, for

ways

it

an inferior

to

that although the dramatist has

definitely

no control

performs an expressive function, and often

by constantly accommodating

to the taste of the audience,

scope and a far longer

as

status.

life

it

than

and inexorably attached

itself

in

new

gives the dramatic text a far larger if

the

mode

to the written

of production were

work;

this is obvious,

but the fact that the scenic form of the drama cannot escape the ever-changing tastes of the time scène

is

is

proof enough that the mise en

not and cannot be an expressive medium.

From

the point of view of form, a

work

of art

is

not a

reproduction of some aspect of hfe to which everyone can contribute his experience

and

ability; rather

it is

the harmonious union of various •

11

many

technical devices for the sole purpose of communicating to

conception of one

here

is

not to discuss the nature of

conception, but to estabhsh that the inspiration and expression

artistic

of a

Our aim

artist.

the

work

of art are the product of a single mind. So

follows that

it

the devices necessary to that mind's communication cannot be divided

among

several individuals, for these devices are a part of the artist's

original intention.

preserve

can be stated then that a work of

It

art

can

when all its expressive elements are under Once the dramatist has definitively prescrib-

integrity only

its

the control of

its

creator.

ed the proportions and relationships of each of the elements of production, his text can be realized on the stage by theatre artists

had no part

who

in the creator's original intention; the elements of pro-

duction have the character of means of expression, which

am

I

to define, for the term can be applied properly only to

going

technical

devices which the dramatist can prescribe absolutely, and thus those

what the canvas

alien to the work's conception are

artists

the painter, If

what

printer's type

we mean by

we know

it

in

of expression for the dramatic

media of an

our theatres today

artist.

form, those

art

by

then,

artist,

is

not a means

much

how it

his

medium is

is

is

life

to

be staged.

time;

of expression,

his will

that

drama

during his

still

his

He may write a detailed He may even direct each

mise en scène

and he must

and how vain

his

will

feel in his soul

how

he

fails

to feel this consciously,

he

will

be

in his particular case

of the dramatist

is

he

will

be absolutely

how

right.

drama remains

much

regard the effort,

not enough to unite one of the dramatic factors

not at

all

the organic

life

which

is

•

more or

characterized by the

necessity of such a development of form, being so

12

and

In truth the will

with the drama. His will can achieve only a juxtaposition, less successful,

arbitrary

in such detail. If

satisfied to

mise en scène as a secondary agent, unworthy of so

production

after his death;

separate his

from the mise en scène which he has prescribed

description

not be an artistic

hope of being obeyed

to say, in spite of everything,

envision

of his idea to be

expressed by the production alone. of

definition,

The dramatist may

the production as he writes, and even plan for

of

for

for the poet.

is

the expressive

techniques directly under the control of the the mise en scène as

is

much

a part of the

prime conception that only the original idea seems to have been arbitrarily

chosen by the brain of the creator, while

No

naturally from that conception. necessity for a mise en scène

by

his

the rest flows

all

honest dramatist can claim such

whose form

not effectively dictated

is

text.

Therefore, in order that the mise en scène part of the drama, in order that

become

it

become an

medium

a

integral

for artistic

expression, a principle, deriving directly from the drama's original

conception, without passing again through the will of the dramatist,

must be found

to prescribe the

What can

mise en scène.

that principle be?

Music In order to develop this study securely,

determine what the situation of music

is

understand the significance ascribed to nature can easily seem

this it

is

full

form.

this art

must assume that much of

summary

A

it

where he has simply had

The to the scope

to

known

He

him

to his

merely to illuminate

may

view

to strengthen his thesis. Inevitably, then, his point of

times appear prejudiced and limited. therefore, in not attributing to

and

question of

fashion. Because the

this subject is well

readers, he will allude to certain aspects of

and

important to

is

of paradoxes when, as in this study,

of necessity treated in a rather

writer

it

at the present time

at

begs his readers' indulgence,

errors due to ignorance in places

to limit his discussion.

revelations in Wagner's dramatic

works with regard

and nature of musical expression as applied

to the

drama

known today. One who has been stirred to action revelations, and who bases his entire thesis upon the Master's

are generally well

by these

work, obviously has no need to inform the reader of things already definitively treated

of

by other

writers.

