Theater in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The beginning of the theatrical art of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lies in the folk theater with its ritual songs and dances, where elements of game action and theatrical reincarnation were present. Elements of theatrical performance are available in many calendar (for example, Kupalye ) and family rites. The wedding ceremony was characterized by dramatic action, dialogue songs, dances. The wedding ceremony and carols , during which a whole performance was played, are especially saturated with elements of theatricalization.

The first actors were buffoons , whose performances, full of folk songs, dances, proverbs and sayings , jokes, all kinds of tricks, became the event of any holiday. Later, in the XVII-XVIII centuries, the art of buffoons was transformed into booths , the art of puppet theaters into nativity scenes . On the frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral (XI century) in Kiev there is an image of buffoons. Sometimes buffoons went with bears. Bear training schools are known in the vicinity of Grodno , Nesvizh , Minsk , Rakov , Polesie , and the largest of them is the Smorgon Bear Academy , which existed in the 17th-18th centuries. In Semezhev near Kopyl there was a school of rope jumpers.

Theatrical folk art was distinguished by free improvisation, ease of transition from serious to funny (the games “ Marriage of Tereshka ”, “ Foot and mouth disease ”, “Marriage of the Bahar”, “Mill”, “Grandfather and Woman”, “Goat”, “Melanka”, “Geese” , "Millet"), this was the basis of the art of stray actors. Over time, in their representations, dramatic and comic scenes appeared - interludes , then - folk drama.

Batleyka Folk Puppet Theater (from Betleem - the Polish name for Bethlehem ) appeared in the 16th century. A theater of this type had in different places of the principality the names of yaselka, battlya, ostleyka, redneck, nativity scene. The Ukrainian nativity scene has been known since the 17th century, the Polish theater with moving figures "shopka" ( szopka , from German schoppen - crib, shed) - from the 15th century. For displays batleiki made of wood boxes of different sizes, usually in the form of a house or church with horizontal partitions (tiers, scenes). Each tier scene had slots for driving dolls. The scene was finished with fabric, paper, geometric figures from thin sticks and resembled a balcony on which the action took place. Icons, stars, crosses, windows, doll compositions on a biblical plot, etc. were drawn on the back of the scenes. A dome-like roof with a cross was made in a box that looked like a church. The box was closed with doors. The need for a multi-tiered structure of the boxes disappeared when the batlei shows became secular.

Character dolls were made of wood, colored paper, fabric; hair, eyebrows, mustache - from flax or sheepskin. The dolls were mounted on a wooden or metal rod, with the help of which the battalion drove them through the slots in the stage tier. Also known is a batleyka with puppets-dolls on threads with the upper principle of driving, glove dolls.

The shows were accompanied by music, the stage and dolls were lit by candles. The batleichnik was behind the box, from there he drove dolls, spoke the text, falsifying the character’s voice. Often he was not only the sole performer, but also playwrights, artist, directors, musician, and sometimes a kind of entertainer (he addressed the audience directly, characterizing a character in his own name) ^[1] . Some battles were arranged on the principle of a shadow theater ( Vitebsk ) and with changing transparent decorations ( Dokshitsy ).

At first, the performances were associated with the festival of carols, when schoolchildren went with battleships to towns and villages. Later, the scenes associated with the carriages gradually ceased.

The battleship’s repertoire eventually replenished with folklore and everyday material, unusual plots, and the number of characters. The repertoire usually consisted of two parts: canonical (religious) and secular (household). The canonical plot was played out on the upper, secular - on the lower tier-stage. The most popular was the secular repertoire with comic scenes, folk songs and dances. In the repertoire of the battle, along with the folk drama Tsar Herod and Tsar Maximililian, there appeared the interludes Matei and the Doctor, Anton with the Goat and Antoniha, Volsky - the Polish merchant, Berka Korchmar, Gypsy and the Gipsy , "Little Roly", "Panich" and others. Many scenes were of an acute satirical nature, in them such social types as the doctor-charlatan, dandy-nobleman, and tavern were ridiculed.

