The Duchess of Malfi

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The Duchess of Malfi (also: The Duchess of Amalfi ; English The Duchess of Malfi ) is a tragedy written in blank verse by the English playwright John Webster . It is considered to be one of the masterpieces of English drama of the Shakespeare period. The piece, first performed around 1613/1614, was first published in print in 1623 under the title The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy .

Webster was inspired by a novella by Matteo Bandello . Lope de Vegas piece El mayordomo de la Duquesa de Amalfi probably didn't know Webster.

Historical background

Joan of Aragon (1478– around 1510) was married to Alfonso Piccolomini at the age of 12, who became Duke of Amalfi in 1493, died in 1498 and left his 19-year-old pregnant widow. Immediately after his birth, the son was installed as his father's successor, and Johanna became regent. Soon after her husband's death, she entered into a relationship with her steward Antonio da Bologna, secretly married him and gave birth to two children. A third pregnancy aroused suspicion in the family. She and Antonio tried to escape to Ancona. However, Johanna was brought back to Amalfi with her children. Then all traces are lost. Antonio da Bologna went first to Venice, then to Milan, where he was modernized in 1513.

The main source for Webster's play was the collection of stories published by William Painter in 1567 under the title The Palace of Pleasure , from which Shakespeare also took the material for Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet . The collection of stories by French, Italian and Greek authors also included Matteo Bandello's tale of the Duchess of Malfi in a version by François de Belleforest . Bandello probably knew Antonio da Bologna personally, so he has his story firsthand.

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The play takes place at the court of Malfi from 1504 to 1510 . The widowed Duchess of Malfi marries secretly, without her brothers' knowledge - her twin brother is Duke Ferdinand of Calabria, the older brother is a cardinal - her steward Antonio. It is an inappropriate marriage because Antonio is far below her in the social hierarchy. The brothers also fear that their sister's new marriage could result in a child who would deprive them of the rich inheritance they had hoped for.

The Duchess manages to hide the birth of her first child. However, after the birth of the second child, rumors spread to the brothers. They send Bosola, a former servant of the Cardinal who has just served a sentence for murder in prison, to her sister's court to investigate the children's father. Antonio then flees to Ancona with the eldest son. The Duchess, who is pregnant again, follows him and informs her entourage about her marriage to Antonio. The brothers have her arrested, she is tortured and finally murdered along with her two children.

Antonio is able to flee to Milan with his son and tries in vain to reconcile himself with the cardinal. But he does not get along in the depraved and depraved milieu of the brothers: the cardinal is a corrupt and ruthless politician who has just let his beloved poisoned. Ferdinand, the twin brother with incestuous desires for his sister, is crazy about his intrigues, is involved in a plot to murder Antonio, goes mad and thinks he is a werewolf .

In the last three scenes of the fifth act, the tragedy comes to its bloody end. The cardinal forbids those who have taken care of Ferdinand, who has gone mad, to look after him and threatens them with death if they defy the order. Antonio, who is looking for a conversation with the cardinal, enters the room unnoticed, in which it has meanwhile become dark. When Bosola also arrives, he overhears the cardinal instructing a servant to kill him. Bosola now regrets that he got involved in the brothers' plot, wants to stab the cardinal, but accidentally meets Antonio in the dark and then kills another servant. The cardinal cries out in vain for help, his entourage turns deaf. Ferdinand wants to come to the brother's aid, and in the tumult that ensues, Bosola and the two brothers fall dead to the ground. The courtier Delio takes the stage with Antonio's son, the only survivor of the family. Both lament the misfortune that happened here.

Performances

The play was performed around 1613/1615 by the theater company The King's Men , which also included Shakespeare . However, the piece was printed and published in 1623 by Nicholas Okes. The title page contains the note that the text also contains numerous text passages that were deleted during the performance. This 4 ° edition from 1623 is the version on which all modern editions as well as the theater performances are based.

From its premiere until the 18th century, the play was one of the most frequently performed pieces on the English stage. In the 18th and early 19th centuries there were two revisions, 1733 under the title "The Fatal Secret" by Lewis Theobald and that by Richard Henry Horne for a production of the Theater royal Sadler's Wells on November 20, 1850 under the direction of Samuel Phelps . Horne created a defused version acceptable to a Victorian audience. Isabella Glyn (1823-1889), a stage star of her time, played the title role.

As a result, however, there was little to be gained from the bloodthirsty show and it gradually disappeared from the English repertoire.

During his exile in the USA around 1943/44 Bert Brecht wrote a new version of the drama together with WH Auden , which was premiered in 1945 under the title "The Duchess of Malfi" in the Metropolitan Theater in Providence , Rhode Island .

The play experienced a renaissance on stage after the Second World War, beginning with the spectacular staging in 1945 at the Haymarket Theater by George Ryland with Peggy Ashcroft in the title role and John Gielgud as Ferdinand. In England there have been a number of highly acclaimed productions for the theater, television or radio production. The Duchess, one of the great parade roles for actresses, were u. a. Portrayed by Peggy Ashcroft, Eileen Atkins , Eleanor Bron , Helena de Crespo, Judi Dench , Anastasia Hille, Janet McTeer , Helen Mirren , Aisling O'Sullivan , Kirsty Stuart, Janet Suzman and Harriet Walter . In 2019/20 the play was on the program of the Almeida Theater in London . Rebecca Frecknall directed, Lydia Wilson played the Duchess, Khalid Abdalla played Antonio and Leo Bill played Bosola.

