Jesuit Drama Research Articles

Compassion in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Feeling and Practice ed. by Kristine Steenbergh and Katherine Ibbett

Reviewed by: Compassion in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Feeling and Practice ed. by Kristine Steenbergh and Katherine Ibbett James Waddell Compassion in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Feeling and Practice. Ed. by Kristine Steenbergh and Katherine Ibbett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2021. xii+301 pp. £75. ISBN 978–1–108–49539–4. 'There is nothing simple about compassion', the late Lauren Berlant wrote, 'apart from the desire to be taken as simple' (Berlant, Compassion: The Culture and Politics of an Emotion (New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 7). That is an 'axiom' which still 'reverberates strongly' (p. 295), according to Kristine Steenbergh's concluding chapter to this volume. As this diverse and engaging collection shows, Berlant's sceptical interrogations of compassion are applicable to—and, indeed, were operative in—the early modern period, when 'the feeling and practice of compassion were recalibrated in a pressure cooker of social, religious and political changes' (p. 6). These shifts brought new tensions to classical disputes about compassion, including over its constitutive balance of emotion or action, intuition or intention, and proximity or distance between subject and object. Essays are paired thematically, setting up congruences and contradictions which emulate the 'confusion and diversity' of compassion itself (p. 10). The opening essays by Bruce Smith and Katherine Ibbett are illustrative. Smith expounds an undogmatic 'middle way between Stoic control of the passions and Christian encouragement of compassion', notably in the 'embrace of compassion's "outgoing-ness"' (p. 30) in Thomas Wright's 1604 psychological treatise The Passions of the Mind in General. Calling this embrace 'an exception' in a work otherwise 'hostile to the passions' may, however, overstate the case (p. 29); if anything, Wright's approach to the passions is markedly tolerant. In contrast to Smith, Ibbett delineates the bounds of compassion as construed by four genteel writers of [End Page 473] the European Counter-Reformation, by whom compassion was couched in the language of decorous sociability among an 'enclosed world of peers' (p. 49), an altogether more conservative form of fellow-feeling. Even inclusive forms of compassion inevitably bespoke and policed boundaries and hierarchies, whether racial (as in Matthew Goldmark's chapter on Bartolemé de las Casas (pp. 257–72) and John D. Staines's on Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (pp. 273–90)) or religious (as in Richard Meek's and Steenbergh's chapters on sermons (pp. 103–38)). Two essays examine 'Consoling' in the contexts of bereavement (Paula Barros, pp. 63–81) and sickness (Stephen Pender, pp. 82–100). Drawing on rich source materials—Spenser, Donne, Burton, Browne, Bacon, Vives—both consider shifts between intimately affective expressions of solace and more rigorous consolatory practices rooted in humanist discourses of proper friendship. Other pairings are more surprising: Alison Searle's bustling analysis of compassion, religious conversion, and state authority in James Shirley's The Sisters (pp. 159–79) is united with Clarinda E. Calma and Jolanta Rzegocka's more expository (but still illuminating) account of the Jesuit drama of Poland–Lithuania (pp. 141–58). There is much here for historians as well as literary critics, notably Rebecca Tomlin's research into alms-giving, delving into the churchwardens' Memoranda of St Botolph's, Aldgate (pp. 237–54). The most compelling chapters revolve around Shakespeare. Elisabetta Tarantino uses the vexed question of compassion for Malvolio as a starting point for a meticulous tracing of onomastic and chronological mirrorings, within and between Twelfth Night and its sources (pp. 173–96). Eric Langley contributes a bracing, sensitive exploration of the Lucretian trope of shipwrecks viewed from shore by (un)compassionate spectators, focusing on The Tempest (pp. 197–216) but leading deftly into Toria Johnson's chapter on King Lear, which, it is argued, expresses a sense of unmooredness arising from the 'Reformation shift away from medieval structures surrounding charity—grounded as they were in clear church doctrine— and the subsequent rise of concepts more commonly associated with interpersonal connection, like pity, fellowship and compassion' (p. 221). Overall, this heterogeneous, pan-European collection of essays presents a convincing alternative to rigorous compassion scepticism: Steenbergh's Conclusion suggestively takes cues from post-humanist critics to insist that 'we stay with the trouble and explore the...