He need

them whose radiance illuminates

only present that aspect

his present subject.

doing, he tacitly expresses his convictions

the reader to be judged, without having to explain

Our

inner

life,

therefore,

through which music expresses that

But

in so

and brings them before

them

in detail.

provides music with the form life.

Every contradiction ceases •

13

from the moment

that the

form and the object of the expression are

identical.

This assertion would seem to pose a formidable problem:

how can our inner life dictate versely: how can the musical

form

its

to music; or, con-

expression manifest

itself

clearly in

Such a problem never confronted the musician

as his art

form of

the

precisely

this inner life?

rapidly developed, because he had to take care merely to preserve the

music

itself

while increasing

technical resources.

its

variety of musical forms in themselves. Therefore for the musician to

Today, these

maximum needed

accumulated resources far exceed the

it

for

the

became necessary

approach the dramatic poet whose language by

no longer answered our needs for expression: with Beethoven, music came close to the drama; Wagner completed the process by

itself

uniting poet and musician, thus solving the problem. Henceforward, the poet can express the inner

life

of his characters and the musician

can surrender himself without trepidation to the expression of life

because his

mode

The drama

is

inspired

fulfills

by

the conditions indispensable to the exist-

ence of music today by providing clearly in the

form of the

In this

new

this

it.

life

it

means of manifesting

the

which governs

realm, music

is

its

itself

expression.

found to be

tightly linked, not

only to the word, but also to that portion of the drama presented to

our eyes by the scenic elements of production.

It

should therefore be

possible to abstract the expressive role of music and to consider

now

in its relationship to the

From

this

it

mise en scène.

exclusively

visual

viewpoint,

how can music

function?

To understand how music can duction, let us look briefly at in

control the elements of pro-

pantomime

—

that prototype of

drama

which, because language has no place, music and the visual

elements of theatre are most prominent. In pantomime, music deter-

mines the time-durations and the sequence of action.

14

No

doubt

in

the lower forms of

pantomime the musician provides no more than each episode requires,

flourishes, repeated as often as the length of

and the music

is

no more than

accompaniment

a pleasant

as at the circus or in a quadrille.

But

to the show,

pantomime, music

in the true

prescribes the duration and sequence of the episodes

and necessarily

molds the show with mathematical accuracy. Obviously, if we now add words to this music, the relationship between the music and the production remains unaltered. Even in opera, although tion of the usual time sequences of life

is

in

this falsifica-

no way motivated by any

adequate dramatic intention, the music nevertheless measures the time just as in pantomime, only

obviously because

less

does so

it

destructively.

now

Let us turn as

we have

music

seen,

to the

finds

drama

its

form

of the poet-musician, in which, in the object of

This amounts to saying that the musical duration

dictated by the

dramatic conception, so that from the point of view of

original

music not only regulates the time,

theatrical production

a length of time, but part of

is

expression.

its

what

it

Let

me

it is

the time

itself,

since

all

achieve such clarity of his

an organic

not merely

is

an

pattern

integral

expresses.

explain this seeming paradox

dramatist seeks to realize his intention

combine

its

is

in

more the

the elements of production with so

harmony

that the

fully.

When

theatre,

much

the

he must

balance and

form he uses disappears before the

communication. Thus the drama achieves in performance

life

which

defies analysis.

The dramatist who uses only the life of his work

spoken word appeals only to our understanding. The

then becomes organic through a continual re-creation by the spectator,

and

this re-creation

does not depend on analysis of the means

employed by the dramatist; dramatic action

is

appearances. But

it

results only

life

and we are therefore accustomed

we do

unconsciously, and

the spoken creating that

On

fact that the

movement only

in

furnishes us daily with just such exterior mani-

festations it

from the

presented through word and

we can

to the

work

of re-creation;

experience the organic

drama without suspecting

the active role

we

life

of

play in

life.

the other hand, the poet-musician, thanks to the music,

•15

presents us not only with external effects of emotions, the appearance of dramatic

but with the emotions themselves, the dramatic

life,

in all its reality, as

of our being.

