Polichinelle tells his Compère (Companion) that he has come into a private income and wishes to host a ball, but Compère explains that this income will barely be enough to buy a candle. A Turk arrives and gives sumptuous Grand Turk clothes to Polichinelle as well as the key to his seraglio. Polichinelle joins the women of the seraglio, his Compère sings a song and the play ends with a group of shepherds and shepherdesses dancing.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Manuscript

Enrichment

Foreigner

Ball

Money

Seraglio

Ballet

Comical

French

Polichinelle

The Interpreter

Turk

Sheperherdess

Change of social status

Final song

Dialogue with a character in the audience

Polichinelle Grand-Turc

Polichinelle Grand Turk

Polichinelle’s wife has just died, and he asks his Compère (Companion) if he would like to marry him. The Compère refuses and suggests that Polichinelle buy a girl from Bonhomme Tatepoule – someone who sells girls for a living. Compère blindfolds Polichinelle so that he plays blind man’ buff and chooses a girl this way. Instead, Polichinelle catches a butterfly. A demon comes, dressed as a bundle of sticks, and Polichinelle grabs him. When he recovers his sight, Polichinelle gives up on his plan to remarry. Men and women peasants dance at the end of the play.

Printed

Wedding

Prospecting

Trade

Trap

Farcical

Butterfly

Devil

Peasant

Peasant (female)

Misunderstanding

Disguise

Apparition of the Devil

Blind character

Polichinelle colin-maillard

Polichinelle playing blind man's buff

Janbroche – a cloth merchant – forbids his daughter from selling anything while she keeps the shop in his absence. To all questions, she will have to answer “really, Mister, nay”. Polichinelle, sent by his master the Marquis to place an order for a suit, takes advantage of this repeated response to take her to bed with him. When he comes back, the merchant Jambroche finds her with Polichinelle and forces her to leave the house without her breeches (“culotte” – an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down to the knees). The Marquis demands that Polichinelle marry the young woman.

Seduction

Sexual intercourse

Obedience

Ridiculous

Deception

Cloth merchant

Pierrot

Dancer

Marquis

Le Marchand ridicule

The foolish Merchant

Polichinelle wants to be loved while he is dressed as the shepherd Philemon, but is rejected by Issé. Doris accepts Pan's love for a while. Hylas is in turn rejected by Issé. Issé questions the oracle of the oaks of Dodona who tells her that she will fall in love with the god of light. Issé refuses because she prefers Polichinelle. Polichinelle reveals himself to her as Apollo.

Manuscript with songs and dialogue summaries

Oracle

God disguised as a mortal

Greek mythology

Shepherd

Unrequited love

Rivalry in love

Parodistic

Philémon

Mother Gigogne

Doris

Hylas

Priest

Apollo

Unveiling

Spectacular turn of events

Song

Apollon Polichinelle

Apollo as Polichinelle

The first act is set in a church, where a group of Dévotes (pious persons) and a group of Sans-culottes (revolutionaries during the French Revolution) confront each other. The revolutionaries want to punish Parisian priests for their abuses and their crimes. As for the Dévotes and the priests, they are impatiently expecting a Catholic army to storm through Paris and put an end to the Revolution. The abbot Blondinet is disguised as a bourgeois and tries to rape Rose, a young girl who manages to escape him. The Sans-culottes want to get rid of the priests. A Magistrat (Magistrate) arrives and seizes the church’s furniture, but Blondinet tells the Dévotes that he managed to hide some of it. The second act is set just outside the church, on a public square. Blondinet set up a “Temporary Chapel” inside the shop of a Savetier (cobbler), next to that of a Fruitère (fruit merchant). A Chansonnier (Singer) and his wife arrive on the square and the people come closer to listen to their songs. A puppeteer, Brioché, joins them with his wife and performs his play of a “new genre” – La Calotte au tombeau. Together, the puppeteer and the Chansonnier condemn the Church’s abuses with the help of puppets and songs. The Sans-culottes exit the church with a stretcher as they perform a symbolic burial of objects of worship. A child from the choir, Cascaret, denounces Blondinet as a thief. The Sans-culottes take him alongside the Dévotes so they can be judged by the Committee of Public Safety. The third act is set in a cave in which three see-through paintings are displayed – La Saint Barthélémy, Le Massacre des Cévennes and Les Vêpres Siciliennes. Standing on a pile of bones, Superstition, Célibat (Celibacy) and Fanatisme (Fanaticism) are chained to posts. The action assumes an allegorical form with these three monstrous figures and several other symbols of crimes caused by religious intolerance. Several references are made to Christoph Willibald’s opera – Orpheus and Eurydice. The Ombre (Shadow) of the revolutionary Marat (murdered in July 1793) is called by the Génie de la France (France’s Genie) who arrives on a cloud. The Ombre rises out of the earth with a bloody shroud around it. The three monsters disappear in a volcano. Instead, a magnificent and luminous temple appears – the Temple of Truth. Liberté (Liberty), Vérité (Truth) and Égalité (Equality) are placed on an altar. The Troup of Sans-culottes also appears and dances with a Magistrate of the people. The Peuple (the People), Orphelins de la Patrie (Orphans of the homeland), the Députés (Deputies) of the National Convention and the Artisans (Craftsmen) march victoriously. The Convention’s President reads out a speech commending the revolutionaries. An Évêque (Bishop) admits his faults and after making a speech praising Raison (Reason), he burns his priestly vestments. The Orphelins and Orphelines who were harmed by fanaticism sing with defenders of the homeland and do gymnastic exercises. The Citoyens (Citizens) of the first requisition showcase military exercises which draw parallels between scenes from Antiquity and from the Revolution. The play ends on an ode to Vérité (Truth), a mention of the victory over the Austrians and the emigrants, and finally a collective ballet.

French Revolution

Sans-culotte

Comic opera

Religion

People

State

Wealth

Abuse

Justice

Truth

Satirical

Dramatic

Fantastic

Le Tombeau des imposteurs et l'Inauguration du Temple de la Vérité, 1793 (title page).

President

Magistrato

Choirboy

Zapatera

Bishop

Charlatan

Jean-Paul Marat

Ghost

Countess

Mother

Daughter

Governess

Troupe de Satellites du fanatisme travestis en Furies

Puppeteer

Puppet

Musical pause

Chorus

Monologue

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Changement de langue

Dialect as a social marker

Allegory

Speechless character

Dance

Public announcement

Avista

Music

Aria

Versified passages

Popular speech

Le Tombeau des imposteurs et l'Inauguration du Temple de la Vérité

The impostors' Tomb and the Inauguration of the Temple of Truth

Three women – young Janet, her mother, and her grandmother – take refuge in a stable while a storm and the temptations of St. Anthony are raging outside. Janet asks in vain to be explained what these temptations are. Saint Anthony (called Anthony Perkins) is in a cell and only has his Halo, his Clock, and his Calendar as friends. He prays to Zeus to send him temptations, for they never reach him. Time flies, and he ends up dying of boredom. Shortly after Anthony’s death, the now old Queen of Sheba enters his cell, accompanied by Gustave Flaubert. The Queen of Sheba dies, disappointed that she could not tempt Anthony. Flaubert asks two eunuchs to bury them. Cleo di Patra appears in the sky, surrounded by angels. The play ends with a great ballet and a funeral cortege.