Forms and Ideas of Melodrama and Musical Plays in the Nineteenth-century Europe

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Our research on melodrama and its ramifications and influences on other theatrical arts in the nineteenth-century Europe resulted in the following distinctive but interrelated contributions.1 During his two visits to Munich and Zurich, Okada made a research on the theatrical journals and performance details of the "grand opera". The close reading Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots revealed an interesting connection between the melodramatic techniques and the grand operatic styles : the "grand opera" can be nothing but a grandiose performance full of spectacular scenes and romantic love.2 The close relation between operetta and melodrama was pointed out by Ito. A vulgarized version of romanticism, according to Ito, was a key to understand a popular theater in the 19^<th> century Europe. His argument was based on the analysis of Lehar's Zigeunerliebe.3 Fujino read a melodramatic technique into Wagner's La muette de Portici (script by Lehar), thus revealing a secret relevance of the melodramatic to the politic. It was strikingly clarified how the European arts and societies in general were permeated by the melodramatic ethos.4 A visual performance of the film Jacques Becker's Casque d'or was analyzed with a focus on a classical chanson of "Le temps des cerises" by Mikihara, who presented a lot of melodramatic devices embedded in the film.5 Uchida's contribution was in his assertion that melodrama made itself developed by tipping its balance from the form (music) to the content (play). Thus, according to his argument, the usurpation of the throne of the popular arts by the film was inevitable.