Title of the thesis: The chanson as a complex speech act and its translatability Keywords: chanson, translation, song lyrics, chansonnier, interpretation, acting, nonverbal communication, Aznavour, Bécaud, Piaf, Hegerová, Gott, Čeřovská, cabaret Abstract: The aim of the thesis is to describe the possibilities and the limits of translatability of chanson with regard to song lyrics and dramatic performance. The main contribution consists in determination of a relation between borrowed chansons and their French originals. The realization of the thesis is based on a research on the field of literary translation and acting on the one hand and on the analysis of song lyrics and dramatic performances on the other hand. The analyses in both cases concern three selected French chansons and Czech versions corresponding to them. The first part of the thesis defines the chanson and explains its historical development in the Czech territory. The theory of literary translation and lyrics translation is presented and applied to the translation of chanson in the second part. The third part deals with possibilities of a dramatic interpretation of chanson on the basis of the theory of acting. The last part brings a double analysis which concerns song lyrics and dramatic interpretation of chosen pairs of chanson.

Music and Theatre have always captivated me. As a child, my parents would take me to live performances and cinematic shows and I would sit rapt, watching the theatrical events and emotional moments unfold before my eyes. Movie musicals and live shows that combined music and theatre were my favorite, especially theatrical banter and improvisation or sketch comedy. Some of my favorite youthful memories were my annual family summer trips to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents for six weeks. As a youngster, I got to experience the "old school" Las Vegas, replete with extravaganza, spectacle, cabaret, circus, lounge and nightclub acts, stand-up comedy, intimate revues, and all things marketed under the guise of entertainment, art, or both. Those summers, while not overtly planned as academic or educational in nature, proved, in retrospect, to be the training ground for what was to become my passion: the art of the cabaret genre. As a person who has always loved theatrical diversity, I am drawn to cabaret as an art form. Anything that fuses other forms interests me, and cabaret amalgamates many of the artistic forms I have grown to love. I come from a unique background of classical, jazz, musical theatre and pop styles, and have studied these styles in both the piano and vocal arena. The cabaret genre allows me to realize fully the stylistic variety of performance techniques with which I excel. My mother is a classical singer and my father a jazz pianist; during my youth they would perform at the piano, "meeting in the middle" so to speak in the world of Musical Theatre, through the fusion of cabaret, classical, jazz, and pop. Growing up hearing a song like "Summertime," from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, equally artistically rendered as both a classical aria and a jazz tune in my home was rich fodder for the vital informal education I received by being the offspring of musicians. It is due to this musical legacy that was passed on to me through my parents that I learned to explore the myriad of possibilities one can achieve through artistic musical and theatrical interpretation. Beyond the freedom of stylistic variety, cabaret performance also allows conventions such as direct interaction in the form of the proverbial "lowered fourth wall," allowing me to use my improvisational acting and interactive skill set as well as my musical skills. Cabaret is generally more intimate and personal in nature and I enjoy the camaraderie cabaret affords. Cabaret is interactive and intellectual and I am drawn to those aspects; I like the fusion of interactive banter and intellectual artistry. Also appealing to me is the "insider" sense cabaret not only allows but also encourages. Recalling my youthful memories of the Vegas shows in which the performer spoke directly to audience members, I remember the sense of belonging I felt at the recognition of some of the inside jokes. I knew I wanted to be involved with any aspect of music and theatre that would allow me the freedom to go with the moment, to reach people differently on any given day, to change with the times, and adapt to my audience and to the shifting world around me. I knew I had found a home in this intimate, insular, interactive, and intellectual art form known as cabaret. For these reasons and more I have chosen the genre of cabaret to be my intended thesis research project. I will produce, direct, and perform in a cabaret show, which will be the thesis performance. For the performance aspect of my thesis, in collaboration with my thesis partner, Josephine Leffner, I will perform a one-act chronological, historical, and stylistically varied cabaret show. The show will include material garnered from historical research of the cabaret genre, specifically settling on some of the famous women, songs, stories, lives, and important contributions. The cabaret will cover information, music, and spoken-word art from cabaret's inception in the Paris Montmartre district in 1881 to its height in Germany during the Weimar Republic. The show will culminate with cabaret's insurgence into American culture up to and including the state of American cabaret today. While my performance will focus mainly on American cabaret, a portion of the show will explore cabaret's European roots. Creating and performing this show will educate me further on the genre itself, as well as expand my performing skills through