An evening of old Russian vaudeville. The meaning of the word vaudeville in the dictionary of literary terms Vaudeville in Russia

What is Vaudeville? How the given word is spelled correctly. Concept and interpretation.

Vaudeville VAUDEVILLE. Vaudeville is a dramatic comedy encounter (see comedy). If dramatic struggles are not meant to be violent in comedy, then this applies even more to vaudeville. Here, usually, a comedic violation of some very insignificant social norm is depicted, for example, the norm of hospitality, good neighborly relations, etc. Due to the insignificance of the violated norm, vaudeville usually boils down to a sharp short collision - sometimes to one scene. V. Volkenstein. \ The history of vaudeville. The etymology of this word (vaux-de-Vire, Vire Valley) indicates the initial origin of this type of dramatic creativity (the city of Vire is located in Normandy); later this word was interpreted through distortion voix de ville - a village voice. Vaudeville came 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 the hallmark of vaudeville. The creator of the vaudeville characterizing these works from the point of view of their content was the 15th century French poet Le Goux, who was later mixed with another poet, Olivier Basselin. Le Gu published a collection of poems Vaux de vire nouveaux. These light comic songs in the spirit of Le Gu and Basselin became the property of the wide urban masses in Paris, thanks to the fact that they were sung by wandering singers on the Pont-Neuf bridge. In the 18th century, Lesage, Fuselier and Dorneval, in imitation of these vaudeville songs, began to compose plays of the same content. Vaudeville lyrics have been accompanied by music since the beginning of the second half of the 18th century. The musical performance of the vaudeville was facilitated by the fact that the entire text was written in verse ("The Miller" by Ablesimov). But soon, at the very performance of vaudeville, artists began to introduce changes in the text in a prosaic form - improvisation to the current spite of the day. This made it possible for the authors themselves to alternate verse with prose. Since that time, the branching of vaudeville into two types begins: the vaudeville proper and the operetta. In vaudeville, spoken language predominates, and in operetta, singing. However, the operetta began to differ in its content from vaudeville. It parodies various phenomena of life. Such is the operetta of Khmelnitsky (early XIX century): "Greek nonsense or Iphigenia in Taurida" and later: "Orpheus in Hell", "Beautiful Elena", "Daughter of the Market", "Songbirds", "Geisha", etc. After this differentiation of vaudeville, at first he is left with a joking depiction of the life of the urban estate in general, and then of the middle and small bureaucracy. The ease of the vaudeville content was also facilitated by the fact that it was compiled for the benefit of an artist or artist, and it was staged for the most part after a serious drama or tragedy. This also determined the insignificance of its volume, although not only three-act vaudeville is known, but even five-act vaudeville (Lensky's vaudeville of 5 acts - "Lev Gurych Sinichkin or Provincial Debutante"). The insignificance of the volume of the vaudeville demanded a special concentration of the comic element in comparison with the comedy. Therefore, the hyperbolicity of the comic led the rapid development of action. At first, vaudeville was written in poetry, then poetry began to alternate with prosaic dialogues - with the indispensable repetition of the same couplets with an appeal to the public; often the verses themselves were called vaudeville. In later times, verses and music became optional. Our most remarkable vaudevilleists were Khmelnitsky, Shakhovskoy, Pisarev, Polevoy, Karatygin II, and others. In the era of reforms, vaudeville lost its significance, giving way to operetta. In most cases, vaudeville was translated plays, more often from French, but foreign names were often altered in Russian. In the form of a vaudeville, Chekhov wrote his jokes: "The Bear" and "The Proposal." Yves. Lyskov.

Vaudeville- VODEVIL m. Fr. a dramatic spectacle with songs, singing, and the opera and operetta are all put on music ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Vaudeville- Franz. the word Vaudeville comes from the word vaux-de-Vire, that is, the valley of the city of Vire in Normandy, the place p ... Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Vaudeville- (French vaudeville) a light comedy piece with verses and dances. Homeland V. - Fr ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Vaudeville- VODEVILLE, vaudeville, m. (Fr. Vaudeville) (theater.). A comic play of a farcical nature, origin. with ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Vaudeville- m. 1. A short dramatic work of a light genre with an entertaining intrigue, verse songs ... Efremova's Explanatory Dictionary

Vaudeville- VODEVILLE (French vaudeville, from vau de vire, literally - the valley of the Vir river in Normandy, where at 15 ...

Vaudeville is a genre from the world of drama that has characteristic, recognizable features. Let's say with confidence that he is the "great-grandfather" of the modern stage. Firstly, it is a very musical piece, full of dances and songs. Secondly, it is always a comedy.

