ancient times to 1850 “playgoers, i bid you welcome” chapter one, musical theatre-a history
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Ancient Times to 1850“Playgoers, I Bid You Welcome”
Chapter One, MUSICAL THEATRE-A History
Theatre is a communal activity, yet there is scant evidence of ancient rituals and rites.
The Glory That Was Greece
Early Greek dramas were musicalsAeschylus, Sophocles and Aristophanes were dramatists AND COMPOSERS and LYRICISTS
Perhaps we should date the musical from the 5th Century BCE
Early Greek dramas were musicals
Theatre to the Greeks was not only an entertainment and a form of worship…it was dedicated to the divine patron of the harvest, theatre, wine and dance…Dionysus
Early Greek dramas were musicals Even before the great Attic festivals,
DITHYRAMBS were sung and danced to honor Dionysus
Thespis, a choric singer was not only the first actor, but the first to win the City Dionysia in 534 BCE
Three distinct forms developed in GreeceTRAGEDY was somber in tone, using familiar stories from mythology
COMEDY was light in tone and provided a happy ending, characters openly address the audience. Comic competition was added to the City Dionysia by 487 BCE
Classical forms in Greece
SATYR PLAYS involved profane man-beasts who lived in a perpetual state of arousal. Although not satirical themselves, our modern work satire derives from the form
At the festivals, dramatists often served as his own director and sometimes as the leading actor
Support for the festival was provided by the local government
Other production expenses fell to the CHOREGOS, a position the wealthiest men openly coveted
The winning dramatist collected bragging rites and a modest prize
Showtime in ancient Athens
Ruins of Theatre at Epidaurus
Actors wore masks which might have aided in projection
Role of the chorus Singing
Dancing
Playing musical instruments including the harp, flute and drums
EXISTING songs were often interpolated into tragedies and comedies
Stretches of monologues and dialogues were often interspersed with choral numbers
In short…Greek comedies, tragedies
and satyrplays were performed like
integratedmusicals today.
Aristophanes – “The Birds”
A modern Greek production of THE BIRDS. Performed by the Theatre Technis Karolos Koun of Greece as part of the 12th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama.
The end of the City Dionysia came in 404 BCE due to the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta
The Roman Empire Greek theatre forms were “borrowed” by the
theatre of ancient Rome Like the Greeks, plays were performed as part
of festivals to honor the gods Eventually, they built permanent open-air
theatres
Ancient Roman Theatre at Aspendos
Plautus (born 254 BCE)
PLAUTUS is the best remembered Roman playwright. His comedies included song, dance and musical accompaniment. Among his mostpopular works is the Menaechmi
THE MIDDLE AGESSaints and Clowns
Medieval “audiences” were illiterate and theatre was developed to teach ORIGINALLY performed inside churches, as the forms
popularized, the plays moved out of doors MYSTERY PLAYS were dramatizations of Bible stories MIRACLE PLAYS involved the lives of the Saints MORALITY PLAYS were allegories illustrating the seven
deadly sins FOLK PLAYS involved popular myths, such as the
legend of Robin Hood A few plays have survived including THE PLAY OF
HEROD and THE SECOND SHEPHERD’S PLAY Some scholars suggest a crude follow spot using
polished metal bowls was introduced for these outdoor dramas
The Second Shepherd’s Play
In the 1400s commedia dell’arte developed in Italy
Innovations of the commedia Improvised scripts Stock characters (innamorati, vecchi, zanni)
Slapstick bits (lazzi)
Developments in the Renaissance
Rediscovered the classical texts which led to the development of opera as a through-sung entertainment by Monteverdi and the Camarata Fiorentina
Shakespeare included songs into his plays
Moliere turned our comedies with song and dance for the court of Louis XIV
Popular forms in the Age of Enlightenment (17th century in Europe)
As prosperity grew, greater demands for popular entertainment developed
Grand Opera enjoyed widespread popularity
COMIC OPERA became an all-purpose classification for any form of 18th or 19th century stage entertainment that included songs
COMIC OPERA developed as a unique form in the mid-19th century An example is Michael Falfe’s THE BOHEMIAN
GIRL (1845) the story of an Austrian noblewoman kidnapped in infancy who falls in love with a Polish Count.
Comic opera was a precursor to operetta
…and was developed in France in the mid-1800s by Jacques Offenbach
Pantomime was a form that included Songs Dialogue Dance Physical
Comedy Acrobatics Special effects Clowning
English pantomime developed along its own lines presented annually at Christmas as satirical entertainments for children
Ballad Opera This hybrid form used existing popular ballads
and operatic arias, usually in such a way that the original title or lyrics of a song added to their meaning.
“The first BALLAD OPERA ever written is still frequently discussed and even occasionally performed today. In the eyes of some, it is the great-grandfather of modern-day English-language musical theatre. That designation is an exaggeration, but only because governmental oppression stifled this new art form in its cradle.” (page 29)
THE BEGGAR’S OPERA (1728)by John Gay
Developed as a response to opera and as a means to satirize the corruption of power
The Beggar’s Opera was a response to a Whig government that Gay believed had enriched itself at the nation’s expense
If government administrators were no better than common thieves, why not skewer the form of opera (so beloved by the upper crust) with a story that depicts the upper class as criminals
Of the 69 songs, 41 used melodies taken from popular tavern ballads
In the early 20th century Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill
transformed THE BEGGAR’S OPERA
into the THREEPENNY OPERA
BEGGAR’S OPERA set precedent for musical theatre throughout the American and European theatre
It’s lasting influenceis seen in works as diverse as Gilbert & Sullivan orMel Brooks
Such are the earliest roots…
While early works like THE BIRDS, THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, THE BEGGAR’S OPERA, etc. are sometimes performed today, the modern musical’s family tree formally reaches no further back than the 1840s, when a new strain emerged in Paris…
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