the varied styles in which I will perform within the realm of a single evening's entertainment. Creating and performing the show will also challenge me as a producer, director, promotional and administrative coordinator, music director, arranger, vocal director, collaborator, vocalist, pianist, actor, and writer. The show is intended as a kind of "Cabaret 101," in that the intended audience is treated to a night of variety entertainment with some historical background on the genre of cabaret. The audience is not expected to have any prior academic or experiential knowledge of cabaret in order to understand or enjoy the show. The cabaret intellectual will also be able to enjoy the show, as the songs, poems, skits, and sketches are intended to amuse and delight both the novice and the experienced cabaretist. For the research and analysis portion of my thesis monograph document I will provide information on cabaret's roots in France and Germany, as well as include informative research on American cabaret, its history and its current trends. I will have several chapters dedicated to the historical research and to other items such as the formatted libretto, documentation of a performance report from my thesis committee head, and a list of references used throughout the research and libretto chapters. I will include a structural and role analysis of the show itself and my contributions to it as outlined by the parameters of my graduate studies program. Several chapters of appendices will be included as information pertinent to the show such as costume, props, lighting lists as well as band and technical needs for the show itself. An introduction and conclusion will be created to bookend my document solidly and reveal myself as a person as well as a performer. This section will include reflective information on my intentions, triumphs, and tribulations, and will be codified through the opening and concluding perspectives. Through the process of writing the thesis monograph document I will create a public and personal record of the process, research, performance challenges, and decisions made throughout this journey. This document will be used as historical help to me should I need to refer to my thesis for later personal or professional use. The document will also be on record for the UCF theatre department, as I apply not only my performance training (as exhibited through the show itself) but also the research and critical thinking skills required of a masters degree candidate at a conservatory training program such as this one. Beyond its use for myself or for the department, I write this monograph document for others whose love and interest in studying the genre of cabaret match my own.

Cabaret as a genre has influenced and is influenced by musical theatre. As cabaret has evolved throughout history, musical theatre has often paralleled its journey. Cabaret thrived before the term "musical theatre" was coined and suffered hard times during the Golden Age of Musical Theatre. The correlation of the two genres cannot be denied, and exploring cabaret history will reveal how deeply the connection lies. My collaborator Debbie Tedrick and I will attempt to define cabaret through a two-woman cabaret show we will write, produce, and perform together. The show, Black Cats, Berlin, Broadway and Beyond, will be a one-act historical look at the genre of cabaret. It will include material garnered from historical research of the cabaret genre, specifically focusing on some of the famous women, songs, stories, lives, and important contributions. The cabaret show will cover information and art from cabaret's inception in the Paris Montmartre district in 1881 to its height in Germany during the Weimar Republic and will culminate with cabaret's insurgence into American culture up to, and including, the state of American cabaret today. American cabaret will be emphasized, but a portion of the show will explore American cabaret's European roots. My thesis will explore the triumphs and tribulations of putting together the show. As the culmination of my UCF studies, this project will test my abilities as a librettist, performer, creative artist, director, and collaborator. This thesis will include the actual show performances as well as a written monograph document recording the project's journey from its inception to conclusion.

Ce mémoire étudie les œuvres poétiques des Hydropathes, cercle de poètes de la bohème parisienne de la fin du dix-neuvième siècle. Historiquement placés entre Parnasse et Décadence, les Hydropathes constituent un moment charnière de l'évolution de la poésie vers sa modernité, mais leurs œuvres demeurent à l'ombre des légendes de la vie de bohème auxquelles ce cercle est associé. En abordant d'abord l'étude détaillée d'un poème exemplaire de la pratique parodique du cercle, cette étude exhume divers éléments capables de contribuer à l'appréciation des singularités créatrices de ces poètes par-delà le rire auquel on réduit généralement leur production. Trois éléments majeurs deviennent constitutifs des chapitres subséquents de ce mémoire : l'influence ambivalente de Victor Hugo et des principes du romantisme, modèle convoité autant que dépassé; la modélisation des œuvres sur celle de Charles Baudelaire, influence admise du mouvement décadent qui émerge sans toutefois faire l'unanimité; et la prégnance d'une mémoire politique de la bohème comme dilemme motivant le rictus des Hydropathes à l'égard de ces avenues et de leurs apories quant à la portée politique du poème. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Fumisme, bohème, décadence, parodie, ironie, rires poétiques, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Émile Goudeau, hydropathes, Chat Noir.

