Projections of Spain in popular spectacle and chanson, Paris: 1889-1926

© 2013 Dr. Geraldine Mary PowerThis thesis documents and examines Spanish-themed popular spectacle and chanson performed in Paris from 1889 to 1926. It identifies markers of Spanishness in spectacles and chansons, observing trends and situating these within prevailing artistic and cultural contexts. Critical press and other contemporary records were used to gauge reception and attitudes to Spanish entertainment. With both the chansons and spectacles there is investigation of textual, visual and performance devices to ascertain how Spain was projected. Examination of a sample of Spanish-themed Parisian chansons produced between 1903 and 1915 includes discussion of musical as well as other representations of Spanishness. Themes encountered in spectacles and chansons are identified, as are parallels or divergences between the Spains portrayed in them. While the thesis focuses on the popular stage, high-art developments are kept within its purview as the two domains functioned within the same environment and shared comparable constraints and influences. Some comparisons are drawn between the Spains depicted on the popular and high-art stages. Discussion in Chapter 2 considers Spanish-themed spectacles presented at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition and a number of later productions staged up to 1903 – among them an operetta, a farce, opéras-comiques, pantomimes and Federico Chueca and Joaquín Valverde's zarzuela, La Gran Vía. Chapter 3 is devoted to popular song in Paris dating from 1903 to 1909. It incorporates an introduction to popular song in Spain and its incursion into Paris and a study of Parisian Spanish-themed chansons that is based largely on works reproduced in Paris qui Chante. Before resuming this exploration of the chanson sample, Chapter 4 examines several stage works produced between 1909 and 1913, focusing on those of Spanish composer, Quinito Valverde. Dance and song in popular reviews and flamenco dance in spectacle are also explored. Chapter 5 presents a case study of (Spanish singer) Raquel Meller in Paris from 1919 to 1925 and is followed, in Chapter 6, by consideration of spectacles staged in 1925 and 1926, including stage reviews, zarzuelas and Manuel de Falla's L'Amour sorcier. This investigation demonstrates the ongoing currency of the Romantic vision of an exotic Spain recounted by Théophile Gautier, among others, and the influence of Francisco Goya is also apparent. Boundaries between the high-art and popular stages are found to be fluid, and evidence of French preconceptions about authenticity, gypsies and race, and allusions to Georges Bizet's Carmen are common in critics' responses in both settings. Despite such recurring themes, the thesis posits that Parisian agency, the dynamic drive of Modernism and the social and political difficulties in Spain, particularly following the nation's 1898 crisis in Cuba, were notable drivers of change in the projection of Spain in popular Parisian spectacle and chanson during the period