Vaudeville is also a theatrical play created in this genre. Its plot is ingenuous and light. The conflict is built on a funny intrigue and is resolved with a happy ending.

History

The origin of such an unusual word is curious. Historians claim that it was born in the fifteenth century in Normandy, near the river Vir. There lived poets who composed folk songs called val de Vire, translated as "Virskaya Valley". Later the word changed to voix de ville (literally "provincial voice"). Finally, in French, the term took shape in vaudeville, which means "vaudeville". This was the name of literary creations in which events were presented through the prism of an innocent uncomplicated perception. Initially, these were just street comic songs performed by itinerant artists. Only in the eighteenth century did playwrights appear who, focusing on the nature of these songs, began to compose plays with similar subjects and in a similar style. Since the lyrics were poetic, music easily fell on them. However, the actors improvised a lot in the process of performing the plays, they did it most often in prose, and therefore the playwrights also began to alternate verse pieces of the text with prosaic ones.

Vaudeville and operetta

Art critics say that from that moment on the vaudeville had a younger sister - operetta, which, however, very soon became extremely popular. Singing prevailed in operetta, and talk prevailed in vaudeville. The specialization of the form was followed by some difference in content. Vaudeville is not a satirical, but rather a humorous depiction of the life and customs of middle class people. Comedic situations in him develop rapidly, violently and often grotesquely.

Features of the genre

One of the characteristic features of the works of this genre is the constant appeal of the actor to the viewer during the action. Also, the specificity of vaudeville is the obligatory repetition of the same song verses. The peculiarities of vaudeville made it a welcome part of any benefit performance. An actor giving such a performance, after serious dramatic monologues, can please the audience by presenting himself in a completely different way. In addition, vaudeville is a great opportunity to demonstrate vocal and dance skills.

Influence on cultural traditions

Vaudeville in the era of its origin was very fond of the inhabitants of different countries and continents, but in each culture it went its own way. In America, for example, a music hall and other bright, amazing show programs have grown out of it. In Russia, vaudeville gave birth to joke plays and comic opera. Some of Chekhov's brilliant works ("The Proposal", "Bear", "Drama", etc.) have a completely vaudeville content.

Sample of Russian vaudeville

"The Miller is a Sorcerer, a Deceiver and a Matchmaker" - a sparkling comic play by Alexander Ablesimov in the spirit of vaudeville was first performed on stage in 1779. Two hundred years later, modern theaters are happy to stage it. The plot is extremely simple: the mother of the peasant Anyuta, born a noblewoman, but married to a peasant, by all means prevents her daughter's wedding, who chose a peasant boy as her husband. The girl's father does not want to take him as his son-in-law. The cunning and enterprising miller Thaddeus is challenged to resolve the conflict. Since the village belief says that all millers are sorcerers, Thaddeus does not miss the opportunity to take advantage of this, believing that divination is nothing more than a deception. He becomes a matchmaker and, finding his own "key" to everyone, successfully convinces Anyuta's parents that they cannot find a better son-in-law. This funny sitcom has everything that includes the meaning of the word "vaudeville".

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

Vaudeville originated and took shape in France (in fact, the name itself comes from the valley of the Vir river in Normandy - Vau de Vire - where the folk songwriter Olivier Basslin lived in the 15th century). In the 16th century. "Vaudeville" called mocking street city songs, couplets, as a rule, ridiculing the feudal lords, who in the era of absolutism became the main enemies of monarchical power. In the first half of the 18th century. vaudeville came to be called couplets with a repeating refrain, which were introduced into fair performances. At that time, the genre was defined as: "performance with vaudeville" (ie, with verses). By the middle of the 18th century. vaudeville has emerged as a separate theatrical genre.

Early vaudeville is closely associated with synthetic fairground aesthetics: buffoonery, pantomime, eccentric characters of folk theater (Harlequin, etc.). Its distinctive feature was topicality: verses were performed, as a rule, not to the 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 falls on the years of the French bourgeois revolution (1789-1794). The possibility of an immediate response to current events made vaudeville an agitational weapon of revolutionary ideology. After the revolution, vaudeville loses its pathos and topical acuteness; however, its popularity is not falling, but, on the contrary, is increasing. 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, vaudeville was so popular in France that a group of actors from the Comedie Italienne opened the Vaudeville Theater (1792). After him, other vaudeville theaters were opened - the Teatro Troubadours, Teatro Montansier, and others. And the genre itself gradually begins to penetrate into theaters of other genres, accompanying the production of "serious" plays. The most famous French authors of vaudeville are Eugene Scribe (who wrote more than 150 vaudeville in the 18th century independently and in collaboration with other writers) and Eugene Labiche (19th century). It is noteworthy that the vaudeville of Scribe and Labiche retain their popularity at the present time (Soviet television film Straw hat the play by E. Labish has been watched with pleasure by the audience for more than a dozen years).

