Atys (Attis) tells his cousin Sangaride that she is going to marry the prince Célénus (Celænus); then they both confess their love for each other. Having fallen in love with Atys, the goddess Cybèle (Cybele) declares her love to him in a dream. Believing that Atys is unfaithful, Sangaride agrees to marry Célénus. Atys opposes the marriage and flees with Sangaride. To punish Atys, Cybèle commands Esculape (Asclepius) and his apothecaries to drive him insane. Blinded by madness, Atys kills Sangaride. When he realises his crime, Atys begs Cybèle to bring Sangaride back to life, which she does, but changing the young woman into a hen, and Atys into a capon.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

Fuzelier Louis

France

Paris

Printed

Opera

Love

Wedding

Jealousy

Revenge

Death

Death resurrected

Greek mythology

Capon

Grandparents

Ovid

Parodistic

Comical

La Grand-Mère amoureuse, frontispiece in Le Théâtre de la Foire ou l'Opéra comique, tome VIII, 1731.

French

Parodie d'Atys

Attis

Sangaride

Idas

Cybele

Rhea

Phrygian (man)

Priest

River

God of Sleep

Morpheus

Dreams

Asclepius

Apothecary

Phrygian (woman)

Tributaries

Stream

Instrumental tune

Metamorphosis

Love rivalry

Flying machine

Sung scenes

Dream

Final song

La Grand-Mère amoureuse

The Grand-Mother in love

The only spirit which the magician Negrocephalus is able to invoke on that day is the rooster spirit of Gockelhahn. The spirit informs him that his wife, the Gackerackack chick, is hatching a golden egg, which he promises to bring to Negrocephalus. The tired magician goes to his cabinet and asks his famulus Putzlmayer to keep watch. However, Putzlmayer prefers having fun by doing magic, thanks to Negrocephalus’s spellbook. He too invokes Gockelhahn, who comes back with the promised egg. Putzlmayer gets scared after hearing a voice coming from the egg and informs Negrocephalus before fleeing. Whoever is inside the egg keeps asking to be let out, and Negrocephalus starts worrying too. He swears to the being inside the egg that he will not eat it before daring to break the shell with his magic wand. After a series of thunderclaps and lightning, Kasperl comes out of the egg.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Manuscript

Birth

Nativity

Myth

Spirits

Wine

Donkey

Rooster

Magic

Sorcery

Learning

Faust

Laziness

Nonchalance

Cheekiness

Fantasy

German

Magician

Famulus

Cock, cockerel

Verschiedene Erscheinungen welche nicht zum Vorschein kommen

Apparition

Kasperl

Prologue

Spectacular turn of events

Magic act

Comical regional accent

Unveiling

Talking animal

Off-stage voice

Object coming to life

Address to the public

Versified passages

Pyrotechnics

Das goldene Ei

The Golden Egg

With the hope of finding some gold, Pierrot and Polichinelle break into the Sorcier’s (Sorcerer) house, but they are caught by a Poule noire (Black Hen) that attacks them. Polichinelle runs away with the Poule, but Pierrot, trapped, hides in a cauldron. Panicked, the Sorcier calls his colleagues for help, and they all try to bring the Poule back using a potion prepared in the cauldron. Pierrot moves around in the cauldron (which makes the Sorciers run away) and uncovers himself. To punish him, the Sorcier turns his head into that of a donkey. Meanwhile, Polichinelle is starving and kills the Poule, making it disappear: the Diable (Devil) appears in its stead. To punish Polichinelle, the Diable gives him the head of a red donkey. Polichinelle and Pierrot come back and threaten the Sorcier into giving them their appearance back; the Sorcier tells them that he lost his powers when he lost his Poule. Pierrot searches through the Sorcier’s potions and finds a cream that gives him his head back. However, the Sorcier runs away with the cream, chased by Pierrot. A Cocher (Coachman) arrives, thinks that Polichinelle is gorgeous, whips him and wants to hitch him to his cart. Polichinelle defends himself with his stick and the Cocher runs away. Desperate to get his head back, Polichinelle tries another one of the Sorcier’s creams, but his head turns into that of a pig. A Charcutier (Pork butcher) sees Polichinelle and is in awe of the talking pig; Polichinelle thinks that he is insane and chases him away with his stick. Pierrot comes back with the remedy, and Polichinelle gets his real head back. Polichinelle leaves with Pierrot and encounters the Sorcier: he kills him with a single blow of a stick.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

Naivety

Cauldron

Farcical

Fantastic

Sorcerer

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Devil

Coachman

Pork butcher

Apparition of the Devil

Chase

Hidden character

Dance

Running gag

Blow-with-a-stick

Whiplash

Death on stage

Unexpected turn of events

Disappearance

Characterisation through onomatopoeia

La Poule noire

The Black Hen

Pulcinella appears on stage. He cannot find the audience, as he is facing away from them. After a short skit in which the puppeteer explains to him that the audience is on the other side, Pulcinella introduces the performance and warns the audience: “Si vulit’ capì, v’avita vutà” (If you want to understand, you have to turn around). The play starts. Pulcinella talks with his stomach, which tells him through gurglings that it is hungry. A hen comes. Pulcinella kills it, plucks it, and eats it. Then, his stomach lets him know that it is content and wants to sleep. Pulcinella is awakened by a dog that came to eat him, because he has eaten the hen of the dog’s owner. Pulcinella knocks the animal out with a stick. The owner of the dog and the hen, a peasant, comes to get Pulcinella. Pulcinella introduces himself as the owner of the trousers ripped by the dog, and demands to be reimbursed. They settle accounts by beating each other with a stick until Pulcinella kills the peasant. Pulcinella puts the corpse in a casket, and when Death comes to get it and frighten Pulcinella, Pulcinella chases Death away by beating him with the casket. After several lazzi and puns, a carabinier arrests Pulcinella. We then see Pulcinella’s trial. The judge, also playing the prosecution and the defence lawyer, accuses Pulcinella of having murdered the dog’s owner, the dog, the hen, and, above all, of having eaten the hen. For those crimes, Pulcinella is sentenced to death. A monk hears his confession, and blesses him with a macaronic Latin spell which evokes a series of dishes. Pulcinella has to be hanged, but he cannot put his head in the slipknot. He asks the hangman to show him how to do it, and hangs him in his stead.