Transpositions of Spectacle and Time: The Entr'acte in theTragédie en musique

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe entr'acte in thetragédie en musiqueis the site of compelling yet often overlooked musical and dramaturgical activity. The term refers to both spatial and musical categories: the space between acts in which rapid and potentially astonishing set changes occur and the instrumental music that accompanies these transformations. Practices in French classical tragedy established a precedent for opera; largely observing the ‘unity of place’ after 1640, spoken tragedy included brief instrumental interludes between acts while the stage remained unoccupied. These intervals punctuated the action and created suspensions in mimesis, allowing off-stage events to occur in unfixed temporal and spatial dimensions. Characterized by Mikhail Bakhtin as a ‘chronotope’ of theatrical time and space, the entr'acte exposes foundational issues concerning representation in opera and drama, including questions of illusion and the status of fictional actions and worlds. This article examines the role played by the spectator's reflection and rumination during operatic entr'actes and the use of narrative reference to shape the awareness of unseen actions presumed to transpire within them. These modes of representation and spectatorship are illustrated by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin'slivretsforJephté(1732) andHippolyte et Aricie(1733). Parodies ofHippolyte et Ariciefurther demonstrate that the possibilities of unseen action had a vital effect on the reception of thetragédie en musique.