The camellia lady
The Lady of the Camellias ( La Dame aux camélias ) is a novel by French author Alexandre Dumas the Elder. J. It was published in Paris in 1848 and became one of the greatest successes of the author, who was otherwise overshadowed by his father .
Like other novels by Dumas' d. J., the book deals with the demi-monde of Paris , the demi -monde , in which Dumas moved. The action of The Lady of the Camellias is partly autobiographical and tells the story of his encounter when he was twenty with the milliner and courtesan Marie Duplessis .
plot
The young Armand Duval, a man from the best circles of Parisian society, meets and falls in love with the courtesan Marguerite Gautier. The only flowers you can gift them with are camellias . After initial jealousies and withdrawals on the part of Armand, who falls more and more in love with her and accordingly reacts angrily to her lifestyle, Marguerite also falls in love with him and tries to give up her earlier, dissolute life for his sake and start a new life with him.
When his father, an extremely modest person who is very concerned about his son, finds out about the liaison , he first tries energetically to change his mind. When he politely but firmly refuses, the father secretly seeks out Marguerite and indignantly reproaches her. When she convinces him of the genuineness of her love for Armand, he implores her not to endanger his son and his future with the dishonorable connection. She bends, breaks up with Armand and goes back to her old life for his sake.
Armand doesn't find out anything about what's going on and is deeply hurt. Only when she is dying with severe lung disease does he learn the reasons for her actions.
adaptations
play
Since the book was very popular with the public, Dumas adapted the play into a stage drama, which premiered in Paris on February 2, 1852, after the premiere had been postponed several times for moral reasons. From 1880, the French actress Sarah Bernhardt played the leading role in Lady of the Camellias and enjoyed great success with it worldwide. The play was to become her life role.
Opera
Giuseppe Verdi set the drama to music in the 1853 opera La traviata , one of the first realistic operas of its time.
film adaptations
The Lady of the Camellias has been adapted into over 20 motion pictures. Especially in early film history, the material was popular as ideal material for famous actresses such as Sarah Bernhardt and Greta Garbo .
- 1907: First film adaptation of the story, directed by Viggo Larsen in Denmark
- 1911: La Dame aux Camélias , French silent film starring Sarah Bernhardt as Lady of the Camellias
- 1915: Camille , American silent film directed by Albert Capellani and starring Clara Kimball Young as the Lady of the Camellias
- 1917: Camille , American silent film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Theda Bara as the Lady of the Camellias
- 1920: Armen Violetta , free film adaptation in Germany by Paul Ludwig Stein
- 1921: Camille , American silent film starring Alla Nazimova as Lady of the Camellias and Rudolph Valentino as Armand
- 1926: Camille , American silent film directed by Fred Niblo , starring Norma Talmadge as Lady of the Camellias and Gilbert Roland as Armand
- 1936: Lady of the Camellias , US drama film directed by George Cukor , starring Greta Garbo as Lady of the Camellias and Robert Taylor as Armand
- 1969: Camille 2000 , Italian film directed by Radley Metzger and starring Danièle Gaubert as the Lady of the Camellias, a modern twist on the subject
- 1978: Lady of the Camellias , German TV film directed by Tom Toelle , starring Erika Pluhar as Lady of the Camellias and Klaus Hoffmann as Armand
- 1981: The Lady of the Camellias ( La Dame aux camélias ), French-Italian film directed by Mauro Bolognini and starring Isabelle Huppert in the title role; tells the life story of Marie Duplessis
- 1984: Camille , British TV film starring Greta Scacchi as Lady of the Camellias and Colin Firth as Armand
- 1987: Die Kameliendame , German dance film directed by John Neumeier and starring Marcia Haydée and Ivan Liska
- 2001: Moulin Rouge , musical drama film, starring Nicole Kidman as Satine and Ewan McGregor as Christian, the film's plot is partly derived from the Lady of the Camellias.
radio plays
There are two radio play productions from Bayerischer Rundfunk .
- 1956: Directed by Walter Ohm . With Käthe Gold (Marguerite Gautier), Peter Lühr (Armand Duval), Hans Leibelt (Herr Duval, Armand's father), Lina Carstens (Prudence Duvernoy), Constanze Menz (Nanine, Marguerite's maid), Klaus Havenstein (Gaston Nieux) and others - duration 83:54 min. Audio document is preserved.
- 1963: Directed by Heinz-Günter Stamm . With Joana Maria Gorvin (Marguerite Gautier), Klausjürgen Wussow (Armand Duval), Eberhard Müller-Elmau (Père, Armand's father), Horst Tappert (Baron von Varville), Heini Göbel (Saint Gaudens), Werner Hessenland (Count von Giray), Reinhard Glemnitz (Gaston) and others - duration 102:20 min. Sound document is preserved.
A radio play was also produced at the West German Broadcasting Corporation .
- 2013: Director: Clemens Schönborn With Sophie Rois (Marguerite Gautier), Bernhard Schütz (Nestor), Kai-Ingo Rudolph (Armand Duval) and others - Duration 49:00 min. Awarded the Grand Prix Marulic 2014
ballet
The choreographer John Neumeier created a ballet in 1978 that premiered on November 4 of the same year in the Great House of the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart with Marcia Haydée in the title role.
John Neumeier himself filmed his ballet in 1987, starring Marcia Haydée, Ivan Liška , François Klaus , Colleen Scott and Vladimir Klos .
expenditure
- Alexandre Dumas the Elder J.: The Lady of the Camellias . Translated by Walter Hoyer. Structure of the paperback publishing house, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7466-6100-5
- Alexandre Dumas the Elder J.: Die Kameliendame , novel, translated from French and edited with an afterword by Michaela Meßner, dtv, Munich 1993, 7th edition 2005, ISBN 978-3-423-12479-9
- Alexandre Dumas the Elder J.: The Lady of the Camellias , Complete new translation by Andrea Spingler, Berlin: Insel, 2012, ISBN 978-3-458-17557-5 .
Audiobook:
- Alexandre Dumas the Elder J.: Die Kameliendame , novel read by Senta Vogt (6 audio CDs + 1 bonus CD in MP3 format), TechniSat Digital, Daun 2006, ISBN 978-3-86667-306-9 .
web links
- Everything about the film adaptation of the classic with Greta Garbo "The Lady of the Camellias" (1937)
- Film adaptations of Dumas' works, including numerous film adaptations of The Lady of the Camellias