Baroque Drama in Jesuit Schools of Central Europe, 1700–1773

Abstract

Abstract the traditional narrative of the history of education, the rise of the Society of Jesus as a teaching and missionary order has often been linked with a set of aesthetic values collectively identified as the ‘baroque’. Yet the defining characteristics of the baroque, as an expression of an aesthetic and as a worldview, remain somewhat elusive; the related question concerning the existence of a distinctly ‘Jesuit’ style in the visual arts during the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries remains a matter of debate. Whether the Society of Jesus can be credited with developing its own distinctive visual style, there is no doubt that the Jesuits spread elements of a culture that came to be known as baroque around the globe. One of the most distinctive and significant manifestations of the baroque was the Jesuit school play, an integral part of the academic experience of students enrolled in Jesuit schools, and for untold thousands of viewers, an encounter with an ideology that encompassed religion, literature, and the sciences. In their integration of art, rhetoric, and moral pedagogy, Jesuit school plays were also the most representative contribution of the Society, as it existed before its suppression in 1773. A discussion of the features of Jesuit school plays, therefore, may help us come to a better understanding of the baroque.