Sarah Bernhardt on Stage and Screen
Nineteenth-Century Theater Music and Early Silent Film
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jfm.v5i1-2.57Keywords:
Incidental music, Sarah Bernhardt, film music, theaterAbstract
Silent film accompaniment owes much to the musical practices of nineteenth-century theater. Yet if we are to fully acknowledge these debts, we must first embrace theater music as a complex entity in its own right. Analyzing the eclectic sixty-year career of legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) is one way to approach these connections between theater and film. Bernhardt employed a great deal of music in her theatrical performances, and by the early twentieth century embraced the new medium of film as well, appearing in a number of motion pictures. Drawing on scores, newspaper accounts, production materials, and advertisements, I examine how music for Bernhardt stage dramas such as Théodora, Cléopâtre, Phèdre, and La belle au bois dormant compares and contrasts with accompaniments for her silent films such as Camille, Queen Elizabeth, Jeanne Doré, and Les mères françaises. Through this case study, I hope to provide a more nuanced perspective of the historical lineage between nineteenth-century stage music and early cinema practice.
References
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Anderson, Gillian. 1988. Music for Silent Films, 1894-1929: A Guide. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.
Artus, Amédée. 1869. Sérénade du Passant, chantée au théâtre de l’Odéon par Mlle Sarah Bernhardt, paroles de François Coppée. Paris: Le Bailly.
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Brooks, Erin. 2010. Sharing the Stage with the voix d’or: Sarah Bernhardt and Music in the Belle Époque. Ph.D. diss., Washington University in St. Louis.
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Hibberd, Sarah, ed. 2011. Melodramatic Voices: Understanding Music Drama. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
d’Indy, Vincent. 2001. Ma vie: journal de jeunesse, correspondance familiale et intime, 1851-1931. Paris: Séguier.
———. 1898. Médée, musique pour la tragédie de Catulle Mendès. Autograph full score. F-Pn, Ms. 9201.
Irvine, Demar. 1994. Massenet: A Chronicle of his Life and Times. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
Kovàcs, Katherine Singer. 1976. Georges Méliès and the féerie. Cinema Journal 16, no. 1 (Autumn): 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1225446
Lamothe, Peter. 2008. Theater Music in France, 1864-1914. Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Leroux, Xavier. [1890]. Musique de scène de Cléopâtre, drame de MM. Victorien Sardou et Émile Moreau, par Xavier Leroux. F-Pn, Cons Ms. 4718.
———. 1890? Musique de scène pour le drame Cléopâtre de MM. Sardou & E. Moreau. Paris: G. Hartmann & Cie.
Macdonald, Hugh. 1988. [G? Major Key Signature]. 19th-Century Music 11, no. 3 (Spring): 221-37.
Marks, Martin Miller. 1997. Music and the Silent Film: Contexts and Case Studies, 1895-1924. New York: Oxford University Press.
Martin, Roxane. 2007. La féerie romantique sur les scènes parisiennes, 1791-1864. Paris: H. Champion.
Massenet, Jules. 1900. Musique de scène de Phèdre. Autograph full score. F-Po, Rés. 2189.
———. [1994]. Musique pour le drame de Victorien Sardou, Théodora. F-Pn, Ms. 4268 (autograph) and F-Pn, Ms. 4269 (copyist).
———. 1900. Phèdre: tragédie de Racine: ouverture, entr’actes et musique de scène. Piano solo. Paris: Heugel et Cie.
Menefee, David W. 2003. Sarah Bernhardt in the Theatre of Films and Sound Recordings. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
Nye, Edward. 2005. Eighteenth-century views of Racinian “harmonie poétique.” In La réception de Racine au dix-huitième siècle, ed. Nicholas Cronk and Alain Viala. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation.
Olin, Elinor. 1991. La ton et la parole: melodrama in France, 1871-1913. Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University.
O’Neill, Norman. 1910. Music to stage plays. Proceedings of the Musical Association 37: 85-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrma/37.1.85
Richepin, Jean and Henri Cain. 1908. La belle au bois dormant. L’Illustration théâtrale no. 79 (January). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrma/37.1.85 Saint-Saëns, Camille. [1902]. Musique pour Andromaque. F-Pn, Ms. 518.
———. [1903]. Musique pour Andromaque, partition d’orchestre. Newberry Library Vm1510 .S25a.
Sardou, Victorien. 1934. Théâtre complet, vol. 2: Patrie! L’Espionne, Théodora. Ed. Jean Sardou. Paris: A. Michel.
Taranow, Gerda. 1996. The Bernhardt Hamlet: Culture and Context. New York: Peter Lang.
———. 1972. Sarah Bernhardt: The Art within the Legend. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Thomé, Francis. [1907]. La Belle au bois dormant. F-Po, Fonds Thomé. Winkler, Max, selector and arranger. 1916. Musical Setting for the Bluebird Photo-play no. 1, Madame Sarah Bernhardt in a photo-play adaptation by Tristan Bernard of Jeanne Doré. New York: Carl Fischer.
