History of vaudeville. What it looked like: American vaudeville. Dramatic features of the genre

Theater arts

Pierre, after the matchmaking of Prince Andrei and Natasha, without any obvious reason, suddenly felt the impossibility of continuing his previous life. No matter how firmly he was convinced of the truths revealed to him by his benefactor, no matter how joyful he was during that first period of fascination with the internal work of self-improvement, which he devoted himself to with such fervor, after the engagement of Prince Andrei to Natasha and after the death of Joseph Alekseevich, about which he received news almost at the same time - all the charm of this former life suddenly disappeared for him. Only one skeleton of life remained: his home with his brilliant wife, who now enjoyed the favors of one important person, acquaintance with all of St. Petersburg and service with boring formalities. And this former life suddenly presented itself to Pierre with unexpected abomination. He stopped writing his diary, avoided the company of his brothers, began to go to the club again, began to drink a lot again, again became close to single companies and began to lead such a life that Countess Elena Vasilievna considered it necessary to make a stern reprimand to him. Pierre, feeling that she was right, and in order not to compromise his wife, left for Moscow.
In Moscow, as soon as he entered his huge house with withered and withering princesses, with huge courtyards, as soon as he saw - driving through the city - this Iverskaya Chapel with countless candle lights in front of golden vestments, this Kremlin Square with untrodden snow, these cab drivers and the shacks of Sivtsev Vrazhka, saw old Moscow people who wanted nothing and were slowly living out their lives, saw old women, Moscow ladies, Moscow balls and the Moscow English Club - he felt at home, in a quiet refuge. In Moscow he felt calm, warm, familiar and dirty, like wearing an old robe.
Moscow society, everyone, from old women to children, accepted Pierre as their long-awaited guest, whose place was always ready and not occupied. For Moscow society, Pierre was the sweetest, kindest, smartest, cheerful, generous eccentric, absent-minded and sincere, Russian, old-fashioned gentleman. His wallet was always empty, because it was open to everyone.
Benefit performances, bad paintings, statues, charitable societies, gypsies, schools, subscription dinners, revelries, Freemasons, churches, books - no one and nothing was refused, and if not for his two friends, who borrowed a lot of money from him and took him under their custody, he would give everything away. There was no lunch or evening at the club without him. As soon as he slumped back in his place on the sofa after two bottles of Margot, people surrounded him and conversations, arguments, and jokes ensued. Where they quarreled, he made peace with one of his kind smiles and, by the way, a joke. Masonic lodges were boring and lethargic without him.
When, after a single dinner, he, with a kind and sweet smile, surrendering to the requests of the cheerful company, got up to go with them, joyful, solemn cries were heard among the youth. At balls he danced if there was no gentleman available. Young ladies and young ladies loved him because, without courting anyone, he was equally kind to everyone, especially after dinner. “Il est charmant, il n"a pas de sehe,” [He is very cute, but has no gender], they said about him.
Pierre was that retired good-natured chamberlain living out his days in Moscow, of which there were hundreds.
How horrified he would have been if seven years ago, when he had just arrived from abroad, someone had told him that he didn’t need to look for anything or invent anything, that his path had been broken long ago, determined from eternity, and that, no matter how he turn around, he will be what everyone else in his position was. He couldn't believe it! Didn’t he want with all his soul to establish a republic in Russia, to be Napoleon himself, to be a philosopher, to be a tactician, to defeat Napoleon? Didn’t he see the opportunity and passionately desire to regenerate the vicious human race and bring himself to the highest degree of perfection? Didn't he establish schools and hospitals and set his peasants free?
And instead of all this, here he is, the rich husband of an unfaithful wife, a retired chamberlain who loves to eat, drink and easily scold the government when unbuttoned, a member of the Moscow English Club and everyone’s favorite member of Moscow society. For a long time he could not come to terms with the idea that he was the same retired Moscow chamberlain whose type he so deeply despised seven years ago.
Sometimes he consoled himself with thoughts that this was the only way he was leading this life; but then he was horrified by another thought, that so far, how many people had already entered, like him, with all their teeth and hair, into this life and into this club, and left without one tooth and hair.
In moments of pride, when he thought about his position, it seemed to him that he was completely different, special from those retired chamberlains whom he had despised before, that they were vulgar and stupid, happy and reassured by their position, “and even now I am still dissatisfied “I still want to do something for humanity,” he said to himself in moments of pride. “Or maybe all those comrades of mine, just like me, struggled, were looking for some new, their own path in life, and just like me, by the force of the situation, society, breed, that elemental force against which there is no a powerful man, they were brought to the same place as I,” he said to himself in moments of modesty, and after living in Moscow for some time, he no longer despised, but began to love, respect and pity, as well as himself, his comrades by fate .
Pierre was not, as before, in moments of despair, melancholy and disgust for life; but the same illness, which had previously expressed itself in sharp attacks, was driven inside and did not leave him for a moment. "For what? For what? What is going on in the world?” he asked himself in bewilderment several times a day, involuntarily beginning to ponder the meaning of the phenomena of life; but knowing from experience that there were no answers to these questions, he hastily tried to turn away from them, took up a book, or hurried to the club, or to Apollo Nikolaevich to chat about city gossip.
“Elena Vasilievna, who has never loved anything except her body and is one of the stupidest women in the world,” thought Pierre, “seems to people to be the height of intelligence and sophistication, and they bow before her. Napoleon Bonaparte was despised by everyone as long as he was great, and since he became a pathetic comedian, Emperor Franz has been trying to offer him his daughter as an illegitimate wife. The Spaniards send up prayers to God through the Catholic clergy in gratitude for the fact that they defeated the French on June 14th, and the French send up prayers through the same Catholic clergy that they defeated the Spaniards on June 14th. My brother Masons swear on blood that they are ready to sacrifice everything for their neighbor, and do not pay one ruble each for the collection of the poor and intrigue Astraeus against the Seekers of Manna, and are busy about the real Scottish carpet and about an act, the meaning of which is not known even to those who wrote it, and which no one needs. We all profess the Christian law of forgiveness of insults and love for one’s neighbor - the law, as a result of which we erected forty forty churches in Moscow, and yesterday we whipped a fleeing man, and the servant of the same law of love and forgiveness, the priest, allowed the cross to be kissed by a soldier before execution.” . So thought Pierre, and this whole, common, universally recognized lie, no matter how accustomed he was to it, as if it were something new, amazed him every time. “I understand these lies and confusion,” he thought, “but how can I tell them everything that I understand? I tried and always found that deep down in their souls they understand the same thing as me, but they just try not to see it. So it must be so! But for me, where should I go?” thought Pierre. He experienced the unfortunate ability of many, especially Russian people - the ability to see and believe in the possibility of good and truth, and to see too clearly the evil and lies of life in order to be able to take a serious part in it. Every area of ​​labor in his eyes was associated with evil and deception. Whatever he tried to be, whatever he undertook, evil and lies repulsed him and blocked all paths of activity for him. Meanwhile, I had to live, I had to be busy. It was too scary to be under the yoke of these insoluble questions of life, and he gave himself up to his first hobbies just to forget them. He traveled to all sorts of societies, drank a lot, bought paintings and built, and most importantly read.
He read and read everything that came to hand, and read so that, having arrived home, when the footmen were still undressing him, he, having already taken a book, read - and from reading he passed on to sleep, and from sleep to chatting in the drawing rooms and club, from chatter to revelry and women, from revelry back to chatter, reading and wine. Drinking wine became more and more a physical and at the same time a moral need for him. Despite the fact that the doctors told him that, given his corruption, wine was dangerous for him, he drank a lot. He felt quite good only when, without noticing how, having poured several glasses of wine into his large mouth, he experienced a pleasant warmth in his body, tenderness for all his neighbors and the readiness of his mind to respond superficially to every thought, without delving into its essence. Only after drinking a bottle and two wines did he vaguely realize that the tangled, terrible knot of life that had terrified him before was not as terrible as he thought. With a noise in his head, chatting, listening to conversations or reading after lunch and dinner, he constantly saw this knot, from some side of it. But only under the influence of wine did he say to himself: “It’s nothing. I will unravel this - so I have an explanation ready. But now there’s no time—I’ll think about all this later!” But this never came afterwards.
On an empty stomach, in the morning, all the previous questions seemed just as insoluble and terrible, and Pierre hastily grabbed the book and rejoiced when someone came to him.
Sometimes Pierre recalled a story he had heard about how in war soldiers, being under cover fire and having nothing to do, diligently find something to do in order to make it easier to endure danger. And to Pierre all people seemed to be such soldiers fleeing from life: some by ambition, some by cards, some by writing laws, some by women, some by toys, some by horses, some by politics, some by hunting, some by wine, some by state affairs. “Nothing is insignificant or important, it’s all the same: just to escape from it as best I can!” thought Pierre. - “Just don’t see her, this terrible one.”

