Practice #5 (2 hours)
Target. Consider the relationship and mutual influence of political processes on the emergence of new styles and genres of the New Age. To reveal what are the features of classicism in theatrical art. To characterize the work of the brightest representatives of the theater of French classicism - Corneille, Racine and Moliere.
7. THE THEATER OF FRENCH CLASSICISM OF THE 17TH CENTURY
Most of Europe in the 17th century a form of social relations dominates, which is characterized by the formation and triumph of absolutism in France, Spain, the countries of Central Europe and Scandinavia. The 17th century was called the age of absolutism. Thanks to the early bourgeois revolutions in the Netherlands and England, capitalist relations took shape, which determined the ideology and cultural life of the continent.
At the beginning of the XVII century. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. She told about the two principles of human nature - romantic idealism and sober practicality, often colliding with each other in a tragic confrontation. This book influenced the formation of a new, more complicated worldview of a person containing contradictions.
Views of a person of the 17th century. were also enriched by the ideas of F. Bacon. In his main work, The New Organon, he proclaimed experience the main source of knowledge, put forward a new method for studying reality, which was called induction. He called for abandoning in science all the prejudices present in the approach to the analysis of knowledge about nature. R. Descartes in his "Discourse on the method" proved that the human mind is the main tool for understanding the world. Following this thesis, many educated people finally recognized the power of the human mind and that the laws of the universe are knowable. He put forward a mechanistic picture of the world, and in the cognition of reality he proved a new method of synthesis, deduction and doubt.
Using the geometric method, he wrote his philosophical work "Ethics" by B. Spinoza. In it, he substantiated the fact that God is not a spiritual person and not a deistic creator of the world, but all nature as a whole. Having created the theory of classical pantheism, he also asserted the opposite thesis that nature is God for man and it contains the energy of creation and the attribution of all matter.
The 17th century learned well the thesis “knowledge is power”, as well as the reversibility of this formula: power is knowledge. It allows you to rebuild the world according to your principles.
In general, the knowledge of the world in the XVII century. carried out at an unusually fast pace. Exact sciences and experiment were developed. Its diversity has given rise to many bold hypotheses. G. Galileo and I. Kepler developed and substantiated the heliocentric doctrine of Copernicus. Mechanics, which reached its full development in the works of I. Newton, served as the basis for the view of nature as a single mechanism governed by general laws.
Among the discoveries and inventions of applied science, one should note the invention of the pendulum clock by Huygens, the telescope and microscope by Galileo, the works on zoology of Leeuwenhoek and Swammerdam, the creation of the foundations of clinical medicine by Tulp and Deiman. Along with this, alchemists in their laboratories tried to obtain an elixir of longevity, a magical elixir that conquers any evil, and also to turn lead into gold. Numerous geographical maps and atlases are being created, scientific and military expeditions are sent to different parts of the world, trade and economic ties are expanding, buildings for scientific research and observatories are being built. Enlightened man of the 17th century. increasingly feels like a “citizen of the world”. In the 17th century Europeans discovered Australia.
Against the backdrop of an active social life, the development of culture and art receives powerful impulses. Literature of the 17th century glorified by the names of P. Corneille, J. de Lafontaine, J. Racine, Ch. Perrault, Molière, and others. The principle of unity of place and time of action is affirmed in dramaturgy. Along with Italian theater troupes touring all over Europe, national theaters are being created and national theatrical traditions are taking shape in France, Spain, and England. The birth of the Comedie Francaise theater (1680) is one of the significant events of the 17th century.
Theater of French classicism in the second half of the 17th century. took a leading place in the world development of European theatrical art. The establishment of this style is associated with the creation of the classic tragedy by Corneille and Racine and the high comedy by Molière, and coincided in time with the crisis, and then the complete decline of the theater of Renaissance realism.
The feudal Catholic reaction in Italy and Spain deprived the theatrical art of these countries of its former importance, and the Puritan revolution in England by a special law banned all types of theatrical performances. As for the Renaissance theater in France itself, having a number of interesting achievements, it did not receive any significant development due to the long feudal-religious wars that did not stop in the country for almost the entire 16th century.