———. 1951. A Penny from Heaven. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Anderson, Gillian. 1988. Music for Silent Films, 1894-1929: A Guide. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.
Artus, Amédée. 1869. Sérénade du Passant, chantée au théâtre de l’Odéon par Mlle Sarah Bernhardt, paroles de François Coppée. Paris: Le Bailly.
Bergeron, Katherine. 2010. Voice Lessons: French Mélodie in the Belle Époque. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bernhardt, Sarah. 1907. Mémoires de Sarah Bernhardt: Ma double vie. Paris: Charpentier and E. Fasquelle.
Brooks, Erin. 2010. Sharing the Stage with the voix d’or: Sarah Bernhardt and Music in the Belle Époque. Ph.D. diss., Washington University in St. Louis.
Cooper, Mark Garrett. 2010. Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early Hollywood. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Ginisty, Paul. 1910. La féerie. Paris: Louis Michaud.
Hathorn, Ramon. 1996. Our Lady of the Snows: Sarah Bernhardt in Canada. New York: Peter Lang.
Hibberd, Sarah, ed. 2011. Melodramatic Voices: Understanding Music Drama. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
d’Indy, Vincent. 2001. Ma vie: journal de jeunesse, correspondance familiale et intime, 1851-1931. Paris: Séguier.
———. 1898. Médée, musique pour la tragédie de Catulle Mendès. Autograph full score. F-Pn, Ms. 9201.
Irvine, Demar. 1994. Massenet: A Chronicle of his Life and Times. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press.
Kovàcs, Katherine Singer. 1976. Georges Méliès and the féerie. Cinema Journal 16, no. 1 (Autumn): 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1225446
Lamothe, Peter. 2008. Theater Music in France, 1864-1914. Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Leroux, Xavier. [1890]. Musique de scène de Cléopâtre, drame de MM. Victorien Sardou et Émile Moreau, par Xavier Leroux. F-Pn, Cons Ms. 4718.
———. 1890? Musique de scène pour le drame Cléopâtre de MM. Sardou & E. Moreau. Paris: G. Hartmann & Cie.
Macdonald, Hugh. 1988. [G? Major Key Signature]. 19th-Century Music 11, no. 3 (Spring): 221-37.
Marks, Martin Miller. 1997. Music and the Silent Film: Contexts and Case Studies, 1895-1924. New York: Oxford University Press.
Martin, Roxane. 2007. La féerie romantique sur les scènes parisiennes, 1791-1864. Paris: H. Champion.
Massenet, Jules. 1900. Musique de scène de Phèdre. Autograph full score. F-Po, Rés. 2189.
———. [1994]. Musique pour le drame de Victorien Sardou, Théodora. F-Pn, Ms. 4268 (autograph) and F-Pn, Ms. 4269 (copyist).
———. 1900. Phèdre: tragédie de Racine: ouverture, entr’actes et musique de scène. Piano solo. Paris: Heugel et Cie.
Menefee, David W. 2003. Sarah Bernhardt in the Theatre of Films and Sound Recordings. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
Nye, Edward. 2005. Eighteenth-century views of Racinian “harmonie poétique.” In La réception de Racine au dix-huitième siècle, ed. Nicholas Cronk and Alain Viala. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation.
Olin, Elinor. 1991. La ton et la parole: melodrama in France, 1871-1913. Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University.
O’Neill, Norman. 1910. Music to stage plays. Proceedings of the Musical Association 37: 85-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrma/37.1.85
Richepin, Jean and Henri Cain. 1908. La belle au bois dormant. L’Illustration théâtrale no. 79 (January). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrma/37.1.85 Saint-Saëns, Camille. [1902]. Musique pour Andromaque. F-Pn, Ms. 518.
———. [1903]. Musique pour Andromaque, partition d’orchestre. Newberry Library Vm1510 .S25a.
Sardou, Victorien. 1934. Théâtre complet, vol. 2: Patrie! L’Espionne, Théodora. Ed. Jean Sardou. Paris: A. Michel.
Taranow, Gerda. 1996. The Bernhardt Hamlet: Culture and Context. New York: Peter Lang.
———. 1972. Sarah Bernhardt: The Art within the Legend. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Thomé, Francis. [1907]. La Belle au bois dormant. F-Po, Fonds Thomé. Winkler, Max, selector and arranger. 1916. Musical Setting for the Bluebird Photo-play no. 1, Madame Sarah Bernhardt in a photo-play adaptation by Tristan Bernard of Jeanne Doré. New York: Carl Fischer.
———. 1951. A Penny from Heaven. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Published
2013-10-31
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Brooks, E. M. (2013). Sarah Bernhardt on Stage and Screen: Nineteenth-Century Theater Music and Early Silent Film. Journal of Film Music, 5(1-2), 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1558/jfm.v5i1-2.57
