The language of movement:
A Critical Study of the Development of the 'ballet d'action' and its Promotion by Selected German Courts during the Englightenment
Published on 4. October 2011
Book
298 pages
978-3-88099-434-8 (ISBN)
Description
The thesis examines the reasons why the new genre of dance, the ballet d'action, was able to develop and thrive under the patronage of particular German courts, whilst in France, the land to which German princes generally looked for guidance in all matters concerning dance and drama, theatrical dance was stagnating.
It will be argued that the political fragmentation of Germany was advantageous to this development because of the competitiveness of the German princes who wished their courts to excel as leading and progressive centres of culture and enlightenment. The thesis will also show how enlightened innovations exerted a distinctive influence on ballet production, an aspect hitherto unexplored by dance historians.
The thesis consists of an introduction, seven chapters and conclusion. The introduction explains the concept of the ballet d'action and the methodology employed. The following six chapters identify and discuss both the innovative and on occasion retrograde productions which took place at the courts of Carl Theodor in the Rheinland-Pfalz, Karl Eugen in Württemberg and Friedrich II in Hessen-Kassel. The choreography of their respective ballet-masters François André Bouqueton, Jean Georges Noverre and Etienne Lauchéry is analysed in detail. This analysis illustrates the outcome of the eighteenth-century desire for a comprehensive reform of theatrical dance practice, a reform which, by combining dance with gesture, enabled this art to portray the complexities of the human condition. The final chapter examines the change in attitude towards dance and the thesis concludes by arguing that the new, non-verbal, universally comprehensible language of movement, no longer subservient to opera, fulfilled a significant educational role in the Enlightenment in the German principalities.
It will be argued that the political fragmentation of Germany was advantageous to this development because of the competitiveness of the German princes who wished their courts to excel as leading and progressive centres of culture and enlightenment. The thesis will also show how enlightened innovations exerted a distinctive influence on ballet production, an aspect hitherto unexplored by dance historians.
The thesis consists of an introduction, seven chapters and conclusion. The introduction explains the concept of the ballet d'action and the methodology employed. The following six chapters identify and discuss both the innovative and on occasion retrograde productions which took place at the courts of Carl Theodor in the Rheinland-Pfalz, Karl Eugen in Württemberg and Friedrich II in Hessen-Kassel. The choreography of their respective ballet-masters François André Bouqueton, Jean Georges Noverre and Etienne Lauchéry is analysed in detail. This analysis illustrates the outcome of the eighteenth-century desire for a comprehensive reform of theatrical dance practice, a reform which, by combining dance with gesture, enabled this art to portray the complexities of the human condition. The final chapter examines the change in attitude towards dance and the thesis concludes by arguing that the new, non-verbal, universally comprehensible language of movement, no longer subservient to opera, fulfilled a significant educational role in the Enlightenment in the German principalities.