travesty

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mr. William, "smallest lady actor in the world" from the troop of Neumann's Lilliputians (around 1900)

The theatrical travesty (from French travesti 'disguised') describes the representation of a stage role by people of the opposite sex. This is also widespread in cabaret .

Antiquity

In the theater of ancient Greece all roles were played by men. From the masks used one could see the gender and the role. In the theater of ancient Rome women were allowed to take on roles, but the social position of actresses was very low, they belonged to the demimonde and were often mentioned in the same breath as prostitutes. The actors were not doing much better either, they were compared to dishonorable dismissed soldiers, couplers, thieves and swindlers. Individual actors achieved great fame. Early Christian authors and church fathers, such as John Chrysostomos (349-407), railed against Miminnen and saw in them a danger to the family life of good Christians. The early Christians were also otherwise hostile to the various plays, and so the medieval theater was apparently limited to passion plays.

middle Ages

The climate began to change in the late Middle Ages. Games of the Enfants sans souci and the Confrérie de la Passion with also integrated secular content were performed in Paris from the end of the 14th century, moralistic mystery games also from the 14th century in the United Kingdom, and small carnival games in the German-speaking area from the 15th century. In France, female actors are recorded for female roles from the 14th century, in the German-speaking area, however, only from the 16th century.

Theater in the uk

Mary Anne Keeley (1805-1899) in a trouser role

In England in the 16th century a theatrical system arose that was unique in Europe since antiquity and reached its heyday with the Elizabethan Theater (approx. 1559–1625). Women were not wanted on the professional stage and their roles were played by young boy actors . During the interregnum from 1642 to 1660, the Puritans closed all theaters for religious and ideological reasons. After that, the theater tradition revived with the support of the ruler and the first professional actresses appeared. After the Stuart Restoration (from 1660) they soon played an important role in the theater, both as actresses and as authors. Trouser roles became very fashionable and it is estimated that a quarter of all pieces produced in London in the second half of the 17th century included one or more roles for women in men's clothing. Many famous actresses of the time were known for their ability in male roles. Even bon vivants like Macheath in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera were played by women. According to the posters and announcements of that time, the men's clothing only partially obscured the female contours - apparently deliberately.

ballet

Sarah Louisa Fairbrother - wife of George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge  - as Abdullah in Open Sesame , 1848

The ballet developed in the 15th and 16th centuries from those listed on the Italian and French royal courts acting as well as dancing party game was no art form and also the men reserved. Louis XIV founded the Académie Royale de danse in Paris in 1661 , after which ballet underwent an enormous further development and slowly separated from courtly ceremonies. Women's roles were danced “en travestie” by men. At the performance of the court ballet Hercule amoureux by the composer and dancer Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1662 at Versailles Palace , the distinguished ladies of aristocratic society danced for the first time. From 1681 women were also allowed to dance in public, but the art of dancing was dominated by men until the first half of the 19th century. Travesty was still used for solid grotesques, where the costume fraud underlined the comedic or disreputable note of the performance. In the second half of the 19th century, in the age of romantic ballet, the situation in France was almost completely reversed. From the 1840s to the 1860s, "danseuses en travestie" (dancers in disguise, travesty dancers) dominated many male roles. This phenomenon only disappeared again in the days of the Paris Commune from 1871. The siblings Fanny Elßler and Therese Elßler received applause for their manless pas de deux and for many contemporary witnesses they were the epitome of artistic travesty. The German Franz Grillparzer and the Danish August Bournonville , however, criticized this representation.

Church, opera, castrati and trouser roles

After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by crusaders and Venetians, castrati were no longer mentioned in historiography, they reappeared in Italy in the middle of the 16th century (approx. From 1556). In Rome forbade Pope Sixtus V in 1588, the participation of women in the theaters of the Papal States . On June 7, 1587, he pronounced a ban on castration . In church music, high voices could easily be cast with boys and Spanish falsettists who had a sophisticated technique were used for a long time . In 1589 he reorganized the Vatican musical system with the bull Cum pro nostri temporali munere . During the tenure of Clement VIII. Pietro Paolo Folignato and Girolamo Rossini, the first official castrati in the Sistine Chapel , the Pope's personal choir, appeared from 1599 . In the early seventeenth century all soprano voices there were castrati. It is possible that Francesco Torres (entry date May 20, 1562), Francisco Soto de Langa (June 6, 1562), Giovanni Figueroa (April 7, 1563) and Giovanni Figueroa (1588) were castrati, they are in the Vatican Books but registered as falsettists.