At the beginning of winter, Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonsky and his daughter arrived in Moscow. Due to his past, his intelligence and originality, especially due to the weakening at that time of enthusiasm for the reign of Emperor Alexander, and due to the anti-French and patriotic trend that reigned in Moscow at that time, Prince Nikolai Andreich immediately became the subject of special respect from Muscovites and the center of Moscow opposition to the government.
The prince grew very old this year. Sharp signs of old age appeared in him: unexpected falling asleep, forgetfulness of immediate events and memory of long-standing ones, and the childish vanity with which he accepted the role of head of the Moscow opposition. Despite the fact that when the old man, especially in the evenings, came out to tea in his fur coat and powdered wig, and, touched by someone, began his abrupt stories about the past, or even more abrupt and harsh judgments about the present, he aroused in all his guests the same feeling of respectful respect. For visitors, this entire old house with huge dressing tables, pre-revolutionary furniture, these footmen in powder, and the cool and smart old man himself from the last century with his meek daughter and pretty French girl, who stood in awe of him, presented a majestically pleasant sight. But the visitors did not think that in addition to these two or three hours, during which they saw the owners, there were another 22 hours a day, during which the secret inner life of the house took place.
Recently in Moscow this inner life has become very difficult for Princess Marya. In Moscow she was deprived of those best joys - conversations with God's people and solitude - which refreshed her in Bald Mountains, and did not have any of the benefits and joys of metropolitan life. She did not go out into the world; everyone knew that her father would not let her go without him, and due to ill health he himself could not travel, and she was no longer invited to dinners and evenings. Princess Marya completely abandoned hope of marriage. She saw the coldness and bitterness with which Prince Nikolai Andreich received and sent away young people who could be suitors, who sometimes came to their house. Princess Marya had no friends: on this visit to Moscow she was disappointed in her two closest people. M lle Bourienne, with whom she had previously been unable to be completely frank, now became unpleasant to her and for some reason she began to move away from her. Julie, who was in Moscow and to whom Princess Marya wrote for five years in a row, turned out to be a complete stranger to her when Princess Marya again became acquainted with her in person. Julie at this time, having become one of the richest brides in Moscow on the occasion of the death of her brothers, was in the midst of social pleasures. She was surrounded by young people who, she thought, suddenly appreciated her merits. Julie was in that period of the aging society young lady who feels that her last chance for marriage has come, and now or never her fate must be decided. Princess Marya remembered with a sad smile on Thursdays that she now had no one to write to, since Julie, Julie, from whose presence she did not feel any joy, was here and saw her every week. She, like an old emigrant who refused to marry the lady with whom he spent his evenings for several years, regretted that Julie was here and she had no one to write to. Princess Marya had no one in Moscow to talk to, no one to confide in her grief, and much new grief had been added during this time. The time for Prince Andrei's return and his marriage was approaching, and his order to prepare his father for this was not only not fulfilled, but on the contrary, the matter seemed completely ruined, and the reminder of Countess Rostova infuriated the old prince, who was already out of sorts most of the time . A new grief that had recently increased for Princess Marya was the lessons that she gave to her six-year-old nephew. In her relationship with Nikolushka, she recognized with horror the irritability of her father. No matter how many times she told herself that she shouldn’t allow herself to get excited while teaching her nephew, almost every time she sat down with a pointer to learn the French alphabet, she so wanted to quickly and easily transfer her knowledge from herself into the child, who was already afraid that there was an aunt She would be angry that at the slightest inattention on the part of the boy she would flinch, hurry, get excited, raise her voice, sometimes pull him by the hand and put him in a corner. Having placed him in a corner, she herself began to cry over her evil, bad nature, and Nikolushka, imitating her sobs, came out of the corner without permission, approached her, pulled her wet hands away from her face, and consoled her. But what caused the princess more grief was her father’s irritability, which was always directed against his daughter and had recently reached the point of cruelty. If he had forced her to bow all night, if he had beaten her and forced her to carry firewood and water, it would never have occurred to her that her position was difficult; but this loving tormentor, the most cruel because he loved and tormented himself and her for that reason, deliberately knew how not only to insult and humiliate her, but also to prove to her that she was always to blame for everything. Lately, a new feature had appeared in him, one that tormented Princess Marya most of all - it was his greater rapprochement with m lle Bourienne. The thought that came to him, in the first minute after receiving news of his son’s intentions, that if Andrei marries, then he himself would marry Bourienne, apparently pleased him, and he stubbornly lately (as it seemed to Princess Marya) only in order to insult her, he showed special affection to m lle Bourienne and showed his dissatisfaction with his daughter by showing love for Bourienne.