Priestly playwright, secular priest: William Drury’s Latin and English drama

This article examines the literary career of the secular priest William Drury, with an emphasis on his drama. The Latin plays which he wrote for performance at the English College in Douai are among the best-known English Catholic college dramas of the Stuart era; markedly different from the Jesuit drama which dominates the corpus of British Catholic college plays, they suggest conscious dissociation from that imaginative tradition. Hierarchomachia: or the Anti-Bishop, a satirical closet drama which intervenes in the controversy surrounding the legitimacy and extent of England’s Catholic episcopacy, can also be attributed to Drury. In both his Latin and English drama, Drury draws imaginative stimulus from his ideological opposition to Jesuits and other regulars. Yet his characteristic blend of didacticism and comedy, and his sympathy for the plight of all English Catholics—surely fomented by the death of his Jesuit brother in the notorious “Fatal Vesper”—point to broader priestly concerns.

Teoretska opredelitev in vloga dramatike v jezuitskem redovnem ustroju

Članek obravnava pojav jezuitske dramatike, ki zajema vso dramsko dejavnost jezuitov znotraj njihovih kolegijev, tako adaptacije starejših (antičnih in humanističnih) dramskih besedil kot tudi njihove avtorske drame, tako šolske kot verske predstave ne glede na mesto uprizoritve (avditorij, učilnica, šolska avla, cerkev, šolsko dvorišče, ulica itd.). V prvem delu se osredotoča na opredelitev jezuitske dramatike, kot jo je mogoče razbrati iz temeljnih dokumentov jezuitskega reda: Ustanovnih listin Družbe Jezusove, Konstitucij Družbe Jezusove, Načrta in ureditve študija Družbe Jezusove in Pravil Družbe Jezusove. V nadaljevanju predstavi glavne teoretike dramatike iz jezuitskih vrst od začetkov do razpustitve reda (Jakob Pontanus, Martin Delrio, Antonio Possevino, Alessandro Donati, Jakob Masen, Athanasius Kircher, Nicolaus Avancini, Claude-François Menestrier, Franz Lang in Franz Neumayr), njihovo načelno izhodišče v antični teoriji drame in naslonitev na humanistično šolsko ter srednjeveško duhovno dramo. Prikaže prilagoditev omenjenih modelov jezuitskim vzgojnim, didaktičnim in katehetičnim potrebam ter duhu časa, v katerem je jezuitska drama nastala in se razvijala. Opozori na glavno posebnost jezuitske dramatike, željo po vplivanju na čute gledalcev, ki se kaže v njihovi naklonjenosti avdiovizualnim učinkom, emblemom, simbolom, personifikacijam in alegorijam. Ob tem prispevek poudari, da je duhovni temelj takšnega dojemanja dramatike treba iskati v Duhovnih vajah ustanovitelja reda, sv. Ignacija Lojolskega. V njih je kot glavna cilja jezuitskega reda izpostavil odvračanje ljudi od greha in spodbujanje h kreposti.

La figura del profeta Elías en el teatro del Siglo de Oro

This paper analises how the prophet Elijah is represented in the Spanish theatre in the 16th and 17th centuries. The following plays are commented on: Tragaedia Jezabelis, Tragoedia cui nomen inditum Achabus (both belonging to Jesuit college drama), La mujer que manda en casa by Tirso de Molina, La vina de Nabot by Rojas Zorrilla, La representacion de la vida y rapto de Elias profeta by Matias de los Reyes, and El vengador de los cielos y rapto de Elias by Bances Candamo. Matias de los Reyes’ play is here subject to critical scrutiny for the fi rst time; a modern edition is still due. The most relevant results are: Jesuit drama anticipates some of the developments of the Elijah theme that take place later in popular and court theatre; playwrights work quite unrestrainedly in reshaping the Biblical material, and they tend to tighten the temporal and causal connections of events and characters.

