Ein unbekannter Text zum Prager Fest Phasma Dionysiacum Pragense (1617)

• Authors: Dobalová Sylva

Title variants

EN

An Unknown Text About a Prague Theatre Performance Phasma Dionysiacum Pragense (1617)

• Languages of publication: DE

Abstracts

EN

The article deals with a newly discovered document describing the festivity Phasma Dionysiacum Pragense, which was found in the holdings of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. Phasma was played at Prague Castle in February 1617, opening a three days long carnival. The first evening performance with singing, music and ballet was organized on an elaborated architectonical stage. The recently found text brings several new pieces of information; of special interest is the identification of the so-called “lautenspielerin” who was singing in the role of Gloria, celebrating the Habsburgs. Included are also two further days of the carnival with knightly games, the detailed description of costumes and the names of “knights”. The interpretation of the text from Wolfenbüttel shows undoubtedly that Phasma was staged in the Old Land Diet’s Hall (Alter Landtagssaal), which is a smaller hall next to the Wladislaw Hall at the Prague Castle. The visual appearance of the event is documented by engravings which are analyzed in the context of contemporary European theatre. At the end of the article, hypothesis is formulated about the possible author of the theatre stage – the court architect Giovanni Maria Filippi. The appendix contains a complete transcription of the German text from Wolfenbüttel omitting just the parts containing the Italian arias that had been already published (Seifert 1998).

Keywords

EN

theatre; Prague; Prague Castle; stage

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Comeniana (International review of Comenius studies and early modern intellectual history)
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 22-23
• Pages: 207-247

Contributors

author

Dobalová Sylva

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