There

we can know is

it

life

only in the most profound depths

no need for re-creation; each character, accord-

ing to his dramatic enhancement, presents himself to us as

coming

from ourselves. But music, the

life

of the soul,

this all

powerful medium,

must give

to the

soul a time pattern very different

order fully to appreciate

its

thus to express

if it is

form which

it

receives

from that of daily

expressiveness,

we must

from the

so that, in

life,

lose ourselves

so completely in that time pattern that our entire personal

transposed to respond to the emotions of the drama. For

gence from the pattern of ordinary long as

it

affects only

visible scene so

life,

we

marked

that its

accept readily enough as

we cannot accept them, supreme

justification in

Thus we have not one pattern of on the

is

time and does not lead to alterations in the

resultant expression finds

pattern of time

life

this diver-

stage, for

an audience

as long as the

our

time, that

is,

own

hearts.

a fictional

living in another pattern

of time in the auditorium, but in performance, music in the word-

tone

drama

We accrue from

16

is

Time

itself.

shall see later the considerable aesthetic this.

advantages that

Chapter

Music and the Mise en Scène

II.

Theoretical Principles

We

have seen

that

if

the mise en scène

the playwright's intention, the

to be totally expressive of

is

means of controUing

it

must

exist

within the text.

The mise en

scène, as a design in space with variations in

time, presents essentially a question of proportion

regulating principle

and

their

must therefore govern

its

and sequence.

sequence in time, each dependent on the other.

In drama, the playwright seems to have this the quantity

and order of

because the text

by the

Its

proportions in space

text

is

itself

However,

his text.

power through

this is

not the case

has no fixed duration; and the time not

impossible to calculate.

the relative duration of speech

and

Even

if

filled

one were to measure

silence with a stop watch, this

duration would be fixed only by the arbitrary will of the author or the

director,

without necessarily having

its

origins

in

the

initial

conception.

The quantity and order insufiScient to

govern

its

of the text alone, therefore, are

staging. Music,

on the other hand, determines

not only time-duration and continuity in the drama, but, as seen, should actually be considered

dramatic action as being time It is

from the

springing as

visual point of view of

itself.

the word-tone poet, then,

principle which,

we have

it

who

possesses the guiding

does from the original intention,

inexorably and of necessity dictates the mise en scène without being filtered

—and

through the will of the dramatist

integral part of his

Thus

drama and shares

its

this principle is

organic

an

life.

the production attains the rank of an expressive

medium •

17

drama

in the

of the poet-musician; but note that

such rank except in

By means into space

—

—

in the

need for a tangible form, not

its

time alone, but quite actually in space, a need in other

cannot achieve

of dramatic representation, music

and there achieves a material form

thus satisfying

it

kind of drama.

this

ways, to the detriment of

musical space which

is

its

it

is

traasported

mise en scène

just illusively in

has sought to

fill

very essence. Thus, in a way,

the setting for the poet-musician's

work must

perforce be very different from that space in which the poet alone seeks to realize his dramatic action; and since music creates this space, to

it is

from music

that

we

shall receive all

information pertaining

it.

One might

find

it

logical that the time pattern of a

drama

should be transposed into space, without perhaps understanding ex-

how music

actly

has the power to do

object other than this transposition its

consequences,

we

shall

this.

Since this study has no

and a meticulous investigation of

abandon the more or

ment which has served us up

to

less abstract argu-

now, and attempt, by using known

elements, to evoke a kind of drama, examples of which are as yet nonexistent.

