''The Death of Tintagiles'' (french: La Mort de Tintagiles) is an 1894 play by

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

. It was Maeterlinck's last play for

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...

s. Maeterlinck dedicated the play to

Aurélien Lugné-Poe :''see also Aurélien (given name), for individuals with the masculine given name. ''Aurélien'' is a novel by Louis Aragon, the fourth of the ''Le Monde réel'' cycle. It was ranked 51st in ''Le Mondes 100 Books of the Century. Plot ''A ...

, a theatre director who had supported several of his earlier works.

Premiere

The play was successfully staged by The Theater Studio of the

Moscow Art Theater The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...

in 1905. This production was directed by

Vsevolod Meyerhold Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...

and designed by Nikolai Sapunov and

Sergei Sudeikin Sergey Yurievich Sudeikin, also known as Serge Soudeikine (19 March 1882 in Smolensk – 12 August 1946 in Nyack, New York), was a Russian artist and set-designer associated with the Ballets Russes and the Metropolitan Opera. Biography Havin ...

. The production was marked by non-realistic scenery and planned still pictures and poses instead of movement. Later that year, the play was performed in Paris at the Theatre de Mathurins on Dec. 28, 1905, with music by

Jean Nouguès Jean-Charles Nouguès (25 April 1875 – 28 August 1932) was a French composer of operas. Born in Bordeaux, Nouguès was from a wealthy family, and in his youth he received little formal musical training.Georgette Leblanc Georgette Leblanc (8 February 1869, Rouen – 27 October 1941, Le Cannet) was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. She became particularly associated with the works of Jules Massenet and w ...

, who was also Maeternick's long-time lover.

Cast of characters

* Tintagiles * Ygraine, sister of Tintagiles * Bellangère, sister of Tintagiles * Aglovale * servants of the Queen

Synopsis

The Queen, who possesses complete control over her servants and people, has killed most of Tintagiles' family. Ygraine and Bellangère try to protect him, but he is captured by the Queen's servants and brought to her castle. Ygraine pursues them to the castle door. Tintagiles cries for help from behind the door, but Ygraine is unable to open it and he is murdered by the Queen.

Themes

Maeterlinck, an avid reader of

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

, believed that man was ultimately powerless against the forces of

fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

. Believing that any actor, due to the limitations of his physical mannerisms and expressions, was unable to portray the symbolic figures of his plays, Maeterlinck decided that marionettes were an excellent alternative. Being guided by strings, which are operated by a puppeteer, marionettes are an excellent representation of fate's complete control over man. This was the first time Maeterlinck had represented death in the form of a woman (The Queen) rather than a male figure or mysterious force.Knapp. 85. Also for the first time, marking a transition in his work, Maeterlinck had his protagonist actively struggle against fate rather than passively or helplessly give in. Ygraine pursues the Queen's servants to the castle door and desperately tries to discover a way of opening it, even though she fails.

Production

The Imaginary Beasts Theater Company of Boston, Massachusetts, performed a rare production of this play in October and November, 2012, at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theaters.

In other media

''The Death of Tintagiles'' was the subject of a

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

written in 1897 by

Charles Martin Loeffler Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (January 30, 1861 – May 19, 1935) was a German-born American violinist and composer. Family background Charles Martin Loeffler was born Martin Karl Löffler on January 30, 1861, in Schöneberg near Berlin to pa ...

. It was scored for full orchestra and two viole d'amore, which represent the voices of Tintagiles and Ygraine. The revised version, which has been commercially recorded, has only one viola d'amore. In 1913,

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

wrote

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

for the play. Three years earlier Bohuslav Martinů wrote an orchestral work for the play which is considered impractical for performance. The English conductor

Lawrance Collingwood Lawrance Arthur Collingwood CBE (14 March 1887 – 19 December 1982) was an English conductor, composer and record producer. Career Collingwood was born in London and attended Westminster Choir School, beginning his musical career as a choirboy a ...

wrote an opera based on the play, which was premièred in London in April 1950. Three small plays for

marionettes A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...

, ''La Mort de Tintagiles'', ''Intérieur'' and ''Alladine et Palomides'', were made into an opera entitled ''Le Silence des ombres'' by

Benjamin Attahir Benjamin Attahir (born 25 February 1989 in Toulouse) is a French composer, violinist and conductor. He studied at , at the under Édith Canat de Chizy and at the Conservatoire de Paris itself. He studied the violin under Ami Flammer. Attahir ...

premiered at

La Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

in Brussels in September 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Death of Tintagiles, The Plays by Maurice Maeterlinck 1894 plays