The stabilization of public life associated with the establishment of a system of absolutism begins in France from the time of Henry IV and receives its final stable form during the reign of Cardinal Richelieu and the reign of Louis XIV.
Objectively, the victory of absolutism was determined by the fact that, while remaining a noble state, at first it provided an opportunity for the development of new productive forces, it was the political system within which the so-called third estate, the main driving factor of French history at the end of the 17th-18th centuries, matured.
It was this objectively established balance of power between the nobility and the bourgeoisie that gave rise to faith in the state as the "reason of the nation."
The idea of "rationality of the state" was historically substantiated by the possibility of settling noble-bourgeois contradictions. This was a real merit of the state, and with this victory, French absolutism gained authority in the eyes of many subjects and, most importantly, in the eyes of thinkers and artists - the heirs of Renaissance humanism. Social contradictions, which seemed insoluble for the artists of the late Renaissance, in the 17th century. received a certain perspective of positive decisions. On a new basis, the positive program of humanism was restored, which, of course, received a somewhat different interpretation and direction.
The aesthetics of classicism was based on the principle of "ennobled nature" and reflected the desire for the idealization of reality, the refusal to reproduce the multicoloredness of real life.
The most important link connecting classicism with the art of the mature Renaissance was the return of a strong, active hero to the modern stage. This hero had a certain life goal: he had to, fulfilling his duty to the state, subordinate his personal passions to reason, which directed his will to observe moral standards.
The humanistic basis of classic art was connected with the social system, which objectively contributed to the restoration and development of social ethics, understood in a broad, national sense. But the humanistic basis of the ideal predetermined the tragic acuteness of conflicts, the harsh, explosive atmosphere of action, and this pointed to a deep internal disharmony that lurked in the bowels of society, seemingly pacified by the state.
Thus, the classicist tragedy influenced the audience, introducing into the public consciousness both faith in the ideal and anxiety for it. But the abstract nature of this ideal made it possible to adapt classicism to the ideological requirements of an absolutist state; the illusion of the classicists regarding the reign of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV as an expression of the "reason of the era" was used by the state for the purpose of self-affirmation.
This deprived classicism of democracy and imposed aristocratic features on its style.
The norm of the language of tragedy was sublime, poetic speech of a certain poetic size (the so-called Alexandrian verse).
According to the classicist aesthetics, human passions seemed to be eternally certain, art had to show their commonality, characteristic of all people at all times. These ideal heroes (as well as comedy characters - carriers of selfish passions) ultimately expressed the ideas and feelings inherent in people of modern society.
According to the traditional aesthetics of classicism, comedy was a genre of a lower order than tragedy. Designed to depict everyday life and ordinary people, she had no right to touch on issues of high ideology and depict lofty passions. Tragedy, on the other hand, should not descend to everyday topics and allow people of low birth into its limits. Thus, the class hierarchy was reflected in the hierarchy of genres.
But in its subsequent development, classicism was marked by the emergence of high comedy - the most democratic and realistic genre of the classicist style, which combined the traditions of folk farce with the line of humanistic drama in Moliere's work. The power of Molière's comedy was in a direct appeal to modernity, in the merciless exposure of its social deformities, in the deep disclosure of the main contradictions of the time in dramatic conflicts, in the creation of vivid satirical types that embody the main vices of contemporary noble-bourgeois society. In Molière's comedies, denunciation came from the name of "reason", expressed by the reasoning heroes, but laughter served as the main source of the comedy's satirical pathos. Therefore, the famous Moliere's servants performed the main accusatory function here. It is through these images that the playwright creates a powerful counterforce that impedes the plans and actions of selfish heroes. These folk characters gave the comedy a bright social coloring. Thus, through comedy, common sense, moral health, inexhaustible vigor - these eternal forces of the democratic masses - entered into an active social struggle.
Classicism received its most complete aesthetic justification in N. Boileau's theoretical poem The Art of Poetry (1674).
The tragedies of Corneille and Racine, up to the present day, have been assigned the most honorable place on the stage of the national theater; As for the works of Moliere, being the most beloved classical comedies in the homeland of the playwright, they have been preserved for three hundred years and in the repertoire of almost all theaters in the world.
