Adolphe Appia

Adolphe Appia François ( born September 1, 1862 in Geneva, † February 29, 1928 in Nyon ) was a Swiss architect, designer and theorist. He is a son of Louis Appia, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Life

First encounter with the theater

Adolphe Appia was already fascinated by the theater early, could, however, because of his strict Calvinist parents house, which the theater had a very negative attitude, attend a performance at the age of 16 years. It was this is a production of Charles Gounod's Faust, which he was allowed ( by his parents reluctantly allowed), in the great theater of Geneva, which was considered the most beautiful of its time, visit as part of his music studies. But in contrast to the young Louis of Bavaria, the disillusionment was boundless with him. Appia was disappointed by the performance, especially the flimsiness of the then customary perspective, illusionistic stage set bothered him. This suggested a three-dimensionality that was broken as soon as an actor got on stage. ( The actor finally played a real, three-dimensional space, thus, a discrepancy between actor and stage arises due to perspective shifts. )

Encounter with the works of Richard Wagner

Appia studied music in Geneva, Paris, Leipzig and Dresden and was impressed in particular by the works of Richard Wagner, who with his later operas a new art form, the musical drama created. In addition, Wagner renewed his Festspielhaus in Bayreuth and the theater.

The first Wagner performance, the Appia - in Wagner 's lifetime - saw was a production of Parsifal in Bayreuth, 1882 A biographer described this experience as follows:.

"He is entranced by the dramatic music, he sees in the Wagnerian music drama, the drama of the future; he admired the hidden orchestra, the amphitheater auditorium and whose blackout during the performance. However, the stage appears to him as a giant keyhole, through which one learns secrets in indiscreetly that are not for a determined; the Bayreuth decorations, costumes and lighting effects are just as conventional as the Geneva despite the larger luxury. "

So this is again a reaction, which was dominated by the perspective stage. Appia felt therefore a glaring discrepancy between the extraordinary work of Wagner and the quite conventional staging. He worked intensively from now on with the implementation of the works of Wagner. This employment was mainly supported by the friendship with Houston Stewart Chamberlain, a confident Wagnerian, the " behind the scenes " got him through his contacts access the theater. 1889-1890 Appia was in Dresden apprentice at Hugo Bähr, the " Father of lights ", who was known for his lighting experiments in the German theater and its innovations in Bayreuth were used.

First writings and sketches

1891/1892 made ​​Appia prompt books and sketches to Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen, Die Meistersinger and Tristan und Isolde. From these sketches starting, he finally began theories of stage experience to formulate: In 1895 he wrote his first reform magazine La mise en scène du drame wagnérien, in 1899 his main work, the music and the Inscenierung followed, in which he, the interplay between the movement of the actor of space and light demanded. The stage should also appear three-dimensional and be perceptible, as the body of the actor itself

Appia claimed that the perspective stage mastered the practice of theater. The actor had his movements always subordinate to the stage to maintain the illusion of it produced, and will thus narrowed substantially. The solution to this problem was the establishment of a strict hierarchy for Appia: Composer Music performer - stage design. Appia claims in the work of the composer - playwright ( he was referring primarily to Wagner's works ) have any element of the production is obtained. Its music dictate the rhythm "of staging, while at the same time the libretto demanded by the performer acts " dictate.

" The actions that are subordinated to the music, found in a particular room instead (as in a certain time), and this space in turn, makes the actor the terrain and the objects available which he needs for his movements and his gestures. In this manner - says Appia - the music that already controls the time of the performance, also check the room: through the mediation of the actor she is, as it is transported into the room and takes physical form. "

Thus, the space does not submit more to the stage, but the intention of the composer or the playwright himself by being tapped by the actions required by the libretto by the actor. In this hierarchy, therefore, the stage is determined by the production and not production for the stage. The stage itself should consist of plastic objects, which can then also be recorded. However Appia demanded no naturalistic stage sets. The place in the theater should be no image of a real place, but " the hint generated by the simplest means of an artistically appropriate place ." Appia also made ​​some reflections on the stage lights. He distinguished between:

• Diffuse or distributed light: This is as a primer and is neutral. Its function is to illuminate the stage area.
• Formative or creative light: This consists of different, even mobile -rays and has to have the ability to track objects appear on the stage and then disappear.

