Antonio Francesco Riccoboni

Watteau : Italian actor about 1720

Antonio Francesco Riccoboni (* 1707 in Mantua , Italy , † 1772 in Paris , France ) was an Italian-French actor , playwright and drama theorist .

Life

Riccoboni was born the son of the actor, playwright and historian Ludovico Riccoboni . His father had failed in his own country to replace the theater genre Commedia dell'arte , established in the 16th and 17th centuries , whose main focus was realism , with dramatic theater. This was followed by a move to France together with his son, where Ludovico Riccoboni initially headed the Duke of Orléans' Italian actors in the Hôtel de Bourgogne from 1716 to 1729 . From 1726 to 1750, Francesco Riccoboni was also an actor in the Théâtre-Italien in Paris . During this time he wrote the work Die Schauspielkunst , which was published in 1750 when he had to give up theater work for health reasons.

During his time as a member of the ensemble, a realism debate was gradually triggered in the theater, which was not least due to representatives such as Molière and Michel Baron . The debate about realism also encompassed an incipient and visible class struggle in the arts, the conclusion of which was largely derived from the fact that the ruling art is the art of the ruling class. Francesco Riccoboni only participated in this dispute in the French theater as an outsider, since as a member of the Italian theater he had little to do with the representation methods of the Théâtre Français. The methods of Italian theater at that time were decried as grossly naturalistic and did not have to adhere to the classicist conventions and rules. Riccoboni's theory of acting corroborates this fact.

His work, which was translated by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , was published in the fourth piece of the journal Contributions to the History and Recording of Theater , which Lessing and his father Christlob Mylius published in Stuttgart in 1750 . Lessing saw Riccoboni's writing as the ideal guide for the further development of the realistic method in German theaters. He specifically points out four points that seem important to him in Riccoboni's work and in connection with it:

1. “The criticism of the prevailing declamatory style of French theater.
2. The lack of prejudice against the widespread craftsmanship of the actors
3. The basic attitude to the relationship between sensation and representation.
4. The benefit for the development of the theater, especially of course the German, for which he translates "Die Schauspielkunst". "

Riccoboni's considerations also flowed into Lessing's own debates on the subject of drama, such as in Hamburg Dramaturgies.

Theater situation in France during the 18th century

"In the first half of the 18th century in France, the prevailing classicist style of absolutist theater was called into question from various quarters." French tragedy , from Pierre Corneille to Voltaire , had its central characteristics in the exact reflection of reality of the French court and in the exact expression of its passions, interests, ideals and ideas of the right establishment of the world. The actors are French courtiers from the 17th and 18th centuries, speak the language of the court and behave according to the rules of courtly custom. These established conventions and rules clearly show the acting dependence on etiquette, "[...] the rule of the rules of courtoisie in the theater." The etiquette also makes clear that the theater did not exist as an independent institution, but an integral part of the absolutist court was. An example of this is the fact that actors (not gendered here, since women were not allowed to perform the acting profession at that time) are not allowed to turn to their partner on stage, otherwise he would turn his back on the king. This requirement that playwrights and actors should imitate nature also meant that nature conformed to courtly custom.

“Moving the audience is the purpose of tragedy, and nothing remains of the whole demand for nature but that the actor himself has to be moved in order to move the audience. Nature then only means agreement with the role from the start, not through acting. "

The classicist style of French drama also experienced artistic resistance, albeit on a small scale. With pieces like “ Impromptu de Versailles ”, Molière showed serious considerations about the realistic portrayal of people. The core of this style was the “[…] representation of typical features of social life.” While Moliere's realistic style was initially limited to comedy due to a lack of individual acting skills , his student Michel Baron (1653–1729) was the first to try to break the classicist conventions and to apply his teacher's theory of realism to tragedy.

Acting theory

In his text Die Schauspielkunst , published in 1750, Francesco Riccoboni formulates three principles of acting:

1. "You have to imitate nature at all times"
2. "The forced is the greatest of all mistakes, whether it is the meanest"
3. "Taste alone must keep us within the narrow limits of truth"

Even if Riccoboni repeatedly emphasizes that the expression should be natural, Riccoboni's understanding of an imitation of nature does not correspond to a realistic representation of reality, but to an artistic formation of it. “The expression must be natural; [...] if you want to stir, you have to go two fingers' widths over the natural, but as soon as you exceed this measure by just one line, the game soon becomes exaggerated and uncomfortable. "The" forced ", of which Riccoboni writes, results from the orientation of the actors on court etiquette in French classicism. Riccoboni therefore recommends actors to see the "rabble" as a role model for the representation of emotions, since they can express feelings without social coercion. According to Riccoboni, the depicted emotions should not be experienced by the actors themselves. Instead, one should “remain a master of one's soul at all times” so that one can play different roles. The reason is that the duration of a theatrical performance would be too short to really experience all the emotional states of a character. He defines the sensations that Riccoboni speaks about in his text as follows:

"The movements that arise most quickly in the soul, to which reflection does not contribute and which take hold of us instantly, almost against our will, are the only ones that should be invigorated with the name of sensations."

Riccoboni distinguishes between two main sensations, namely the tender sensations, the source of which is love, and the violent sensations, the source of which is anger. All other sensations can be derived from these two main sensations. Based on these basic considerations, Riccoboni formulates instructions for actors e.g. B. how they should play tender or angry scenes. Everything else that does not arise from these two sources cannot then be defined as emotion. He gives here the examples of joy, sadness and fear and concludes that these are mere impressions.