VAUDEVILLE(French: vaudeville), a genre of light comedy play or performance with an entertaining intrigue or anecdotal plot, accompanied by music, couplets, and dances.

Vaudeville originated and was formed in France (in fact, the name itself comes from the valley of the Vire River in Normandy, Vau de Vire, where the folk songwriter Olivier Basslin lived in the 15th century). In the 16th century “vaudeville” was the name given to mocking street city couplet songs, usually ridiculing the feudal lords who became the main enemies of monarchical power in the era of absolutism. In the first half of the 18th century. vaudeville began to be called couplets with a repeated refrain, which were introduced into fair performances. At that time, the genre was defined as follows: “a performance with vaudevilles” (i.e., with couplets). By the middle of the 18th century. Vaudeville became a separate theatrical genre.

Early vaudeville is closely associated with synthetic fairground aesthetics: slapstick, pantomime, eccentric characters of folk theater (Harlequin, etc.). Its distinctive feature was its topicality: the verses were performed, as a rule, not to original music, but to familiar popular melodies, which undoubtedly made it possible to prepare a new performance in a very short time. This gave vaudeville extraordinary mobility and flexibility; it is no coincidence that the first heyday of vaudeville occurred during the years of the French bourgeois revolution (1789–1794). The possibility of an immediate response to current events made vaudeville a propaganda tool of revolutionary ideology. After the revolution, vaudeville loses its pathos and topical sharpness; however, its popularity does not fall, but, on the contrary, it increases. It is in vaudeville that a passion for jokes, puns, and wit is manifested, which, in the words of A. Herzen, “constitutes one of the essential and beautiful elements of the French character.” By the early 1790s, the popularity of vaudeville in France was so great that a group of actors from the Comedie Italienne theater opened the Vaudeville Theater (1792). Following it, other vaudeville theaters opened: “Theater of Troubadours”, “Theater of Montansier”, etc. And the genre itself gradually began to penetrate theaters of other genres, accompanying productions of “serious” plays. The most famous French vaudeville authors are Eugene Scribe (who wrote more than 150 vaudevilles independently and in collaboration with other writers in the 18th century) and Eugene Labiche (19th century). It is noteworthy that the vaudevilles of Scribe and Labiche retain their popularity today (Soviet television film Straw hat audiences have been watching E. Labiche’s play with pleasure for decades).

French vaudeville gave impetus to the development of the genre in many countries and had a significant influence on the development of European comedy in the 19th century, not only in drama, but also in its stage embodiment. The basic principles of the structure of the genre - rapid rhythm, ease of dialogue, lively communication with the audience, brightness and expressiveness of characters, vocal and dance numbers - contributed to the development of a synthetic actor who masters the techniques of external transformation, rich plasticity and vocal culture.

In Russia, vaudeville appeared at the beginning of the 19th century as a genre developing on the basis of comic opera. A. Griboedov, A. Pisarev, N. Nekrasov, F. Koni, D. Lensky, V. Sollogub, P. Karatygin, P. Grigoriev, P. Fedorov and others contributed to the formation of the Russian dramatic school of vaudeville. stage history of Russian vaudeville. A galaxy of brilliant Russian comedians is widely known, for whom vaudeville formed the basis of their repertoire: N. Dur, V. Asenkova, V. Zhivokini, N. Samoilov, etc. However, the largest actors of the realistic direction also worked in vaudeville with great pleasure and no less success: M. Shchepkin, I. Sosnitsky, A. Martynov, K. Varlamov, V. Davydov and others.

However, by the end of the 19th century. vaudeville is practically disappearing from the Russian stage, supplanted both by the rapid development of realistic theater and, on the other hand, by the no less rapid development of operetta. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, perhaps the only notable phenomenon of this genre were ten one-act plays by A. Chekhov ( Bear,Offer,Anniversary,Wedding and etc.). Despite the abandonment of traditional couplets, Chekhov retained the typically vaudeville structure of his one-act plays: paradoxicality, rapidity of action, unexpected outcome. However, later A. Chekhov moved away from the vaudeville tradition, in his later plays developing the dramatic principles of a completely new type of comedy.

Some revival of the Russian vaudeville tradition can be found in 1920-1930, when A. Fayko worked in this genre ( Teacher Bubus), V. Shkvarkin ( Someone else's child), I. Ilf and E. Petrov ( Strong feeling), V. Kataev ( Squaring a circle) etc. However, vaudeville did not receive further development in its pure form, in the 20th century. Other, more complex comedy genres were much more popular: socially accusatory, eccentric, political, “dark,” romantic, fantastic, intellectual comedy, as well as tragicomedy.

Tatiana Shabalina

Cinema: Encyclopedic Dictionary (ed. 1987)

Efremova's Dictionary

Vaudeville

1. m.
   1. A short dramatic work of a light genre with entertaining intrigue, couplet songs and dances.
   2. outdated A humorous vaudeville song, humorous couplets.

Ushakov's Dictionary

Vaudeville

vaudeville, vaudeville, husband. (French vaudeville) ( theater.). A comic play of a farcical nature, original with singing couplets.

Ozhegov's Dictionary

VODEV AND LH [de], I, m. A short comic play, usually with singing.

| adj. vaudeville, oh, oh.

Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language (Alabugina)

Vaudeville

I, m.

A short comic play, usually with singing and dancing.

* Put on a vaudeville show. *

|| adj. vaudeville, oh, oh.

* Vaudeville situation. *

Dictionary of musical terms

Vaudeville

(from fr. vaudeville) - a type of light comedy with couplets sung to music. It was widespread in France in the second half of the 18th century. Appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. A. Verstovsky, A. Alyabyev and others wrote music for vaudevilles. At the end of the 19th century. Vaudeville is being replaced by musical comedy and operetta. Nowadays, vaudeville is rare (“Lev Gurych Sinichkin” by A. Kolker, text by V. Dykhovichny and A. Slobodsky).

Lexicon of Jazz

Vaudeville

Vaudeville

In the modern sense, it is a kind of everyday comedy with musical numbers, couplets, dances, pantomimes and stunt scenes. In the USA, the so-called American volleyball (and as its variety - Negro vaudeville), the specifics of which are associated with the national characteristic features of the plot and music, with an appeal to local folklore and everyday material, as well as with the influences of minstrel theater (see minstrel show).

encyclopedic Dictionary

Vaudeville

(French vaudeville, from vau de Vire - the valley of the Vire River in Normandy, where folk vaudevir songs were widespread in the 15th century),

1. view "sitcom" with couplet songs, romances and dances. Originated in France; from the beginning 19th century received pan-European distribution. The heyday of Russian vaudeville - 1820 - 40s. (A. A. Shakhovskoy, D. T. Lensky, P. A. Karatygin, F. A. Koni, N. A. Nekrasov, etc.). Classics of the genre - E. Scribe, E. M. Labiche.
2. The final verse song in a vaudeville play.

Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language

Vaudeville

French - vaudeville (comedy with songs and couplets).

This word, French in origin, appeared in Russian in the modern meaning of “a dramatic work of the comedy genre with the singing of funny couplets” in the 18th century.

The original meaning of the word – “folk song” – has been known in the language since the 16th century.

According to scientists, the French word that served as the basis for the borrowing was formed from a proper name: a Norman area called de Vire, which became famous for its cheerful songs and their performers.

Derivative: vaudeville.

Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

Vaudeville

(French vaudeville) is a type of comedy, a light, entertaining play of everyday content, based on entertaining intrigue and combining witty dialogue with music and dancing, funny couplet songs.

RB: types and genres of literature

Type: comedy

Persian: E. Labiche, V. Shakhovskoy, E. Scribe, D. Lensky

* Vaudeville is the younger brother of comedy, a good-natured and good-natured merry fellow who does not pretend to make deep generalizations or serious thoughts. In the old days, vaudeville included verses and dances performed during the action by universal actors. Later, vaudeville freed itself from dancing and singing and transformed into a one-act (rarely more) joke play. An example of such vaudevilles is Chekhov's Bear, Proposal, Anniversary (S.S. Narovchatov). *

Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Vaudeville

Franz. the word Vaudeville comes from the word vaux-de-Vire, i.e. the valley of the city of Vire in Normandy, the birthplace of the national poet Olivier Basselin, who here first began to compose humorous songs called vaudevilles, and later vaudevilles. In the XV and XVI centuries. These vaudeville songs, composed by unknown authors in a satirical and humorous spirit about various events in political life, became very popular in France and were sung by wandering singers, among other things, on the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris (hence they were often called pon-neuves). Sometimes, however, V. did not have a satirical content and was a simple cheerful drinking song. As the best composers of V. songs in the 18th century. Piron, Panhard and Collet are known, who published them in the Almanach des Muses. In 1792-1793 two books appeared: “Constitution en vaudevilles” (Merchant) and “La République en vaudevilles”, in which the new institutions were depicted in a humorous manner.

The transformation of vaudeville songs into a special kind of dramatic works did not occur earlier than the 18th century. The entrepreneurs of the fair theaters sometimes inserted suitable songs into the plays. Since 1712, Lesage, Fuselier and Dorneval began to compose plays with vaudevilles; Lesage published a collection: "Thé âtre de la Foire ou l"Opéra Comique, contenant les meilleures pièces, qui ont été représentées aux foires de Saint Germain et de Saint Laurent avec une table de tous les vaudevilles et autres airs etc." (Paris, 1721-37). In 1753, Vade made the first attempt to specially commission music for the play “Les Troqueurs” he composed. Sedin, Ansom, Favard and others followed his example; they wrote music for them Grétry, Philidor, Monsigny, etc. Little by little, new music replaced the motives of old vaudevilles; plays of a transitional type began to appear, which were not quite correctly named comic operas (probably on behalf of the Opéra-comique theater, where they were first given). As the conversational part in these plays increased and the action began to be interrupted only by inserted couplets, this new genre of dramatic works resulted in that unique form, which was preserved without significant changes by modern V. In 1792, when the freedom of theaters was proclaimed, in Paris a special vaudeville stage was opened, which was called T héâtre Vaudeville. Among the vaudeville artists whose works were successful during the era of the first empire and restoration, let us name Dupaty, Desaugiers, Bayard, Melville and the famous Scribe, who is considered the creator of the newest formation of vaudeville; Labiche later became famous in the same genre. V. remains to this day a unique product of French esprit, bearing the imprint of the light, elegant Parisian life with its beautiful, cheerful sensuality and subtle, unsparing witty phrase.

