Liturgical Drama
 |
| Santa Maria del Fiore - aka "The Duomo" - Florence |
1. THE STAGING OF LITURGIC DRAMA IN THE TENTH CENTURY
Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, drew up the Concordia Regularis, a supplement to the Ride of St. Benedict. St. Ethelwold gave instructions as to how the third Nocturn at Matins on Easter morning should be performed in Benedictine monasteries. The scriptural core of this Easter morning ceremony is the visit of the three Maries to the sepulchre and their colloquy with the angel who announces the miracle of the Resurrection (cf. Matt. 28: 1 - 7 and Mark 16: 1 - 7). In the Concordia Regtdaris, the birth of medieval drama from the spirit of liturgy lies clearly before us, and the régisseur Ethelwold has seen to it that no important element of the theater is overlooked:
While the third lesson is being chanted, let four brethren vest themselves. Let one of these, vested in an alb, enter as though to take part in the service, and let him approach the sepulchre without attracting attention and sit there quietly with a palm in his hand. While the third respond is chanted, let the remaining three follow, and let them all, vested in copes, bearing in their hands thuribles with incense, and stepping delicately as those who seek something, approach the sepulchre. These things are done in imitation of the angel sitting in the monument, and the women with spices coming to anoint the body of Jesus. When therefore he who sits there beholds the three approach him like folk lost and seeking something, let him begin in a dulcet voice of medium pitch to sing Quern quaeritis [Whom seek ye in the sepulchre, O Christian women?]. And when he has sung it to the end, let the three reply in unison Ihesum Nazarenum [Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified, O heavenly one]. So he, Non est hic, surrexit sicut praedixerat. Ite, nuntiate quia surrexit a mortuis [He is not here; He is risen, as He foretold. Go and announce that He is risen from the dead]. . . .
Nagler, A. M. (2013-04-09). A Source Book in Theatrical History (Kindle Locations 1153-1157).
2. THE MACHINERY FOR THE PARADISE
As long as the medieval religious plays were allowed to stay within the churches, special stages were erected for them. The sacra rappresentazione, which Bishop Abraham of Szuszdal saw in 1493 in the Florentine Church of the Annunciation, was presented on a scaffold in the nave, and the audience crowded round to marvel at the hundreds of lights which circled the throne of God, while children, garbed as angels, produced the music of the spheres on cymbals, flutes, and harps. A special contrivance controlled the descent of the Archangel Gabriel. This performance was even surpassed by one that Bishop Szuszdal saw in the Church del Carmine, where the Ascension of Christ was most skilfully staged. To the architect, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), must go the credit for having contrived the technical apparatus for these performances in, or in front of, the churches in Florence. Due to his efforts, the Florentines learned to look upon their religious theater as a work of art. In his Vite, Giorgio Vasari (1511 - 1574) offers a wealth of technical details concerning the secrets of the machines (ingegni) in which medieval spectators took a seemingly insatiable delight:
It is said that the apparatus of the Paradise of S. Felice in the piazza of that city [Florence] was invented by Filippo [Brunelleschi] for the representation or feast of the Annunciation according to the time-honoured custom of the Florentines. This thing was truly marvellous, and displayed the ability and industry of the inventor. On high was a Heaven full of living and moving figures , and a quantity of lights which flashed in and out. I will take pains to describe exactly how the apparatus of this machine was devised, seeing that the machine itself is destroyed, and the men are dead who could have spoken of it from experience…. For this effect Filippo had arranged a half globe between two rafters of the roof of the church, like a hollow porringer or a barber’s basin turned upside down. It was formed of thin laths secured to an iron star which revolved round a great iron ring upon which it was poised. The whole machine was supported by a strong beam of pine well bound with iron, which was across the timbers of the roof. In this beam was fixed the ring that held the basin in suspense and balance, which from the ground resembled a veritable Heaven. . . . (continues at length)
Nagler, A. M. (2013-04-09). A Source Book in Theatrical History (Kindle Locations 1171-1177). Dover Publications. Kindle Edition.
What else did Brunelleschi design in Florence? (hint: look at the top of the page)
Post a Comment