French theater of the Classical era.
Classicism is an artistic style that appeared in European art in the 17th century. Classicism is the so-called "Great" style - that is, a style that manifested itself in several types of art (theater, architecture, painting, sculpture, etc.) and which existed in several countries (France, Italy, Russia, Austria).
Basically, classicism manifested itself in countries with a monarchical form of government. In France, classicism was associated with the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV.
The main aesthetic ideal of classicism was the dominance of reason over feelings.
The very word "classic" is translated from Latin as "exemplary" - this style was characterized by an orientation towards the traditions of the art of the past, especially ancient art and the art of the Renaissance.
One of the pinnacles of classicism was the French theater of the 17th century.
The theatrical art of classicism had a number of specific features associated with the aesthetics of this style. First, it is the "Rule of Three Unities": the unity of time, the unity of place, and the unity of action. Secondly, this is the division of genres into high and low, characteristic of classicism (“high genre” - tragedy, historical picture, mythological picture, poetic ode, poem; “low genre” - comedy, everyday (genre) painting, epigram).
In the era of classicism, the great playwrights Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine and Molière lived and worked in France.
Pierre Corneille is the creator of the French classic tragedy. In his tragedy "Sid" the traditional classic conflict is presented for the first time - the conflict of love and duty.
Jean Racine in his work continues and develops the traditions of Corneille. The plots of his plays "Andromache", "Phaedra" are borrowed from ancient mythology, and they also contain a conflict of love and duty.
The plays of Corneille and Racine rarely appear on the stages of modern theaters (with the exception of the Commedia Francaise). This is due to the specifics of the theatrical spectacle of the 17th century, which is inapplicable to modern stage conditions. At the heart of the classic tragedy is a poetic text created in a certain size (“Alexandrian verse”); there is little action in the plays (events are not shown - they are told about) - all this makes it difficult for the modern audience to perceive the play.
An exception to this rule are the plays of the famous comedian Molière. His comedies "The Philistine in the Nobility", "Tartuffe", "Imaginary Sick" still have not lost their stage appeal. Molière is the creator of the genre of "high comedy" (i.e., five-act comedies created in accordance with the "Rules of the Three Unities", where, along with common people's characters, representatives of noble origin also act).
Moliere was the court playwright of King Louis XIV, worked in collaboration with the composer Lully, writing librettos and verse texts for court ballets.
Poetics of classicism.
* The task of poetics (in other words, the theory of literature or literature) is to study the ways of constructing literary works. The object of study in poetics is fiction. The method of study is the description and classification of phenomena and their interpretation.
The term "classicism". Classicism is a term denoting a certain direction, artistic method and style in art. The term is derived from the Latin word classicus - "exemplary". The classicists sought to imitate the models of ancient art, followed the norms set forth by ancient art theorists (primarily Aristotle and Horace).
Classicism as a direction. Classicism as a trend takes shape at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. Its origins lie in the activities of the Italian and partly Spanish academic schools, as well as the Pleiades association of French writers, who in the Late Renaissance turned to ancient art, seeking to find in its harmonious images a new support for the ideas of humanism that experienced a deep crisis. The emergence of classicism is largely associated with the formation of an absolute monarchy - a transitional form of the state, when the weakened aristocracy and the bourgeoisie that has not yet gained strength are equally interested in the unlimited power of the king. Classicism reached its peak in France. And here it is especially clear to show his connection with absolutism. The activities of the classicists were led by the French Academy, founded in 1635 by the first minister, Cardinal Richelieu, and following all government instructions. Creativity of the greatest writers, artists, musicians, actors of classicism depended on the favorable glance of the king. Classicism as a trend developed differently in European countries. In France, it takes shape by the 1590s, becomes the dominant trend by the middle of the 17th century, reaching its peak in the 60s and 70s, then going through a crisis. In the first half of the XVIII century. its successor is enlightenment classicism, which in the second half of the 18th century. loses its leading position in the literature. However, during the French Revolution of 1789-1794. the “revolutionary classicism” that arose on its basis dominates in all major areas of art. Classicism as a trend, having lost its progressive content, is defeated in the fight against romanticism and degenerates at the beginning of the 19th century, but various neoclassical movements continue to exist to this day.