In addition, Riccoboni calls for the separation between comedy and tragedy to be abolished with regard to the type of drama - comedy should also be played seriously, while there should also be comic elements in tragedy.

Context and criticism

Based on the schematic classification of the acting styles according to Gerda Baumbach , Riccoboni's idea of ​​an acting ideal can be assigned to the Veristic acting style. Riccoboni's theory of acting has to be received from the current point of view, taking into account the historical context. In the mid-18th century, classicism was predominant in France's theaters , but it was increasingly being called into question. Riccoboni himself was an actor at the Italian theater, whose presentation methods did not correspond to the conventional theater of the time, but was considered "free from the constraints of classicist conventions and rules".

In his text Riccoboni explicitly criticizes the rhetorical acting style that was prevalent in France at the time , and also turns his back on the comedic drama that was widespread in Italy through the Commedia dell'Arte. Riccoboni justified his criticism of the rhetorical acting style with the fact that it was unnatural and also oriented too much towards courtly ceremonies. The rejection or ignorance of comedic drama can be attributed to the zeitgeist of the 18th century. The Enlightenment's image of man ultimately emerges from its demarcation from animals and the focus on reason - both are taken ad absurdum in the comedic drama.

From the present point of view, some points in Riccoboni's theory of acting should be viewed critically. Above all, his bourgeois-conservative attitude towards the representation of emotions should be mentioned. They should always (despite Riccoboni's demand for naturalness and / or artistic interpretation of reality) be restrained and modest. According to Riccoboni, the portrayal of tenderness of any nature must not drift into indecency - especially with female actresses. Riccoboni's demand for an internal demarcation of the actors from the emotions they are supposed to represent was opposed to contrary theories as early as the 18th century. The treatise L'Acteur by Pierre Rémond de Sainte-Albine can be mentioned as an example. Sainte-Albine demands that actors always have to go through emotional states, otherwise they would be pure declamators. The different ideas of acting at Sainte-Albine and Riccoboni are also dealt with under the catchwords “hot” and “cold” actors, with “hot actor” corresponding to the concept of the emotional actor from Sainte-Albine, and “cold actor” corresponding to the acting concept by Riccoboni.

literature

• Gerda Baumbach: actor. Historical anthropology of the actor. Univ.-Verlag, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-86583-611-3 .
• Klaus L. Berghahn (Ed.): Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Hamburgische Dramaturgie. Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-598-51659-2 .
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Excerpt from the 'actor' of Herr Remond von Saint Albine . In: Julius Petersen (Ed.): Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Works. Part 12, Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim / New York 1970.
• Introduction. In: Gerhard Piens: The art of acting. Henschel, Berlin 1954.
• Francois Riccoboni: The art of acting. translated by GE Lessing. Henschel, Berlin 1954. (Orig. L'Art du Theater)
• Leonardo Spinelli:  Riccoboni, Francesco Antonio Valentino. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 87:  Renzi – Robortello. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2016.

Web links

• Francesco Riccoboni (1707-1772). Biography. (No longer available online.) In: schauspiel-in-deutschland.de. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: Die Schauspielkunst , Ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 7 f.
2. ↑ Cf. Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: Die Schauspielkunst, Ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 12 f.
3. ↑ Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: Die Schauspielkunst, Ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 6 f.
4. ^ Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, Hamburgische Dramaturgie, ed. Klaus L. Berghahn, Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun. 1981.
5. ↑ Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: Die Schauspielkunst, Ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 8 f.
6. ↑ Piens, Gerhard, “Introduction”, in: Die Schauspielkunst, Ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 8.
7. ↑ See Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: Die Schauspielkunst, ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 8.
8. ↑ Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: The art of acting, Hg Gerhard Piens, Berlin. Henschel 1954, p.11.
9. ↑ Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: The art of acting, Hg Gerhard Piens, Berlin. Henschel 1954, p.11.
10. ↑ See Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: Die Schauspielkunst, ed. Gerhard Piens, Berlin: Henschel 1954, p. 12.
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Riccoboni, Francois, Die Schauspielkunst (translated by GE Lessing), Berlin: Henschel 1954 (orig. L'Art du Theater), p. 110.
12. ^ Riccoboni, Francois, Die Schauspielkunst (translated by GE Lessing), Berlin: Henschel 1954 (Orig. L'Art du Theater), p. 76.
13. ^ Riccoboni, Francois, Die Schauspielkunst (translated by GE Lessing), Berlin: Henschel 1954 (Orig. L'Art du Theater), p. 76.
14. ^ Riccoboni, Francois, Die Schauspielkunst (translated by GE Lessing), Berlin: Henschel 1954 (orig. L'Art du Theater), p. 78.
15. ^ Riccoboni, Francois, Die Schauspielkunst (translated by GE Lessing), Berlin: Henschel 1954 (orig. L'Art du Theater), p. 78.
16. ↑ Piens, Gerhard, "Introduction", in: The art of acting, Hg Gerhard Piens, Berlin. Henschel 1954th
17. ^ Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, "Excerpt from the 'actor' of Herr Remond von Saint Albine", in: Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, works. Twelfth part, Ed. Julius Petersen, Hildesheim / New York: Georg Olms Verl. 1970.