Social Turmoil Escalates

Social Turmoil Escalates

1866 The Austro-Prussian War* (better known as the Seven Weeks War) breaks out in June and is over in August. The war is provoked by Bismark* in the second step in getting Austria out of the German Confederation*. Prussia* comes out on top and makes a definite move toward the eventual unity of Germany under Prussian dominance. Bismark* forms the North German Confederation which excludes Austria and scares the various German states into going along with Prussia* by playing up the bogey-man of France (they still remember what Napoleon did to them). Bismark* still has one more step to take before he succeeds in uniting Germany. That will come in 1870 (see below).

Mendel*'s genetic findings are published this year. They are pretty much ignored for years but will resurface in 1900.

Dostoyevsky* is rapidly becoming a towering figure in world literature. This year he comes out with Crime and Punishment*. A fellow countryman, Count Leo Tolstoy* (or Tolstoi, if you prefer, 1828-1910), novelist and philosopher, creates his first masterpiece, War and Peace*.

The German composer, Johannes Brahms* (1833-97) is busily writing some of the greatest symphonic music ever. This year he is doing the German Requiem*.

1866 - Ibsen* (The Norwegian, now traveling in Italy) devises two verse dramas, Brand*, this year and Peer Gynt*, next year. These two are instant cultural and commercial successes. They establish his European reputation. They also, no doubt, contribute to his getting a government pension this year.

In Russia they finally get full copyright protection for playwrights, thanks largely to the efforts of Ostrovshy* (see 1847) who helps found the Russian Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers this year.

In Germany, (actually in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen) Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen*, comes in as the ruler. He is a theatre bug and begins to overhaul the court theatre and take a personal interest in everything they do. He will be very important in future theatre changes.

1867 Marx finally finishes the first volume of his major work, Das Kapital*. (Engels* will edit volumes 2 and 3 after Marx dies and publish them in 1894). By this year we hear about the Marxist philosophical method that will become so popular, dialectical materialism*.

In America, Nevada becomes the 37th state and William Henry Seward* (1801-72), Secretary of State, persuades the government to buy Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million (known as "Seward's Folly).*

On the practical level, a German engineer named Nikolaus August Otto* (1832-91) shows up as the co-inventor of the internal-combustion engine.

This year Great Britain passes the British North America Act which gives Canada internal self-rule as a dominion. This will set a pattern of slowly releasing direct governing powers in European-settled colonies.

We'd better take a minute here to look at the main points in two related terms that will be very prevalent in the rest of this period. The first is Marxism*. Obviously, this refers to the ideas of

Marx*. The starting point is the view that (reversing the Hegalian* dialectical idealism) the primary thing that determines history is economics. According to Marxism* the history of society is the history of class* struggle.

In the old days class* included the nobility, clergy and serfs or slaves. During the previous age there was the rise of a middle class of small business people called the bourgeoisie*. Now the term bourgeoisie* means the capitalist class because the small business people have exploded into factory owners and have filled the power vacuum left by a dwindling nobility. Marxism* claims that the bourgeoisie* will be replaced by the working class. The working class is now called the proletariat*.

Dialectical materialism* is the official philosophy of Communism* which holds that everything is material. This means that people put together a social life in response to economic needs. In this view every aspect of society reflects economic structure. [For example, theatre once served the nobility as a way to show off their economic power (which led to English theatre being dumped by the British Parliament when they threw out Charles I* ). In the Middle Ages the economic power of the Church enabled it to use theatre to keep populations informed of its views and suitably subdued.]

Dialectical materialism* claims that the capitalist class is making a profit (surplus value) off the work of the proletariat*. It also claims that all aspects of society reflect the economic structure. [Theatre folk, for example, were poor, powerless, rogues and vagabonds until they were able to own their own theatre buildings (beginning in the Renaissance) and take control of the profits of their own production.] Dialectical materialism* claims that growth, change and development come about through a naturally occurring "struggle of opposites" that individuals don't have any power to influence. Later people will apply these principles to the study of history and sociology and that will be called historical materialism*. That will be a whole different kettle of fish and not at all the same as Communism*.

Marxism* insists that there are contradictions and weaknesses in capitalism* that will make for terrific economic crises that will get increasingly worse, creating a poorer and poorer proletariat*. When things get bad enough the proletariat* will revolt and take over control of the means of production (industry). This revolution is supposed to result in a classless society where the nasty, coercive state will be replaced by a benign and rational economic cooperation. This whole idea will impact the development of Socialism* as well as Communism* from here on out.

1868 Dostoyevsky* publishes The Idiot* in Germany. 1868-9 This is the year Louisa May Alcott* (1832-88) comes out with her ever-popular Little

Women*. She will write two sequels later. 1869 - Ibsen* (the now famous Norwegian playwright, still tootling around Italy and

Germany) abandons writing plays in verse and turns out a lighthearted satire, The League of Youth*.

