Transcript adolphe-appia-resource-pack-119556661038404

Adolphe Appia
1862-1928
Biography
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Appia grew up in Geneva in the early 1860s
From a young age he had a strong interest in music and drama
As a young boy he would spend hours in his fathers library reading many different
plays
However his father, Doctor Louis Paul Amedee Appia, was unsupportive of his
child’s interests. Adolphe became a very introverted and shy character because of
his father’s stern and forbidding nature. He also developed a stutter as a child,
which could have also made him more withdrawn.
He had ambitions of becoming a director or conductor but because of his shy
tendancies he turned to writing to communicate his ideas.
From an early age Appia had an inclination for the theatre, but he grew up in an
atmosphere that discouraged such interests. He, however, gained his father's
permission to study music and in that way was able to pursue his love of the
theatre.
Biography
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Appia became an architect and theorist of stage lighting and décor, and a
pioneer of modern stage design.
He was most well known for his many scenic designs for Wagner’s operas.
He rejected 2D sets for 3D ‘living’ sets because he believed that shade was as
necessary as light, to form a connection between the actor and the setting of
the performance.
He was one of the first designers to understand the potential of stage lighting
to do more than merely illuminate actors and painted scenery.
Influences
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In 1881 Appia visited the theatre for
the first time; Gaunod’s ‘faust’, in
Geneva at the age of 18. he was
disappointed with the dull sets as
they weren’t how he had previously
imagined them to be.
He later, at the age of 64, began
preparing designs for Goethe’s ‘faust’
which was ironic considering this
was his first experience, and also the
last production he designed for.
During 1882 he saw his first
Wagnerian opera ‘Parsifal’, at
Bayreuth. This was Wagner’s last
production, at which Appia was also
disappointed with.
Influences
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In 1906 Appia attended a lecturedemonstration run by Emile JaquesDalcroze. After this night, Dalcroze
and Appia became good friends and
Appia suddenly began to see how to
realise his own ideas.
In 1884 he formed a close bond with
Houston S. Chamberlain, who he
later went on to design plays for.
Chamberlain introduced Appia to
certain aspects of English culture,
adding to his influences and
inspirations.
Emile JaquesDalcroze (18651950)
Houston S.
Chamberlain (18551927)
Appia’s Works
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The first play Adolphe designed for was
‘Le Semaine Litteraire’ – a combination of
scenes from Carmen and Manfred..
Appia wrote 3 books: La mise en scene du
drama wagnerian (The Staging of the
Wagnerian Music Drama) 1895, La
musique et la mise en scene (Music and
Art of the Theatre) 1896, L’Oeuvre d’art
vivant (The Work of Living Art) 1920.
Adolphe, was a rather different young
swiss artist, who moved amongst the
symbolist artists and the Parisian
followers of Wagner in the late 1880s.
Through his life he considered both the
specific problems involved in staging
Wagner’s works and the implications
which such problems- and their solutionhad for theatrical reform in general.
Symbolism in his works
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•Design for Act I of "Parsifal" by Richard
Wagner. Many of Wagner's scenes take place in
ancient forests. This image demonstrates Appia's
vision of the sense of the sacred forest. Most
significant here is the three-dimensionality of the
trees which permits them to cast real shadows by
means of a projected light source. Light blocked
by an object produces a sculptural quality
important to Appia.
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Appia’s design for ‘Forest
Glade’, in which light, shadows
and three curtains are used to
suggest the setting, was to
present his idea of how “we
shall no longer try to give the
illusion of a forest, but the
illusion of a man in the
atmosphere of a forest”
Appia’s inspirations were from
the ideas of Wagner, whose
work has been described as
quiet symbolism. His works
gave a symobolist aesthetic
Symbolism in his works
 Symbolism “the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of
attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships.
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Appia’s plays were figurative, and dramatic action was less important than its
symbolic meaning, set in a world of myths, legends and fantasy. His plays did not
take on matters of social problems or the relationship between man and his
environment.
How his work was perceived
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Appia was renowned for his use and concept of stage lighting. However
his vast work extended far beyond that and he challenged the traditional
ways to design for performance in his era.
His ideas if anything were to advanced at the time but have now been
widely accepted. Unfortunately Appia did not receive the credit and a lot
of his work still remains unpublished.
He was encouraged by his friends within the Wagner circle in Paris, and
by his acquaintances amongst the symbolist artists and poets, with the
works of Wagner that he analysed, which lead him to put his thoughts
onto paper in 1895.
His work on ‘Die Musik und die Inscenierung’ showed a new kind of stage
an setting, which practicioners of stagecraft were said to be ‘ converted by
a set of illuminations to a gospel which most of them had never read.
Inspiring others
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Directors and designers took inspiration from Appia, whose design theories and
conceptualisations of Wagner’s operas have helped to shape modern perceptions
of the relationship between performance space and lighting.
His ideas about the staging of ‘word-tone drama’ together woth his own stagings
such as ‘Tristan and Isolde’ (Milan 1923) have influenced later stagings, especially
those of the 2nd half of the 20th century.
Appia’s designs and theories went on to inspire many other theatre creators, such
as Edward Gordon Craig and Jacques Copeau.
Tristan and Isolde,
Adolphe Appia
Bibliography
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Adolphe Appia – Prophet of modern theatre
Walter R Volbach
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Music and the art of the theatre
Adolphe Appia
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Theartrelinks.com
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Wikipedia.com
Lucy Hughes
Gemma Hutchinson
Laura Hodge
Rebecca Hornby