Pope Innocent XI. announced on May 4, 1686: "Music is extremely damaging to the modesty that is quite common for women, because it distracts them from their actual business and occupations [...] they should learn neither to sing nor to play any instrument." Pope Clement XI. (Pontificate 1700–1721) reiterated the prohibition of Sixtus V on the grounds that “no woman should learn music out of intent with heavy punishment in order to be used as a singer, because one knows that a beauty that is on the To sing theater and still want to keep her chastity, to do nothing else than jump into the Tiber and not want to get your feet wet. "

The falsettists sang exclusively in church and boys were unsuitable for the opera that was established from 1598 onwards. Compared to falsettists, castrati have a much larger vocal range towards the top and a larger lung volume compared to boys. The roles written for castrati were often heroic male roles, often heroes from history and mythology. But already at the premiere of Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo - for some the first opera ever - in 1607 the roles of Orfeo and Euridice were sung by the castrati Giovanni Gualberto Magli and Girolamo Bacchini . In areas where the church had banned female actors, castrati took on the roles of women in opera. Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz (1741–1812) praised the sophistication with which the castrati depicted female gestures, facial expressions and habitus with the words: “[...] these creatures have made it so far in imitation that the uninformed viewer from a distance impossible to guess their gender. Since the greatest obstacle is lifted by the voice, they try to imitate the rest of the gait, posture, gestures and manners as perfectly as possible, so that on this side the spectacle does not suffer in the least. ”Many a blind and ignorant person fell in love himself too.

Charlotte Charke (1713–1760, here in pink) as Damon in the “pastoral farce” / opera Damon and Phillida by her father Colley Cibber . Painted by William Jones , 1740.

Kastrati were most popular from the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 18th century, and opera roles were written until the early 19th century. A few castrati were very successful and highly paid, so that sometimes women presented themselves as castrati. The less good ones eke out their existence in church choirs, the bad ones easily became the mockery of the people. With the Napoleonic Wars and the decline of papal power, castration was increasingly viewed as inhumane. Since the 18th century, women have returned to the opera stage more frequently and female contralti have taken on their roles due to the dwindling number of castrati . Even today many of these roles are sung by women in trouser roles . Sometimes you transpose the pitch for a tenor and nowadays use is made in the context of historical performance practice of counter tenors , if possible.

But also the trousers role planned from the outset , especially mezzo-sopranos , was promoted by what we see today as “artificial” taste in the Baroque and Rococo periods . At the premiere of Handel's Serse in 1738, for example, in addition to a castrato in the title role, two women in male roles also appeared. Women in trouser roles played mostly young boys and this type of representation was particularly popular from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries.

In his inaugural year, on November 22, 1903, Pope Pius X reformed church music with the Motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini , according to which new castrati were no longer allowed to sing in the papal choir and at the same time he praised the purely male Gregorian chant as the actual song of the Roman Church and supreme example of all church music. Alessandro Moreschi (1858–1922) sang in the papal chapel until 1913, after which he was director of the choir and in 1917 he retired.

Modern until today

Vesta Tilley (1864–1952), English gentleman actress
Fritz Thurm-Silvaré as a lady actor for the winter thyme singers in Dresden (1905 or before)
Conchita Wurst at the ESC 2014
Dr. Frank N. Furter (Rocky Horror Show)

With the establishment of the profession of actress , the (male) travesty changed to the idealization or parodistic exaggeration of the gender role ( see also drag queen ), in which the actors wear clothes of the opposite sex (mostly men in women's clothes, less often the other way around). One speaks of the art of travesty, the "art of travesty", the "art of metamorphosis" and of the travesty artist, depending on your preference. In the meantime, the term travestite is also used, but not the female form. Travesty is not tied to a specific sexual orientation .

The artists' repertoire ranges from imitating stars to parodying them and creating their own characters. Eccentric divas are often imitated or their behavior is partially incorporated into one's own representation as style-forming elements. What is noticeable about travesty performances is the humorous play with more or less crude sexual suggestions . Most of the shows are in the cheerful subject and music and singing often play a major role. In Germany, actors such as Mary & Gordy , Lilo Wanders and Olivia Jones have become very well known (as well-known foreign artists, Ru Paul (USA) , Charles Pierce (USA) or Dame Edna (AUS) should be mentioned) . Travesty shows can be found in many large cities. Well-known venues in Germany are the Schmidt Theater and the Pulverfass Cabaret in Hamburg, Theater im Keller in Berlin, the Travestie-Revue-Theater Carte Blanche in Dresden, the RevuePalast Ruhr in Herten and the Startreff-Follies in Cologne. In addition to the permanent venues, there are also numerous travesty ensembles that present their art at different venues.

Two of the most famous travesty roles are the character of Zaza from the play and the film " A Cage Full of Fools " and Dr. Frank N. Furter from the musical and film " The Rocky Horror ( Picture ) Show ". The Austrian singer and travesty artist Tom Neuwirth in the role of Conchita Wurst achieved widespread attention in 2014 when he won the 59th Eurovision Song Contest .

The well-known English comedian Eddie Izzard steps onto the stage as a transvestite, but neither does it thematize nor play it in the foreground and shows how travesty, one's own being in opposite-sex clothing, can also be.

