[Bilimsel Haber] Fwd: CFP: Ottoman Empire and European Theatre -
Wien; Istanbul 04/10
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From: "HSK (Thomas Meyer)" <hsk.mail at geschichte.hu-berlin.de>
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Subject: CFP: Ottoman Empire and European Theatre - Wien; Istanbul 04/10
To: Onur Inal <onurinal at onurinal.com>
From: Michael Hüttler <michael.huettler at donjuanarchiv.at>
Date: 05.10.2009
Subject: CFP: Ottoman Empire and European Theatre - Seraglios and
Harems in Theatre, Opera, and Poetry from the
Earliest Theatrical Sources to Lord Byron's Don
Juan - Wien; Istanbul 04/10
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don Juan Archiv Wien, Wien; Istanbul
23.04.2010-11.06.2010, ITI Wien, Türkenstrasse 19, 1090 Wien and
Austrian Cultural Forum, Istanbul
Deadline: 30.11.2009
The historical importance of the Ottoman Empire’s presence in Europe is
highlighted by its frequent appearance in theatre. The aim of the annual
series of symposia, alternately hosted in Vienna and Istanbul, is to
explore, on the one hand, the various performative expressions of
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Turkish/Ottoman culture and
diplomacy on European theatre stages, and on the other hand, the
appearance of European theatre and opera in the Ottoman Empire, and the
Ottoman attitude towards Europe.
Don Juan Archiv Wien invites you to submit abstracts and participate in
a series of symposia entitled “Ottoman Empire and European Theatre” by
sharing your achievements in the fields of theatre, cultural, and
performance studies. Following in the footsteps of conferences in 2008
entitled “The Age of Sultan Selim III and Mozart (1756-1808)”, and in
2009, “The Time of Joseph Haydn – From Sultan Mahmud I to Mahmud II
(r.1730-1839)”, the topic for 2010 is
SERAGLIOS AND HAREMS
in Theatre, Opera, and Poetry from the Earliest Theatrical Sources to
Lord Byron’s Don Juan (1819-1824)
On May 3, 1810, George Gordon Lord Byron swam like the mythic Leander
from Sestos on the Asian side of the Hellespont to Abydos on the
European shore. The year 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of Byron’s
crossing and his subsequent visit to Constantinople from May 13, 1810,
to July 14, 1810. The hero of his poem Don Juan lives in “feminine
disguise” in the sultan’s harem for more than a century, from the
regency of Soliman I (or of Soliman II, according to some experts) to
the siege of the fortress of Ismail by Alexander V. Suvorov in 1790.
Cantos V and VI of the poem include various descriptions of the palace,
the harem and its inhabitants. To commemorate Byron’s Don Juan, the pair
of symposia in 2010 will focus on the representations of seraglios and
harems in theatre, opera and poetry.
The imaginative world of the Ottoman seraglio was widely represented on
European stages from the sixteenth century onwards. Audiences were
fascinated by depictions of an unknown world, closed for outsiders and
therefore open to imagination. The stories circle from the kidnapping of
European men and women, and the women’s lives in the harem, to
unexpected encounters with the captured and their later abductions from
the seraglio.
Which are the earliest theatrical sources of these stories is still
being debated by scholars. Some suggest that Gabriel Bounin’s La Soltane
(1561) about the life of Roxelana might be the earliest drama and La
schiava fortunata o vero La Dori (“Favola drammatica musicale
rappresentata in Insprugg l'anno 1657 nel Teatro di Sala”), with
libretto by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni and music by Marc’ Antonio Cesti,
might be the earliest “opera” that include scenes from the seraglio
(although this last work depicts a Persian seraglio, not an Ottoman
one). However, this issue remains open for further investigation, and we
welcome papers concerning this subject.
Representations of the seraglio reached a climax in Lord Byron’s poem
Don Juan (1819-1824); the text is not a stage play but it features an
extensive adventure of the hero, disguised as a lady, in the Ottoman
sultan’s seraglio and harem.
In European literature of the eighteenth century the term “seraglio” was
usually treated as synonymous with the term “harem”. The Italian word
“serraglio”, often spelled in libretti with two r’s, means a “cage” (as
used for wild animals), while the Turkish word “saray”, derived from the
Persian “sara’i” (a “palace, inn”), means “palace, court”. The harem,
the women’s quarters, is part of the seraglio, and the word “harem”
derives from the Arabian “haram”, which means “unlawful, forbidden,
sacred”.
While Ottaviano Bon’s book Descrizione del Serraglio del Gransignore
(1608; in English, The Sultan’s Seraglio, 1650) had already provided at
the beginning of the seventeenth century a general description of the
palace and its architecture, true to the meaning of the word “harem,”
the women’s quarters remained inaccessible.
Lady Mary Wortley Montague (1689-1762), during her stay in Istanbul and
Adrianople from 1716-1718, was the first and only foreigner permitted to
visit those private apartments of the Ottoman court ladies. Her
Letters... which contain, Among other curious Relations, Accounts of the
Policy and Manners of the Turks; Drawn from Sources that have been
inaccessible to other Travellers, published in 1763, provide us with the
first eyewitness account of the inside of the seraglio.
