Charlemagne ou Moïse ? Confession et politique au théâtre ou le conflit entre Molsheim (1618) et Strasbourg (1621)

Abstract

The playing of Caspar Brulow’s Moses, which took place in Strasbourg in 1621, must be considered as a direct response to that of the “Comedy” consecrated to Charlemagne and performed three years earlier in Molshem, a stronghold of Catholicism in Alsace. In both cases, the promotion of an institution to the status of University had been the occasion for outstanding and memorable shows based on multimediality.Both in Molsheim and in Strasbourg, the same methods were resorted to : the use of (neo)latin, outdoor performances spread over two or three days and taking place very close to the celebrated institutions, a large concourse of spectators coming from the town and from nearby vicinities, a didactic intention of conforming to the predominant practice of the time, which focused on the aesthetics of “effect”.The military, political and confessional tensions between the free city of the Empire and the Habsbourgs, at a time marked by the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War and its rapid extension, determined in each case the choice and treatment of the themes brought into action, whether they were taken from the history of the Empire or from the Old Testament.