In the spoken drama, the

drama

in

which the poet employs

only v/ords, the external appearances of daily

life

provide for actors

yard-sticks for the time and continuity of their playing.

must carefully observe the external

effects of his

The

actor

emotions on himself;

he must then associate with quite different kinds of people, observing their

behavior in the same

way

in order to discover the

hidden springs

of their actions, then set himself to reproduce whatever

and

finally

to the situations furnished

No 18

•

is

typical;

he must with discretion and taste apply these discoveries

by the poet.

doubt the length of the text allows the author to impose

on

the actor the approximate duration of his role, but

it

is

precisely

within this approximate time span that the actor molds the proportions

which

life

has taught him. For the meaning and length of the

poem can

dramatic

only suggest to the actor his

mime and

his actions;

they cannot dictate them precisely. In the word-tone drama, the actor receives not merely suggestions for his playing, but also the exact proportions which he

He

observe.

from

life,

for the musical expression itself contains the necessary

and the meaning of the poetic-

variations in intensity. Thus, the length

musical text (by which represent

mean

I

the complete score of the

for the interpreter of this

life

actor in the spoken

work

drama must acquire

the versatility necessary to

supplied him, so the actor in the word-tone

life

has

drama must acquire

the

kind of flexibility in order to obey the explicit orders imposed

upon him

directly

We now the

drama)

of art; and just as the

reproduce those elements which his experience of daily

same

must

cannot introduce the variety of intensity he has learned

mime

by the see

life

contained within the score.

how music on

the stage can be carried into

of the characters and into their actions.

But how can music be carried over into the painting, the lighting, the

arrangement of the drops and

flats?

In order to persuade ourselves that music can do this as well,

we must

more deeply

enter even

into the mysterious realm of

musical expression.

When,

for example, in the

express his suffering over the

communicate since his

this feeling to

spoken drama an actor has to

memory

of a lost happiness, he cannot

us directly except by his facial expression,

words can only explain the cause of

senting the logical content. Gestures

his suffering, thus pre-

meaning of the scene without expressing

its

inner

and actions are therefore meaningless unless sup-

ported by the contents of the real situation, or as the

simple statement of a

meaningful result of the character's innermost

suffering. Obviously, then,

underscored by the

text, either as a

it is

text, will

emotion we are meant to

feel;

the variety of facial expression which,

communicate

to us

most

directly the

and the other means of representation .

19

should be subordinate to

this. It is for this

major consideration in production;

must be

the play, the faces of the actors If the actor in the

drama

communicate the same kind of

convey

we

— with

happiness

this

to

painful,

what means

shall

memory

he

will

without such precise ex-

that the fact of recalling lost

will feel sad within ourselves for the loss of

we no

longer need the actor

in allowing the

music to paint the im-

the result that

emotion to

this

a

of the word-tone poet wishes to

we understand

pressions; so that before is

visibility is

to experience

clearly seen.

suffering to us, of

clear the very matter of his

happiness

is

any symphonic combination whatever,

avail himself? Music, in

make

reason that

the audience

if

us.

Moreover, the actor,

ages of his suffering, can keep his pain buried in the depths of his soul and express to us emotions that have to do only with his present

Here too the music

existence.

contrast, but also

moment and allows

it

support him, not only through

will

by expressing with equal precision both the

memory

The union

words

to establish the expression of happiness at the time

when

that happiness existed;

of the past.

now

it

can

let this

expression flow into pure

music and converge once more with the poem the immediate expression

The

demanded by

him

in order to

convey

the scene.'

actor thus plunged almost in spite of himself into the

atmosphere of the drama's inner he does

role as

living

of music with

the

in

life

spoken drama.

to interpret his suffering;

no longer plays so important a

He

realizes that

we do

not need

he even suspects that we know that

suffering better than he.

In a production of spoken drama, the presence of the actor is

absolutely necessary to any communication, and consequently he

takes an abnormal importance, as the visual requirements

we have

mentioned prove. But for the author of word-tone drama, the actor is

not the sole or even the most important interpreter of the poet's

lOf course, the actor of the spoken drama may count on the audience's awareness of what has gone before in the action to enhance its appreciation of each new situation. But this is an indirect means of expression, and I am concerned only with those means which at a particular moment make the spectator directly conscious of what the actor is attempting to express, without the intervention of thought.