Ce mémoire explore les territoires esthétiques de la culture populaire dans l’imaginaire carnavalisé du compositeur d’avant-garde Erik Satie (1866-1925). L’interprétation de l’arrière-texte de la poétique compositionnelle de Satie proposée par cette étude interroge le caractère iconoclaste des symboles associés à la scène des divertissements « légers ». Par les thèmes, genres, tropes et topoï qu’elle privilégie, l’œuvre musicale de Satie se situe au confluent du « savant » et du « vulgaire ». En portant un regard attentif aux créations « mineures » de Satie pour la scène populaire à Montmartre, ce travail cherche à définir les rapports antinomiques opposant les représentations, attitudes et valeurs promues par la culture « officielle » à l’attachement iconoclaste de Satie aux univers du « bas-social », du grotesque et de l’obscène. Les chahuts intempérants de Satie au cabaret artistique, au music-hall et au café-concert, au même titre que la revendication subversive par le compositeur des potentialités esthétiques offertes par le jeu et l’humour vernaculaires, prolongent le geste de résistance littéraire et artistique contre-culturel de la bohème fin-de-siècle. En visant une compréhension sémantique des enjeux discursifs qui accompagnent historiquement la représentation du populaire – cet « Autre » profanant, repoussoir de l’élite bourgeoise –, ce mémoire appréhende la portée démocratique du rire matérialiste populaire de Satie, principale figure tutélaire des premières avant-gardes modernistes parisiennes au tournant du XXe siècle. / This thesis aims to explore the aesthetic territories of popular culture within the avant-garde composer Erik Satie’s (1866-1925) carnavalized imagination. This study provides an interpretation of the subtext of Satie’s poetics of composition that questions the use of symbols associated with ‘light’ entertainment as means of protest. The themes, genres, tropes and topoï that Satie’s works invoke place them at the intersection of ‘learned’ and ‘vulgar’ culture. By paying close attention to Satie’s ‘minor’ works created for Montmartre’s popular establishments, this thesis seeks to define the antinomic relationship that opposes ‘official’ culture’s promoted representations, attitudes and values to Satie’s iconoclastic penchant for the imaginary spaces of the ‘low-class’, the grotesque and the obscene. Satie’s uproarious contributions to cabaret artistique, music-hall and café-concert, as well as the composer’s subversive exploration of the aesthetic potential of playfulness and vernacular humor, find echoes in the literary and artistic counter-cultural acts of resistance in Bohemian fin-de-siècle circles. Based on a semantic understanding of the discursive issues historically surrounding the representation of the popular as a degrading ‘Other’ by the wealthy bourgeois elite, this thesis appraises the democratic scope of Satie’s materialistic popular laughter, which serves as one of the main influences for the first Parisian modernist avant-garde movement at the turn of the twentieth century.

This dissertation examines a range of musicals to understand how and why the features that make a musical a musical are used to tell history. I argue that the historical musical is a distinctive historiographic mode that intertwines these affordances to include multiple histories. In Soft Power (2018), a musical I explore in this dissertation, David Henry Hwang introduces the idea of the “delivery system” of the musical as a particularly effective way to tell stories in both cognitive registers and affective registers. As one of the characters in the musical states, “once those violins start playing, these shows go straight to our hearts.” Many of the most beloved and most experimental musicals from the canon depict and deal with historical events. I argue that the musicals I study interpret important historical events, and do so by means of their formal properties, often intertwining several layers of history which can be experienced simultaneously by an audience.This dissertation close reads two musicals per chapter based on their historical contexts, both when they are set and when they are written. These musicals are paired together based on their shared thematic/historical and formal concerns. Soft Power responds directly to the imperialist attitudes and multiple histories at work in The King and I (1951), while both musicals consider what it means to be an American across a wide expanse of time. I focus on 1776 (1969) and Hamilton (2015) and their responses to issues such as slavery, the role of women, and war as these responses are shaped by the politics and contexts of the moment in which they were written. I pair two shows by John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cabaret (1966) and The Scottsboro Boys (2010), due to their formal similarities in using the entertainment styles from the period in which the shows are set to comment on both entertainment and history. My final chapter pairs Pacific Overtures (1976) and Assassins (1990), shows co-written by John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim, both of which critique American mythologies of historical progress. Because of the many layers that make a musical (choreography, song, orchestrations, text, and stars to name a few) there are many possibilities for layering multiple histories into any one musical. In conclusion, musical theatre is often considered fun and pleasurable, which it absolutely can be, but it also does complex historical and political work using a surprisingly sophisticated historiography to do that work.

No description available.

