Frontispiece and title page of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme from a 1688 edition
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality, poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middle-class and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. The title is meant as an oxymoron: in Molière's France, a "gentleman" was by definition nobly born, and thus there could be no such thing as a bourgeois gentleman. The play is in prose (except for the ballet openings which are in verse).
The play takes place at Mr. Jourdain's house in Paris. Jourdain is a middle-aged "bourgeois" whose father grew rich as a cloth merchant. The foolish Jourdain now has one aim in life, which is to rise above this middle-class background and be accepted as an aristocrat. To this end, he orders splendid new clothes and is very happy when the tailor's boy mockingly addresses him as "my Lord". He applies himself to learning the gentlemanly arts of fencing, dancing, music and philosophy, despite his age; in doing so he continually manages to make a fool of himself, to the disgust of his hired teachers. His philosophy lesson becomes a basic lesson on language in which he is surprised and delighted to learn that he has been speaking prose all his life without knowing it.
Par ma foi ! il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose sans que j'en susse rien, et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde de m'avoir appris cela.
My faith! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose while knowing nothing of it, and I am the most obliged person in the world to you for telling me so.
Madame Jourdain, his intelligent wife, sees that he is making a fool of himself and urges him to return to his previous middle-class life, and to forget all he has learned. A cash-strapped nobleman called Dorante has attached himself to M. Jourdain. He secretly despises Jourdain but flatters his aristocratic dreams. For example, by telling Jourdain that he mentioned his name to the King at Versailles, he can get Jourdain to pay his debts. Jourdain's dreams of being upper-class go higher and higher. He dreams of marrying a Marchioness, Dorimène, and having his daughter Lucile marry a nobleman. But Lucile is in love with the middle-class Cléonte. Of course, M. Jourdain refuses his permission for Lucile to marry Cléonte.
Then Cléonte, with the assistance of his valet Covielle and Mme Jourdain, disguises himself and presents himself to Jourdain as the son of the Sultan of Turkey. Jourdain is taken in and is very pleased to have his daughter marry foreign royalty. He is even more delighted when the "Turkish prince" informs him that, as father of the bride, he too will be officially ennobled at a special ceremony. The play ends with this ridiculous ceremony, including Sabir standing in for Turkish.
Performances
The original production brought together the finest actors and musicians of the time. Molière played the role of Monsieur Jourdain, clothed in bright colors trimmed with silver lace and multicolored feathers; André Hubert played Madame Jourdain (travesti); Mlle de Brie played Dorimène; Armande Béjart played Lucile; and the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully danced the mufti in the last act cérémonie des Turcs.
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme reflected the then-current trend for les turqueries, all things related to the Ottoman Empire. The work stemmed from the scandal caused by the Turkish ambassador Suleiman Aga who, upon visiting the court of Louis XIV in 1669, affirmed the superiority of the Ottoman court over that of the Sun King.
The first performance of Der Bürger als Edelmann, a German version of the play, took place on 25 October 1912, adapted by Hugo von Hofmannsthal with incidental music by Richard Strauss. The turquerie was replaced by an appended operatic entertainment Ariadne auf Naxos, composed by Strauss to a libretto by Hofmannsthal, in which Jourdain's eccentric requirements have led to Ariadne being marooned on a desert island where there just happens to be a commedia dell'arte troupe. The production was directed by Max Reinhardt. The combination of play and opera proved problematic. Hofmannsthal created a revised version of the play, reinstating the turquerie and removing the opera. Strauss provided further incidental music including some arrangements of Lully. Meanwhile, the entertainment was provided with a separate operatic prologue and this is the form in which Ariadne is now usually given.[2]
In 2005 Le Poème Harmonique in collaboration with Benjamin Lazar [fr] (stage director) and Cécile Roussat [fr] (choreographer) presented Le Bourgeois gentilhomme at the Utrecht Baroque Festival. Informed by the musical and theatrical traditions of 17th century France, the production revived the musical and dance interludes originally scored by Jean-Baptiste Lully and the work was presented in its entirety. The wardrobe was notably bourgeois and ridiculous, evidently the intent of the directors to present Monsieur Jordain as a naive, stunned and yet vulnerable man new to the world of money and privilege "victim and architect of the action". The use of candlelight as the only lighting source on stage and a frontal performance style even during conversations between characters gave the production a distinctly baroque air and was well received. The 2005 production was the first ever since the play's first performance to render it in its entirety, as faithful as possible to the original score and script by Molière and Lully.
^David Nice Between Two Worlds pp. 13–18 of the programme to the 2008 Royal Opera House production of Ariadne auf Naxos.
^ abcHodgson, Moira. "A Balanchine Ballet for Nureyev," The New York Times (April 9, 1979).
