Kom, king of the city of Polimicra, announces to his people that a giant is treading on their land. He promises his daughter to whoever defeats him: Occe, who is in love with Nec, therefore comes forward and offers himself as a champion. Although she pretends not to have feelings, Nec is secretly in love with the giant Ercole (Hercules). Vam, the Pygmies’ general, is in love with Has, Kom’s second daughter. But Has is in love with Occe. The envoy Brin announces the arrival of the giant; he describes him in horrifying terms: the giant Ercole demands the king’s two daughters, or he will destroy the city. In the gardens of the palace, Nec and Has see the sky darken when the giant arrives. Has is desperate, but Nec rejoices: either her kingdom defeats him, or she will become Ercole’s wife. In the panic, a propitiatory sacrifice is made to Mammon, while the battle is being prepared. Brin is trying to accept that he will be devoured; the general Vam suggests that they put the giant to sleep to defeat him. Has declares his love to Occe, to try and stop him from the certain death awaiting him; but Occe’s decision does not change in the slightest. During the sacrifice, Has prays for the people, while Nec refuses to pray for the defeat of the one she loves: her father sends her to the dungeon. Brin arrives, distressed: Ercole’s nose is showing - it was taken for a mobile rock – and Ercole is asking for the king’s daughters. The giant makes fun of Occe, who is trying to fight him. Vam fills the place with smoke. Ercole sneezes: everyone falls to the ground and believes that they are being punished by the gods. They try to flee, but are stopped by Ercole’s hand. Only Nec stands before Ercole to declare her love. Out of pity and admiration for her bravery, Ercole commands Nec and Occe to marry, as well as Vam and Has, and he decides to spare everyone.

String marionette

Not specified

Martello Pier Jacopo

Italy

Rome

Printed

Giant

Pygmies

Threat

Sneezing

Wedding

Humorous

Burlesque

Parodistic

Pier Jacopo Martello, Lo starnuto d'Ercole. Teatro italiano, Parte ultima. Bologna: Lelie Dalla Volpe, 1723.

Italian

Hercules

King

Princess

Prince

General

Messenger

Playing with scale

Music

Chorus

Public announcement

Monologue

Invisible character

Confinement

Fight between an actor and a puppet

Ridiculous fight

Earthquake

Character thrown in the air

Final wedding

Lo starnuto d'Ercole

Hercules's sneeze

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.

France

Paris

French Revolution

Sans-culotte

Comic opera

Religion

People

Priest

State

Wealth

Abuse

Justice

Truth

Satirical

Dramatic

Comical

Fantastic

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

French

President

Magistrato

Choirboy

Peasant

Zapatera

Bishop

Charlatan

Jean-Paul Marat

Ghost

Countess

Mother

Daughter

Governess

Troupe de Satellites du fanatisme travestis en Furies

Puppeteer

Puppet

Musical pause

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Changement de langue

Dialect as a social marker

Allegory

Speechless character

Dance

Avista

Aria

Versified passages

Popular speech

Ballet

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

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

King Mirambole is tyrannical, vain and hypochondriac, and he wants to marry. Three rival courtiers (the Doctor, the Astrologer and the Goldsmith) flatter the King, smear one another and conspire to persuade him to choose a woman from their respective families as his wife. The Doctor convinces the King that only a comet put on his forehead will cure him of all his pains. To cause the Astrologer’s downfall, he also advises the King to leave this task to him. The Astrologer suggests that the King ask the Goldsmith to make one, while the Goldsmith persuades the King to entrust the Doctor and the Astrologer with the task. In the end, the valet Pierrot commits to bringing the king a comet. Pierrot goes to his brother, an innkeeper, brings back a bottle of “comet wine” and convinces his niece Balibutte to follow him. When he comes back to the palace, he introduces his niece as a comet embodied in a woman, and he cures the king with the wine. Balibutte relates a dream to the king, which both exposes the courtiers’ betrayals and tells him how to punish them. The king executes the courtiers, marries Balibutte and names Pierrot grand vizier.