In the theater practice to Appias time the stage was so illuminated by the spotlight that the light no longer worked creatively, as could eventually there are no shadows. The only existing shadows were painted instead of the stage. Appia went with his designs based on such considerations to Bayreuth. His friend, Chamberlain was able to organize a conversation with Cosima Wagner, which, however, refused Appia's ideas.

First production

In the course of his acquaintance with the Countess Renée de Bearn, Appia had the opportunity in 1903, for the first time put his theories into practice. In Paris, in the private theater of the Countess he realized parts of Robert Schumann's Manfred and Georges Bizet's Carmen. The productions in which Appia worked mainly with a space of exclusively three-dimensional objects and " formative " light, aroused great interest and was a great success. Nevertheless, it happened because of a rivalry with, also in the context of the Countess acting, Spanish painter and lighting experts Mariano Fortuny, no further performances. Again Appia was denied access to the theater with practical work.

Encounter with Dalcroze

1906 Emile Jaques- Dalcroze Appia met. Appia was impressed by its system of rhythmic exercises and saw in his rhythmic gymnastics great potential for the theater. " Appia felt [ ... ] that the Rhythmic Gymnastics could offer him a solution to a problem with which he had studied before: as the temporal can be systematically transformed into physicality that musical time and the three-dimensional based on it body movement in the space can be transferred. " Appia learned nor the Dalcroze Rhythmic Gymnastics and could persuade the flat area where the exercises were held to extend by stairs and platforms. Appia finally designed the method of rhythmic education contrapuntal architectures that « Espaces rythmiques " ( Rhythmic rooms), which formed a contrast to the subtleties of the actors body with their sharp lines and their rigidity. Dalcroze Rhythmic Gymnastics understood by, as opposed to Appia, however, no " art or spectacle " and could be convinced of the relevance of his artistic exercises only gradually from Appia. 1910 Dalcroze was given the opportunity in the newly-founded Garden City, Hellerau to found a school for Rhythmic Gymnastics. Appia was here used by him as a visual artistic advisor and was thus already influence the planning of the Festspielhaus. He also persuaded Dalcroze a venue without the usual proscenium stage, instead of creating a space " in the spectator area and play area into one another and are only occasionally separated by a retractable orchestra pit ." Picking up the separation between the playing surface and the auditorium was also a social gesture for Appia. She brought the audience to a new position in which he was no longer a passive consumer, but also get actively involved in the piece - " theater was no longer an illusion that you watched, but a real event that you experienced. "

More work

Appia realized with Dalcroze and 1914 performances in Hellerau near Dresden and created there the great hall of the Training Institute Jaques -Dalcroze (now Festspielhaus Hellerau ). In 1912 he staged the opera Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Willibald Gluck in Hellerau. With Arturo Toscanini, he brought 1923 Tristan and Isolde on stage and then also created stage sets for Wagner's Das Rheingold and Walküre.

Quotes

"We no longer want on the stage to see things as we know they are, but the way we feel. "

" Appia has given me the courage to do what I'm doing. It is very important for all of us in the modern theater. His theater is architecturally designed with an undisguised dynamism and beautiful proportions. His light for the stage is thought by its architecture, with strong, forceful lines. He has developed a complete vocabulary for the theater. "

" Appia has opened up new avenues. He took us back out to the size and to the eternal principles. He was a musician and architect and has taught us that the musical life that surrounds the dramatic action, determines and regulates the same time creates the space in which the action takes place. "

2006 saw the first German-language monograph on the stage revolutionary.

" Instead of a zusammengeleimten cardboard, fabric and wire and antediluvian lit called Appia in which the music must be the source of production; rather than spurious reality, he wanted to create a theatrical space that expands the perception. The effects of these reforms, by Emil Preetorius of Wieland Wagner to Robert Wilson are known as Appia's writings themselves [ ... ] Fascinating understand is that Appia his time half a century ahead. Even in the twenties he had to put up with the accusation that its designed for Toscanini scenery was . "

Writings

• La mise en scène du Drame Wagnerien. Paris 1895
• The music and the Inscenierung. Munich 1899
• About the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. (1902 ) In: Herbert Barth: Richard Wagner's work in Bayreuth. From 1876 to 1976. Munich 1976 ( pp. 99-103 )