^Kisselgoff, Anna. "Balanchine-Robbins Work for Nureyev From Molière", The New York Times (April 9, 1979).
Sources consulted
Garreau, Joseph E. (1984). "Molière", pp. 397–418 in McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama, Stanley Hochman, editor in chief. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN9780070791695.
External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Middle-Class Gentleman
French Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme English translation on the Gutenberg Project
The Bourgeois Nobleman English translation by Sue Rippon
The Bourgeois Gentleman public domain audiobook at LibriVox
bourgeois, gentilhomme, this, article, about, molière, play, balanchine, 1979, ballet, same, title, bourgeois, gentilhomme, ballet, strauss, 1917, orchestral, suite, same, title, bourgeois, gentilhomme, strauss, french, pronunciation, buʁʒwa, ʒɑ, tijɔm, transl. This article is about Moliere s play For Balanchine s 1979 ballet of the same title see Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ballet For Strauss s 1917 orchestral suite of the same title see Le bourgeois gentilhomme Strauss Le Bourgeois gentilhomme French pronunciation le buʁʒwa ʒɑ tijɔm translated as The Bourgeois Gentleman The Middle Class Aristocrat or The Would Be Noble is a five act comedie ballet a play intermingled with music dance and singing written by Moliere first presented on 14 October 1670 before the court of Louis XIV at the Chateau of Chambord by Moliere s troupe of actors Subsequent public performances were given at the theatre of the Palais Royal beginning on 23 November 1670 1 The music was composed by Jean Baptiste Lully the choreography was by Pierre Beauchamp the sets were by Carlo Vigarani and the costumes were done by the chevalier d Arvieux Le Bourgeois gentilhommeLe Bourgeois gentilhommeWritten byMoliereMusic byJean Baptiste LullyChoreographyPierre BeauchampCharactersMonsieur JourdainMadame JourdainLucileNicoleCleonteCovielleCount DoranteMarchioness DorimeneDate premieredOctober 14 1670 1670 October 14 Place premieredChateau de ChambordVersailles FranceOriginal languageFrenchSabirSubjectsocial climbing satireGenrecomedie balletSettingParisFrontispiece and title page of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme from a 1688 editionLe Bourgeois gentilhomme satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality poking fun both at the vulgar pretentious middle class and the vain snobbish aristocracy The title is meant as an oxymoron in Moliere s France a gentleman was by definition nobly born and thus there could be no such thing as a bourgeois gentleman The play is in prose except for the ballet openings which are in verse Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Performances 3 Roles 4 Audio adaptations 5 References 5 1 Notes 5 2 Sources consulted 6 External linksSynopsis EditThe play takes place at Mr Jourdain s house in Paris Jourdain is a middle aged bourgeois whose father grew rich as a cloth merchant The foolish Jourdain now has one aim in life which is to rise above this middle class background and be accepted as an aristocrat To this end he orders splendid new clothes and is very happy when the tailor s boy mockingly addresses him as my Lord He applies himself to learning the gentlemanly arts of fencing dancing music and philosophy despite his age in doing so he continually manages to make a fool of himself to the disgust of his hired teachers His philosophy lesson becomes a basic lesson on language in which he is surprised and delighted to learn that he has been speaking prose all his life without knowing it Par ma foi il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose sans que j en susse rien et je vous suis le plus oblige du monde de m avoir appris cela My faith For more than forty years I have been speaking prose while knowing nothing of it and I am the most obliged person in the world to you for telling me so Madame Jourdain his intelligent wife sees that he is making a fool of himself and urges him to return to his previous middle class life and to forget all he has learned A cash strapped nobleman called Dorante has attached himself to M Jourdain He secretly despises Jourdain but flatters his aristocratic dreams For example by telling Jourdain that he mentioned his name to the King at Versailles he can get Jourdain to pay his debts Jourdain s dreams of being upper class go higher and higher He dreams of marrying a Marchioness Dorimene and having his daughter Lucile marry a nobleman But Lucile is in love with the middle class Cleonte Of course M Jourdain refuses his permission for Lucile to marry Cleonte Then Cleonte with the assistance of his valet Covielle and Mme Jourdain disguises himself and presents himself to Jourdain as the son of the Sultan of Turkey Jourdain is taken in and is very pleased to have his daughter marry foreign royalty He is even more delighted when the Turkish prince informs him that as father of the bride he too will be officially ennobled at a special ceremony The play ends with this ridiculous ceremony including Sabir standing in for Turkish Performances EditThe original production brought together the finest actors and musicians of the time Moliere played the role of Monsieur Jourdain clothed in bright colors trimmed with silver lace and multicolored feathers Andre Hubert played Madame Jourdain travesti Mlle de Brie played Dorimene Armande Bejart played Lucile and the composer Jean Baptiste Lully danced the mufti in the last act ceremonie