Religion and Latin drama in the early modern Low Countries

AbstractIn the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Low Countries were a melting pot of religious beliefs: Roman Catholicism and several Protestant and Catholic Reformation movements coexisted together, the ‘radical Reformation movement’ of the Anabaptists, the ‘militant movement’ of Calvinism, and the more mild variant of Lutheranism. The Southern part of the Low Countries were ‘re‐catholicized’ after the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, and the Counter‐ Reformation was active there. Authors of several denominations wrote Latin plays. In this article I will look at the theology represented in some of these plays, particularly those of Macropedius and Laurimanus as examples of Roman Catholic (non‐Jesuit) plays; those of Lummenaeus a Marca and Libenius as examples of Jesuit drama; and those of Gnapheus as examples of Protestant theatrical writing. Thus, it will be possible to draw some general conclusions about religion, theology and confessionalization in neo‐Latin drama of the Low Countries.

Nürnbergs ‘zweite Stadtheilige’ im protestantischen Schultheater: Wolfgang Waldungs Catharinæ martyrivm

In 1602, Wolfgang Waldung staged a Latin play about the martyrdom of St Catherine as part of the Protestant Academy of Altdorf’s Dies Academicus. At first glance, the choice of the subject is rather surprising, considering that the saint was very popular in Jesuit drama. This paper gives an introduction to the legend and cult of St Catherine, and to the Academy of Altdorf, before it analyses the text: Waldung uses a humanist poem by Baptista Mantuanus and turns it into a play that clearly supports Luther’s teaching and stresses the authorities’ duty to care for proper erudition of youth. It picks up the topics of the orations that were given at the same ceremony, and can well be understood as a panegyric to the Altdorf Academy and to the patricians of Nuremberg, who formed the council of the Academy.

Francis Xavier and Amor Dei in Jesuit Drama in the South of the German-Speaking Area

From the middle of the seventeenth century, the cult of St Francis Xavier flourished in the south of the German-speaking area. Since he was the first person who engaged in missionary work in the East India, the Jesuits in this area praised him not only in printed literature and pictures, but also in drama, and promoted the world mission. Xavier was also well-known for his ‘love of God’. Thus, many Jesuit dramas on Xavier dramatized Xavier’s prayer linked to the love of God or depicted the interior development of Xavier led by the love of God. A major element of these dramas focused on the education of the boys at the Jesuit school, who were expected to become good followers of Xavier.

Re-constructing Jesuit Theatre for the Modern Stage: Daphnis, Pastorale, an Eighteenth-Century Jesuit College Music-Drama

This essay examines the practical processes involved in the 2008 recreation of Daphnis, Pastorale, a drama first performed by the students of the Jesuit College of Namur in 1728. The recreation necessitated new approaches to stage design and action, as well as contemporary solutionsor the casting and linguistic content. Daphnis, Pastorale is a form of Jesuit college music-drama characteristic of the francophone regions of Europe, and is the only known surviving example of its kind from Belgium. This work is all the more rare in that it uses French sprinkled with loan-words, rather than the neo-Latin typical of Jesuit drama. The process of constructing a historically informed performance of this unique member of the Jesuit music-drama repertoire reveals a reciprocal three-way relationship among knowledge gained through primary research, academic study, and informed experimentation.

Das Heiligkreuz-Sujet und die Organisation des weltlichen Zusammenlebens im Medium städtischer und jesuitischer Spiele

The symbol of the Holy Cross is pivotal to Christendom, and it is central to several medieval and early modern plays covering Constantine’s victory and the finding of the cross by Helena. In the period of Counter-Reformation, these subjects provide examples of Roman Catholic beliefs, referring to relics and miracles, and thus hold propagandistic potential. Their staging allows not only for an authoritative expression of denominational convictions, but also includes a model of government that may, by conveying an ideal of social order, even fulfil a disciplining and critical function. Two plays will serve to illustrate these intentions: Cysat’s Holy Cross Play and the Jesuit drama Constantinus Magnus.

