George Dandin ou le mari confondu (George Dandin or The Thwarted Husband[1]) is a French Comédie-ballet in three acts by Molière, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, choreography by Pierre Beauchamp, and architecture/staging by Carlo Vigarani and Henri de Gissey.[2] It premiered at the Palace of Versailles, seen by Louis XIV and guests, numbering possibly to 3000 total people,[3] on 18 July 1668, during the Le Grand divertissement royal (Grand Royal Entertainment), produced by court financier Jean-Baptiste Colbert, celebrating the peace from the Treaty of Aachen.[4] Without the ballet and music, the comedy appeared to the Paris public at the theatre of the Palais-Royal beginning on 9 November 1668.
Court historian André Félibien summarized the play in the official brochure (1668) this way: "The subject is that a wealthy peasant, who has married the daughter of a country gentleman, receives nothing but contempt from his wife as well as his handsome father- and mother-in-law, who only accepted him as their son-in-law because of his possessions and wealth". [5]
Contemporary scholar Roland Racevskis summarized it this way: "The action centers on the woes of [George Dandin], a wealthy peasant who has entered into a misalliance by marrying Angélique, the daughter of a pair of caricatural provincial nobles, Monsieur and Madame de Sotenville [the latter played in female cross-dress] ... Dandin must repeatedly endure the humiliation of recognizing the social superiority of the Sotenvilles and of apologizing to the wife who is cuckolding him all the while."[6]
Concerning Dandin's pretensions as a nouveau-riche gentleman, specifically his costume (as played by the playwright, Molière), described in the company's inventory by M.E. Soulie: "Breeches and cloak of light brown taffeta, with collar of the same; the whole adorned with lace and silver buttons, a belt of the same; a little doublet of crimson silk; another doublet of brocade of different colors and silver lace, to wear over it; and a large ruff and shoes."[7] About it, Roger Chartier wrote, "Such a costume, which has nothing peasant about it, could immediately be recognized as an outrageous, forced, old-fashioned imitation of the aristocratic outfit." (Chartier 1994, p. 302) [8]
Notes
George Dandin: or The Abashed Husband public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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