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A THEATER PLAY FROM A CONCERT PIECE;
POETRY AND RITUAL IN THE GESAMTKUNST WERK?
ON ATTILA VIDNYANSZKY’S
JOAN OF ARC AT THE STAKE (2013)
——~<~o»—___
DÁNIEL TIBOR HEGYI
This study analyzes Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger’s piece Joan of Arc at
the Stake which premiered, in this version, in 2013 at the National Theater in
Budapest. The study’s main purpose is to analyze the story in the context of
the director Attila Vidnydnszky’s worldview and his creed of theater. Moreover,
it reflects on the director’s biography and on the synthesis of art through the
figure of Joan of Arc, with an emphasis on the role of sacredness in the founda¬
tion and further development of social identity in our world of sparse rituality?
Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger’s multiple genre piece is unique in the sense
that it was not the product of a previously written text being put to music, but
it was the outcome of a special authorial collaboration. It became known as
an oratorio, but the authors describe it as a mystery play, even a dithyramb.
Ida Rubinstein, the famous dancer and actress, who also attended medieval
mystery drama classes at the Sorbonne in 1923, commissioned the play. An
interesting fact regarding the genesis of the play is that poet-playwright Clau¬
del was initially reluctant to write about the already frequently adapted Jeanne
d’Arc subject, and also had reservations about collaborating with composer
Honegger. Furthermore, one of his main problems was that he felt that “a real
hero cannot be put into a fictional environment”! as Joan’s words belong to
the historical collective memory of the nation of France.” He actively pondered
this issue and finally arrived at the solution in the form of a fine arts concept:
anamorphosis, a perspective technique which means that certain works of
art can only be observed from a specific angle or “point of view” in order to
perceive their “real” or hidden message. This compositional principle helped
Claudel to approach the short but eventful life of Joan of Arc effectively. Re¬
garding the conception of the artwork Claudel said, “For the understanding of
a life, as with a landscape, we need to choose a point of view, and there is no
better locus for it than the summit. Joan of Arc’s life’s summit was her death,
the Rouen-stake. [...] right on that summit, she took all the events into account
! András Szöllősy: Jeanne d"Arc a máglyán, alkalmi művek, Nocturne [Joan of Arc at the Stake,
Occasional works, Nocturnel, in Honegger, Budapest, Gondolat, 1960, 254-255.
Szöllősy: Honegger, 258.
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