Burlesque developed under the influence of guest performances by German travesty shows at the end of the 19th century in the United States, where women - very unusual for the time - appeared in trousers and this was viewed as erotic .

etymology

From the Latin words trans ("over") and vestire ("to clothe") the Italian word travestire , which means "to disguise", developed.

In the 16th century, the synonymous French verb travestir was copied from this word . The adjective travesti , or travestie , means “disguised”. The rôle travesti is the trouser role and in ballet, where the dominant language is French, opposite-sex roles are danced en travesti or en travestie .

From this the German name of the acting travesty arose. The figurative, comedic meaning of this word from the field of literature was first used and the artists discussed here were referred to as imitators of women and the shows as "men as women". From the 1970s onwards, the greats of travesty shows propagated this term. A center of these shows was Paris at the time. In order to free the travesty show from the filthy image, they tried, among other things, to differentiate themselves from the transvestite who were considered “perverted” and “sick”.

The word travesty as a name for a comic poem took a detour via the English language. The English word travesty was formed in the 17th century from the French verb, prompted by Paul Scarron's piece Le Virgile travesti (1648, English: Virgile travesty ). From there it was borrowed in the 18th century.

Demarcation

Curt Delander in his star role as "Zarah L."

The travesty ("disguise": the travesty artist takes off his disguise in the cloakroom at the latest) is to be distinguished from:

  • Transvestism ("over-dressing"): Transvestites slip into the clothes of the opposite sex in everyday life (see transvestite gender roles worldwide ); with transvestite fetishism the sexual aspect is in the foreground.
  • Drag Queen (man) and Drag King (woman): Both play with the art form of travesty as a means of exaggerated and exaggerated opposite-sex disguise, but this takes place away from the stage and is more or less permanently integrated into everyday life.
  • Transgender : People who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth and who either switch from one sex to the other within the bisexual man / woman ( transsexuality ), or who completely reject both categories and define themselves as non-binary (also: genderqueer, gender -fluid, agender ).
  • " Tunte ": This expression is used in both heterosexual and homosexual circles to denote those gays who are noticeable for their effeminate behavior.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Travesty  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Actress Mary Anne Keeley in a 'Breeches Role' . ( Memento of June 18, 2006 on the Internet Archive ) London Metropolitan Archives; accessed on October 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ Ken Gewertz: When men were men (and women, too): Through playbills, posters, photos, 'Cross-Dressing on the Stage' brings history to life. In: Harvard University Gazette , July 17, 2003.
  3. ^ A b Klaus Sator: Dance and Homosexuality. Sexual identities behind and on stage. In: Fachverband Homosexualität und Geschichte e. V. (Ed.): Invertito - Yearbook for the History of Homosexualities , 5th year (2003): Between Camouflage and Provocation: Homosexualities in Art and Culture. ISBN 3-935596-25-1 .
  4. ↑ Dorion Weickmann: The trained body: cultural history of ballet (1580-1870). Campus Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-593-37111-1 , p. 326 ff.
  5. ↑ a b c d Ulrich Linke: Out of stock? Homosexuality in the Opera . ( Memento of May 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) As of September 24, 2002.
  6. ^ A b J. Jennifer Jones: Opera and Romanticism - Sounds Romantic: The Castrato and English Poetics Around 1800. University of Maryland; Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  7. ↑ a b Manfred Vasold: When women in the church have to be silent. on: faz.net , March 16, 2005.
  8. ↑ Enrico Cannata: Vocile de copii si rolul lor in cadrul muzicii clasice. ( Memento from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Vocile de copii si rolul lor in cadrul muzicii clasice. on: hymnology.ro .
  9. ↑ Birthe Schwarz: Playing with the gender roles. Castrati and prima donnas in 18th century music theater. In: Stefan Fragner, Jan Hemming, Beate Kutschke: Gender Studies and Music. Gender roles and their importance for musicology. ConBrio, Regensburg 1998, ISBN 3-932581-04-0 , pp. 75-84.
  10. ↑ From Nero to Romeo. perlentaucher.de ; accessed on October 11, 2017.
  11. ↑ Quoted from Hubert Ortkemper: Engel against will. The world of the castrati. Henschel, Berlin 1993, p. 78.
  12. ↑ Patricia Juliana Smith: Castrati. (PDF; 28.5 kB) In: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. 2002.
  13. ^ Corinne E. Blackmer, Patricia Juliana Smith: Opera. (PDF; 42 kB) In: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. 2002
  14. ^ Gerhard Truig: German dictionary. Mosaik Verlag, new edition 1980, ISBN 3-570-00771-5 .
  15. ^ Il Vocabolario Etimologico Pianigiani. 1907 & 1926, online version
  16. ↑ a b travesty. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 21 : T – Treftig - (XI, 1st section, part 1). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1935, Sp. 1567 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).