Within the framework of the classicist direction, there was a struggle between various currents. Thus, in France, the followers of the philosophy of Descartes (Boileau, Racine) disagreed on a number of aesthetic issues with the followers of the materialist Gassendi (Molière, La Fontaine). There were different schools of drama (Corneille, Racine), different theatrical currents (Molière's struggle with Racine's theatrical aesthetics), etc.
Aesthetics of classicism. The main theoretical work, which sets out the principles of classic aesthetics, is the book of Nicolas Boileau "Poetic Art" (1674).
The classicists saw the goal of art in the knowledge of truth, which acts as an ideal of beauty. They put forward a method to achieve it, based on the three central categories of their aesthetics: reason, pattern, taste. All these categories were considered objective criteria of artistry. From the point of view of the classicists, great works are not the fruit of talent, not inspiration, not artistic fantasy, but stubbornly following the dictates of reason, studying the classical works of antiquity and knowing the rules of taste. Thus, they bring artistic activity closer to scientific activity. That is why the rationalistic method of the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650), which became the basis of artistic knowledge in classicism, turned out to be acceptable for them.
Descartes argued that the human mind has innate ideas, the truth of which is not in doubt. And if we move from these truths to unproven and more complex propositions, dividing them into simple ones, methodically moving from the known to the unknown and not allowing logical gaps, then any truth can be found out. Thus, the mind becomes the central concept of the philosophy of rationalism, and then the art of classicism.
This was of great importance in the fight against religious ideas about the insignificance of man, in the fight against philosophers who asserted the unknowability of the world. The weak side of this idea was the absence of a dialectical view. The world was considered motionless, consciousness and the ideal are unchanged.
The classicists believed that the aesthetic ideal is eternal and the same at all times, but only in antiquity was it embodied in art with the greatest completeness. Therefore, in order to reproduce the ideal again, one must turn to ancient art and carefully study its laws. That is why the imitation of models was valued by the classicists higher than the original work. Turning to antiquity, the classicists thereby abandoned the imitation of Christian models, continuing the struggle of the humanists of the Renaissance for art free from religious dogma. It should be noted that the classicists borrowed external features from antiquity. Under the names of ancient heroes, people of the 17th-18th centuries were clearly seen, and ancient plots served to pose the most acute problems of our time.
The cult of reason required a radical restructuring of the content and form of works, the principles of typification, and the system of genres. The classicists proclaimed the principle of imitation of nature, strictly limiting the artist's right to fantasy. Art became close to political life, its most important task was the education of a citizen. Therefore, in the center of the works of classicism are problems of national interest.
Character. In the art of classicism, attention is paid not to the particular, individual, random, but to the general, typical. Therefore, the character of the hero in literature does not have individual features, acting as a generalization of a whole type of people. For classicists, character is a distinctive property, a general quality, a specificity of one or another human type. The character can be extremely, improbably sharpened, because such a sharpening does not distort it, but, on the contrary, reveals it. In this, character differs from mores - characteristic features, each of which cannot be sharpened to the point of opposing others, so as not to distort the connections in the whole picture of mores. Morals are common, ordinary, habitual, character is special, rare precisely in terms of the degree of manifestation of a property scattered in the mores of society. The principle of classic typification leads to a sharp division of heroes into positive and negative, serious and funny. At the same time, laughter becomes more and more satirical, because it is mainly directed precisely at negative characters.
Main conflict. The category of reason turns out to be central in the formation of a new type of artistic conflict discovered by classicism: the conflict between reason, duty to the state - and feeling, personal needs, passions. No matter how this conflict is resolved - by the victory of reason and duty (as in Corneille) or the victory of passions (as in Racine), only a citizen who puts his duty to the state above private life is the ideal of the classicists. Having discovered in a person, as it were, two beings - a state and a private person, the writers were looking for ways to harmonize reason and feelings, they believed in the final triumph of harmony. This is one of the main sources of optimism in classic literature, the social basis of which can be seen in the historical progressiveness of absolutism in the 17th century. and in the enlightenment ideology of the 18th century, because it is precisely with the ideology of absolute monarchy and the ideology of enlightenment that the problems of classicism are connected.