20

•

intention, he

medium, neither more nor less imOnce the actor ceases

rather but one

is

portant than the others, at the poet's disposal.

dominant element

to be the

in production,

having no longer to "make

among

a speech," he recedes into the background to take his place his co-workers,

the various other poetic-musical devices, ready to

follow the convolutions resulting from the

momentary importance

any one of them as they are brought into play. of an organism

and must submit himself

lating this organism.

As we have

He

to the laws of balance regu-

seen, his facial expressions

gestures are prescribed by the music. Furthermore, are

no longer

on the

isolated

of

thus becomes part

we

and

see that these

stage, for the actor has

become

the

intermediary between the music and the inanimate elements of the production. But, you will say,

how can

the actor's

mime and

move-

his

ments by themselves determine the proportions of the scenery? In the word-tone drama, should the actor be the measure of the setting in every sense?

To answer

this

question

it is

necessary that one understand

the nature of those technical elements which ture. I shall

make up

the stage pic-

may be

attempt to discuss them here so that they

readily

grasped by the layman.

The inanimate elements

of production (which include every-

thing but the actors) can be reduced to three: lighting, the spatial

arrangement' of the scenery on the stage, and scene painting.

How

are these interrelated?

The painted scenery must be placed effectively; the spatial

between the painting and the

lighting.

painted scenery fully visible, otherwise

simply aimless;

it

arrangement, for vases

is

so that

it

can be lighted

arrangement thus serves as an intermediary

The its

lighting

must make the

arrangement in space

is

cannot ignore the painting in favor of the spatial its

whole purpose

in illuminating the painted can-

precisely to justify their placement according to the scenes

they represent.

It

would seem,

therefore, that these elements are of

equal importance, but they are not. Lighting and painting on vertical

\

Plantation,

by which Appia means both ground plan and

elevation. Ed. •

21

canvases are two elements which, far from enriching one another

through mutual subordination, are in fact altogether incompatible.

The arrangement

demands

of painted canvas to represent the setting

that the lighting be exclusively at

its

service in order to

make

the

painting visible, a relationship having nothing to do with the active role played

by

lighting

and quite

spatial arrangement, because

a

of

little

it

If

we

the importance of the painting

and the

to the lighting

of the actor can have

in three dimensions, permits light

is

introduce the actor onto the stage,

suddenly completely subordinated

spatial arrangement,

because the living form

no contact and consequently no

the three elements of production, painting

question the one subject to the narrowest conventions. of revealing any living its

power of

and expressive reaUty by

direct rapport

spatial

fore, lighting

without any

is

It is

incapable

and

itself,

it

loses

signification to the extent that the rest of the setting

plays an active part in the scene; that

and the

The

represented on the canvas.

is

Of

it.

active function but only to the detriment of the two-

its

dimensional painted drops.

with what

is

distinctly in conflict with

to the extent that lighting

is,

arrangement are directly related to the actor. There-

and the

arrangement of the setting are more

spatial

expressive than painting, and of the two, lighting, apart from

obvious function of simple illumination, is

so because

sive,

it is

subject to a

and therefore

freely

is

minimum

the

more

expressive. This

of conventions,

communicates external

its

life

is

in

unobtruits

most

expressive form.

The obvious

means

of theatrical

more than one

reader, since

inferiority of painting as a

expressiveness no doubt seems strange to

contemporary productions, far from keeping instead to deny

it

this fact in

mind, seem

systematically by sacrificing everything else to the

effects of painted scenery.

Why

is it

that this element has

portant position in the theatre,

when by

come

to

so doing

development of those other elements which are

There are two very

drama and

the opera.

The

occupy such an imit

far

has hindered the

more

essential?

distinct reasons: the nature of

essential

spoken

purpose of painted scenery

is

to

present to the eyes what neither the actor, nor lighting, nor the spatial

22

•

arrangement can accomplish.

an exaggerated importance

spoken drama,

the audience needed the help that

The laws governing

sight

the conventions of stage decor, in a

come

painted scenery has

If

in the

it

have

to

simply because

it is

alone could provide.

and sound, which together control

make

impossible to present actually

it

production the place of the action with the same plastic truth

as characterizes the language of the actors.