1869 Ulysses S. Grant* becomes the 18th president of the United States who continues the punitive Reconstruction of the South. Unfortunately his administration will become known for its corruption. This year (May 10th) the Union Pacific Railway meets the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah, finishing the first transcontinental railroad across America.

Between the rail expansion, the postwar economic expansion and the general massive settlement of the country, this begins the period in which great fortunes will be made in rail, steel and banking. [Collis Potter Huntington, Cornelius Vanderbuilt, Jay Gould, James Fisk, Edward Henry Harriman, John Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, J. D. Rockefeller*] These entrepreneurs are relevant to social development since they also choose to become cultural philanthropists. They will endow museums, universities, art galleries, libraries and foundations to support the arts. While European countries accomplish their cultural goals by state subsidy, the United States depends primarily on private support.

1870 - By this time the population of London is passing four and one-half million and the number of theatres have increased to thirty. A variety of changes in theatrical production are happening, too. Poetic drama and refined melodrama are the in thing. Actors are being hired for the run of the show instead of a seasonal contract. The royalty system of paying playwrights when their works are produced is beginng to be regular practice. The most influential management (between 1860-80) is the Bancroft*'s (Squire Bancroft, 1841-1926, and his wife Marie Effie, 1839-1921). What with all those lovely railroads going to all the important places, the system of touring begins to change. The Bancroft*s start touring with a full company, scenery and props. This system catches on and touring increases, with a corresponding decline in the number of provincial resident companies. The Bancroft*s have refurbished an old theatre which they now call the Prince of Wale's (not to be confused with another theatre of the same name which will open later) and it becomes famous for the style of domestic realism they develop, together with the playwright Robertson* (see above 1864).

Character and stage business go together for almost the first time. The orchestra seating becomes the best place to sit and chair-style seating (they have just got rid of benches in the ochestra pit) which are numbered and reserved really helps develop advance sales, while advance sales encourage long runs. The Bancroft*s go in for long runs of the plays they put on; in twenty years they only do thirty long plays (not counting the short curtain raisers, etc.).

There are no "stars" in the Bancroft*'s management and actors work on understatement instead of "bravura" acting. They pay their actors so well (ten times the going rate) that they can insist on not having "benefit" performances for them.

They use the box set* (see above) and give contemporary plays as much care as other managements give to their period pieces. Other managements begin to adopt their attention to modern play production and the over all production quality improves. The forestage* is no longer used and everything takes place behind the proscenium arch*. The illusion of a fourth wall* (between the audience and the stage, completing the room illusion of the three walls of the box set) is always respected in Bancroft* productions.

1870 This year Bismark* (Prussian, remember?) provokes the Franco-Prussian War* (1870-

71) as the final step in his plan to put together a unified German Empire. The Prussians capture the French emperor, Napoleon III* and in Paris he (Napoleon III*) is deposed and they set up a provisional government (September). The French army gives up but Paris holds out.

The American oil business is building and J. D. Rockefeller* organizes Standard Oil. Dickens* dies this year leaving the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood*. Another

English author, Samuel Butler* (1835-1902) comes out with his satirical novel Erewhon*.

1870s - In America, as in Great Britain, the railroads make theatrical touring with a full company and sets a practical way to go. The resident stock company is at its peak and about to decline in favor of the combination company* (one that travels with everyting from stars to the smallest prop). By 1876-77 there will be at least 100 combination companies traveling with full productions. Local managers begin to dismiss their troupes and turn into theatrical landlords. A few managers maintain troupes in this transition period.

Edwin Booth*, who excels in Hamlet* (it ran 100 performances), on returning to the theatre in 1869 (after a brief retirement from the shame of his brother's deed) renovates a theatre to his own specifications. Booth's Theatre* has a level stage floor with no grooves (for sliding scenery), several hydraulic elevators to raise sets from the floor below and 76 feet of fly space overhead. There is no apron and he uses box sets extensively. The so-called "free plantation" scenery arrangement will be picked up all over. Booth* will eventually be considered the greatest actor this country has produced.

Augustin Daly* (1836-99) is a critic who then writes plays and, in 1869, gets his own theatre, the Fifth Avenue Theatre*, and starts his own company. He, too, is big on realism. He introduces things like the heroine tied to the railroad tracks as the train approaches and the heroine locked in a stateroom on a burning steamboat. He works toward making the director a major force in the theatre by being in absolute control of everything in the theatre. He works so hard on coaching his actors that he attracts a lot of young ones and makes a lot of stars. Fortunately he hangs on to some very good ones and becomes known as having the finest ensemble* in America.

Steele MacKaye* (1842-94) is also a man of many talents. He is an actor, playwright, director, inventor, designer and teacher. He goes over to France to study acting and brings the Delsarte* method (see above) over to America. MacKaye* opens a series of acting schools and training programs at his St. James' Theatre* in New York. He will do more of this training business in the '80s. (see below 1884). Some of his plays achieve great success (see below), but his inventions are best remembered (see 1879 in the next Chapter).