Theatre and religion: Lancastrian Shakespeare

1. Introduction: A torturing hour - Shakespeare and the martyrs, Richard Wilson 2. Bare ruined choirs - remembering Catholicism in Shakespeare's England, Eamonn Duffy 3. Shakespeare's Jesuit schoolmasters, Peter Milward S.J. 4. Jesuit drama in early modern England, Robert Miola 5. Richard Verstegan and Catholic resistance: the encoding of antiquarianism and love, Donna Hamilton 6. Catilines and Machiavels: reading Catholic resistance in 3 Henry VI, Randall Martin 7. 'This Papist and his Poet': Shakespeare's Lancastrian kings and Robert Parson's Conference about the Next Succession, Jean-Christophe Mayer 8. Catholic exiles in Flanders and As You Like It or, what if you don't like it at all?, Carol Enos 9. Requiem for a prince: rites of memory in Hamlet, Gerard Kilroy 10. Richard Topcliffe: Elizabeth's enforcer and the representation of power in King Lear, Frank Brownlow 11. Learned pate and golden fool: a Jesuit source for Timon of Athens, Sonja Fielitz 12. Cymbeline and the sleep of faith, Margaret Jones-Davies 13. Shakespeare and Catholicism, Arthur Marotti 14. The cultural politics of Maybe, Gary Taylor Index

Orlando di Lasso's 'Fireworks' music

Journal Article Orlando di Lasso's ‘Fireworks’ music Get access Franz Körndle Franz Körndle Franz Körndle teaches musicology at the University of Augsburg. His dissertation on Notre Dame organum was published in 1993, and his study of liturgical music at the Munich court in the 16th century is in preparation. He is currently working on a book on Lasso and Jesuit drama Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Early Music, Volume 32, Issue 1, February 2004, Pages 96–118, https://doi.org/10.1093/earlyj/32.1.96 Published: 01 February 2004

In scenam datus est cum plausu: Das Theater der Jesuiten in Passau (1612-1775) by Sandra Krump (review)

MLRy 98.4, 2003 1035 and of German poetry of the high and later Middle Ages generally. She offerssome excellent analyses of particular songs (such as the allegories ofthe artistas falconer and as silver miner in songs 331 and 250) or groups of songs (such as Beheim's variations on the 'Wolfram-Rolle' in songs 283,161, and 71). Another section examines Beheim's variation of and experimentation with differentposes in his songs and his relationship with his public. Her particular concern, however, is with the question of the nature of what she calls Beheim's "'Ich"-Rolle'. While acknowledging the importance of work by Ingeborg Spriewald, Frieder Schanze, Albrecht Classen, Ulrich Muller, William C. McDonald, and many others, she finds that previous scholarship has not addressed adequately the'" Ich"-Rolle' which is such a prominent feature of Beheim's work. Given that the formula Ich, Michel Peham occurs forty-seven times while a third-person reference to himself is found thirty-six times, it is evident that these self-references merit thorough investigation. By means of close reading and detailed analysis of the songs concerned, she is able to demonstrate how Beheim's use of selfreference develops and changes during the three phases of his career, how traditional topoi are adapted, and where the boundaries may lie between fact and fictionality. This book is no easy read, but it is very clearly a significant contribution not only to the assessment of Beheim specifically but also to the study of late medieval poetry more generally, inasmuch as it constructively addresses important questions about the nature of 'autobiographical' elements in such verse. The book has a good index, a substantial bibliography, and more than twelve hundred (often lengthy) footnotes. Institute of Germanic Studies, London John L. Flood In scenam datus est cum plausu: Das Theater der Jesuiten in Passau (1612-iyy^). By Sandra Krump. (Studium Litterarum: Studien und Texte zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 3) Berlin: Weidler. 2000. 2 vols. 290 and 410 pp. ?79. ISBN 3-89693-159-9 (pbk). To some readers local studies may seem an outdated genre, but there is nothing tradi? tional or parochial about this remarkable contribution to our ever-widening awareness of the drama of the Jesuits. Sandra Krump's study covers a century and a half and displays a keen understanding of her topic in its wider historical context. Moreover, she is able to relate what was being written and performed at the Jesuit College in Passau to the multimedia events of our own day and even to science fiction without for a moment lapsing into anachronism or over-simplification. No publication in the domain of Jesuit drama, not even the late Elida Maria Szarota's monumental Dasjesuitendramaim deutschenSprachgebiet, 3 vols (Munich: Fink, 1979-83),or Jean-Marie Valentin's invaluable Le Theatre desjesuites dans les pays de langue allemande, 2 vols (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1983-84), has made a better case for its intrinsic qualities: indeed the brief section with which she concludes the firstvolume of her study ('Das Jesuitentheater im 17., 18. und 21. Jahrhundert', 1, 271-74) not only tells the reader more about Jesuit drama than any other four pages on the subject ever published: it is also a masterpiece of focused, cogent summing-up. Krump opens her second volume with a particularly interesting example of Passau 's Jesuit drama entitled FerdinandusCastellanus, produced on 29 September 1630. The Latin text, reproduced in full (n, 37-73), is furnished with a parallel transla? tion, useful footnotes, and an efficientplot summary, and may be read with pleasure and profit thanks to her discussion of its topical relevance at a turning point in the Thirty Years War, the position its anonymous author carefully adopts regarding the justification of warfare, and its value as an example of effectivepropaganda on behalf of the Catholic cause. Nor is its literary interest overlooked: its debts to the Aeneid, 1036 Reviews frequently pinpointed in Krump's footnotes to the text, are discussed in satisfying detail. Two other dramas, Deodatus (1713) and Parmenio (1763), are given equally spacious treatment, and are complemented by programme summaries of eight other plays in facsimile with contemporary or modern translations. Latin drama in Passau had...