One must

therefore

em-

ploy signs with which to indicate and suggest the scene, but which

can never come into direct contact with the living actor. These signs

can appeal to the audience only as some kind of highly developed hieroglyphs whose meanings are obvious.

The present

role of scene

painting in the theatre consists in the ostentatious display of these hieroglyphs.

Now

one could

offer the objection that the illusion so admir-

ably attained by today's scenic artists that illusion has is

no

artistic

to create a setting, a viable

knows

is

value unless

that as soon as the actors

well worth consideration. it fulfills its

purpose

But

— which

atmosphere on stage; for everybody

make

their entrance, the

handsomest

painted setting suddenly turns into an ineffectual combination of

painted canvases, unless one sacrifices

all

hieroglyphs to the active role of lighting.

The very nature

of spoken

or at least

some

of these

•

drama has caused

the excessive

development of scene painting. Nowadays, when the needs for expression are considerable, the playwright

is

forced to substitute decorative

suggestion for that which only music could give him. This results in a constant discord

between the pretensions of the production and

the real content of the dramatic text;

and the actors

oscillate painfully

between a kind of articulated charade and a drawing-room comedy in a ridiculous setting. If

light,

the dramatist sacrifices the painted hieroglyph to living

he gives up the notion that nothing

else in his

drama can take

Hn

Parsifal at Bayreuth, when the curtain went up on the scene of the interior of the Grail Temple, the painted scenery had to be sacrificed to the darkness necessitated by the scene change imparting a marvelous life to the setting. As the lights started to come up, the illusion was continuously dispelled until finally, in the full glare of the border lights and the footlights, the knights made their entrance into a pasteboard temple. To be sure, the painted setting was then fully visible.

—

•

23

the place of painted scenery, as long as the text itself does not supply

on the other hand,

it;

of place, he

is

if

stealing

he does encumber his text with descriptions

from the actors the dramatic

forth the activity of light.

Then

it is

form of production prejudicial

a

that he prefer the

The

why

tion of

to the integrity of his

work and

and development of opera are

sufficient

explana-

the visual aspects of production in this particular genre

satisfaction of the eye. Since this satisfaction

more and more marvelous

tions placed severe limitations it

became necessary

used, the audience

spectacles,

upon

exist

was the

only for the

result of a desire

and because scenic conven-

the three-dimensional realization,

was not

to resort to painting.

Because

became accustomed

to using its imagination to

living light

interpret the flat painted perspectives of the vertical canvas; to enjoy

calls

dominant use of painted scenery.'

origins

have developed without dramatic motivation and

for

which

life

understandable that he disavow

having

life

it

came

presented by means of signs, whose easy manipu-

And

lation permitted great liberty in the choice of subject matter.

so the real

can give

is

life

which only

lighting

sacrificed to the desire to

and a three-dimensional behold in indication

setting

many

fasci-

nating and spectacular things.

The

extent to which production in the spoken

the opera could have influenced each other

only; therefore

I

mutual influence joins

shall not dwell stifl

persists

upon

drama and

of historical interest

but simply say that this

it,

because a

is

common

scenic principle

them together under the same conventions. Of what use

will

these hieroglyphs, these signs which scene painting seems impelled to

provide, and which are in fact the very foundation of

all

contem-

porary principles of production, be to the word-tone dramatist?

By I

noting the three factors which

make up

the inanimate

Only he ought to state that the realism of his text, demanding as it does the active roles of lighting and a three-dimensional setting, diminishes the effect of the painted scenery and to the same extent impoverishes the contents of his drama. Later on we shall declare that decorative realism in the theatre has received its death blow from the existence of the word-tone dramatist.

