Genre et transgression du genre dans le récit de la Guerre des jeunes filles chez Cosmas de Prague

L’épisode de la Guerre des jeunes filles (en Tchèque Dívčí válka) est sans doute l’un des récits les plus connus parmi les légendes portant sur le passé mythique de l’état tchèque : ce conflit fictif entre jeunes femmes et hommes qui serait survenu durant le règne de Přemysl, fondateur légendaire de la dynastie des Přemyslides qui régna sur la Bohême de la fin du ixe siècle jusqu’en 1306, a ainsi eu un grand retentissement dans la culture de ce pays. La première mention de la Guerre des jeunes filles apparaît dans le neuvième chapitre du premier livre de la Chronique des Tchèques, œuvre rédigée en latin en 1125 par Cosmas de Prague, doyen du chapitre cathédral de Prague, et plus ancienne chronique de ce pays : dans son bref récit de cet évènement, le chroniqueur critique les mœurs des jeunes filles au temps des anciens Tchèques et leur fait porter la responsabilité du conflit. Nous allons donc démontrer en quoi les mœurs attribuées aux femmes tchèques avant la christianisation et leur prétendu conflit contre les jeunes hommes constituent un cas évident de transgression aux yeux du chroniqueur.

Жанр портрета в творчості хореографа Рудольфа Харатяна

Мета статті – обґрунтувати правомірність уведення в галузь дансологіі поняття «жанр портрета» на прикладі постановок балетмейстера Рудольфа Харатяна. Методологія. Шляхом мистецтвознавчого аналізу балетів хореографа Рудольфа Харатяна «Іпостасі», «Bachpassion» (Пристрасті Баха) і «La Boheme», порівняння хореографічних рішень жанру портрета в назвах балетів виявлено специфіку інтерпретації образів композиторів Моцарта і Баха, а також шансоньє Шарля Азнавура. Наукова новизна. Уперше на основі аналізу трьох балетів Рудольфа Харатяна в дансологію введено поняття «жанр портрета», під яким розуміємо хореографічний спектакль або окремий номер, героєм якого є історична особистість (а не вигаданий персонаж), представник мистецтва. Висновки. Жанр портрета не ідентичний такому в живопису або скульптурі, але ближчий до творів літератури чи кінематографу. У них, як і в хореографічній виставі, на перший план виходить не тільки той, про кого вони оповідають, а головне – як. У балеті «Іпостасі» переданий різноманітний духовний світ Моцарта – його іпостасі як образи дійових осіб створених ним опер. Вони то знаходяться з ним у повній гармонії, то співпереживають йому, то відриваються від свого творця. У «Bachpassion», крім самого Баха, беруть участь ще 13 балерин і танцівників, але немає конкретних персонажів – таке образне рішення музичного світу Баха. У «La Boheme» дію конкретизовано – це шлях Шарля Азнавура до визнання, протее назвати балет сюжетним не можна. Це швидше портрет шансоньє в інтер’єрі Монмартра. У перспективі жанр портрета може бути розглянутий більш широко, як хореографічний спектакль або окремий номер, героєм якого є історична особистість (а не вигаданий персонаж), безвідносно до того, представник він мистецтва, політики, науки, духовенства та ін.

FEMINISM AND DISSIDENT FEMININITY IN POPULAR CULTURE. CHER’S ROLE AND THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN MOONSTRUCK

When looking at representations of women, one is faced with the way such representations were conditioned by the prevailing mentality of a particular age, that is to say, how they were ‘framed’ by it. In this article we start by carefully looking at how, in spite of having had frames imposed on them in a constraining way, women have successfully resisted and reworked them, shockingly catapulting traditional iconography to a new sphere; namely popular icons. A ‘damsel in distress’ is, definitely, a ‘framed’ woman. She has been, throughout history, a common archetype in myth. Always helpless, she is in need of being rescued by a male figure; an idea that must have done wonders to the egos of male writers and readers alike. For that reason, we will be looking at ‘damsels in distress’ along history. More specifically, we apply the notion of frame to representations of gender and explore how popular culture is frequently capable of ‘unframing’ those representations. Our case study is the 1987 post classical romantic comedy Moonstruck an intersemiotic and intertextual product with traces of both Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puccini’s opera La Bohème, three stories in which ‘damsels in distress’ play the main role in the plot in order to deconstruct the above mentioned stereotype of ‘the damsel’ with the ‘help’ of strong female characters, one of them being Loretta, the character played by Cher.

