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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2021
“Mystery in the Russian Theatre” is the title given by Benois to one of his “Letters on Art.” One might think that in this article he is discussing a production of one of Aleksei Remizov's plays written in the style of a medieval mystery play. Or, perhaps, Scriabin has already realized one of his dreams, and Benois is hastening to announce to the public the greatest event on the Russian stage—the appearance of a new theatrical form reviewing the mystic rites of ancient Greek culture.
It seems that neither Remizov nor Scriabin has written a mystery; according to Benois the Moscow Art Theatre has produced a mystery with its performance of The Brothers Karamasov. But just what characteristics of the medieval mystery plays could be found in the performance of The Brothers Karamasov? Perhaps here the purified ancient Greek mysteries were combined with the visual edification of the medieval mystery play?
1 A. N. Benois, , well-known painter, art critic, and art historian, wrote regularly his “Letters on Art” for the newspaper Rech. (Trans.)Google Scholar
2 Scriabin's fourth symphony. (Trans.)
3 At his death in 1915 Scriabin left such a Mystery uncompleted. (Trans.)
4 I am referring to the old vaudeville not because it must be brought back to the theatre at all cost, but because I consider this form to be an example linked not with literary, but with, theatrical traditions on the one hand, and with popular taste on the other. One must remember that vaudeville came to us from France, and we know that French vaudeville was created in the following manner (see Fournel, Spectacles popul et artistes des rues, pp. 320-21) : “An improvisational, popular theatre performed for a long time near the Porte St. Jacques; the people came in crowds to hear the gay songs, and to watch three merry performers. All three had come from Normandie; all three were apprentices in the baker's_ guild, had come to Paris to try their fortune, and had brought to the capital the bawdy and clever popular Normandie songs and verses which consequently introduced vaudeville to France. Everyone knew and loved them, and their names—Gaultier Garguille, Turlupin, and Gros Guillaume—will forever be remembered in the history of French humor.” So we see that vaudeville arose from popular songs and humor.
5 An episode from another period recalls the meaning and power of pantomime : “According to the words of a Roman writer, in Nero's reign a foreign ruler was attending a pantomime performance in which a famous actor performed the twelve labors of Hercules with such expressiveness and clarity that the foreign ruler understood everything without any explanation. He was so surprised, that he begged Nero to give him this actor as a present. Nero was very much astonished at this request, but then the guest explained that next to his kingdom lived a wild tribe whose language no one could understand. The savages, likewise, could not comprehend what their neighbors wanted from them. With pantomime this remarkable actor could make the savages understand what was wanted from them, and they undoubtedly could grasp his meaning well.” Tantsy, ikh istoriia i razvitie s drevnykh yremen do nashikh dnei (Dances, their History and Development from Ancient Times to Our Days), St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 15, Po Viuile.
6 Les Confrères de la Passion of The Community of the Holy Trinity, in sixteenth-century Paris, moved indoors and gave performances on a platform stage. (Trans.)
7 The Clercs de la Basoche, in the middle of the fifteenth century in Paris were a guild of legal scribes famous for their performance of satirical farces. (Trans.)
8 Opyt istorii teatra (An Experiment in the History of the Theatre) Moscow, 1849, p. 126.
9 La monfrina, or monferrina—a popular Italian dance. (Trans.)
10 My revival of Moliere's Don Juan was first given, in the Imperial Alexandrinsky Theatre, November 9, 1910.
11 In the newspaper Rech, No. 318, November 19, 1910.
12 Ibid.
13 Artist, No. 9, 1890.