We considered the main principles of classicism based on the category of "reason". But it must be remembered that each of these principles is specified in the light of the categories of "sample" and "taste." For example, the principle of imitation of nature. It only superficially coincides with the realistic requirement of fidelity to reality. Reality is present in the work of the classicists only insofar as it corresponds to the model, that is, reality is depicted through the prism of the ideal of beauty. Therefore, it is not all nature that attracts the classicists, but only “pleasant nature” (in the words of Boileau). That which contradicts the model and taste is expelled from art; to the classicists, a whole number of objects seem “indecent”, unworthy of high art. In those cases when an ugly phenomenon of reality must be reproduced, it is also depicted through the prism of beauty. Boileau wrote about this in The Poetic Art:
A snake, a freak - everything that seems terrible,
Art, having adopted, is beautiful to us.
genre theory. Great attention was paid by the classicists to the theory of genres. Not all genres that have developed over the centuries fully met the requirements of classicism. And then the principle of hierarchy (that is, subordination) of genres, unknown to the literature of former times, appeared, which affirmed their inequality. This principle was in good agreement with the ideology of absolutism, which likened society to a pyramid, on top of which stands the king, as well as with the philosophy of rationalism, which required clarity, simplicity, and a systematic approach to any phenomenon.
According to the principle of hierarchy, there are main and non-main genres. By the middle of the XVII century. the opinion was established that the most important literary genre is tragedy (in architecture - a palace, in painting - a ceremonial portrait, etc.). Prose was placed below poetry, especially fiction. Therefore, such prose genres as sermons, letters, memoirs, as a rule, not designed for aesthetic perception, became widespread, and fiction, in particular the novel, fell into oblivion (Princess of Cleves by M. de Lafayette is a happy exception).
The principle of hierarchy also divides genres into "high" and "low", and certain artistic spheres are assigned to genres. So, the “high” genres (tragedy, ode, etc.) were assigned to the nation-wide problems, they could only tell about kings, generals, the highest nobility, the language of these works was of an upbeat, solemn character (“high calm”). In the "low" genres (comedy, fable, satire, etc.) it was possible to touch only on particular problems or abstract vices (stinginess, hypocrisy, vanity, etc.), acting as absolutized traits of a human character. Heroes in the "low" genres could be representatives of the lower classes of society, while the removal of noble persons was allowed only in exceptional cases (the higher one can appreciate the courage of Molière, who made the image of the Marquis a permanent comic figure). In the language of such works, rudeness, ambiguous hints, puns (“low calm”) were allowed. The use of the words "high calm" here, as a rule, was of a parodic nature.
In accordance with the principles of rationalism, the classicists put forward the demand for the purity of genres. Mixed genres, such as tragicomedy, are being squeezed out. This deals the main blow to the ability of a particular genre to comprehensively reflect reality. From now on, only the entire system of genres is capable of expressing the diversity of life. That is why the classicists, considering a number of genres "low", nonetheless widely develop them, putting forward such classics as Molière (comedy), La Fontaine (fable), Boileau (satire).
And yet, the writers of classicism paid the main attention to tragedy. In this genre, the laws were the most stringent. The plot (historical or legendary, but plausible) was supposed to reproduce ancient times, the life of distant states (in addition to Ancient Greece and Rome - the eastern countries) and guess already from the name, like the idea - from the first lines of Boileau: “It should be clear from the first lines plays are the essence"). The fame of the plot opposed the cult of intrigue, intricate action, it was required to affirm the idea of the triumph of regularity over chance.
Trinity. A special place in the theory of tragedy was occupied by the principle of three unities. It was formulated in the works of Italian and French humanists of the 16th century. (D.Trissino, Yu.Ts.Scaliger and others), who relied on Aristotle in the fight against the medieval theater. But only the classicists of the 17th century. (especially Boileau) elevated it to an indisputable law. The unity of the action required the reproduction of one whole and complete action that would unite all the characters (side storylines in the play were considered one of the violations of this unity). The unity of time was reduced to the requirement to put the action of the play in one day. The unity of the place was expressed in the fact that the action of the whole play had to unfold in one place (for example, in one palace). The concept of three unities is based on the principle of plausibility - the fundamental principle of classicism, which developed in the struggle against the traditions of medieval ideology and culture.