French vaudeville gave impetus to the development of the genre in many countries and had a significant impact on the development of European comedy of the 19th century, not only in drama, but also in its stage embodiment. The basic principles of the genre structure - rapid rhythm, ease of dialogue, live communication with the viewer, brightness and expressiveness of characters, vocal and dance numbers - contributed to the development of a synthetic actor who mastered the techniques of external reincarnation, 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. Griboyedov, 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 drama school of vaudeville. stage history of Russian vaudeville. A galaxy of brilliant Russian comedy actors is widely known, for whom vaudeville formed the basis of the repertoire: N. Dyur, 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 has practically disappeared from the Russian stage, ousted 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 noticeable phenomenon of this genre were ten one-act plays by A. Chekhov ( Bear,Offer,Anniversary,Wedding and etc.). Despite the rejection of traditional couplets, Chekhov retained the typically vaudeville structure of his one-act plays: paradoxicality, swiftness of action, unexpected outcome. Nevertheless, in the future A. Chekhov leaves 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. Faiko ( Teacher Bubus), V. Shkvarkin ( Someone else's child), I. Ilf and E. Petrov ( Strong feeling), V. Kataev ( Squaring the circle) and others. Nevertheless, vaudeville did not receive further development in its pure form, in the 20th century. much more popular were other, more complex comedy genres - socially accusatory, eccentric, political, "dark", romantic, fantastic, intellectual comedy, as well as tragicomedy.

Tatiana Shabalina

The word "vaudeville" (Vaudeville) comes from the French "val de Vire" - Virskaya valley. Vir is a river in Normandy.

In the 17th century, songs known as "Chanson de val de Vire" became widespread in France. Their authors are considered the folk poets of the 15th century - Olivier Basselena and Le Gu. Perhaps this is just a collective designation of a special genre of a simple, unpretentious, playful song of a folk character, light in melodic composition, mockingly satirical in content, and in its origin associated with the villages of the Virskaya 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 pieces appeared in France, introducing these songs in the course of the action, and from them themselves received the name "vaudeville". And in 1792 in Paris even a special "Theater de Vaudeville" - "Theater of Vaudeville" was founded. Among the French vaudevilleists, E. Scribe and E. Labisch are especially famous.

In Russia, the prototype of vaudeville 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. These are "Sbitenschik" by Knyazhnin, Nikolaev - "Guardian-Professor" and "Misfortune from the Carriage", Levshin - "Imaginary Widowers", Matinsky - "St. Petersburg Gostiny Dvor", Krylova - "Coffee Shop", etc. The opera was particularly successful. Ablessimov's vaudeville "The miller-sorcerer, deceiver and matchmaker" in 1779.

The next stage in the development of vaudeville is "a little comedy with music". This vaudeville has become especially popular since about the 20s of the XIX century. Typical examples of such a vaudeville are "Cossack the Poet" and "Lomonosov" by Shakhovsky.

At the beginning of the 19th century, it was considered a sign of "good taste" to compose a vaudeville for the benefit performance of one or another actor or actress. For example, the vaudeville "One's Family, or a Married Bride" in 1817 was created by A.S. Griboyedov in co-authorship with A.A. Shakhovsky and N.I. Khmelnitsky for M.I.Valberkhova. Particularly successful was D.T. Lensky's "Lev Gurych Sinichkin or a Provincial Debutante", remade from the French play "Debutante's Father" (staged in 1839), it has survived in the theater repertoire to this day and is a reliable picture of theatrical customs of that time.

Later, N.A. Nekrasov created several vaudeville under the pseudonym N. Perepelsky ("You can't hide an awl in a sack, you can't keep a girl in a sack", "Theoklist Onufrievich Bob, or your husband is not at ease", "That's what it means to fall in love with an actress" , "Actor" and "Grandma's Parrots").

Usually vaudeville was translated from French. The "conversion to Russian customs" of French vaudeville was usually limited to the replacement of French names by Russians. Vaudeville was created according to a very simple recipe. Repetilov spoke about him in the comedy by A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit":

"... six of us, lo and behold - a vaudeville
blind
The other six put on music,
Others clap when given ... "

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 vaudeville, but ten performances were, in addition, composed exclusively of vaudeville.

