Benutzer:Merker Berlin/Baustelle Monna Vanna (play)

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Performance of Monna Vanna on 4 December 1910 in Berlin

Monna Vanna is a play by Maurice Maeterlinck in three acts. It premiered on 7 May 1902 at the Nouveau-Théâtre in Paris and is regarded as a work of symbolism.

Time and place

The play takes place at the end of the 15th century in Pisa and in Prinzivalli's military camp.

Charakters

• Guido Colonna, commander of the crew of Pisa
• Marco Colonna, Guido's father
• Giovanna (Monna Vanna), Guido's wife
• Prinzivalli, field captain in the Solde of Florence
• Trivulzio, commissioner of the Republic of Florence
• Borso und Torello, Guido's lieutenants
• Vedio, Prinzivalli's Secretary
• Noblemen, soldiers, peasants, men and women of the people

Story line

Georgette Leblanc as Monna Vanna in Paris

First act

• The hall in the palace of Guido Colonna

Pisa is besieged by the Florentines. Guido looks with Borso and Torello through a window of his palace at the plain of Pisa and discusses the situation. It is politically hopeless, which the Signoria of Pisa herself has concealed from the commander until recently. It is also hopeless militarily, because the defenders of Pisa have no more powder and no more ammunition. Elders of the Council have been sent to negotiations three times and have not returned. Among them was Marco, the father of Guido Colonnas, a sacred hostage. Suddenly Marco appears. He is undamaged and is supposed to report as soon as possible, but loses himself in aesthetic reflections that refer to Prinzivalli and an old friend he has found again. Pressed for a quicker report, Marco finally discovers the surrender condition of Prinzivallis: Giovanna, Guido's wife, is to spend a night with Prinzivalli. Marco confesses that the Signoria has already discussed the matter and that she put the descision in Giovanna hands. Guido completely rejects the condition, but at this moment Giovanna enters. Calmly, she informs Marco of her decision: She will go to Prinzivalli on the same evening. Guido experiences an inner struggle of love, jealousy and disgust. Apparently he rejects Giovanna.

Second act

• In the tent of Prinzivalli

While Prinzivalli is waiting for Giovanna, he is the victim of an attack by Florentine Trivulzio, who tears half of his face with his dagger. Trivulzio is taken away and Vedio connects Prinzivalli. Then Giovanna appears. She has to answer Prinzivalli's questions as to why she accepted the condition and whether her husband agreed. Finally Prinzivalli asks if Giovanna doesn't know him, what she denies. He tells her a story from her childhood: Giovanna played in the garden and dropped her ring into the fountain. A boy named Gianello picked him up at the risk of his life. He, Prinzivalli, is Gianello. Giovanna does not recognize him now either. The night passes without Prinzivalli touching Giovanna. At dawn she gives him a kiss on the forehead and both hurry to Pisa.

Third act

• State hall in the palace of Guido Colonna

At the command of Prinzivalli, a large wagon train with food, grain, wine, fruit and vegetables arrived in Pisa. Behind them are flocks of sheep, cattle, powder barrels and lead lumps. Pisa is saved. Giovanna and Prinzivalli come to the palace. Giovanna reports that she has not been touched by Prinzivalli and returns in honour. Guido doesn't believe her, and the more she asserts the unbelievable, the more hopeless Prinzivalli's situation becomes. He is to be put in chains and in the dungeon. Suddenly Giovanna is transformed: She explains that she lied. She demands as satisfaction that it must be her who puts Prinzivalli in chains. She chains him and he is taken away. She demands that only she have the dungeon keys to take revenge on him. She is promised that the keys will be brought to her immediately. She loses consciousness and says her last words in a very weak voice: "Where is he?...Yes, I know...But give me the key...The key of his dungeon...I don't want anybody else to get to him...I want him for myself, so I know...So no one else...It was a bad dream...The beautiful one starts now...The beautiful one starts now..."

Comment

At the centre of the play is the role of the woman who gives the title. The woman between two men, who had to switch between love, deception and madness, was, on the one hand, a concession to the audience, who expected Drama, while at the same time it represented a further development of two popular 19th-century women's types -- femme fragile and femme fatale -- into elements of both connecting women's types. On the one hand, she is the victim of inexplicable power instincts and repeatedly shows herself to be weak, on the other hand she overcomes the expectations of a murder like those of Judith and Holofernes. To the extent that Monna Vanna is an active figure, she points to a new image of women. She presents the implied relationship with the three persons as an active, acting figure to whom the men react. As in Maeterlinck's other stage works, this play is about hopelessness. The focus is not on the plot, but on the situation.

Actresses

German first edition of Monna Vanna

Monna Vanna became a starring role to actress stars such as Eleonora Duse, while Sarah Bernhardt rejected the role.

Editions

• fr. Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, Paris 1902.
• en. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York 1907. Translated by Alfred Sutro
• de. Eugen Diederichs, Leipzig 1903. German by Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski.

Adaptations

• Emil Ábrányi: Monna Vanna. Opera in three acts. First performance on 2 march 1907 in Budapest.
• Henri Fevrier: Monna Vanna. Heugel & Cie., Paris 1908. Lyrical drama in three acts [opera]. First performance on 13 january 1909 in Paris.
• Sergei Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninow: Monna Vanna. Sketches for piano 1907 [opera fragment]. Orchestration of the 1st act von Igor Buketoff 1991.
• Jenö Illés (Eugen Illés): Monna Vanna. German-Hungarian silent film of 1916.
• Richard Eichberg: Monna Vanna, German history and costume silent film of 1922.
• Franz von Stuck: Monna Vanna. Privately owned painting.

Sources

• Kindlers Neues Literatur Lexikon. Kindler Verlag GmbH. Munich 1988/1998.
• Monty Jacobs: Maeterlinck. Eine kritische Studie zur Einführung in seine Werke. Eugen Diederichs, Leipzig 1901.

Literature

• Kurt Eisner: Monna Vanna. Freie Volksbühne [Berlin]. Volume 15, Book 6–7, nov./dec. 1910.
• Heinrich Meyer-Benfey: Das Maeterlinck-Buch. Carl Reißner, Dresden 1923.
• Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski: Die Quellen von Monna Vanna. Nationalzeitung. Sonntagsbeilage 44 von 1904.
• Alberta von Puttkamer: Monna Vanna und der künstlerisch-philosophische Werdegang Maeterlincks. Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung. 1902, 236 f.
• Gabriele Reuter: Rhodope und Monna Vanna. Tag of 5 april 1903.
• Helene Richter: Das Urbild der Monna Vanna. Neue Freie Presse of 29 april 1904.
• Johannes Schlaf: Maurice Maeterlinck. Bard-Marquart and Co. Berlin, without a year [past 1905]. Serie: Die Literatur edited by Georg Brandes.