The Princesse d’Élide’s Récit de l’Aurore

20 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comédie galante, Comédie-Ballet, Fêtes galantes, Gallantry

Tags

Dom Garcie de Navarre, Galant Music, Il Cortegiano, Jean-Baptiste Lully, l'honnête homme, La Princesse d'Élide, Le Galant homme, Le Récit de l'Aurore

Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux par François Boucher, dessin, et Laurent Cars, gravure

Our next play is Dom Garcie de Navarre. It was not a success, but it is a fine discourse on jealousy.

I must also mention that Molière’s Princesse d’Élide is not entirely rooted in Agustín Moreto‘ El Desdén, con el desdén, (Scorn for Scorn). I forgot to mention that Molière was also influenced by Rabelais′ Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Third of Five Books [eBook #1200]. Panurge wonders whether he should marry. (See Chapter Three of the Third Book of Gargantua and Pantagruel.)

Moreover, before leaving la Princesse d’Élide, a comédie galante, the word galant should be investigated. Although Italy’s Baldassare Castiglione wrote Il Cortegiano, France is the birthplace of both l’honnête homme and le galant homme. As I have noted in an earlier post, sprezzatura is not associated with l’honnête homme because “honnêteté” is not a stance. L’honnête homme had to be virtuous.

I should also note that the term ‘galant,’ overrides disciplines. I know the word ‘galant’ mainly from musicology classes. Johann Sebastian Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, was a founder of the galant style in music and, according to the Wikipedia entry on galant music, Johann Christian Bach took it further. Galant music is less complex than Baroque music.

However, the term galant originates in France where the galant homme was a close relative of l’honnête homme. The birth of l’honnête homme can be traced back to Baldassare Castiglione. But l‘honnête homme was not a “dandy.”

RÉCIT DE L’AURORE

Quand l’amour à vos yeux offre un choix agréable,
Jeunes beautés laissez-vous enflammer:
Moquez-vous d’affecter cet orgueil indomptable,
Dont on vous dit qu’il est beau de s’armer:
Dans l’âge où l’on est aimable
Rien n’est si beau que d’aimer.

[When Love presents a charming choice
Respond to his flame, oh youthful fair!
Do not affect a pride which no one can subdue,
Though you’ve been told such pride becomes you well.
When one is of a lovely age.]

Soupirez librement pour un amant fidèle,
Et bravez ceux qui voudraient vous blâmer;
Un cœur tendre est aimable, et le nom de cruelle
N’est pas un nom à se faire estimer:

↵ Dans l’âge

Dans le temps où l’on est belle,
Rien n’est si beau que d’aimer.

[Breathe freely sighs for him who faithful loves
And challenge those who wish to blame your ways.
A tender heart is lovely; but a cruel maid
Will never be a title to esteem.
When one is fair and beautiful
Naught is so handsome as to love.]

RELATED ARTICLES

Molière’s “Forced Marriage” or “Le Mariage forcé” (1 July 2019)
Gallantry and “l’honnête homme” (16 April 2016)

Love to everyone 💕

Panurge by Albrecht Dürer (BnF)

The Post that Posted itself

11 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comédie galante, Comédie-Ballet, Molière

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Comédie galante, Comédie-Ballet, La Princesse d'Élide, Molière

La Lecture de Molière par François de Troy

I cannot post anything that requires more than one screen. In fact, I must use a keyboard that is placed on my screen. I cannot even scroll down properly. In short, I must wait for the new computer to be formatted. I may be away for a few days.

My post on the Molière’s Princess of Ellis has been written. As a wrote, the princesse’s father has invited three princes in the hope his daughter would fall in love with one of them. She falls in love with the prince d’Ithaque who must ignore her in order to be loved by her. But her view of marriage prevents marrying. She compares marriage to death, which it is if a husband forces his wife into intercourse and pregnancies.

There is nothing wrong with making love and having children, but Molière recognized that marriage enslaved a woman unless a husband was very respectful of his wife’s privacy and intimacy.

Yet, most of us are almost nothing without “the other” and our beloved little ones.

So, we have at least two main themes:

love as jealousy.
marriage as enslavement and death.

The interludes feature an attack by a boar and an attack by a bear, but at the very beginning of the play, Molière has placed a carpe diem, or seize the day, as illnesses could be overwhelming and death was Pascal’s “last and bloody act.” “Le dernier acte est toujours sanglant.” The play is embedded in interludes: dancing, singing, and the start and the end are Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée (The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island).

La Princesse d’Élide is rooted in a play by Spanish author Moreto entitled Scorn for Scorn (El Desdén, con el desdén), (le dédain, le mépris).

Let this little post be.

Love to everyone

Jean-Baptiste Lully, Aria de “La Princesse d’Elide”
Carlos Jaime (violín barroco)

Bergère rêvant par François Boucher (victorugo.blogspot.com)

Comments and a Glimpse at “La Princesse d’Élide”

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Comédie galante, Comedy, Molière

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Comédie galante, Henri van Laun book form, La Princesse d'Élide, Les Plaisirs de l'Île enchantée, Molière, The Princess of Ell

La Princesse d’Élide (théâtre-documentation.com)

Henri van Laun’s translation of The Princess of El(l)is (La Princesse d’Élide), and other plays by Molière, are available from bookstores. The volumes are facsimile reprints. I will continue to read Mr. van Laun’s exceptional translations online, because I can copy quotations.

https://www.amazon.ca/Dramatic-Works-Moliere-V2-Princess/dp/0548858594

Rating

I should also explain that the Internet “boxes” that contain a photograph of me do not ask that I be rated, but that the play be rated. This may have been a Google initiative. The positive side is that attention is brought to Molière’s plays.

As you know, my posts are a reading of Molière’s plays. They provide insights on Molière, but I write as though I were teaching a course on Molière. A class is more informative and more general. It is the first step. Scholarly articles are more analytical and authors embed their article in the literature on the subject.

Using Internet Archives

I have used Internet Archives‘ publication of Mr. van Laun’s translations of Molière. Volumes appear in book form, which means that one can turn the pages. In order to copy a quotation, one scrolls down the page. There is a PDF version and other versions of the play. Using a PDF version does not cause the page to disappear.

So, we will carry on.

Here are a few words on our subject. In The Princess of E(l)lis, a princess does not want to marry. Her father invites three princes hoping she will change her mind. She falls in love with le prince d’Ithaque, but when the play ends, she has yet to accept marriage.

The princess loves le prince d‘Ithaque as much as he loathes marriage.

The play, a comédie galante, has interludes. In one interlude, Moron is attacked by a bear, but he is saved. This reminds us of the Amants magnifiques‘ boar. To a large extent, La Princesse d’Élide‘s interludes are an apology of love, but the Princess cannot face the reality of marriage. At the end of the sixth interlude, the third day of the divertissement royal, Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée, begins. The comedy galante is preceded by the first day of Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée, during which Tartuffe was also performed and condemned.

The Princess of Elis was not completed. It is une comédie inachevée. In fact, at the beginning of the play Molière uses verses, but, at one point, he says that he will henceforth use prose as demands are being made on him.