1870s - In France the movement of naturalism* begins to surface. In part it appears as a logical outgrowth of the theories put forth in Darwin*'s The Origin of Species*. The notions are that heredity and environment are primary causes of human behavior, and progress can be made by applying scientific method and new technologies. The very name of the movement, naturalism*, speaks of the current idea that human beings are part of nature (not set above it in some superior way, as they believed before). Another factor in the rise of naturalism* is the political and economic conditions in France after the Franco-Prussian War* (which isn't quie finished yet). Socialism* and the plight of the workers become the focus for the naturalistic movement. The first, and most famous, statement of this movement's doctrine will come soon (see 1873).

1871 In January, Paris finally gives up. France has to pay a terrific amount for indemnity to Prussia and give up most of that pesky Alsace and Lorraine territory (mentioned in the Introduction as a bone of contention). Paris resists again, under the command of the Commune of Paris*. This is a rebellious government in Paris, made up of radical republicans, Marxists, socialists and anarchists*. These people object to the humiliating conditions Prussia wants and they want economic reforms. The French royalists send a French army against the Parisians, who hold out for five months. There are reprisals on both sides and after the defeat 1871 In January, Paris finally gives up. France has to pay a terrific amount for indemnity to Prussia and give up most of that pesky Alsace and Lorraine territory (mentioned in the Introduction as a bone of contention). Paris resists again, under the command of the Commune of Paris*. This is a rebellious government in Paris, made up of radical republicans, Marxists, socialists and anarchists*. These people object to the humiliating conditions Prussia wants and they want economic reforms. The French royalists send a French army against the Parisians, who hold out for five months. There are reprisals on both sides and after the defeat

In France, the Third Republic* is formed. Down in Africa, the New York Herald has sent a British journalist, Sir Henry Morton

Stanley* (1841-1904), to find out what happened to Livingstone* (remember back in 1841, he went exploring?). Stanley* finds Livingstone* and everybody is happy and now knows a good deal more about what the interior of Africa is like.

This is the year when Darwin*'s (see above 1831) second big book, The Descent of Man* comes out. Boy, does it stir up a kettle of worms! Everybody uses it to serve their own ideas or to attack someone else's views.

In Great Britain, Geroge Eliot* publishes her masterpiece, Middlemarch.* 1871 - The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen* (see above 1866) hires a director this year, Ludwig

Chronegk* (1837-91). This guy will be a powerhouse in training the company and arranging the future tours that will make this company world famous. The whole enterprise is an ensemble effort. There are Ludwig, Georg II, his wife (in 1873) Ellen Franz* (1839-1923) (who is an actress and takes over all the choice of plays, adapting the texts and supervising the stage speech,) and the poet and writer, Friedrich von Bodenstedt* (1819-92), who also makes translations from Russian and English (especially Shakespeare). The company works and builds up authentic costumes, scenery and props using authentic materials instead of cheap substitutes (heavy upholstery, real chain mail, period furniture, etc.), all designed by the Duke. They also build the actors into an ensemble in which there are no stars and every actor who plays a lead in one show has to play a bit part in another. Every actor in the company has to appear in crowd scenes. This makes for really impressive crowd scenes in which the actors really know what they are doing and make the whole scene look good. This will be one of the startling things about this troupe, since other companies just use "extras" to fill in their crowds.

The Duke has a very good sense of design and this shows in his sets and the arrangement of the actors and their movement (blocking). The visual appearance of his productions is both interesting and meaningful in terms of what the play is about. This is something new in the theatre. It is possible because they can take as long as they want to rehearse a play. There are only 8,000 people in the Duchy, so the theatre is only open twice a week for six months of the year. Since the theatre is the Duke's personal project (not dependent on making a profit), he can rehearse until it looks the way he wants it to. Soon they will begin to show their work to the rest of Europe (see below 1874).

1872 - This is the year when Sarah Bernhardt* joins the Comedie-Francaise*. She will spend the next eight years at this theatre attracting a lot of attention and not a little controversy. She has terrific magnetism, stage presence and technical skill and her portrayals of pain, rage, death and seductiveness, apparently can't be beat. All the great French roles from Phaedre to Camille (and more in the future) provide her with her great success.

In Russia they finally get around to producing A Month in the Country* by Ivan Turgenev* (1818-83). He had written this play back in 1850 but the censorship in Russia is so bad they In Russia they finally get around to producing A Month in the Country* by Ivan Turgenev* (1818-83). He had written this play back in 1850 but the censorship in Russia is so bad they

In Germany they finish building Wagner*'s Festival Theatre at Bayreuth*. Since Wagner* is big on having a strong director and a unified production he wants the theatre to make all this possible. His "master art work" (Gesamtkunstwerk*) will be done here and inspire much in the way of architecture and production all over the world. In order to have a "classless: theatre, Wagner* does away with the business of boxex, pit and gallery. There is just one large seating arrangement with a sunken orchestra pit that goes back under the stage..