Medieval mysteries, played from several hours to several days, usually depicted the entire history of the universe from its creation to the fall of the first people or other huge periods of biblical history. A small stage depicted earth, heaven, and hell. The demand for the unity of place and time changed the structure of the drama, for it forced the playwrights to show not all the action, but only its climax. One principle of concentration of time and place was replaced by another. However, considering the second principle more plausible, the classicists were mistaken, since they did not take into account the peculiarities of the subjective perception of art. Romantics, who will open the subjective spectator, will criticize the principle of the unity of time and place precisely for implausibility.
In general, it should be noted that the normative classic aesthetics subsequently became a brake on the development of art. Romantics and realists fought against the normativity of classicism.
Classicism as a style. Classicism as a style is a system of figurative and expressive means that typify reality through the prism of antique samples, perceived as an ideal of harmony, simplicity, unambiguity, and ordered symmetry. Thus, this style reproduces only the rationalistically ordered outer shell of ancient culture, without conveying its pagan, complex and indivisible essence. Not in the antique dress, but in the expression of the view of the world of a man of the absolutist era lies the essence of the style of classicism. It is distinguished by clarity, monumentality, the desire to remove all unnecessary, to create a single and integral impression.
Basic principles of dramaturgy and theater of classicism: 1. Strict adherence to the best ancient traditions. 2. Compliance with the law of three unities: place, time and action. 3.Fidelity to nature, credibility. 4. The constancy of the characteristics of the heroes. 5. Strict division into genres. 6. An unexpected instructive outcome of the action. FRENCH THEATER
PIERRE CORNEL () In 1624, Corneille became a lawyer, but, feeling attracted to the theater and poetry, he left for Paris and already in 1629 staged his first comedy, Melita. In 1633, the young playwright was introduced to Cardinal Richelieu. Together with "Sid", which premiered in early 1637, fame comes to Corneille. Louis XIII grants the nobility to the playwright. In the early 1660s, Corneille returns to the stage, but his new plays no longer arouse the same enthusiasm among the public, especially since he is more and more overshadowed by the new playwright, Racine. The old age of the poet is sad. In 1674, one of his sons dies in the war. These sorrows are joined by financial problems. In the last years of the great playwright's life, luck again smiled at him: in October 1676, Louis XIV ordered Cinna, Horace, Pompey, Oedipus, Sertorius and Rodogune to be staged at Versailles. Corneille is famous all over Europe. The great French playwright dies in Paris, on the night of September 30 to October 1, 1684.
The history of the creation and staging of the Tragedy The tragedy "Sid" Corneille wrote in 1636, while in Rouen. The protagonist of the play was the hero of the Spanish Reconquista, Rodrigo Diaz, known as Cid Campeador, and Corneille used Spanish romances and the Spaniard Guillen de Castro's drama "Cid's Youth" as literary material for processing. From this play, he borrowed 72 of the best verses. 1636, RouenReconquistaCid Campeadorromances by Guillen de Castro
Jean Racine () French playwright. In the early sixties, the doors of court salons opened before Racine, and the aspiring playwright expanded the circle of literary acquaintances. At the same time, Racine acquires the patronage of Louis XIV and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. The next two decades become the pinnacle of Racine's fame. Racine's greatest tragedies are Andromache (1667) and Phaedra (1677). It is in them that the innovations introduced by Racine into dramaturgy are most clearly manifested: the image of blind passions that invariably lead to disaster, strict adherence to the rule of three unities, etc.