In the years 1740-1791, the fortress theater of the princes of the Radziwills operated in Nesvizh . Since 1746, the theater was controlled by Princess Francis Ursula Radziwill and acted as an amateur: along with the serfs, members of the princely family, the gentry , cadets of the Nesvizh corps, and hired actors participated in the performances (the first performance is “An example of justice”). The performances, accompanied by the Nesvizh Chapel of the Radziwills, took place in the Komednenhaus castle (rebuilt in 1748 by the architect K. Zhdanovich), on the outskirts of Nesvizh Albe in the open air in the Green Theater and in the Consolation palace that has not been preserved to this day. The performances were staged in Polish , Italian , German and French .

The theater’s repertoire included works written by Francis Radziwill herself - comedy “Witty Love” (1746), “Consolation in Chores”, “Gold on Fire” and “Love is born in the Eyes” (1750), “Scoundrel in Snares” and “Judge” devoid of reason ”(1751),“ Love is a magnificent craftswoman ”(1752), the drama“ The Fruit of Divine Providence ”(1746) and“ Love is an Interested Judge ”(1747); the tragedy “Judge Deprived of Reason” (1748) and “Game of Fortune” (1750); the opera Blind Love Does Not Think of the End and Happy Misfortune (1752); Moliere ’s translated and remodeled plays, Funny ridiculous, under the title “Seen Failing” (1749) and “The Doctor Heced” (1752), as well as ballets and pantomimes . Since 1746, the director of the Radziwill Theater was J.P. Fritschinsky, the choreographer was Schretter (from 1746) and L. Mathieu (from 1750), and Jan Tentilovich and E. Bakanovich were the conductor.

In 1753-1762, Prince Michal Kazimir Radziwill «Rybonka’ gave the theater a professional character - he replenished the serf troupe with actors, created theatrical (music, vocal classes) and ballet schools and orchestras: folk instruments (“Lithuanian music”), horn and military (“ Janissary ” "). The theater’s repertoire included works by Francis Radziwill, Moliere’s comedies (Mascaril and Sganarelle, 1755; Georges Danden, 1757; and others), Voltaire (Zaire, 1757), S. Mytelsky (Joseph the Patriarch ), V. Rzhevussky ("Zholkevsky" and "Vladislav near Varna", 1761), Italian and German comic operas and ballets. The theater went to Slutsk (between 1755-1759), Belaya (1753, 1761), Zholkva (1753), Olyku (1753), in 1755 he worked in the building of the “new theater”. Under Prince Karl Stanislav Radziwill, “Pan Kohanka” , the theater (1762-1764, 1777-1786) included a troupe of dramatic actors (director L. Perozhinsky since 1783, actors K. Ovsinsky, V. Yasinsky, S. Zakzhevsky and others), a group of Italian singers and ballet (more than 20 serf dancers, choreographer from 1750 - Louis Dupre , from 1761 - A. Putini, from 1762 - J. Olivier, from 1779 - A. Loyko and G. Petinetti). The repertoire included A. Putini ballets, operas by J. Paisiello , J. Goland, C. Gluck (Orpheus and Eurydice) and others ^[2] .

In the Nesvizh Theater of the Radziwills, several types of decorations were used (from green bosquets, voluminous pavilions, simultaneous decorations).

In 1785, a drama school was opened for serfs under the leadership of M. Werner and S. Zakzhevsky. Since 1786, the theater worked irregularly.

The Slutsk Theater (1751-1760) belonged to G.F. Radzivil. Here were staged operas (in Italian and German), ballets. The ballet troupe consisted of 8-10-year-old children of Slutsk philistines trained at the Slutsk ballet school, which was led by A. Putin and L. Dupre. After the death of Radziwill in May 1760, the school was transferred to Nesvizh. The performances were accompanied by a highly qualified music chapel from Germans, Austrians and Czechs. The mass scenes involved soldiers of the Slutsk garrison. According to the inventory of 1765, the wooden theater building was located in the center of the Old Town, on the main facade there was a gallery with a painted balustrade . The walls of the auditorium were cleaned with mirrors, the benches of the stalls were covered with red and blue cloth. The hall was lit by 9 large chandeliers.

