Auteur/autrice : Emmanuel Poirault

Résumé :
En 1920, le banquier Auguste Rondel (1858-1934) fait don de sa collection, consacrée au théâtre et aux arts du spectacle, à l’État. Elle est installée cinq ans plus tard à la Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, où l’éminent théâtrophile continue de veiller sur elle jusqu’à sa mort, en 1934. Textes de pièces, programmes, affiches ou recueils factices d’articles de presse, accumulés et compilés durant toute une vie, témoignent de l’étendue et de la diversité de ce fonds. Celui-ci recèle, en effet, une quantité de sources inestimables pour les chercheurs dont l’un des exemples les plus remarquables est sans nul doute la section dédiée au théâtre du Palais-Royal. Cet ensemble d’archives, cédé à Rondel par un ancien directeur de l’établissement, Eugène Héros, est composé de documents variés (pièces, partitions, journaux de bord ou documents administratifs) couvrant tout le XIXe siècle, de la fondation du théâtre en 1831 par Joseph Contat-Desfontaines dit Dormeuil jusqu’à la fin de la direction de Maurice Charlot, en 1906. En 1858, après vingt-sept années passées à la tête de l’institution, Dormeuil cède la place à son fils, Léon, qui s’attache à poursuivre l’œuvre de son père. Répertoire comique assumé, longévité des directions, actionnariat, résistance face à l’avant-garde théâtrale, recours à des auteurs et compositeurs à succès (Labiche, Offenbach, Meilhac et Halévy, Feydeau) ainsi qu’à des artistes de renom (Geoffroy, Lhéritier, Brasseur, Hortense Schneider) : tels sont les ingrédients d’une « formule » qui marche et qui a permis de conforter le théâtre du Palais-Royal dans sa position de haut lieu parisien du loisir et du délassement jusqu’au début du XXe siècle. Cette étude se propose d’analyser comment l’héritage de Dormeuil père a été exploité par ses successeurs, de 1858 à 1906, et de retracer l’histoire d’un des temples du rire parisien au prisme de l’industrialisation des spectacles.

Abstract:
In 1920, banker Auguste Rondel (1858-1934) donates his collection dedicated to theatre arts to the French State. Five years later, the collection is transferred to the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, where the eminent erudit keeps looking after until his death, in 1934. Plays’ manuscripts, programs, posters or artificial collections of press articles are so many witnesses, accumulated and compiled during an entire life, of the collection’s extent and variety. In fact, it presents an incredible number of sources, which are priceless for the researchers, including the whole and impressive section dedicated to the Palais-Royal theatre. This part of archives sold to Rondel by a former director of the establishment, Eugène Héros, is composed by numerous documents (plays, music scores, repertories, logbooks or administrative documents) which cover a big part of the 19th century, from the theatre’s foundation in 1831 by Joseph Contat-Desfontaines a.k.a. Dormeuil until Maurice Charlot’s direction, in 1906. In 1858, after 27 years at the head of the institution, Dormeuil hands over to his son, Léon, who tries to pursue his father’s project. Comical repertories claimed, directions’ « longevity », shareholders, resistance facing theatrical avant-garde, successful authors and composers (Labiche, Offenbach, Meilhac and Halévy, Feydeau) or reputed actors (Geoffroy, Lhéritier, Brasseur, Hortense Schneider): these are the ingredients of a brilliant “method” which permited to reinforce the Palais-Royal theatre as the Parisian hotspot for entertainment and délassement until the first years of the 20th century. This study proposes analyzing how Joseph Dormeuil’s heritage was used and managed by his successors, from 1858 to 1906, and otherwise recounting the history of one of the famous Parisian monuments dedicated to amusement during the entertainment’s industrialization period.

M. Joël HUTHWOHL – Directeur du département des Arts du spectacle de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (examinateur),

Mme Violaine HEYRAUD – Maîtresse de conférences en lettres modernes et études théâtrales, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 (examinatrice),

Mme Stéphanie SAUGET – Professeure en histoire contemporaine, Université de Tours (rapporteur et examinatrice),

M. Olivier BARA – Professeur en littérature française du XIXe siècle et arts de la scène, Université Lyon 2 (rapporteur et examinateur),

Mme Anne-Claude AMBROISE-RENDU – Professeure en histoire contemporaine, UVSQ – Paris-Saclay (présidente),

M. Jean-Claude YON – Directeur d’études, EPHE, PSL (directeur de thèse),

During a musical performance, musicians constantly monitor and adjust their playing. What they hear inevitably depends on the acoustics of the room in which the performance takes place. This thesis investigates the interaction between musicians and room acoustics. Of principal interest are baroque musical performances with a historically informed interpretation played in historical versus modern spaces. This thesis takes place within the EVAA (Experimental Virtual Archaeological-Acoustics) project, which is dedicated to exploring the acoustics of historical spaces and their function within culture using novel and experimental methods.

An experiment was undertaken in which musicians (flutists, violists, and theorbists) played several pieces in two real spaces (the Salon des Nobles from the Château de Versailles and the amphitheater from the Cité de la Musique) and in their virtual counterparts. The virtual spaces were based on a virtual reality system developed within the framework of the EVAA project, for which a novel auralization architecture was implemented. An analysis of the musicians’ experiences revealed that their playing depends somewhat on the acoustics of the room and also revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the virtual reality system.

A significant portion of the manuscript is devoted to the analysis of musical performances resulting from this experiment. Two primary approaches were undertaken: the first uses a somewhat typical framework relying on low-level features, and the other relies on objective measures derived from musicological principles to highlight higher-level features. The first approach revealed some differences in objective measures as a function of the room, but the second approach made it possible to identify in which dimensions of baroque interpretation the performances differed.

Finally, a listening test was carried out to verify that the differences in playing style, revealed by the objective performance measures in the two rooms, were audible and were in agreement with the measures. In this test, musically educated listeners rated recordings within several aesthetic musical parameters. The comparison between the objective performance measures and the listener ratings revealed fairly good agreement among the flute performances, while for the violists, this agreement was inadequate. This difference between the instruments shows that the influence of the room on historically informed performance of the musicians is relatively subtle, and that there is still room for further investigation within this domain.

• Malte Kob (Detmold Hochschule für Musik, Rapporteur)
• Mathieu Paquier (Université de Brest, Rapporteur)
• Mitsuko Aramaki (Université d’Aix Marseille, Examinatrice)
• Théodora Psychoyou (Sorbonne Université, Examinatrice)
• Catherine Lavandier (CY Cergy Université, Directeur de thèse)
• Brian FG Katz (Sorbonne Université, Directeur de thèse)
• Marguerite Jossic (Musée de la musique, Invitée)