JEAN-BAPTISTE MOLIERE () Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was born in Paris; spends his childhood in a bourgeois environment, which in the future will serve as the backdrop for many of his comedies. His father, a royal carpet weaver, sent his son to Clermont College, where the future playwright was educated by "decent people": mathematics, physics, dancing, fencing. Feeling attracted to the theater, the young Poquelin became an actor in 1643, took the pseudonym Molière and organized a troupe. Moliere plays fashionable tragedies, but success has not yet come to him. Molière's first great success in Paris was the play "The Ridiculous Pretenders". The following years become for Moliere the period of creating his most famous plays: "Tartuffe", "Don Juan", "The Misanthrope". The last plays of Molière correspond to the tastes of Louis XIV: ballets, music, entertaining performances. During a performance at the Palais Royal of the comedy "Imaginary Sick", Molière faints, and a few hours later he dies.
BEAUMARCHAIS PIERRE AUGUSTIN () Already in the first, so-called "philistine dramas" "Eugene" (1767), "Two Friends" (1770), Beaumarchais truthfully paints pictures of social inequality. "Memoirs" of Beaumarchais () four pamphlets in which the mores of contemporary legal proceedings are mercilessly exposed. The play "The Barber of Seville" opens the most brilliant period in the work of Beaumarchais. He brought living features of modernity to the old comedy characters. Unlike his literary prototype, a smart and dexterous servant, the talented and energetic, sensitive and witty plebeian Figaro is not only the “nerve of intrigue”, but also its ideological center. Figaro confronts the mediocre Count Almaviva.
The comedy potentially already contained the conflict that formed the basis of the 2nd part of the trilogy about Figaro, the comedy The Marriage of Figaro (1784). In it, both expressively outlined images, and sarcastic laughter, and manifestations of sensitivity are all imbued with the pathos of indignation, mockery at the address of obsolete aristocratic privileges. The liveliness of the characters, the swiftness of the action, the fireworks of witticisms, the brilliant dialogue are the hallmarks of Beaumarchais the comedian. In the future, the playwright departs from the type of comedy that brought him worldwide fame. In the 3rd part of the trilogy "The Guilty Mother" (1792), Figaro, settled down, devoid of enthusiasm and brilliance, is only concerned with the successful completion of the family affairs of his former enemy; witty comedy with features of satire turned into a melodrama. Golovin's painting: Sketch of the scenery for Beaumarchais's comedy "A Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro" BEAUMARCHAIS PIERRE AUGUSTIN ()
After the crisis of the Renaissance, an era of hopes and illusions began. One of the directions in which this idea was expressed was Classicism.
Classicism
(fr. classicisme, from lat. classicus - exemplary) - artistic style and aesthetic direction in European art of the XVII-XIX centuries, the ability to serve as standards of perfection. The works of ancient authors are taken as standards.
The development of classicism as an artistic movement was determined by the monarchical state. The center of attention is shifting to the theater, and the main forms of influence on artistic culture are becoming normative aesthetics and royal patronage.
Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism, which were formed simultaneously with the same ideas in the philosophy of Descartes. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Interest for classicism is only eternal, unchanging - in each phenomenon, he seeks to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual features.
As a certain direction, classicism was formed in France in the 17th century. French classicism affirmed the personality of a person as the highest value of being, freeing him from religious and church influence.
The first to formulate the basic principles of the new style Francois d'Aubignac(1604-1676) in the book "The Practice of the Theatre". Based on the views of Aristotle and Horace on dramaturgy, d "Aubignac outlined the requirements for an exemplary theatrical performance. The work must follow the law of three unities - otherwise the public will not accept the stage performance, will not "saturate" their mind and will not receive any lesson.
The first requirement is unity of place: the events of the play must take place in the same space, no change of scenery was allowed. The scene of the tragedy often became the hall of the palace; comedy - town square or room.
The second requirement is the unity of time, i.e., an approximate coincidence (it was not possible to achieve a complete one) of the duration of the performance and the period in which the events of the play unfold. The action should not go beyond the day.
The last requirement is unity of action. The play should have one storyline, not burdened by side episodes; it had to be played out sequentially, from the plot to the denouement.
Classicism sets strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) - embodied historical events and talked about great personalities and their exploits; low (comedy, satire, fable) - told about the life of commoners. Each genre has strictly defined features, mixing of which is not allowed.
All theatrical works consisted of five acts and were written in poetic form.
On the theory of classicism in France in the 17th century. treated with all seriousness. New dramatic rules were developed by the French Academy (established in 1635). Theatrical art was given special importance. Actors and playwrights were called upon to serve the creation of a single strong state, to show the viewer an example of an ideal citizen.
