François Delsarte

François -Alexandre -Nicolas- Chéri Delsarte ( born November 11, 1811 in Solesmes, † July 20, 1871 in Paris) was a French speaker Overcoat, movement educator and founder of the Delsarte system.

Life

François Delsarte began as an orphan trained as a porcelain painter. After the granting of a scholarship he received vocal training. He studied from 1825 to 1829 at the Conservatoire de Paris. After that, he was employed as a tenor at the Opéra -Comique. However, he strained his voice, which forced him to quit and encouraged to rethink the illustrative embodiments. Delsarte was more interested and more for the connections between language, music and movement, as well as between sensation and physical expression. So he became a reformer of the stage arts technically sophisticated, but in some places held to be unnatural his time. He wanted to build up the training of actors and singers on observations of everyday behavior rather than the rehearsal of techniques. In addition, Delsarte tried a scientific basis of his methodology. He became the forerunner of naturalism in the theater.

Since 1839 held Delsarte from his Cours d' esthétique appliqué, which were attended by well-known theater artists and artists like Henriette Sontag or Rachel. He believed that theater actor could come in the way of certain postures for an authentic feel and their role adequate expression. In later years, his teaching was, however, often misunderstood as a guide to melodramatic posturing.

Reception

First was Delsarte as a drama teacher; known to date is his formative influence the reforms of stage dance in 1900 and of expressive dance: By the help of his assistants Steele MacKaye Dels Artes teaching methods since 1871 in the United States known as a kind of gymnastics ( Delsartism ) were. On the Delsarte system latched seamlessly onto successor Emile Jaques -Dalcroze, or as Ruth St. Denis. It had a lasting effect as the avant-garde stage dance (such as Isadora Duncan ) as the modern music and movement education ( Rhythmic education, Eurythmics and Alexander Technique ).

The so-called biomechanics of the director Vsevolod Meyerhold Emiljewitsch hand turn back on methods of Delsarte.