[ES] Natural Hysteria... es una investigación basada en una practica transdisciplinaria que documenta el proceso de producción de un ciclo de performances basadas en el texto: rituales, presentaciones teatrales, acciones callejeras y presentaciones de video, canciones y talleres. Es una respuesta artística al deterioro de nuestro medio ambiente y los ataques contra la diversidad cultural y biológica que están llevando a cabo un sistema capitalista basado en la acumulación de riqueza a toda costa que nos esta' llevando al borde de un colapso ecológico. Se procede a través de un análisis de otras prácticas artísticas disidentes que comparten una perspectiva queer, feminista, postcolonial o ecológica que las vincula a los conceptos explorados en mi trabajo para contextualizarlo en el campo expandido de las artes contemporáneas. La "histeria" alternativa que forma la base conceptual de este proyecto tiene sus inicios en los albores de la edad moderna y traza una historia de dominación de los "otros": se centra principalmente en las mujeres, en el género y en los disidentes sexuales, las personas de color y los animales. La explotación de los recursos naturales y humanos es una consecuencia de una cosmovisión basada en el establecimiento de oposiciones binarias que permiten que el "otro" sea clasificado y dominado. Por ejemplo: hombre / mujer, blanco / negro, hetero / homosexual, cultura / naturaleza. La construcción de estos "otros" - "femenino", "nativo", "queer", "naturaleza" - excluye a estos sujetos de la construcción de una identidad dominante que, sin embargo, depende de estas categorías para su existencia. En el Renacimiento, los campos de las ciencias y las humanidades no estaban separados. La visión mecanicista del mundo no había superado por completo las creencias paganas en la magia y en una fuerza espiritual que reside en todos los seres. Esta visión era una reliquia de la era precristiana y finalmente sería erradicada por las fuerzas unidas del Estado y la Iglesia a través de los procesos de la Inquisición, la caza de brujas, la colonización y la nueva religión de la "Ciencia". Todos estos procesos han producido un gran cambio en nuestra relación con la naturaleza, que en la actualidad se considera una entidad totalmente inerte. La naturaleza ya no forma parte de nuestro ser y se ha convertido simplemente en materia prima. La colonización continua hoy bajo una política neoliberal que utiliza el concepto de desarrollo para requisar territorio de los pueblos indígenas a fin de explotar sus recursos naturales. Esto se justifica clasificando estas personas como primitivas porque su modo de vida se basa en vivir en equilibrio con la naturaleza. La funcio'n de una práctica artística poli'ticamente comprometida es desafiar la noción de que no existe una alternativa al sistema actual. El marco teórico y artístico de esta investigación ha conducido al desarrollo de un alter ego performativo, el chaman transgénero Geyserbird, y a la configuración de una serie de performances que incluye rituales participativos, instalaciones con presencia y la reapropiacio'n queer de espacios industriales abandonados. El chama'n transge'nero es un ser espiritual que va más allá de las limitaciones del sistema de genero binario y se conecta con las culturas indígenas. El despliegue de esta figura en un contexto contemporáneo invita al publico a imaginar otras posibilidades para si' mismos y para nuestra sociedad. / [EN] Natural Hysteria... is a trans-disciplinary practice led investigation which documents the process of production of a cycle of text based performances -rituals, street actions, theatrical presentations, and video presentations, songs and workshops. It is an artistic response to the deterioration of our environment and the attacks on cultural and biological diversity being carried out by a capitalist system based on the accumulation of wealth at all costs which is leading us to the border of an ecological collapse. It proceeds through an analyses of other dissident artistic practices which share a queer, feminist postcolonial or ecological perspective linking them to the concepts explored in my work in order to contextualise it in the expanded field of the contemporary arts. The alternative "hysteria" that forms the conceptual basis of this project has its beginnings in the dawn of the modern age and traces a history of domination of those "others": focusing mainly on women, gender and sexual dissidents, people of colour and animals. The exploitation of natural and human resources is a consequence of a worldview based on the establishment of binary oppositions that allow the "other" to be classified and dominated. For example: man / woman, white / black, hetero / homosexual, culture / nature. The construction of these "others" - the "feminine", the "native", the "queer", "nature" - excludes these subjects from the construction of a master identity that, nevertheless, depends on these categories for its existence. In the Renaissance the fields of the sciences and the humanities were not separated. The mechanistic view of the world had not completely overcome pagan beliefs in magic and in a spiritual force which resides in all beings. This vision was a