Since about the 40s, elements of topicality and controversy have appeared in vaudeville, and this has a great success with the public. It should be noted that topicality in Nikolayev's times could not go beyond purely literary or theatrical topics (and then carefully), everything else was "strictly forbidden". In D.T. Lensky's vaudeville, for example, "In people an angel is not a wife, at home with a husband - Satan" Razmaznya sings:

"Here, for example, is the analysis
Field's plays -
Both author and actor
They won't understand a word ... "

The most popular authors of vaudeville were A.A. Shakhovskoy, N.I. Khmelnitsky (his vaudeville "Castles in the Air" held out until the end of the 19th century), A.I. Pisarev, F.A. I. Grigoriev, P. A. Karatygin (author of "Vitsmundir"), D. T. Lensky and others.

On February 23, 1888, A.P. Chekhov admits in one of his letters: “When I’m done, I’ll begin to write vaudeville and live by them. It seems to me that I could write them a hundred a year. Baku subsoil ". By that time he had written "On the dangers of tobacco", "Bear", "Proposal".

VAUDEVILLE

- (from French vaudeville) - a kind of comedy: an entertaining play with an entertaining intrigue and an unpretentious everyday plot, in which dramatic action is combined with music, songs, dances.

Dictionary of literary terms. 2012

See also the interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what VODEVIL is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

• VAUDEVILLE in the Literary Encyclopedia:
  ... - The word comes from the French "val de Vire" - Virskaya valley. Vir is a river in Normandy. In the 17th century ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  (French vaudeville from vau de Vire - the valley of the Vir river in Normandy, where folk songs-vaudeville were widespread in the 15th century), ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  (French vaudeville), a light comedy piece with verses and dances. The homeland of V. is France. The name comes from the valley of the river. Vir (Vau ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  Franz. the word Vaudeville comes from the word Vaux-de-Vire, that is, the valley of the city of Vire in Normandy, the birthplace of the folk poet Olivier Basselin, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  (French vaudeville, from vau de vire, literally - the valley of the Vir River in Normandy, where in the 15th century folk ...
• VAUDEVILLE
  [French vaudeville] 1) city street song 1 6 c. in France; 2) a small theatrical play of a light, comedic character with couplets ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  , i, m. A short comic play, usually with singing. Vaudeville - related to vaudeville, vaudeville; like a vaudeville. || Wed MUSIC ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  [de], -ya, m. A short comic play, usually with singing. II app. vaudeville, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  VODEVILLE (French vaudeville, from vau de Vire - the valley of the Vir river in Normandy, where in the 15th century the narcotics were widespread ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
  Franz. the word Vaudeville comes from the word vaux-de-Vire, that is, the valley of the city of Vire in Normandy, the birthplace of the folk poet Olivier Basselin, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Complete Accentuated Paradigm by Zaliznyak:
  vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, la, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, vaudeville, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Popular Explanatory and Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  [de], -ya, m. A play of a light comedic character with an entertaining intrigue, in which dialogues alternate with singing couplets and dancing. Plot …
• VAUDEVILLE in the Dictionary for solving and compiling scanwords:
  Musical ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the New Dictionary of Foreign Words:
  (fr. vaudeville) 1) a street city song in France in the 16th century; 2) a play of light, comedic character with couplets and dances; ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Dictionary of Foreign Expressions:
  [fr. vaudeville] 1. city street song in 16th century France; 2. a play of light, comedic character with couplets and dances; 3. ...
• VAUDEVILLE in Abramov's Dictionary of Synonyms:
  see the spectacle, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language:
  vaudeville, show, TV show, farce, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the New explanatory and derivational dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova:
  m. 1) A short dramatic work of a light genre with an entertaining intrigue, verses and dances. 2) is outdated. A humorous vaudeville song, humorous ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Dictionary of the Russian language Lopatin:
  vaudeville, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  vaudeville, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Spelling Dictionary:
  vaudeville, ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Ozhegov Russian Language Dictionary:
  a short comic play, usually with ...
• VODEVIL in Dahl's Dictionary:
  husband. , French a dramatic show with songs, singing, and the opera and operetta are all set to music. Vaudeville, rel. to vaudeville ...
• VAUDEVILLE in the Modern Explanatory Dictionary, TSB:
  (French vaudeville, from vau de Vire - the valley of the Vir river in Normandy, where folk songs-vaudeville were widespread in the 15th century), ...