The Grodno "peasant ballet" and Slonim dancers in the amount of 60 people became the basis for the founding of the Warsaw Court Ballet. In 1787, the Comedy Theater was created in Minsk . Here a large opera and drama troupe was organized by M. Kazhinsky (1797-1801, 1802-1805). Polish troupes of Y. Helmikovsky, K. Skibinsky, V. Drozdovsky worked in Minsk; performances took place on the premises of the Lyakhovsky Hall and the noble assembly, in the years 1844-1851 in the building of the town hall. In Grodno in the 1780s there was a private theater building (the Anthony Tiesengauz Theater), the Grodno Theater School of Tizengauz. In the 18th century, performances of the puppet theater were held in Slutsk.

A significant center of theatrical and musical life was the theater, created in Slonim by Mikhail Kazimir Oginsky . In his palace there was a concert hall, which was not inferior to the famous Mannheim . In addition, there was a “swimming theater”, moving along the canal and the river Shchara . In 1780, a special room was built for the theater. There was a school under him. An instrumental orchestra and an opera ensemble worked here. Mikhail Kazimir Oginsky himself was a gifted man, he wrote several operas on his own libretto . The Slonim Theater went on tour to Warsaw , had several troupes, including a ballet and a drama group. The Slonim Orchestra was one of the largest in Europe at that time. The theater had grandiose scenery created by the artists J. Maranna, Strobel, I. Reer, K. Otosselsky, as well as the theater engineer Jan Boy.

The Shklovsky theater of Count Semyon Zorich consisted of serfs, dancers of dramatic actors and musicians (the horn orchestra “home music” and “music of the Shklov corps”). Performances were held in a special theater building and in the halls of the greenhouse. The scene was adapted for a change of 70 sets (decorators J. de la Moma, R. X. Sommer, A. Glovatsky. Theater driver P. Bartzanti). The repertoire includes allegorical ballets with choirs, mythological pantomimes, comedies and tragedies, comic operas ( J. Sarti , D. Cimarosa , B. Galuppi , E. Vanjur ). Since 1781, P. Petukh was the choirmaster. In 1781-1783, the director and composer T. A. G. de Salmoran worked here. High mastery distinguished serf ballet dancers trained in a special school. A group of soloists in 1800 was transferred to the ballet troupe of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters .

In the estates of the tycoons of Tyszkiewicz - Svisloch and Pleshchenitsy - there were amateur theater troupes, but also visiting professional actors performed. The theaters had good technical equipment, several sets of scenery ^[3] .

On his estate in Ruzhani, Casimir Lev Sapega created a chapel, numbering 40 musicians "with tambourines and trumpets", among whom were not only performers from Italy and Poland, but also local serfs. Sapega sent some of them to study in Italy. After his death, all the musicians received a free will according to the will of the prince.

The first professional acting troupes arose in the Dnieper at the end of the XVIII century. In the court theater of Kirill Razumovsky under the direction of G. Teplov, comedies and comic operas in French, Italian and Russian were staged.

Directly the buildings of theaters appeared in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the middle of the 18th century in Nesvizh, Slonim, Slutsk, Shkolve, Grodno, Mogilev and were part of the palace complexes.

The history of theatrical life of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania develops with the arrival of the Jesuits in Vilnius, who in the spring of 1570, showed the first theatrical performance by the students of the newly opened college. The name of the first performance has not been preserved, but it is known that in the autumn of the same year the Italian Jesuit S. Tucius drama “Hercules” was shown, in which the mythological hero was opposed by the allegorical characters of Earthly love, Greed, Drunkenness, and helped to find the right path Mind, Modesty and Labor . The appearance of the first dramatic texts in the literature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania belongs to the late Renaissance (late 16th century) and is associated with the works of Kaspar Ponyatkovsky (1554–1612) and Grzegosz Knapi (1564–1639) ^[4] .