JOSEPH FRIEBERT – Das Serail
Relevant to the subject of the seraglio, Don Juan Archiv Wien holds the
only known copy of Joseph Friebert’s Das Serail (‘The Seraglio’,
Passavia, 1779). This manuscript material, stemming from
eighteenth-century Passavia – and including the vocal (Zaide, Gomaz and
Renegat) and instrumental parts respectively – only came to light in
2005 and is therefore mostly uninvestigated.
Friebert set to music Franz Joseph Sebastiani’s libretto Das Serail oder
Die unvermuthete Zusammenkunft in der Sclaverey zwischen Vater, Tochter
und Sohn (‘The Seraglio or The unexpected encounter of father, daughter
and son in slavery’, Bozen, 1779), which in turn served as model for
Johann Andreas Schachtner and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s unfinished
Singspiel Zaide (Das Serail) KV 344.
Friebert’s choral adaptation of Joseph Haydn’s orchestral composition
Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze (‘The Seven Last
Words of Christ’, 1787), performed in 1795 in Passau where Friebert was
Kapellmeister, was heard there by Haydn on his way to London; Haydn was
inspired to create his own choral version, which premiered with revised
lyrics by Baron Gottfried van Swieten in Vienna in 1796.
Joseph Friebert’s brother Karl was working at the Esterhazy court in
Eisenstadt where he wrote the libretto for another “seraglio” opera:
L’incontro improvviso (‘The unexpected encounter’, 1775), set to music
by Joseph Haydn in 1775. Karl translated and adapted the text from the
French version by Louis Hurtaut Dancourt (based on the play Les pelérins
de la Mecque by Alain René Lesage and Jacques-Philippe d’Orneval; Paris,
Théâtre de la Foire St. Laurent, 1726), which had been previously set to
music by Christoph Willibald Gluck in La rencontre imprévue (‘The
unexpected encounter’, Vienna, Burgtheater, 1764).
EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH POSSIBILITY
Don Juan Archiv Wien grants interested researchers the exclusive
opportunity to research the original Das Serail material for
in-depth-analysis. One panel of the symposia will be dedicated to
discussion of this research, and we encourage scholars and students to
focus especially on the study of this material.
Note: Investigations about the seraglio should avoid discussion of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (‘Abduction from
the Seraglio’), as the content of this opera has been the subject of a
variety of publications and was extensively discussed at our symposia in
2008 and 2009. We prefer to concentrate on material and topics that have
been less thoroughly researched, and particularly welcome new findings.
Organiser
Don Juan Archiv Wien, in cooperation with the UNESCO International
Theatre Institute in Vienna, and the Austrian Cultural Forum in
Istanbul
DATES AND VENUES
- Vienna, Austria: 23–24 April 2010 at the UNESCO ITI, Türkenstraße 19,
A-1090 Vienna
- Istanbul, Turkey: 10–11 June 2010 at the Austrian Cultural Forum,
Yeniköy, TR-34464 Istanbul
Sessions on Friebert will be held in Vienna, sessions on Byron in
Istanbul. The location of all other sessions will be announced in due
course.
TOPICS FOR PAPERS
We invite papers on the Ottoman Empire and European Theatre, with
especial focus on seraglios and harems. Possible topics include the
following:
- Lord Byron’s Don Juan and the portrayal of the seraglio and harem
- Travelogues from the Ottoman Empire and the description of the
Seraglio by Lady Mary Montague or others
- The earliest “seraglio” interpretations in theatre, ballet, or opera
-Descriptions of the seraglio on stage, including costumes, stage
designs, etc.
- “The capture” on stage in theatre, ballet, or opera
- Everyday life in the harem as represented in theatre, ballet, or
opera
- Abduction from the seraglio depicted in theatre, ballet, or opera
(excluding Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail)
- Palace vs. harem: facts and illusions in architecture, garden,
entertainment, clothes
- Joseph Friebert’s Das Serail
For examples of topics addressed at the 2008 and 2009 symposia, see
www.donjuanarchiv.at/verlag/symposia.html
PAPER PROPOSALS
Scholars and artists who wish to present papers are invited to submit
proposals containing the following:
- A one-page abstract of the proposed paper naming the presenter(s);
- Contact information, including name, title, position, university or
institutional affiliation, postal address, telephone, fax, and email;
and
- A 75-100-word bio of the presenter(s), including recent publications.
Please submit proposals to: symposium(at)donjuanarchiv(dot)at
The official language of the symposia is English. Each presentation
should last thirty minutes (plus fifteen minutes for discussion). Papers
presented will be published in a subsequent publication.
Deadline for submission of proposals: November 30, 2009
For updated program and further information please contact:
Don Juan Archiv Wien, Goethegasse 1, A-1010 Vienna; phone: +43-1-2365605
fax: +43-1-2365605-25
e-mail: symposium(at)donjuanarchiv(dot)at
web: www.donjuanarchiv.at/verlag/symposia.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Hüttler
Don Juan Archiv Wien
0043-1-2365605
0043-1-236560525
symposium at donjuanarchiv.at
Homepage <www.donjuanarchiv.at/verlag/symposia.html>
URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages
<http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=12380>
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