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz: Vom Sturm und Drang zur Moderne by Andreas Meier (review)

1036 Reviews frequently pinpointed in Krump's footnotes to the text, are discussed in satisfying detail. Two other dramas, Deodatus (1713) and Parmenio (1763), are given equally spacious treatment, and are complemented by programme summaries of eight other plays in facsimile with contemporary or modern translations. Latin drama in Passau had its ups and downs; curiously enough, no plays were staged there during the years of Cromwell's Commonwealth or of the reign of James II, though not even Krump seems to know why this was. The plays them? selves were often of mediocre standard, but in 1665-66 the Passau College had the good fortune to have Avancini as its rector. This brief period proved to be its golden age, but, wisely perhaps, Krump disappoints her readers by withholding the texts of the two plays he wrote while there, in hopes of a complete edition of Avancini's works. Significantly, Heyrenbach's Parmenio, the play which finallybought the curtain down on Passau's long tradition of Jesuit drama in 1764 (ten years before the suppression of the Society of Jesus), shows telling affinitiesnot only with Seneca's Oedipus but with Lessing's Philotas and Schlegel's Canut as well. The central figure is none other than Hermann the Cheruscan. He had already figured in a number of German and Jesuit dramas, but here the action focuses on the theme of fraternal enmity which was soon to become an integral element of Sturm und Drang., Its author remains unknown de? spite all Sandra Krump's efforts,and his drama survives only in a German-language summary, but that is enough to capture the attention. University of Bristol Peter Skrine Jakob Michael ReinholdLenz: Vom Sturm und Drang zur Moderne. Ed. by Andreas Meier. (Beihefte zum Euphorion, 41) Heidelberg: Winter. 2001. 145 pp. ?21. ISBN 3-8253-1238-0(pbk). Following his infamous 'Eseley' and just before his ensuing expulsion from Weimar, Lenz wrote to Herder at the end of November 1776 lamenting his sudden fall from grace: 'Freilich traurig genug, kaum gesehen und gesprochen, ausgestoBen aus dem Himmel als ein Landlaufer, Rebell, Pasquillant [. . .] Hatt ich nur Goethens Winke eher verstanden. Sag ihm das.' The long shadow that then fell over Lenz and his subsequent reception was to a great extent one of Goethe's making. Meier's vol? ume of seven essays and a delightfully eclectic anthology of twenty-one 'lyrische Lenzportrats' from the 1770s to the 1990s is the result of the 1999 conference 'Im Schatten Goethes ? Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz'. As Meier states in his intro? ductory remarks, Lenz, like Buchner, is an author whose works have fallen prey to 'eine verspatete Rezeption', indeed to such a point that 'Erst dem 20. Jahrhundert wird ihr Werk zum literarischen Begriff,erst die von ihnen mit vorbereitete Moderne schafftihnen die geeignete Lektiirevoraussetzung' (p. 7). Through its contributors' differingapproaches, which present snapshots taken over a two-hundred-year period, the volume offers a rich and stimulating variety of perspectives. A number of gaps and missing links in Lenz scholarship are revealed, and Lenz is also shown to be an unwitting pawn in a number of subsequent aesthetic debates. Given the volume's aims, Riidiger Zymner's opening article rather goes against the grain, as it deals with Lenz's own reception of Shakespeare. In a well-argued and illustrated piece he reveals how Lenz 'entdeckt und entwickelt [. . .] eine Asthetik der Kunst', one which is termed a 'moderne Asthetik' (p. 21). In an area of Lenz studies yet to be convincingly explored, as so often when it comes to Anglo-German literary relations, this piece presents an intriguing standpoint. Despite the recent resurgent interest in Lenz, the frustration at the lack of a critical edition has become a familiar refrain at the increasing number of Lenz conferences, yet one that seems unlikely MLRy 98.4, 2003 1037 to be acted on, despite the possibilities opened up by new methods of digital pro? duction. One consequence of this state of affairs is the steady trickle of rediscovered letters and texts, not necessarily in manuscript form, but simply printed and held in foreign libraries. This is the case in Jorg-Ulrich Fechner's presentation of...