In the XVI-XVIII centuries, in the Orthodox academies and fraternal schools , Jesuit , Basilian , PR and Dominican colleges and schools, the school theater showed interludes and dramas on biblical, and later on historical and everyday subjects. We see the mention of the school theater at Ivan Vichensky , who reproached his brothers (members of religious brotherhoods) for not praying much, but only "building and playing comedies" ^[5] .

The school theater was shown in Latin, Polish and West Russian languages, the scenes used the techniques and plots of the battles and folk games. Plots for school dramas were first taken from the Bible , they were didactic and instructive in nature, and later historical and everyday topics began to dominate. The development of the school theater was influenced by the work of the writer Simon Budny , the author of the plays “Comedy of the Parable of the Prodigal Son” and “On the King Nebuchadnezzar”. The drama “The Resurrection of the Dead” (1747) and “Comedy” by K. Marashevsky (1787) were popular. There are well-known productions of “Saint Xavier” and “Anthony Podevsky” in Brest in 1750, where voluminous decorations were used, including towers, moving voluminous figures of fish, painted muses that rose on cords ^[6] .

The actors were students who were taught the stage art by a rhetorical teacher. The school theater had its own developed poetics with canonized means of scenic movement, a manner of performance, makeup and stage design. The stage was lit by a ramp , had a painted backdrop and voluminous scenery in the form of rotary prisms for stage effects.

Especially often the performances were held in Jesuit schools, where they attached special importance to the school theater as a method of education. Almost from the time of the opening of the Polotsk Jesuit College , a school theater operated under it, which was widely used by the Jesuits for missionary and educational activities. The Polotsk school theater's repertoire included plays in French, Italian and Latin. Jesuit colleges and academies, sister schools in Vilnius , Minsk, Mogilev, Grodno, Vitebsk , Nesvizh and Brest also began to give presentations.

Performances were also popular in Protestant schools, where school drama was seen as an element of the educational system. Performances were most often staged on church holidays - Christmas , Easter and others. These representations were called mysteries (from lat. Misterium - mystery, sacrament). The mysteries, based on the miracles of a saint, were called miracles (from the Latin miraculum - miracle), and plays with allegorical creatures (Earth, Heaven, Faith, Hope, Love, Enmity, Fortune and others) were called morality ( lat. moralites ) ^[7] . Performances were played in the fraternal church at the confluence of citizens ^[8] . The textbook on the rhetoric of the Slutsk teacher of the Calvinist gymnasium Reynold Adam gives recommendations on the organization of the school theater.

The play of the school theater has been preserved little. This is due to the fact that each time a new play was staged, often written by a teacher of a fraternal school or even a student, but they did not return to the old plays. For example, the mystery of the author of the explanatory dictionary “Lexicon of Slavnorossky” Pamva Berynda - “At the Nativity of Christ God and the Savior of our verse for the joy of an Orthodox Christian” reached us. This recitation is a gospel story about the birth of Jesus Christ , according to the author, “to the joy of Orthodox Christians” ^[9] . After the poetic dedication, the bishop is followed by a prologue delivered by the first youth with an appeal to joyfully celebrate Christmas. Next, the young men tell the gospel story. Dialogues are played by 7 students. In addition to recitation, a stage action follows. One of the students asks: “Does the one from the shepherds eat them, recalls them?” The shepherds, as witnesses of the Nativity of Christ, talk about the “thawing”, which they “watched very much” with witnesses and so on. The memory of Berynda is not limited to the poetic retelling of the gospel story, he tries to revive it. So, after the worship of the shepherds Christ, the further life of the shepherds returning to their herds is shown, and their joy is transmitted to all living things. The shepherds compose and sing laudatory joyful songs and everyone around rejoices with them. The mystery ends with an epilogue, also in verse ^[10] .

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