Vaudeville in Russia. The first beginnings of Russian vaudeville are usually seen in the comic opera with Ablesimov’s couplets “The Miller, the Sorcerer, the Deceiver and the Matchmaker,” given for the first time on January 20, 1779 and which went through many performances thanks to the couplets in the folk-sentimental spirit and Sokolovsky’s music. But in essence, The Miller is much closer in texture to a comic opera. The first Russian vaudeville should be recognized as “The Cossack the Poet,” composed by Prince A. A. Shakhovsky with music by Kavos (1812). Shakhovsky’s original vaudevilles should also include: “Fedor Grigorievich Volkov”, “Lomonosov” (1814), “Meeting of the Uninvited” (1815), “Two Teachers” (1819), “News on Parnassus, or the Triumph of the Muses”. The last of them was written by Shakhovsky to ridicule the writers of empty theatrical plays, who arrogantly dream of becoming, along with classical writers, earning the respect of posterity. The play disputes Vaudeville’s rights to a place on Parnassus, where he somehow climbed along with Melodrama and the Journal, and ridicules “equivocations, couplets, jokes and funny trifles” with which “quick vaudevilles” will never get into the Temple of Immortality. All Shakhovsky’s arrows are directed against his happy rival in the field of vaudeville, N.I. Khmelnitsky, and against the latter’s witty “New Prank, or Theatrical Battle,” which was then given with great success. Khmelnitsky had previously written several successful vaudevilles: “You Can’t Outrun Your Betrothed,” “Grandma’s Parrot” (1819), “Actors Between Each Other, or the Debut of Actress Troepolskaya,” “Quarantine” (1822) and others, mostly with music by Maurer . At the same time, attempts at original Russian V. were made by M. N. Zagoskin (“Makaryevskaya Fair” and “Lebedyanskaya Fair”) and R. M. Zotov (“Adventure at the Station”). The most witty vaudeville performer and coupletist of the 20s and 30s is undoubtedly A.I. Pisarev. His vaudevilles, although mostly translated, enjoyed great success, mainly due to the wit of the couplets, which often touched on the topic of the day and ridiculed the features and phenomena of modern reality. “Teacher and Student”, “Calif’s Fun”, “Shepherdess”, “Five Years at Two O’Clock”, “The Old Sorceress, or That’s What Women Love”, “Three Tens”, “Magic Nose”, “Two Notes”, “ Uncle for Rent", "The Petitioner" (1824), "The Troublemaker", "Thirty Thousand People" (1825), "A Means for Marrying Daughters", "Meeting of Stagecoaches" and others did not leave the repertoire for a long time and enjoyed enormous success. The music for these vaudevilles was written by Verstovsky, Alyabyev and F. E. Scholz, which, of course, increased the interest of these plays and their success among the public. Pisarev represents a transition to vaudeville acts of the second era in the history of Russian V., embracing the 30s, 40s and 50s. of our century. In this era, V. reaches its greatest flourishing, gaining predominant importance in the repertoire and enjoying the constant and unchanging love of the public, who shared Repetilov’s opinion that only “V. is a thing, and the rest is all gil.” Vaudevilles have already completely moved away from the forms of comic opera and show a great desire for originality, reproducing the comic phenomena of modern, mainly metropolitan life. Types of bureaucratic and generally bourgeois people, comic phenomena of family and city life with the most confusing intrigue, constant misunderstandings (quiproquo), a mass of funny sayings in the speeches of the characters, witticisms and puns, which were especially abundantly equipped with couplets, are brought onto the stage. The couplets were put into the mouths of almost all the actors and often represented an appeal to the public, especially the almost inevitable final couplets, in which the actors addressed the audience with a request on behalf of the author for a favorable reception of the acted work. V.'s music has become significantly simplified compared to comic operas; the couplets were composed for the most part on popular motifs from operas and operettas, playful in nature and easy to perform. In general, the musical side of vaudeville fades into the background. Many of the verses, which were beyond the power of actors deprived of voice and hearing, were not sung, but spoken to the music, and this genre of recitation gained a prominent place in Russian vaudeville thanks to some highly talented vaudeville performers. Of the numerous Russian vaudeville actors of this era, let us name first of all Fyodor Alekseevich Koni. The most successful of his vaudevilles were: “There are devils in still waters” (1842), “The Dead Husband” (1835), “The Hussar Girl” (1836), “Titular Councilors in Home Life” (1837), “St. Petersburg Apartments” ( 1840), “Trouble from the heart and grief from the mind” (1851), “Don’t fall in love without memory, don’t marry without reason,” “Student, artist, choir member and swindler,” etc. Dimitry Timofeevich Lensky (real name Vorobiev) from 1828 to 1854 published more than 100 plays, mainly vaudevilles, translated and borrowed from French. The ability to adapt French originals to Russian morals and types, the liveliness of scenes, resourcefulness and wit in the speeches and couplets of the characters - these are the distinctive features of Lensky’s vaudevilles; some of them have not left the repertoire to this day. Having made his debut with the unsuccessful play “Matchmaker Out of Place” (1829), he quickly gained success with his further vaudevilles: “The Solicitor Under the Table” (1834), “Two Fathers and Two Merchants” (1838), “That’s how the pills go - whatever you put in your mouth, thank you.” ", "Lev Gurych Sinichkin", "Kharkov groom, or a house on two streets", "In people there is an angel, not a wife - at home with her husband Satan" and others. Pyotr Andreevich Karatygin 2nd, although he followed the French originals that were fashionable in his time , but he introduced into his vaudevilles, more than all other vaudeville artists, the Russian everyday coloring of derived types and characters, drawn exclusively from St. Petersburg life. Resourceful in witticisms and inventive in puns, Karatygin, like Lensky, brought Russian vaudeville to purely French gaiety and liveliness, often touching on various issues of public life that interested modern society. Thus, his first V., given in 1830: “Familiar Strangers,” brought F. Bulgarin and N. Polevoy to the stage under the names of Sarkasmov and Baklushin, who were constantly at odds with each other. “Borrowed Wives” (1834), “Wife and Umbrella” (1835), “Officer for Special Assignments” (1837) drew the public’s attention to the young author, and V. “Box of the 1st tier at Taglioni’s performance” (1838) enjoyed a huge success. “The First of July in Peterhof” (1840), “Bakery” (1843), “Natural School” were the best of his original vaudevilles. Karatygin’s translated vaudevilles, such as “The Leg” (1840), “Vitsmundir” (1845), “School Teacher”, “Dead Stranger”, “Adventure on the Waters”, were no less successful, and to some extent still enjoy them today. , "The House on the Petersburg Side, etc. Pyotr Ivanovich Grigoriev 1st, a contemporary and stage comrade of Karatygin, became famous for his special genre of vaudeville with dressing up, adapted to the stage abilities of the contemporary performers of these roles. "Makar Alekseevich Gubkin", "Comedy with an Uncle " (1841) and "The Daughter of a Russian Actor" received great fame and are still performed to this day. "Skladchina" (1843), "Polka in St. Petersburg" (1844), in which a dance that had just come into fashion at that time was performed on stage, "Wife or cards" (1845), "Another Comedy with Uncle", "Andrei Stepanych Buka" (1847) and "Salon pour la coupe des cheveux" (1847), often performed jointly by actors of the Russian, French and German troupes, and other original B Grigoriev did not leave the posters; his translated vaudevilles, for example: “There are many wives”, “Love pranks”, “Orphan Susanna” and others. also enjoyed considerable success. Pavel Stepanovich Fedorov made his debut with the unsuccessful original vaudevilles “Peace with the Turks” (1880), “The Reluctant Marquis” (1834); had greater success with “I Want to Be an Actress,” “The Archivist” (1837) and “Enough” (1849); became famous for his translations by V. : “Confusion” (1840), “One Hundred Thousand” (1845), “Az and Firth”, “We see a speck in someone else’s eye”, etc. Nikolai Ivanovich Kulikov wrote several original vaudevilles that are still performed today, such as: "Vaudeville with Dressing Up", "Gypsy" (1849), "Crow in Peacock Feathers" (1853), and translated ones, for example. “The Enchanted Prince, or the Transmigration of Souls” (1845), “The Troubled Girl”, “The Recruit in Love”, etc. Count Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sollogub gave several vaudevilles on the topic of the day, such as: “Bouquet, or St. Petersburg flower rage” (1845), “Fashionable Treatment” (1847), as well as the one given now by V. “Trouble from a Tender Heart” (1850). Of the other works of this era, which have enjoyed success to this day, V. Korovkin deserves mention: “Novices in Love”, “His Excellency” (1839), “Father, of which there are few”; Solovyov: “We don’t keep what we have, we cry when we lose it” (1843); Yakovlevsky - "Black Day on the Black River" (1846), "Uncle's Tailcoat and Auntie's Bonnet" (1849), and Onyx - "December 1st", "Oh, the French Language". V. of this era owes his success most of all to the talented play of Asenkova, Duras and especially A.E. Martynov, who created a whole gallery of types full of inimitable comedy: Sinichkin, Buka, Karlusha ("The Baker"), Pavel Pavlovich ("What We Have, we don’t store"), etc. The third era of V., the 60s, already represents the fall of this genre. At first, although there are still imitations of previous models and belated translations from French, such as: “Simple and well-mannered”, “Weak string”, “Mutual teaching”, “The need for invention is cunning”, “Mitya”, “The lordly arrogance and Pansies” eyes", "Boarder", "Old Mathematician", "Darlings scold - only amuse themselves", etc., but then V. begins to move into either an operetta or a one-act comedy. “Russian romances in the faces” and “Russian songs in the faces” by Kulikov, “Opressed Innocence”, “The Lovely Stranger” are still quite close to vaudeville, and “Autumn Evening in the Village”, “Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire”, “A Means to Drive Out red tape", "Flash at the Hearth", "Which of the Two", "Carefree", "On the Sands" by Trofimov, "Engagement in Galernaya Harbor" by Shchigrov (Shchiglev) and others, are increasingly losing the character of V. and merging with everyday descriptive comedies, scenes and skits of anecdotal content. The operetta that appeared in the 60s dealt an incurable blow to playful vaudeville, absorbing its musical seasoning, without which it would inevitably merge with light comedy and farce comedy, as has happened in our contemporary repertoire.

