Magic piece
The magic play or magic game is a theatrical genre that flourished in the Baroque era , i.e. in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was mostly realized with elaborate stage technology , which enabled transformations on the open scene, contemplation , use of a deus ex machina and other spectacular performances (" Machine comedy ").
Historical requirements
Its prerequisite is the detachment of European society from medieval religiosity and the gradual consolidation of a modern, rational worldview. As soon as magic is technically feasible on the stage, which can be confirmed by a look behind the scenes, it loses its sinisterness and becomes socially acceptable as entertainment. The magic piece is then, in the words of Johann Heinrich Campe, “an enchanting piece, as well as a piece in which magic occurs”.
Characteristic
In the baroque magic pieces there is still a fundamental contradiction between being and appearance, between divine providence and human will, which preoccupied the people of the time. Magic pieces often contain ethical and moral demands (as so-called reform pieces , similar to medieval morality ). This is by Otto Rommel to the Jesuit drama returned.
A center of the (late) magic piece was the Leopoldstädter Theater in Vienna around 1800 with its in-house authors Josef Alois Gleich , Carl Meisl and Adolf Bäuerle in the genre of the old Viennese folk theater .
Mythological figures mix with fairytale figures in the staff of the magic pieces. The types of the Commedia dell'arte and other comical characters also appear occasionally. In a framework plot , gods and spirits often discuss the fate of the characters in the internal plot . Numerous magic pieces have emerged from the fist fabric .
Special forms of the magic piece are the magic opera (such as Kaspar, the bassoonist, or: The Magic Zither or The Magic Flute , both 1791) and the older pantomime (see, for example, Der victorious Cupid , 1814).
Further developments
The magic piece has not been taken seriously since the 19th century. Ferdinand Raimund tried to counteract this development by filling it with romantic content. The magic piece lost its ideological background and either moved to “naive” children's theater or became a more outward spectacle of impressive technology and equipment (like the Feerie or later the American Extravaganza ).
The fantasy film developed from the magic piece, as shown, for example, in early film examples by Georges Méliès . The fascination with the stage machinery has now shifted to the special effects and visual effects in film.
Web links
- Gotthilf Weisstein: History of Magic Ants (PDF file; 4.36 MB)