The play begins with the sinking of Ulisse’s (Ulysses’) boat. Ulisse is saved by Almira, who was making a sacrifice to Minerva on the beach with a choir of young girls. The young woman falls in love with Ulisse and has him escorted to the Court of her father, Alcinoo (Alcinous). In the following scene, Delfo, Ulisse’s hunchback servant, comes out of the water on a dolphin’s back. Cirene, Almira’s fickle daughter, also falls in love with Ulisse, who is now staying at Court. The two sisters fight for the stranger’s love, while Ormindo, Cirene’s unhappy lover, learns that she is wooing Ulisse. The first act ends with a dance of gardeners, both male and female. Cirene speaks to Ulisse as she stands before her mirror: the prince confesses that he loves her, after Delfo made a few bawdy innuendos. Ormindo denounces his fickle lover to Ulisse, while Almira also confesses her love; her confession is echoed by Lisa’s farcical innuendos. Ulisse hesitates between the two sisters. Taking revenge on Cirene, Almira exposes her sister’s debauchery to Alcinoo, who swears that he will punish her. During a scene in which Ormindo draws Cirene’s portrait, the old nurse Lisa believes that the young man is pining for her. Disappointed when she learns the truth, she decides to take revenge on her rival by speaking in favour of Almira to Ulisse. Cirene’s father walks in on her as she is writing a letter to confess her love to the Prince of Ithaca. To save herself, she accuses Almira of having written the letter: Alcinoo disowns (his daughter) Almira. Ulisse, who received the letter which Delfo says was written by Almira, is at a loss to understand the situation, and he falls asleep. In his sleep, Minerva speaks to him and reminds him of his duty to his country and to his wife Penelope: when he wakes up, he decides to leave Phaeacia. Cirene, wearing a mask, dismisses Ormindo. Ulisse takes leave of Alcinoo and of his daughters. Alcinoo decides to marry Ormindo and Cirene, who refuses herself to her suitor: the king then offers him to marry his daughter Almira.

Not specified

Acciaiuoli Filippo (aka Gran Burattinajo)

Italy

Venice

Printed

Love

Shipwreck

Jealousy

Hospitality

Sister

Lyrical

Parodistic

Fantasy

Filippo Acciaiuoli, L'Ulisse in Feacia. Venezia: Francesco Nicolini, 1681 (title page).

Italian

King

Alcinoos

Young woman

Nausicaa

Prince

Lover (man)

Ulysses

Captain

Servant

Nurse

Minerva

Music

Play in verse

Dancing entertainment

Interlude

Love duet

Love story

Shipwreck scene

Love rivalry

Seduction scene

Board meeting

Soliloquy

Sleeping character

Letter

Masked characters

Dilemma

Dreamt scene

Deus ex machina

Flying machine

L'Ulisse in Feaccia

Ulysses in Phaeacia

Pulcinella, keeper of a psychiatric institution, is organising a ball in honour of his ward Corinda and her lover Florante. During the ball, Delia, a resident of the asylum, recognises Florante as her unfaithful ex-lover. Vaiano, a sorcerer who wants to marry Corinda, decides to stop the marriage: he tells Pulcinella that he is bound to marry his rich ward. Delia asks for Pulcinella’s help; but he believes that she is insane and in love with him. When she meets with Florante, he apologises and promises to love her: the old Garbina overhears the conversation and understands that he is about to leave Corinda. Delia tells Vaiano about Florante’s promise; he rejoices. The sorcerer gives Pulcinella a rock that should attract Corinda's love, but Pulcinella believes that the rock is attracting Delia instead: she is still pursuing him. Believing Pulcinella, Garbina tells Florante that Delia is being unfaithful to him. Disappointed, Florante decides that he will marry Corinda, but Vaiano tells him that Corinda found a new lover: the couple quarrels. To get rid of Pulcinella, he sends him to look for a treasure and tells Garbina that Pulcinella wants to marry Corinda for her money, even though he truly loves Corinda. These fake confidences spark global confusion. In the woods, Pulcinella rides a donkey; they are surrounded by spirits and monsters. Delia just asked for Vaiano’s help. He promises the young woman that Florante will come back to her. Pulcinella distrusts Vaiano and imagines that he wants to make him fall in love with Delia. Florante rejects Corinda, whom he believes to be in love with Vaiano; he also rejects Delia, believing that she is in love with Pulcinella despite her repeatedly denying it. Seeing Corinda walk into Vaiano’s house, he believes that she is unfaithful. When he stumbles upon Delia, chained like a madwoman, he is finally convinced of her faithfulness. The old lovers reconcile. Corinda, disappointed, reveals that she promised to marry Vaiano if Florante rejected her. Pulcinella is disappointed, but he refuses to marry Garbina.

String marionette

Villifranchi Giovanni Cosimo

Florence

Lucca

Fiancé

Unfaithfulness

Charlatan

Wedding

Heroic

Melodramatic

Burlesque

Comical

Pulcinella guardiano de pazzarelli, 1705 (title page)

Guardian

Legal guardian

Pulcinella

Ward

Fiancée

Lover (woman)

Magician

Old woman

Enchantment

Scene of recognition

Spying scene

Magic spell

Demons dance

Apparition of a monster

Release of a prisoner

Revelation

Final wedding

Pulcinella guardiano de' pazzarelli

Pulcinella keeper of the insane

Driven by his ambition, doctor Faust learns black magic and sells his soul to the devil Mefistopheles, who will serve him for twenty-four years in return. Mefistopheles is also trying to obtain the soul of his servant Hannswurst. Imitating his master, the latter also tried to summon demons; however, the devil himself is bewildered by the servant’s coarseness and simple-mindedness. Mefistopheles then takes them to Italy: the Duchess of Parma is desperately trying to win back the love of the Duke, who suffers from melancholy. Faust promises to heal him, before finding out that the Duchess wants to poison him to avenge herself for the affront of Hannswurst, who farted on her face. Mefistopheles helps them both go back to Wittemberg safely. But Faust’s final hour has come. He tries to trick his way out of Hell, by suggesting that he and his old servant swap clothes; but Hannswurst is not fooled, and Faust is damned.