The most prominent representatives of the theater of French classicism:
Pierre Corneille (fr. Pierre Corneille, pronounced as Roots; June 6, 1606, Rouen - October 1, 1684, Paris) - French poet and playwright, father of French tragedy; member of the French Academy (1647).
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| Jean Racine |
Phaedra. But everything was in vain - both incense and blood:
Incurable love came to me!
I, offering prayers to the goddess Aphrodite,
Was immersed in dreams of Hippolyta,
And not her - oh no! - idolizing him
She carried her gifts to the foot of the altar.
Theseus. My son! My successor!
He is ruined by me!
How terrible is the wrath of the gods, how inscrutable!..
Jean Racine. "Phaedra"
Tit. So what, ill-fated Titus? Because Berenice is waiting.
Did you come up with a clear, ruthless answer?
To stand in the fight
Can you find enough cruelty in yourself?
It's too little to be both persistent and harsh -
From now on, be ready for blind barbarism!
Jean Racine. "Berenice"
Moliere - French poet and actor; founder of classic comedy. Moliere is a pseudonym, the real name is Poquelin. The actor and playwright changed his name so as not to disgrace his father, a venerable royal furniture maker and upholsterer. The profession of an actor in the 17th century. considered sinful. At the end of their lives, the actors were forced, having repented, to renounce their craft. Otherwise, the Church did not allow them to be buried in the cemetery, and the deceased found their last refuge behind the church fence.
Molière acquired stage experience in the provinces. Under the influence of the Italian theater, he wrote farcical scenes. In the autumn of 1658, the Molière troupe arrived in Paris and gave performances in front of Louis XIV in one of the halls of the Louvre. Moliere's actors were a huge success, "all Paris" wanted to see the performances of the new troupe. At first, the relationship between the playwright and the king developed well, but gradually they darkened. Six years after moving to Paris, in 1664, the troupe played a new comedy in front of the king - Tartuffe, or the Deceiver. The main character - a swindler and a deceiver, a hypocrite and a voluptuary - wore a cassock, and those in power decided that the play offended both the Church itself and the influential organization "Society of Holy Gifts".
The play was banned, and Molière spent five years trying to get it staged in his own theater. Finally, permission was obtained, and the performance was a huge success. The author himself played the gullible Orgon, the victim of the trickery and intrigues of the deceiver Tartuffe. Only the intervention of the king (such a plot twist was in the spirit of the 17th century, in the spirit of classicism) saved the family of the unfortunate Orgon from ruin and prison.
Molière's experience as a playwright is inseparable from Molière's experience as an actor. Views on the art of the stage, on the difference in the play of tragic and comic actors, were brilliantly embodied by Molière in his own theatrical practice.
After Tartuffe, Molière wrote and staged two comedies that became immortal. In the play "Don Juan, or the Stone Guest" (1665), the playwright processed the well-known story about the turbulent life of a rake of an aristocrat and about the just retribution that overtakes him for sins and blasphemy. The hero of Molière is a freethinker and a skeptic, a man of the 17th century.
In a different way than in Don Juan, the motif of freethinking and free will was interpreted in The Misanthrope (1666). Dramatic, even tragic motifs have already sounded here. Moliere's laughter became "laughter through tears" - after all, the main idea of the play was that it was impossible to live among people and preserve the nobility of the soul.
Molière in his plays rejected the classic theory of the three unities, for which he was constantly criticized, violated strict rules. Molière died on stage. In the last years of his life, he was suffocating, it became difficult for him to pronounce poetry, so the playwright wrote roles in prose for himself. By order of the Archbishop of Paris, Moliere was buried in the same way as suicides are buried - behind the church fence. Much later, France gave honors to her genius, which he never received during his lifetime.
The history of classicism does not end in the 17th century. In the next century, some of its principles sought to revive the playwright and philosopher Voltaire, actors Leken and Clairon, poets and musicians. However, in the XVIII century. classicism was already perceived as an outdated style - and in overcoming classicist norms, the art of the Age of Enlightenment was born.