SPIELEN UND ZUSCHAUEN IN JAKOB BIDERMANNS PHILEMON MARTYR

Jacob Bidermann's (1578-1639) Jesuit drama, Philemon Martyr (1618), presents the world as a theater, not only within its plot, but also through structural and stylistic features. Ironically, precisely because of his dubious profession, the pagan comedian Philemon, as he plays a Christian, is granted , and grasps, the chance to convert. Though his perfect model may inspire the audience, Philemon can effect the play's moral only in tandem with Arrianus, his antagonist, who turns from pagan spectator to Christian actor: it is Arrianus' more realistic role conversion which assures the spectator that salvation is actually within reach. Through the ideas of play-acting and play-watching, Bidermann illustrates the Jesuit view, not only of secular theater and society, but also of religion, human nature, and our appropriate role in life. Going beyond a scena vitae, which would merely focus on human performance, the play constructs a more complex theatrum mundi, which includes divine director and spectator. In terms of dramatic genre, Bidermann advocates tragicomedy , in terms of attitude, a contemptus mundi. As school theater, Philemon Martyr provides an antidote to the rigid Jesuit conception of education, activating the students through a playful version of pedagogy.

Music in the Viennese Popular Theatre of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

When in 1710 or 1711 Joseph Anton Stranitzky's company of German actors took over the recently built Theater nachst dem Karntnertor in Vienna they established a tradition of plays with music that was to last for a century and a half. They were themselves heirs to various traditions—most notably the companies of strolling players (englische Comödianten) that had been popular in German lands from Shakespeare's time, but also assimilating features from the commedia dell'arte and the Parisian théâtres de la foire, and imitating (and frequently parodying) the Italian court opera, as well as developing even further the extensive comic scenes and intermezzi both of the opera and of the Jesuit drama. Music was an important component in the Viennese Jesuit dramas and the theatres de la foire, and collections like the Engelische Comedien und Tragedien … of 1620 and Liebeskampf oder Ander Theil der Engelischen Comoedien und Tragoedien … of 1630, containing the tunes as well as the words of a number of songs, indicate the extent to which music was readily available for ambulant troupes in seventeenth-century Germany. Parallel to the use of music in German plays at this time is the extent and nature of the comic scenes in operas and Jesuit dramas in Vienna. J. B. Adolph's carnival play of 1700, Carnisprivium proscriptum, with music by J. B. Staudt, includes three large-scale musical sequences, a light-hearted German song in praise of the joys of angling, and also a vernacular parody of a Latin lament. During the reign of Amalteo as court poet, and even more during that of Minato (1669–98), comic scenes and dialect interpolations reached such a height that the reforms of Zeno and Metastasio became entirely necessary. One example of Minato's methods must serve for many: in the Minato/Draghi La lira d'Orfeo of 1683 Orpheus is by no means Euridice's only admirer. When he leaves her after a tiff, she is forced to admit: ‘Lassa! Perdendo vo tutti gli Amanti’.

Jesuit drama

Journal Article Jesuit drama Get access R. R. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume 180, Issue 23, 7 June 1941, Pages 406–407, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/180.23.406g Published: 07 June 1941