In the Valais canton, the sun rises over a pathway and a small wooden house. The mountains appear in the background. It is spring; the goatherd’s horn can be heard in the valley and the goats come running. The village of Savièze comes to life: the girls riding on mules’ backs go to work in the vineyard, two women are chatting, the pigs try to run away from the farmers,… A family of English tourists goes on a walk guided by Lord Quick, who is leading his daughters as a shepherd guides his flock… A storm breaks out in the valley, forcing the tourists, the shepherds and the animals to seek shelter. After the storm, the hikers finish climbing the high mountain and a chamois hunt resumes. Bells and prayers can be heard as a procession slowly walks towards the old chapel of Savièze: the women, the penitents, the priests, the altar children and the elderly are all part of it. The village finally celebrates Christmas before falling asleep under the snow.

Shadow theatre

All audiences

Switzerland

Geneva

Printed outline

Mountain

Seasons

Storm

Bucolic

Christmas

Alps

Tourism

Nature

Realist

Lyrical

Comical

Outline of Henri van Muyden's Goatherd for En Valais, copied in Le Sapajou.

French

Goat

Shepherd

Tourist

English man

Painter

Bull

Porcher

Hunter

Chamois

Daughter

Penitent

Choirboy

Old man

Priest

Barker

Procession

Apotheosis

Song

Comical foreign accent

En Valais

Addressing the Great Saint Bernard Pass directly, the narrator tells the story of the region, from the first hunters to the passage of Bonaparte’s armies. The silence in the peaks of the mountains is broken by the arrival of the first nomadic people, then by the clamour of the wars which have shaped the history of Europe (Hannibal, the Roman emperor; Attila; Marignano). Saint Bernard founded a refuge and a monastic order in the Pass, to rescue lost travellers. The retreat of the Swiss army against Bonaparte’s troops introduces the final tableau, which celebrates Peace and Charity.

Not specified

Printed

Peace

Charity

Shelter

Heroism

Monk

Epic

Le Saint-Bernard (front cover)

Warrior

Hannibal

Horse

Elephant

Julius Caesar

Attila

Saint Bernard

Sculptor monk

Napoleon

Addressed story

Battlefield scene

Le Saint-Bernard

The Saint-Bernard

George Sand arrives in Geneva, where Liszt and his lover Marie de Flavigny, countess d’Agoult, live. Their house is empty when she arrives, and a letter by Liszt lets her know that they have gone to Chamonix. One of the couple’s friends, adjuvant Pictet, lets her in, but he believes her to be a man because of her travel clothes. Liszt and Marie come back. George Sand dresses as a woman and they all laugh at the adjuvant’s mistake. The play ends with a song in which they make fun of Genevan narrow-mindedness.