Carl Orff Astutuli, une comédie bavaroise Vidéos
Dernière mise à jour
2024-04-24
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Video: Carl Orff as »Gagler« in a television broadcast from 10.7.1980 Astutuli - Eine bairische Komödie (1953) »Astutuli, that’s the name of the game, Astutuli, as many as you wish.« It is no easy task to classify Orff’s ›Astutuli‹ within the series of his musical-dramatic works, and indeed even within his group of works known as ›Bavarian world theatre‹. Is this Bavarian ›Kumedi‹ a carnival joke, a secondary work, a jovial offshoot of the tragic parable of ›Die Bernauerin‹ or a brief intake of breath before undertaking the monumental task of setting the Ancient Greek dramas of Sophocles and Aeschylus to music? Whoever wishes to enter the world of this ›Bavarian comedy‹, must first come to grips with its Latin title. An extract from a Latin dictionary should provide a bit of help: astutulus = pretty clever and cunning, astute. ›Astutuli‹ are therefore those who are clever, cunning, the smart-alecs and the know-alls – all those who believe that they are particularly astute. What particularly attracted Orff to this story was not merely the satirical and parable-like content, but also elements of mime and theatre. For Orff, the juggler’s show is not merely about content; the fundamental subject of the work is play in its ambiguousness as both a theatre play and a play on fantasy. This dictates the choice of artistic media utilised by Orff in this composition. The dramatic agent of ›Astutuli‹ is pure language itself – a language which is thoroughly characterised by drama, gesture and mime. ›Astutuli‹ is a work for actors rather than singers. The renunciation of singing corresponds to the renunciation of melody – extended passages of the work are shaped by rhythmic recitation originating from acting and expressive gestures which Orff had employed for the first time in the witches’ scene in ›Die Bernauerin‹. Orchestral moments are also reduced to a skeleton-like texture: the instrumentation consisting exclusively of percussion instruments provides a background and accompaniment for the spoken or rhythmically declaimed text. ›Astutuli‹ with its theatrical exuberance and its satirical-symbolic underlying meaning can be considered as the centrepiece of Carl Orff’s ›Bavarian world theatre‹. The success which has accompanied the work since its first performance on 20 October 1953 has been eloquently confirmed by numerous reviews [...]. Plot: A strange juggler invites citizens and the men and women of a small town to attend a comedy play which can only be seen by clever and astute persons. Everyone follows this invitation, if only for the reason that they do not wish to be considered as stupid. The juggler conjures up the figures of the wild and formidable »Onurphi« which fills the citizens with terror and the »Goggolori« who plays a variety of practical jokes on the young women. Everyone’s longings and wishes for physical comforts are awakened when the juggler conjures up the land of plenty: »the land of Cockaigne«, but he maintains that only those who wear the »robe of Cockaigne« will be able to see into the future. In their newly awakened curiosity, all follow the invitation to take off their clothes in order to don this imaginary special robe. When they realise that they have been tricked and humiliated and that the juggler has disappeared with his booty – he has collected all the discarded clothes! – they are deeply disappointed and enraged. Everything is however forgotten when the juggler returns in disguise to announce the arrival of the »Goldmaker«: he will turn all their coins into gold! Once more, they allow themselves to be taken in by a trick. Humans wish to be deceived and do not learn by experience.[
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