Geisselbrecht Johann Georg

Germany

Weimar

University

Necromancy

Sorcery

Scatology

Donkey

Perlike

Vanity

Human condition

Eternal punishment

Hell

Fart

Goat

Nightwatchman

Tragic

Farcical

Mock-heroic

German

Fausts Leben, Thaten und Höllenfahrt

Eine alte Volks-Sage, aus den Zeiten des 12ten Jahrhunderts in 5 Aufzügen

Faust

Christoph Wagner

Hanswurst

Duchess of Parma

Skeleton

Mephistopheles

Devil

Angel

Voice

Genie

Fury

Helen of Troy

Monologue

Off-stage voice

Parodic trial

Lazzi

Word for another

Thunderbolt

Pact with the devil

Macaronism

Talking animal

Dream

Sung scenes

Comic equivocation

Pyrotechnics

Apparition

Doctor Faust

The ambitious Doctor Faust begins learning black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles: he promises him his soul on condition that the latter agrees to serve him. Faust goes to Parma with Mephistopheles and his houseboy Hans Wurst. The houseboy was asked to keep the identity of his master secret, but he gives it away to the duke of Parma as soon as he arrives there. Faust makes several spectacular natural phenomena appear before the duke (Mount Etna erupting, a sea tempest) but the duke’s courtiers hate him for showing the duke their true nature. Faust is forced to flee. Although Hans Wurst is dismissed, he finds refuge with Wagner, Faust’s servant. Mephistopheles eventually secures Faust’s soul by making Helen of Troy fall in love with him. He also shows him that his generosity will not save him, because its benefits also had harmful effects on his protégés. Faust understands that he is damned, takes leave of Hans Wurst and Wagner, and hands himself over to Hell when midnight strikes.

Augsburg

Scholar

Wittenberg

Vice

Cheekiness

Nature

Navy

Brokers

Crucifix

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's edition, Das Kloster, 1847

Ein Trauerspiel in 3 Theilen und 9 Aufzügen. (Vom Augsburger Puppentheater.)

Guardian angel

Satan

Duke of Parma

Instrumental tune

Board

Improvised scene

Repetition of a word

Bawdy equivocation

Diorama

Versified passages

Johann Faust

Charon asks Pluto – the ruler of the underworld – to make devils deliver more souls to him. In Wittenberg, Doctor Faust dreams of knowing everything there is to know and learns necromancy: he then makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles. They leave together for Prague, where they make Alexander the Great and his wife Padamera appear. When he is back in Wittenberg, Faust wants to repent, but Mephistopheles tempts him by offering him the fair Helen of Troy. In the end, during a dinner with his students, everyone abandons Faust: he knows that his final hour has come. At midnight, he will be damned.

Laziness

Prague

Penitence

Antisemitism

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's Das Kloster, 1847

Charon

Pluto

Pickelhering

Student

Vizibuzli

Noble

Alexander The Great

Prologue

Address to the public

Doktor Johann Faust

The Docteur (Doctor) advises Coquerel to protect his sick wife from any noise. Coquerel tells his wife that he will order his servant Cadet to ensure that no one sings or screams on the square. A Militaire (Military man) coming back from Toulon on foot and getting close to his house stops in an inn. Guignol has just been thrown out of the house where he was a servant and he sings to feel better. The Militaire congratulates him on his voice and gives him five francs so that he continues to sing in front of the inn. Cadet asks Guignol to stop singing at once, and gives him ten francs to keep quiet. The Militaire comes back and requires that Guignol sings, Cadet hits Guignol to make him keep quiet, the Militaire does the same thing and Guignol beats them both. The Militaire states that Guignol fought well, and invites him to follow him home so that he can sing as he pleases.

Glove-puppet

Vuillerme-Dunand Victor-Napoléon

France

Lyon

Villefranche-sur-Saône

Handwritten outline

Noise

Illness

Contradiction

Tu chanteras, tu ne chanteras. Funds Léopold Dor, MAM-Musées Gadagne

French

Doctor

Soldier

Cadet

Valet

Running gag

Song

Blow-with-a-stick

Tu chanteras, tu ne chanteras

You will sing, you won't sing

Wagner hires Casper to serve his master—Doctor Faust. Destitute and crippled with debts, the latter makes a deal with the devil Mefisdofles: he will make him rich by helping him invent printing. In return, Mefisdofles demands that Faust sacrifice his parents and his wife. Faust murders his father, who has come to blame him for the death of his mother (she died of grief when she learnt that her son made a deal with the Devil). Meanwhile, Mefisdofles poisons Faust’s wife. Then Mefisdofles takes Faust and Casper to the court of Parma. But the courtiers envy the famous scholar and conspire against him: Mefisdofles helps him flee. Casper is sent to Hell, but he is soon let out. Everyone meets in Wittenberg: Faust repents, but he is then seduced by Helehne, whom Mefisdofles introduced to him; she changes into a skeleton when he tries to kiss her. At midnight, Faust is doomed and Casper, now a night watchman, marries the market gardener Anabakuduh, whom he meets in the street after curfew.