24

•

we

setting,

try to

convince ourselves that the music

mime and movement of inanimate setting as well. By analyzing only into the

we were

factors,

a

means

and

setting

light.

translated not

the relationship of these three

how

able to demonstrate

when compared

of expression,

is

the actor, but into the whole

inadequate painting to

the

Despite this manifest inferiority, painting

modern

the predominant element in

as

is

three-dimensional still

is

stage scenery. This strange

dom-

inance must be attributed to the basic nature of the spoken drama

and opera. if

It

how

remains for us to discover

the word-tone dramatist,

he wishes to obey the requirements of the music, must use these

three elements,

from which

how

is

the music

become

will

it

quite naturally apparent

translated into the stage space.

All those parts of the setting which are not painted but are actually built

and hence come

in direct contact with the actor are

called "practical."

Whether

properties, furniture,

decor are usable or not is

is

and other objects of stage

a secondary consideration.

The main

thing

to arrange the space not to suit the painted "signs," or in other

words

to design the fictive

much

relate as

use of painted scenery the

practical

form of the inanimate

as possible to the real is

and

limited

scenery have

the

form of the its

setting so as to

actor.

Only

importance diminished,

necessary freedom.

Once

the

if

will

this

is

achieved the scenery will be brought into a more direct relationship not only with the actor but with the

As

and

setting serve

already

itself.

a result of this newly established relationship, the

tisf s text will

precisely,

drama

this, in turn, will

him more

existing

permit the actor to

effectively.

conflict

demand

that the

This will inevitably increase the

between the three-dimensional practical

scenery and the painted scenery, since the latter by

and always

drama-

be able to dictate the nature of the actor's role more

will be, in conflict

its

very nature

is,

with the actor. Ultimately, this conflict

between stage painting and the more dynamic forces of the theatre will

reduce the importance of painted scenery. Thus, lighting, finding

itself for

the most part freed from the drudgery of merely illuminating

the painted canvases, recovers

its

rightful role of

independence and •

25

enters actively into the service of the actor.

The word-tone drama most accurately the the only

is

actor's role in all its proportions. It

drama which empowers

and

to the painting,

and thus

But

entire visual expression.

is

dictates

therefore

the actor through his use of the

setting to determine the relation of the spatial

lighting

form which

the one dramatic

arrangement to the

to control, through his role, the

basically

it

music, by virtue of

is

its

duration in time, which determines the role of the actor; so that this visual expression

drama and

is

and

also of the actor,

The

already contained in the

is

to

some extent even of the dramatist himself. harmony, which is the absolute

necessity for organic

condition for the integrity of a

drama

realization in the

The reader itself

will

work

of art, thus attains

its

fullest

of the word-tone poet.

now understand

on the stage quite so obviously

is still

concept of the

first

not only outside the scope of the scene designer, but

that

as he

music does not reveal

if

had perhaps anticipated,

it

bound to the visual element by indissoluble laws. By way of summing up: a dramatic idea requiring musical

intimately

expression in order to be revealed must spring from the hidden world of our inner

since this

life,

life

cannot be expressed except through

music, and music can express only that it

composes the poetic-musical

text,

The proportions

upon

By means

of the spoken

with a practical dramatic form and

word, [the dramatist] endows

already living role

life.

the score; this text imposes an

the actor, a role he has

of this role determine the

now

only to take on.

form of the

setting

through

three-dimensionality (the point of contact between the living actor

and the inanimate

setting);

the

nature

and extent of the three-

dimensionality determine the spatial arrangement of the setting which in turn controls the lighting

This hierarchy the drama, gives

life

is

and painted scenery.

organically composed: music, the soul of

to the

drama, and by

its

pulsations determines

every motion of the organism, in proportion and sequence. of the links of this organic chain breaks or

power of the music

is

when

it.

the dramatic intention

require such mutilation. In such cases the

life

one

missing, the expressive

cut off there and cannot reach beyond

could be instances, of course,

26

is

If

of the

drama

There

would

will

not

•

"^

Out- of

Music

w id C'Sf sense') spnngs

the

(in

Inc- L/onc