The hypocritical cabal

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Mikhail Bulgakov around 1935

The Cabal of Hypocrites , also Molière ( Russian Кабала святош Kabala svyatosch ), is a play in four acts by the Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov , the writing of which was completed in 1930. Before its premiere on February 16, 1936 at the Moscow Art Theater , the play was rehearsed there for years and repeatedly rewritten. Stalin had the cabal banned on March 9, 1936 after seven performances. The “justification” was given to the dictator Platon Kerzhenetsev - one of his “cultural politicians” - on February 29th: Bulgakov shows the audience a parallel between the despotism of Louis XIV and the dictatorship of the proletariat . 1966–2015 saw the play constantly being staged on the Soviet / Russian stages.

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Paris around 1662 to 1673:

1

The actor Lagrange wants to save his young colleague Armande from Molière , who is twenty years his senior . Impossible, replies the young woman. Molière made her pregnant. The father-to-be wants to marry the pregnant woman and informs his long-term, four years older partner, Madeleine, of the intention to marry. Madeleine regrets that she brought her sister Armande to Paris.

Lagrange puts the viewer in the picture. Molière does not marry the sister but the daughter of Madeleine.

2

Marquis de Charron, the Archbishop of Paris, has his people. One of these, the itinerant preacher Father Bartholomäus, persuades the Sun King that the Antichrist has moved into Paris with the comedian Molière . Whose Tartuffe is blasphemy . Molière is declared wicked .

Louis XIV disregards the ecclesiastical concerns. Molière is allowed to play the piece.

Armande cheats on her husband Molière with his 23-year-old adoptive son Zacharie Moyron. Moliere beats Moyron up and drives him out of his troop. The rebellious adopted son counters, he knows Molière's secret.

3

The Cabal Society of the Holy Scriptures , an instrument of Archbishop de Charron, learns in a secret meeting from Moyron that Molière has married her own daughter. Moyron heard it from Lagrange. The adopted son takes revenge for the beating his father gave him.

Madeleine confesses to de Charron that she lived with two men and that she does not know which of them gave her Armande.

Armande assures the archbishop that she is Madeleine's sister. De Charron wants to ignore Armande's lie if she leaves Molière.

Madeleine dies and Armande obediently runs away. The Sun King forbids Molière to perform Tartuffe .

Brother Treue, one of de Charron's men, persuades the Marquis d'Orsini that in one of his plays Molière reviled him as a spoiler. D'Orsini wants to duel with Molière.

4th

Moyron confesses to Molière that he intends to commit suicide.

Molière assures his servant, the candle extinguisher Jean-Jacques Bouton, that Armande is not his daughter.

Molière dies on stage playing the argan .

Self-testimony

Schröder quotes from an article by Bulgakov in the magazine of the Moscow Art Theater of February 15, 1936. The author admits that - for the purpose of dramatization - he allowed himself a few aberrations from the historical truth: Molière did not die during a performance, but at home. Bulgakov exaggerated Molière's conflict with the Sun King in the same sense. The assertion by Molière's enemies that he and his wife had a child in incest was no longer provable in the 20th century. Some “historical” characters are invented - for example the duelist Marquis d'Orsini. And the famous First Lover Zacharie Moyron is modeled after the actor Michel Baron . But the tartuffe was really banned, as we know. Molière also made the church an enemy with this piece.

reception

  • Gorky in 1931: “This is ... a very good, artistically made piece ... He [Bulgakov] portrayed Molière ... excellently. Just as ... bold ... the Sun King is designed. "

premiere

radio play

literature

German-language editions

  • The hypocritical cabal (Molière). Translated from the Russian by Thomas Reschke . Pp. 149–199 in: Michail Bulgakow. Pieces. With an afterword by Ralf Schröder . Verlag Kultur und Progress, Berlin 1970. 432 pages (translation from: Bulgakow. Dramas and Comedies , Moscow 1965)
  • The hypocritical cabal (Molière). Drama in four acts. Translated from the Russian by Thomas Reschke . P. 7-67 in Ralf Schröder (Ed.): Bulgakow. The hypocritical cabal. Alexander Pushkin. Asked for. Pieces. Volk & Welt, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-353-00952-3 (= Vol. 11: Collected Works (13 Vols.), Edition used)
  • The hypocritical cabal. Translated from the Russian by Bernd Poßner. Verlag epubli, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-7418-7316-4 .

Secondary literature

  • Monika Nölke Floyd (* 1962): Michail Bulgakov's “Kabala Svjatoš”. Forms and functions of approach to Molière. Lang, Berlin 1997 (dissertation FU Berlin 1994), ISBN 978-3-631-30103-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edition used, p. 208
  2. ↑ Schröder in the literary historical notes of the edition used, pp. 218–225
  3. ↑ Russian The Cabal of Hypocrites - Remarkable Premieres
  4. ↑ Schröder in the literary historical notes of the edition used, pp. 217–218
  5. ↑ Gorki, quoted in Schröder in the literary historical notes of the edition used, p. 220, 16. Zvu