des Turcs Le Bourgeois gentilhomme reflected the then current trend for les turqueries all things related to the Ottoman Empire The work stemmed from the scandal caused by the Turkish ambassador Suleiman Aga who upon visiting the court of Louis XIV in 1669 affirmed the superiority of the Ottoman court over that of the Sun King 1 Ouverture source source 2 Gravement source source 3 Sarabande source source 4 Bouree source source 5 Gaillarde Canarie source source 6 Gavotte source source 7 Loure source source 8 Air des Espagnoles source source 9 Menuet 1 and 2 source source 10 Chaconne des Scaramouche Trivelins source source 11 Marche pour la Ceremonie des Turcs source source Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra Problems playing these files See media help The first performance of Der Burger als Edelmann a German version of the play took place on 25 October 1912 adapted by Hugo von Hofmannsthal with incidental music by Richard Strauss The turquerie was replaced by an appended operatic entertainment Ariadne auf Naxos composed by Strauss to a libretto by Hofmannsthal in which Jourdain s eccentric requirements have led to Ariadne being marooned on a desert island where there just happens to be a commedia dell arte troupe The production was directed by Max Reinhardt The combination of play and opera proved problematic Hofmannsthal created a revised version of the play reinstating the turquerie and removing the opera Strauss provided further incidental music including some arrangements of Lully Meanwhile the entertainment was provided with a separate operatic prologue and this is the form in which Ariadne is now usually given 2 George Balanchine choreographed a number of modern versions from the 1930s to the 1970s using Strauss s score The first version was performed in 1932 by Wassily de Basil and Rene Blum s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo featuring David Lichine and Tamara Toumanova with sets by Alexandre Benois 3 In 1944 a new version of the ballet was performed by the second iteration of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo with Nicholas Magallanes taking over for an injured Frederic Franklin Maria Tallchief and Nathalie Krassovska 3 The most well known version from 1979 for the New York City Opera featured input from Jerome Robbins who stepped in during a period of Balanchine s illness 3 Peter Martins also choreographed one scene near the end of the ballet 4 The production starred Jean Pierre Bonnefoux Patricia McBride Rudolf Nureyev Darla Hoover Michael Puleo and students of the School of American Ballet In 2005 Le Poeme Harmonique in collaboration with Benjamin Lazar fr stage director and Cecile Roussat fr choreographer presented Le Bourgeois gentilhomme at the Utrecht Baroque Festival Informed by the musical and theatrical traditions of 17th century France the production revived the musical and dance interludes originally scored by Jean Baptiste Lully and the work was presented in its entirety The wardrobe was notably bourgeois and ridiculous evidently the intent of the directors to present Monsieur Jordain as a naive stunned and yet vulnerable man new to the world of money and privilege victim and architect of the action The use of candlelight as the only lighting source on stage and a frontal performance style even during conversations between characters gave the production a distinctly baroque air and was well received The 2005 production was the first ever since the play s first performance to render it in its entirety as faithful as possible to the original score and script by Moliere and Lully Roles EditMonsieur Jourdain a bourgeois Madame Jourdain his wife Lucile the daughter of Monsieur Jourdain Nicole their maid Cleonte suitor of Lucile Covielle Cleonte s lackey and who takes an interest in Nicole Dorante Count suitor of Dorimene Dorimene Marchioness a widow Master of Philosophy Music Master Pupil of the Music Master Dancing Master Fencing Master Tailor Tailor s apprentice Two lackeysMany male and female musicians instrumentalists dancers cooks tailor s apprentices and others are needed for the interludes Audio adaptations EditAn hour long version adapted by Harry McFadden was broadcast on the NBC radio series Great Plays on December 18 1938 citation needed References EditNotes Edit Garreau 1984 p 417 David Nice Between Two Worlds pp 13 18 of the programme to the 2008 Royal Opera House production of Ariadne auf Naxos a b c Hodgson Moira A Balanchine Ballet for Nureyev The New York Times April 9 1979 Kisselgoff Anna Balanchine Robbins Work for Nureyev From Moliere The New York Times April 9 1979 Sources consulted Edit Garreau Joseph E 1984 Moliere pp 397 418 in McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama Stanley Hochman editor in chief New York McGraw Hill ISBN 9780070791695 External links Edit Wikisource has original text related to this article The Middle Class Gentleman French Wikisource has original text related to this article Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Le Bourgeois gentilhomme English translation on the Gutenberg Project The Bourgeois Nobleman English translation by Sue Rippon The Bourgeois Gentleman public domain audiobook at LibriVox Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Original texts in French from site moliere com Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Lully Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Le Bourgeois gentilhomme amp oldid 1163816209, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