The first performance of the play in the new translation by Elisabeth Plessen took place in the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg under the direction of Peter Zadek on October 10, 1985 .

Reception in the opera and in the film

Webster's piece formed the basis for three modern opera versions.

In 1949 the BBC produced a remake of the first film adaptation of the play from 1938 for television . Irene Worth played the title role in the black and white film .

In 1983 Michael Hoffman , advised by Oxford graduate John Schlesinger , made his debut film "Privileged", the first film to be funded by the Oxford University Film Foundation. In the comedy film, a group of Oxford students rehearses Webster's play, or a role is applied for. It was also the film debut for a number of actors who later had successful careers in the theater and in film, such as B. for Jonathan Cullen, Hugh Grant , Imogen Stubbs , James Wilby and Mark Williams . For Rachel Portman , later Oscar winner and composer nominated for two other Oscars, it was the first commission for a film score.

In 2001 Mike Figgis made the comedy film Hotel , which is about a film team that is involved in the filming of Webster's play under the direction of its arrogant director ( Rhys Ifans ). The "Duchess of Malfi" plays the role of a "piece in a piece". Saffron Burrows plays the role of the Duchess .

On January 15, 2014, the newly built Sam Wanamaker Playhouse was opened next to the London Globe with a production of the "Duchess of Malfi" by Dominic Dromgoole. Gemma Arterton played the Duchess, David Dawson played Ferdinand and Sean Gilder played Bosola. The BBC produced a DVD of this performance as part of the “Globe on Screen” series.

English editions (selection)

  • The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy . London: N. Okes, 1623
  • The duchess of Malfi: a tragedy, in five acts by John Webster . Adapted for modern performance, with remarks by D. G, London: TH Lacy, 1850.
  • The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster . With introductory essays by George Rylands and Charles Williams. London: Sylvan Press, 1945.
  • The duchess of Malfi . Edited by FL Lucas, London: Chatto & Windus, 1958.
  • The duchess of Malfi . Edited by Elizabeth M. Brennan. London: Ernest Benn, 1964.
  • The Duchess of Malfi . Edited by John Russell Brown . London: Methuen & Co, 1967.
  • The Duchess of Malfi . Edited by John Russell Brown. London: Methuen, 1969. (London edition: N. Okes, 1623 reprinted). ISBN 0-41629880-X
Edits
  • The Duchess of Malfi; A Tragedy in Five Acts . By John Webster. 1612. Reconstructed for Stage Representation, By RH Horne. As Produced At The Theater Royal, Sadler's Wells, November 20, 1850. The text was published by Tallis & Co. and reviewed in the Athenaeum for December 7, 1850.

German editions

With materials to the piece. At the same time the program book of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1984. ISBN 3-498-07306-0
  • The Duchess of Malfi . German by Alfred Marnau . With an imaginary portrait of the Duchess by Oskar Kokoschka and 12 photographs of the London performance in 1945 by Cecil Beaton . Greno, Nördlingen 1986. (Text in English and German). ISBN 3-921568-90-0
  • The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi . Translator BK Tragelehn . Berlin: Herschel Theaterverlag 2017.

literature

  • Karl Kiesow: The various adaptations of the novella by the Duchess of Amalfi of Bandello in the literatures of the XVI. and XVII. Century. (John Webster's Duchess of Malfi). In: Anglia . Vol. 17, 1895, No. 3, pp. 199-251 ( digitized version ); partly also as a dissertation, University of Leipzig 1894 ( digitized version )
  • Stefan Holacher: The Tragedy of the Duchesse of Malfy. in: Kindlers literature dictionary. Vol. 17. Stuttgart 2009, pp. 267-268. ISBN 978-3-476-04000-8
  • Christina Luckyi: The Duchess of Malfi. A critical guide. New York: Continuum 2011. ISBN 978-0-8264-4327-4
  • Pascale Aebischer: Screening Early Modern Drama: Beyond Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press 2013. ISBN 978-1-107-02493-9

Web links

Wikiquote: The Duchess of Malfi  - Quotes
Wikisource: The Duchess of Malfi  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elisabeth Frenzel : Substances of world literature. A lexicon of poetry-historical longitudinal sections . 10., revised. Edition Kröner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-520-30010-9 , pp. 267 .
  2. ↑ The Real Duchess of Amalfi. About the play. Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) , accessed February 21, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Milton Keynes, Monica Kendall: John Webster, The duchess of malfi. The Open University, London 1969.
  4. ↑ Jan Bloomfield: 'So Pure and Rational an Attachment': Isabella Glyn's Performance of Social and Sexual Risk at Sadler's Wells , Victoriannetwork, accessed February 24, 2020
  5. ↑ Jan Knopf (Ed.): Brecht-Handbuch Vol. 5 - Register, Chronicle, Materials . Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2003, ISBN 3-476-01833-4 .
  6. ↑ Kim Witman: WTOC 1978: Duchess of Malfi. In: Wolf Trap Opera. February 3, 2011, accessed on February 25, 2020 (English, includes copy of a newspaper report from 1978).
  7. ↑ IMDb
  8. ↑ Privileged in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  9. ↑ Privileged. In: filmaffinity UK. Retrieved February 24, 2020 .
  10. ↑ London: Shakespeare by candlelight. In: Ö1 . January 15, 2014, accessed February 26, 2020 .
  11. ↑ The Duchess of Malfi (2014) in the Internet Movie Database (English)