Vaudeville

Vaudeville

VAUDEVILLE. - The word comes from the French “val de Vire” - Vir Valley. Vir is a river in Normandy. In the 17th century, songs known as “Chanson de val de Vire” became widespread in France. They are attributed to the folk poets of the 15th century - Olivier Basselin and Le Goux. But most likely this is simply a collective designation for a special genre of a simple, unpretentious, humorous folk song, light in melodic composition, mockingly satirical in content, and in origin associated with the villages of the Vir Valley. This can explain the further transformation of the name itself - from “val de Vire” to “voix de ville” (“village voice”). In the second half of the 17th century, small theatrical plays appeared in France, introducing these songs during the action and from them they themselves received the name “vaudeville”. And in 1792, even a special “Theater de Vaudeville” - “Theater V.” - was founded in Paris. Of the French vaudeville actors, Scribe and Labiche are especially famous.
In our country, the prototype of V. was a small comic opera of the late 17th century, which remained in the repertoire of the Russian theater by the beginning of the 19th century. This includes Knyazhnin’s “Sbitenshchik”, Nikolaev’s “Guardian-Professor” and “Misfortune from the Carriage”, Levshin’s “Imaginary Widowers”, Matinsky’s “St. Petersburg Gostiny Dvor”, Krylov’s “Coffee House”, etc. Particular success had an opera-V. Ablesimova - “Miller-sorcerer, deceiver and matchmaker” (1779). “This play,” says the Dramatic Dictionary of 1787, “aroused so much attention from the public that it was played many times in a row... Not only from national audiences, but also foreigners were quite curious.” In Pushkin’s “Count Nulin” the definition of V. is still associated with the concept of aria, opera:

"...Would you like to listen
Delightful vaudeville? and count
Sings...

The next stage of V.'s development is “a little comedy with music,” as Bulgarin defines it. This V. has become especially widespread since about the 20s of the last century. V. Bulgarin considers “The Cossack Poet” and “Lomonosov” by Shakhovsky to be typical examples of this. “The Cossack poet,” writes F. Wigel in his Notes, “is especially notable for the fact that he was the first to appear on stage under his real name V. From him came this endless chain of these light works.”
Among the noble-guard youth of the early 19th century. It was considered a sign of “good form” to compose a V. for a benefit performance of this or that actor or actress. And for the beneficiary this was beneficial, because it also implied some “propaganda” on the part of the author for the upcoming benefit collection. Later, even Nekrasov “sinned” with several vaudeville acts under the pseudonym N. Perepelsky (“You can’t hide an awl in a sack, you can’t keep a girl in a sack”, “Feoklist Onufrievich Bob, or a husband is out of his element”, “This is what it means to fall in love with an actress”, "Actor" and "Granny's Parrots").
Usually V. were translated from French. “Adaptation of French vaudevilles to Russian customs was limited for the most part to the replacement of French names with Russian ones. Gogol wrote in his notebook in 1835: “But what happened now when the real Russian, and even somewhat stern and distinctive national character, with his heavy figure, began to imitate the shuffling of the petimeter, and our corpulent, but sharp-witted and intelligent a merchant with a wide beard, who knows nothing on his foot except a heavy boot, would instead put on a narrow shoe and stockings a jour, and, even better, would leave the other one in the boot and become the first pair in the French quadrille. But our national vaudevilles are almost the same.” Belinsky’s verdict on Russian vaudevilles is just as harsh: “Firstly, they are for the most part adaptations of French vaudevilles, therefore, the couplets, witticisms, funny situations, the beginning and the denouement - everything is ready, you just know how to use it. So what happens? This lightness, naturalness, liveliness, which involuntarily captivated and delighted our imagination in French vaudeville, this wit, these sweet nonsense, this coquetry of talent, this play of the mind, these grimaces of fantasy, in a word, all this disappears in the Russian copy, and only heaviness remains , awkwardness, unnaturalness, tension, two or three puns, two or three equivocations, and nothing more.”
Secular theatergoers usually cooked V. according to a very simple recipe. Griboedovsky Repetilov (“Woe from Wit”) also spoke about him:

“... six of us, lo and behold, it’s a vaudeville act
blind,
The other six put music to music,
Others clap when they give it...”

There are indications that Pushkin, meeting the requests of some friends, paid tribute to the custom of the then high-society dandies, although the texts of Pushkin’s vaudeville couplets have not been established with certainty.
Usually vaudeville poems are such that, with all condescension, they can only be called rhyming.
The passion for vaudeville was truly enormous. In October 1840, only 25 performances were staged at the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater, of which almost each, in addition to the main play, had one or two more V., but ten performances were, in addition, composed exclusively of vaudevilles. Herzen, looking forward to the arrival of M. S. Shchepkin in London, recalls (in a letter to M. K. Reichel) not his big roles, but a vaudeville chorus:

“Chuk-chuk, Tetyana,
Chernobrov Kokhan."

Shchepkin himself played V. quite willingly. They occupied a very prominent place in his repertoire. Going on tour to St. Petersburg in 1834, he sent Sosnitsky his repertoire, which, along with “Woe from Wit,” contains a lot of V.
Since about the 40s. in V., an element of topicality and polemic begins to noticeably emerge, either in the text, or in the form of acting gags and couplets, and this is a great success among the public. Of course, topicality in Nicholas’s times could not go beyond the limits of purely literary or theatrical anger (and then carefully), everything else was “strictly prohibited.” In Lensky’s vaudeville, for example, “In people, an angel is not a wife, at home with her husband it is Satan.” The bastard sings:

“Here, for example, analysis
Polevoy's plays -
Both author and actor
They won’t understand a word here...”