relic of the pre-Christian era and would finally be eradicated by the united forces of State and Church through the processes of the Inquisition, the witch hunts, colonization and the new religion of "Science". All of these processes have produced a huge change in our relationship with nature, currently seen as a totally inert entity. Nature is no longer part of our being and has became nothing more than raw material. Colonisation continues today under a neoliberal politics which uses the concept of development to requisition territory from indigenous people in order to exploit its natural resources. This is justified by qualifying these people as primitive because their way of life is based on living in equilibrium with nature. The function of a politically engaged artistic practise is to challenge the notion that no alternative exists to the current system. The theoretical and artistic framework of this investigation has led to the development of a performative alter ego, the transgender shaman Geyserbird, and to the configuration of a series of performances which included participatory rituals, installations with presence and the queer appropriation of abandoned industrial spaces. The transgender shaman is a spiritual being who goes beyond the limitations of the binary gender system and connects to indigenous cultures. The deployment of this figure in a contemporary context, invites the public to imagine other possibilities for themselves and for our society / [CA] Natural Hysteria... e's una investigacio' basada en una pra¿ctica transdisciplina¿ria que documenta el proce's de produccio' d'un cicle de performances basades en el text: rituals, presentacions teatrals, acciones al carrers i presentacions de vi'deo, canc¿ons i tallers. E's una resposta arti'stica a la deteriorament del nostre medi ambient i els atacs contra la diversitat cultural i biolo¿gica que esta¿ duent a terme un sistema capitalista basat en l'acumulacio' de riquesa costi el que costi que ens esta¿ portant a la vora d'un col·lapse ecolo¿gic. Es procedeix a trave's d'una ana¿lisi d'altres pra¿ctiques arti'stiques dissidents que comparteixen una perspectiva queer, feminista, postcolonial o ecolo¿gica que les vincula amb els conceptes explorats en el meu treball per contextualitzar-ho en el camp expandit de les arts contempora¿nies. La "histe¿ria" alternativa que forma la base conceptual d'aquest projecte te' els seus inicis en les albors de l'edat moderna i trac¿a una histo¿ria de dominacio' dels "altres": se centra principalment en les dones, en el ge¿nere i en els dissidents sexuals, les persones de color i els animals. L'explotacio' dels recursos naturals i humans e's una consequ¿e¿ncia d'una cosmovisio' basada en l'establiment d'oposicions bina¿ries que permeten que l'"altre" sigui classificat i dominat. Per exemple: home / dona, blanc / negre, hetero / homosexual, cultura / naturalesa. La construccio' d'aquests "altres" - "femeni'", "natiu", "queer", "naturalesa" - exclou aquests subjectes de la construccio' d'una identitat dominant que, no obstant aixo¿, depe'n d'aquestes categories per a la seua existe¿ncia. En el Renaixement, els camps de les cie¿ncies i les humanitats no estaven separats. La visio' mecanicista del mo'n no havia superat per complet les creences paganes en la ma¿gia i en una forc¿a espiritual que resideix en tots els e'ssers. Aquesta visio' era una reli'quia de l'era precristiana i finalment seria eradicada per les forces unides de l'Estat i l'Esgle'sia a trave's dels processos de la Inquisicio', la cac¿a de bruixes, la colonitzacio' i la nova religio' de la "Cie¿ncia". Tots aquests processos han produi¿t un gran canvi en la nostra relacio' amb la naturalesa, que en l'actualitat es considera una entitat totalment inerta. La naturalesa ja no forma part del nostre e'sser i s'ha convertit simplement en mate¿ria preval. La colonitzacio' continua avui sota una poli'tica neoliberal que utilitza el concepte de desenvolupament per a requisar territori dels pobles indi'genes a fi d'explotar els seus recursos naturals. Aixo¿ es justifica classificant aquestes persones com a primitives perque¿ la seua manera de vida es basa en viure en equilibri amb la naturalesa. La funcio' d'una pra¿ctica arti'stica poli'ticament compromesa e's desafiar la nocio' que no existeix una alternativa al sistema actual. El marc teo¿ric i arti'stic d'aquesta investigacio' ha condui¿t al desenvolupament d'un alter ego performatiu, el xaman transge¿nere Geyserbird, i a la configuracio' d'una se¿rie de performances que inclou rituals participatius, instal·lacions amb prese¿ncia i la reapropiacio' queer d'espais industrials abandonats. El xaman transge¿nere e's un ser espiritual que va me's enlla¿ de les limitacions del sistema de ge¿nere binari i es connecta amb les cultures indi'genes. El desplegament d'aquesta figura en un context contemporani convida al pu'blic a imaginar altres possibilitats per a ells mateixos i per a la nostra societat. / Bell, G. (2018). NATURAL HYSTERIA (a queer response to ecocide): An exercise in Living Art, Participatory Rituals and Queer Ecology -or- How I discovered Geyserbird, the Transgender Shaman within [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/111925