La bohème’s Paris

This chapter analyses the ways in which La bohème was influenced by popular romantic representations of Paris and the ways in which it, in turn, helped shape them. It discusses the late nineteenth-century Italian fascination with French culture and the way in which Puccini’s opera was nostalgically depicting an old Paris that had been swept away by Baron Haussmann’s regeneration of the city. The chapter considers Puccini’s conception of Bohemianism, demonstrating that it had Italian as well as French roots. It examines the composer and his librettists’ reading of certain archetypal Bohemian figures, such as the good-hearted demimondaine, and of symbolic Parisian locations, such as the pavement café. The chapter concludes with a consideration of Puccini’s representation of ‘picturesque poverty’ and discusses the ways in which directors have attempted to make the work more or less gritty through their stagings.

Popularising La bohème

This chapter considers how the reception of La bohème developed across the course of the twentieth century, focusing in particular on debates about the opera’s status as ‘art’ or ‘entertainment’. It examines hostile responses to Puccini by modernist commentators and Italian nationalists who accused him of ‘decadence’ and pandering to the crowd. It discusses the work’s appropriation by celebrity singers, in spite of the fact that the work was not conceived as a star vehicle. The role of recordings and Bohème films in the opera’s rise to canonical status is considered. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways in which music from the opera has been used in films, incorporated into popular songs, and used as the basis for other works of popular culture.

La bohème’s travels

This chapter, on La bohème’s international reception, considers initial responses to the work in Italy, across Europe, and in North and South America. It reveals that at the outset the opera was often performed by minor troupes in secondary theatres and took some time to establish itself in the operatic canon. Certain responses to the work’s music and drama were common whatever the national context; others were coloured by specific local considerations and preoccupations. Puccini’s opera was, variously, held up against the standard of Wagnerian music drama, criticised for its episodic structure, chastised for breaking the harmonic rulebook, and even considered immoral. The sheer popular appeal of the opera also prompted varying responses in different countries. Some unusual early performance practices are also discussed here.

Puccini's La Bohème

La bohème is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. But how did it come to be so adored? Drawing on an extremely broad range of sources, Alexandra Wilson traces the opera’s rise to global fame. Although the work has been subjected to many hostile critiques, it swiftly achieved popular success through stage performances, recordings, and filmed versions. Wilson demonstrates how La bohème acquired even greater cultural influence as its music and dramatic themes began to be incorporated into pop songs, film soundtracks, musicals, and more. In this cultural history of Puccini’s opera, Wilson offers a fresh reading of a familiar work. La bohème was strikingly modern for the 1890s, she argues, in its approach to musical and dramatic realism and in flouting many of the conventions of the Italian operatic tradition. Considering the work within the context of the aesthetic, social, and political debates of its time, Wilson explores Puccini’s treatment of themes including gender, poverty, and nostalgia. She pays particular attention to La bohème’s representation of Paris, arguing that the opera was not only influenced by romantic mythologies surrounding the city but also helped shape them. Wilson concludes with a consideration of the many and varied approaches directors have taken to the staging of Puccini’s opera, including some that have reinvented the opera for a new age. This book is essential reading for anyone who has seen La bohème and wants to know more about its music, drama, and cultural contexts.

La bohème in context

This chapter provides a brief overview of the genesis of La bohème, discussing Puccini’s relationship with his librettists and publisher, and where the work sat in his career. It considers the place of the opera within the nineteenth-century Italian operatic tradition (including its relationship to the verismo movement), as well as the extent to which Puccini was influenced by foreign composers. It identifies the opera’s key stylistic hallmarks and explains the relationship between music, characterisation, and dramatic pacing. The chapter then examines how Puccini treats the opera’s core dramatic themes of love, friendship, death, and nostalgia, as well as considering his representation of male and female characters.