Particular success fell on V. Lensky’s five-act “Lev Gurych Sinichkin or the Provincial Debutante,” adapted from the French play “The Father of the Debutante.” It has been preserved in the repertoire of theaters to this day; now, of course, it is already devoid of any topicality (of which there was a lot in it), but it has not yet lost its significance as a picture of the theatrical morals of that time. In the 40s, another special genre of V. “with disguises” appeared. In them, the young actress Asenkova, praised by Nekrasov, was a resounding success. The most popular authors of V. were: Shakhovskoy, Khmelnitsky (his V. “Castles in the Air” remained until the end of the 19th century), Pisarev, Koni, Fedorov, Grigoriev, Solovyov, Karatygin (author of “Vitsmundir”), Lensky and others.
The penetration of operetta (see) to us from France at the end of the 60s weakened V.’s passion, especially since all kinds of political impromptu were widely practiced in operetta (of course, within the limits of very vigilant censorship), ad-libs and especially topical ones (in the same vaudeville type) couplets. Operetta was unimaginable at that time without such couplets. But nevertheless, V. remains in the repertoire of the Russian theater for quite a long time. Its noticeable decline begins only in the eighties of the last century. Bibliography:
Gorbunov I.F., L.T. Lensky, “Russian Antiquity”, No. 10, 1880; Tikhonravov N. S., prof., M. S. Shchepkin and N. V. Gogol, journal. "Artist", book. V, 1890; Izmailov A., Fyodor Koni and the old vaudeville., “Yearbook of the Emperor. theaters", No. 3, 1909; Warneke B.V., History of the Russian theater, part II, Kazan, 1910; Notes, letters and stories of M. S. Shchepkin, St. Petersburg, 1914; Ignatov I. N., Theater and spectators, part I, M., 1916; Beskin E., Nekrasov the playwright, journal. "Educator", No. 12, 1921; Grossman L., Pushkin in theater seats, Leningrad, 1926; Vigel F. F., Notes, vol. I, M., 1928, Beskin E. M., History of the Russian Theater, M., 1928; Vsevolodsky-Gerngross, History of the Russian Theater, M., 1929 (2 vols.).

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Vaudeville

(French vaudeville from vau de vire - the valley of the Vire River in France, where folk songs - vaudevilles - were widespread in the 15th century), an easy play with couplets. Initially - comic songs, from the 18th century. obligatory in comedies, then vaudeville becomes an independent genre. Found widespread use in French drama of the 18th and 19th centuries. (E. Scribe and E. Labiche were recognized as the best authors). In Russia, vaudeville became popular at the turn of the 1820s and 30s; it is a morally descriptive and descriptive genre. The best works of this genre belong to A. I. Pisarev (1803-28), D. T. Lensky (1805-60), F. A. Koni (1809-79), and N. A. also wrote vaudevilles. Nekrasov.

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

Vaudeville

VAUDEVILLE. Vaudeville is a dramatic encounter in a comedic sense (see comedy). If in comedy the dramatic struggle should not be brutal, then this is even more applicable to vaudeville. Here, usually, a comedic violation of some very minor social norm is depicted, for example, the norm of hospitality, good neighborly relations, etc. Due to the insignificance of the violated norm, vaudeville is usually reduced to a sharp short collision - sometimes to one scene.

Vaudeville history. The etymology of this word (vaux-de-Vire, Vire Valley) gives an indication of the initial origin of this type of dramatic creativity (the city of Vire is located in Normandy); Subsequently, this word was interpreted through distortion as voix de ville - village voice. Vaudeville began to be understood as such works in which the phenomena of life are defined from the point of view of naive village views. The light nature of the content is a distinctive feature of vaudeville. The creator of vaudeville, who characterizes these works in terms of their content, was the 15th century French poet Le Goux, who was later confused with another poet Olivier Basselin. Le Goux published a collection of poems, Vaux de vire nouveaux. These light comic songs in the spirit of Le Goux and Basselin became the property of the broad urban masses in Paris, thanks to the fact that they were sung on the Pont Neuf bridge by wandering singers. In the 18th century, Lesage, Fuselier and Dorneval, in imitation of these vaudeville songs, began to compose plays of similar content. The text of vaudevilles has been accompanied by music since the beginning of the second half of the 18th century. The musical performance of vaudevilles was facilitated by the fact that the entire text was written in verse (“The Miller” by Ablesimov). But soon, during the actual performance of vaudeville, the artists began to make changes to the text in prosaic form - improvisations on the current issues of the day. This gave the authors the opportunity to alternate verse with prose. From this time on, vaudeville began to branch into two types: vaudeville itself and operetta. In vaudeville, spoken language predominates, and in operetta, singing predominates. However, operetta began to differ in its content from vaudeville. It parodies various phenomena of life. This is Khmelnitsky’s operetta (beginning of the 19th century): “Greek Nonsense or Iphigenia in Tauris” and the later ones: “Orpheus in Hell”, “Beautiful Helen”, “Daughter of the Market”, “Songbirds”, “Geisha”, etc. After this differentiation of vaudeville, what remains behind it is first a humorous depiction of the life of the urban class in general, and then middle and petty officials.

The ease of content of vaudeville was also facilitated by the fact that it was compiled on occasion for a benefit performance of an artist or actress, and it was staged for the most part after a serious drama or tragedy. This determined the insignificance of its volume, although not only three-act vaudevilles are known, but even five-act ones (Lensky’s vaudeville of 5 acts - “Lev Gurych Sinichkin or the Provincial Debutante”). The insignificance of vaudeville required a special condensation of the comic element compared to comedy. Therefore, the hyperbolic nature of the comic led to the rapid development of action.

At first, vaudeville was written in verse, then poetry began to alternate with prose dialogues - with the indispensable repetition of the same couplets addressing the public; often the verses themselves were called vaudevilles. In later times, verses and music became optional.

Our most remarkable vaudeville artists were Khmelnitsky, Shakhovskoy, Pisarev, Polevoy, Karatygin II and others. In the era of reforms, vaudeville lost its importance, giving way to operetta. In most cases, vaudevilles were translated plays, often from French, but foreign names were often remade into the Russian style. Chekhov wrote his jokes in vaudeville form: “The Bear” and “The Proposal.”

