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.

String marionette

All audiences

Choisy Laure

Switzerland

Geneva

Typed or electronic text with handwritten annotations

Gender

Romanticism

Alps

Historical event

Sexual identity

Journey

Provincial life

Self-righteousness

Satirical

Laure Choisy, Une visite romantique.

French

Writer

Composer

Major

Countess

Misunderstanding

Cross-dressing

Final song

Letter

Une visite romantique

A romantic visit

Pulcinella calls Teresina, his fiancée. He has already talked with her father and brother, and now wants to plan their wedding, but Teresina admits that they need to solve one last problem. Before falling in love with Pulcinella, Teresina was engaged to Vincenzo Carnevale, who does not know that their love story has ended. Pulcinella agrees to talk to him. First, Pulcinella and Carnevale argue, and fight for Teresina’s love. Then, Pucinella explains to Carnevale that Teresina does not want to marry him anymore. Carnevale pretends to accept this, but decides to sabotage Pulcinella’s wedding. He dresses up as a woman and seduces Pulcinella. As a woman, Carnevale is very attractive and also charms a guappo, Gennarino Cataclisma. When Gennarino realises that Carnevale is a man, he kills him before being murdered by Pulcinella. Pulcinella, Teresina, and the other puppets grieve Carnevale and sing the traditional dirges (nenie) that are dedicated to him in Naples. In Hell, Carnevale meets Gennarino and the pair goes to honour their love. But first, Carnevale asks the devil Farfariello to sabotage Pulcinella and Teresina’s wedding. Farfariello asks his friend the rooster for help: he sends off his fiancée, the hen Cicerenella, to seduce Pulcinella. Pulcinella murders Cicerenella and makes a roast chicken out of her. The rooster seeks revenge. Farfariello curses Pulcinella: when he eats the chicken, he suffers from terrible abdominal pain. A doctor comes to help, misdiagnoses Pulcinella, and calls a midwife. Pulcinella gives birth to a large egg. As he is about to make an omelette with it, a little Pulcinella comes out of the egg, followed by four other Pulcinellini. Teresina, realising that Pulcinella birthed five children on his own, is overjoyed: she will not have to suffer. She is still determined to marry him. They both dance a final tarantella.

Glove-puppet

Marotte

Not specified

Leone Bruno

Italy

Naples

Printed

Wedding prevented

Burial

Birth

Seduction

Unfaithfulness

Comical

Neapolitan

Il parto di Pulcinella

Pulcinella

Teresina

Carnival

Thug

Old woman

Sculptor monk

Death

Devil

Cock, cockerel

Doctor

Midwife

Pulcinellino

Dance

Blow-with-a-stick

Nursery rhyme

Song

Enchantment

Childbirth on stage

Multiplied characters

Egg eclosion

Storia di Carnevale

Story of Carnival, Pulcinella giving birth

After a prologue where Pulcinella introduces the play and the dog sings a song, Teresina is attacked by a man in the street. The Moon appears to Teresina and calls her to come in a bid to protect her. Pulcinella looks for his beloved but the Moon prevents him from approaching. Pulcinella disguises himself as a woman, he is attacked by the same man as Teresina, and is then pursued by Death disguised as a policeman who wants to tire him out with domestic chores. Pulcinella flies off to the Moon and persuades Teresina to come back with him. Back on Earth, the two lovers take revenge on their attacker, who turns out to be a child calling out to his mother for help, and they eat a dish of spaghetti.