V. Volkenshtein., Iv. Lyskov. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925

See what “Vaudeville” is in other dictionaries:

vaudeville- I, m. vaudeville f. 1. A type of folk songs common in France. Sl. 18. outdated A humorous vaudeville song, humorous couplets. BAS 2. While walking through the streets, he sang some songs composed by Poems, like French Vaudevilles.... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- (French vaudeville). A type of theatrical play with cheerful, funny content and singing; received its name from the name of the mountains. Vau, or Val de vire, where Olivier Basselin, at the end of the 14th century, composed cheerful drinking songs. Dictionary of foreign words,... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Vaudeville- VAUDEVILLE. Vaudeville is a dramatic encounter in a comedic sense (see comedy). If in comedy the dramatic struggle should not be brutal, then this is even more applicable to vaudeville. Here, comedy is usually depicted... Dictionary of literary terms

See joke... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and similar expressions. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian Dictionaries, 1999. vaudeville spectacle, opera (etc.), joke, farce, vaudeville Dictionary of Russian synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

- (French vaudeville, from vau de vire, literally the valley of the Vire River in Normandy, where vaudeville folk songs were widespread in the 15th century), a type of light comedy performance built on entertaining intrigue, with songs in verses, ... ... Modern encyclopedia

Ah, vaudeville, vaudeville... How popular you were once and how undeserved oblivion and indifference you are surrounded by now! Today many people don’t even know what this word means. It's time to talk about this. So...

What is vaudeville

This is a genre of comedy light play or musical theater performance with dances and verses, the center of which is an anecdotal plot or entertaining intrigue. The origin of the word “vaudeville” is interesting. It was born from the French “vau de vire” - “Vir Valley”. In the 15th century, comic folk songs - vaudevirs - were widespread in this area.

In 16th century France, vaudeville was the name given to urban comic songs that satirized the ruling class. At the beginning of the 18th century, this was the name for couplets, which were an obligatory part of the performances that were held at fairs. These simple performances were called vaudeville shows. It was only by the mid-18th century that vaudeville became an independent theatrical genre.

A little history

In early vaudeville, there is a close connection with the synthetic aesthetics of the fair: pantomime, slapstick, characters of the French folk theater (Pierrot, Columbine, Harlequin, etc.). The distinctive features of those performances were mobility and topicality.

No special music was written for the verses; they were performed to popular melodies, which made it possible to prepare the performance in a very short time. Apparently, it is no coincidence that the genre’s first peak in popularity occurred during the years of the French Revolution (1789-1794). In those days, vaudeville became the propaganda mouthpiece of the rebellious people.

After the noisy revolution, vaudeville loses its topical sharpness and pathos. Its main part is no longer satire, but a witty joke, a pun. The popularity of the genre has increased many times over these years. In 1792, a new theater called “Vaudeville” was formed in France, and then “Theater Montansier” and “Theater Troubadours”. Special plays are written for fun productions. Some of the most famous vaudeville authors were Eugene Scribe and Eugene Labiche. Their works became widely known; they were used in comedy performances on many stages around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Dramatic features of the genre

To better understand what vaudeville is, you need to familiarize yourself with the specific features of the genre. Here they are:

• Depiction in a comic form of a character's violation of some social norm (minor). For example, good neighborly relations, hospitality, etc.
• The presence of a dramatic line with an obligatory comedic shade.
• The rapid development of action and the hyperbolic comic nature of everything that happens on stage.
• Due to the insignificance of the norm violated in the play, the main outcome comes down to a short, sharp clash of characters.
• The speed of vaudeville action requires a specific condensation of comic elements in comparison with comedy.
• The predominance of spoken language rather than singing, unlike operetta.

Russian vaudeville

In Russia, vaudeville appeared as a genre based on comic opera. This happened at the beginning of the 19th century. Writers and playwrights such as V. Sollogub, A. Griboedov, D. Lensky, P. Fedorov, F. Koni and others made a great contribution to the formation and development of the Russian dramatic school of the genre. It is a known fact that the great poet Nikolai Nekrasov himself wrote plays for small musical comedies under the pseudonym N. Perepelsky.

The stage history of Russian vaudeville is also rich in famous names. During the dawn of the vaudeville genre, a whole galaxy of famous comedy artists shone on the Russian theater stage, the basis of whose work was exclusively vaudeville. These are N. Samoilov, A. Asenova, N. Dur, V. Zhivokini and others. Famous actors of the realistic theater school, for example, M. Shchepkin, also played in vaudeville.

In Russia, the genre we are considering was very popular. Thus, in October 1840, 25 performances were performed at the Alexandrinsky Theater, 10 of which were vaudevilles. In those days there would hardly have been a person who did not know what vaudeville was.

In 1839, the premiere of the musical comedy “Lev Gurych Sinichkin” took place in Moscow. She became one of the most beloved and popular among representatives of various classes. This play was based on the famous French comedy “The Father of a Debutante.”

Decline of the genre

At the end of the 1860s, operetta came to Russia from France, which led to the gradual decline of the genre. Nevertheless, vaudeville performances did not leave the stage for a long time. At the end of the 19th century, A.P. Chekhov wrote magnificent joke plays in the spirit of vaudeville: “The Bear”, “Wedding”, “On the Harm of Tobacco”, “Anniversary”, which were then staged in many theaters.

Vaudeville in cinema

Soviet cinema gave vaudeville a second life. In 1974, at the Mosfilm film studio, director A. Belinsky shot a charming comedy with music “Lev Gurych Sinichkin” - and the forgotten classic began to sparkle with new colors. Such celebrities as A. Mironov, N. Mordyukova, L. Kuravlev, O. Tabakov, M. Kazakov, N. Trofimov, R. Tkachuk took part in the filming. This good old vaudeville is still shown on television from time to time.

In the same year, the television film “The Straw Hat” based on the play by Eugene Labiche, sparkling with the incomparable music of Isaac Schwartz, was released. The director is L. Kvinikhidze, the main roles were brilliantly played by A. Mironov, Z. Gerdt, L. Gurchenko, E. Vasilyeva, M. Kozakov, V. Strzhelchik, E. Kopelyan, A. Freundlich.

In 1979, Svetlana Druzhinina’s elegant vaudeville comedy “The Hussar’s Matchmaking” was released with music by Gennady Gladkov and a brilliant cast: M. Boyarsky, E. Koreneva, A. Popov, A. Barinov and others.

And finally, in 1980, the film “Ah, Vaudeville, Vaudeville...” was released. Director - G. Yungvald-Khilkevich, composer - M. Dunaevsky, starring O. Tabakov, young G. Belyaeva, M. Pugovkin. After the premiere, the whole country sang songs from this film.

Conclusion

What is vaudeville today? We can probably say that this is an outdated genre of art that no longer has a place in modern life. Musicals and grand shows have captured the hearts of today's audiences. But there are still wonderful films that capture the spirit of real vaudeville, and sometimes, depending on the mood, we can watch them and remember the past.

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