Lighting of the Baroque Theatres
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Transcript of Lighting of the Baroque Theatres
Lighting of the Baroque Theatres
Jennifer MacGregor
Lighting specifically for the theatre came into effect in the
Renaissance and was later refined during the Baroque era. There are
many documents and pictures left behind that help piece together what
the theatre going audience of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
observed, however some of them are partial and do not help to properly
portray the whole picture. The purpose of this paper is, through research
and experiments, to shed some light on what it meant to illuminate the
stages of the Baroque era.
The Baroque era, like all other time periods, does not have exact,
defined dates. Generally it can be said to encompass the 17th and 18th
centuries for most of Europe. One aspect of the Baroque era that differs
from the Renaissance is that most of the major European countries were
“brought into the same orbit [and] . . . there was less cleavage of the sort
which, during the sixteenth century, separated the English and Spanish
and French playhouses from those of the Italian courts.” According to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, the work that characterizes the Baroque period
has “the desire to evoke emotional states by appealing to the senses,
often in dramatic ways.” Nicoll states that the two endeavours which
provided the foundation for the Baroque theatre were music and
perspective.
This endeavour into music started with a group of artists and
noblemen who formed a society known as the ‘Florentine Carmerata’
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around the late 1500's. They focused their attention toward the musical
element of Greek tragedies, and producing them with this element played
a central role in the creation of a new type of spectacular performance. It
was this experimentation along with the intermezzi’s that were the
parents of opera. Nicoll also states that Guido Ubaldus’ work Perspectivae
libri sex, published in 1600, was the first basic investigation into the laws
of perspective that suggested a scenic method and opened up a new
world of wonders. These two new aspects of the Baroque ushered in a
new theatre intent on spectacle and music, one that appealed to the
senses of an audience that was no longer limited to the upper class. More
public playhouses were built and the Baroque era saw how the “prominent
and powerful middle class came to play a role in art patronage.” In Paris
alone the number of theatres grew from three at the beginning of the
1700's to 51 by 1791.
The new emphasis on spectacle had its influence on theatre
buildings built in the Baroque era. The new Baroque stages became much
deeper than they were wide to allow scenes of infinite perspective. Many
stages had some way of dividing the stage into two parts to create a
separate front stage and an inner stage. More room was now made
available in the heavens, beside the wings and under the stages for all of
the stage machinery. A new system for changing the scenery, the chariot
and pole system (brought in by Giacomo Torelli), allowed the increased
number of wing flats to be changed into an entirely new scene in a matter
of seconds. Because of the swiftness and ease of theses scene changes,
fifteen to twenty scene changes could occur in one performance and
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provide the spectacle Italian opera required. Gone were the limiting three
classical scenes recreated by Serlio for tragedy, comedy and satire. To this
new kind of theatre came hells and heavens, caves, groves, forests,
harbours and streets. And with them came many a wonderful spectacle of
hell fires blazing, lightning and thunder, and glory machines with the Gods
descending from the heavens. Although evidence of similar spectacles can
be found in Renaissance and even Medieval plays, it was the Baroque that
encompassed and refined them. The Baroque had the ability and
advanced machinery to make the spectacles happen. They became
something of a requirement of shows: the “spectacle . . . dominated over
all other considerations” of the performance.
The lighting of the Baroque era became more refined as well. In the
words of Bergman, “It was only in the early 17th century that a
normalization of lighting technique began and they arrived at a system
which would be normative for several centuries.” New inventions and
innovations were introduced into the theatre to create more control over
the lighting . The innovations which Bergman cites in his book Lighting in
the Theatre as coming into play are: turnable poles for the side lighting
which make variations in the intensity possible, foot lights that can be
raised or lowered to vary light intensity and detachable light boards that
can be attached to wing trolleys or set pieces to make the lighting system
flexible. This allowed for a change from light to dark to happen on stage
with a distinct ease.
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According to Bergman it was “[the] changes between illuminated,
brilliant scenes and terrifying scenes with dimmed light in dusk or
darkness belonged to the dramaturgy of the 17th century opera.” In his
book he also shares a lighting change viewed by Nicodemus Tessin the
Younger as described in his travel account of 1687 - 88. Tessin describes a
scene he witnessed at the San Giovanni Grisostomo Theatre (Venice)
where “‘the quite illuminated enchanted room was converted into a
terrible cave, which was quite wonderful because of the extremes of two
such different sets.’” Tessin describes the use of turnable poles and the
vertical movement of footlights at San Giovanni Grisostomo.
We also have earlier descriptions of the dimming of lights from The
Dialogues of Leone di Somi. In his dialogues (dated 1556) the character
Veridico describes when he had to produce a tragedy that starts off on a
happy strain and then ends with death and disasters. He explains how
“[during] all the time when the episodes were happy in mood I had the
stage brightly illuminated, but so soon as the first unhappy incident
occurred . . . I contrived (by prearrangement, of course) that at that very
instant most of the stage lights not used for the perspective were
darkened or extinguished.” Unfortunately di Somi does not give too much
detail of what his prearrangement entailed, one might surmise that either
the lights were extinguished or cylinders were dropped over the lamps to
cover their light. It also might have been a combination of both. The
dropping of cylinders or boxes of tin or black metal over lamps is
described as a technique in Sabbattini’s Practica di Fabricar Scene e
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Machine ne’Teari (1638) and Furttenbach’s Mannhaffter Kunstspiegel
(1663).
The exact origins of the turnable poles are not mentioned by
Bergman in his book but there is also reference in Book One of Nicola
Sabbattini’s work of poles that were in the side wings specifically for
lighting. Their purpose was to create a placement for the lamps that
would not touch the stage. This would keep the lamps firm and steady
even when the dancing and tumbling made the stage shake. Perhaps
someone saw that the idea of turning the poles was a much easier and
less awkward way to vary the light intensity. The ease of these new
systems is apparent: the changes in the stage lighting were now swifter
and could happen during the action of a performance without closing the
curtain.
With this new ability to easily change from light to dark there is no
mention of specific control over different areas. There are only reports of
a difference between the inner stage and the front stage to show things
like a hell mouth. Bergman makes the statement that light was not
synchronized with any movement of nature’s own light (sun or moon) and
that “graduation of the intensity of light was the only thing possible.”
However, we do have Sabbattini to inform us that illumination that falls
from one side of the scene will “have a finer appearance than by any of
the other methods.” He then states that the way of presenting illumination
from one side is through [the] painting of the scene and placing of the
light. It is not known if only illuminating the scene from one side was ever
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actually practiced but it may have been experimented with. I would be
inclined to say that they did try out altering the idea; the period was
known for its experimentation of the arts.
The opinion of dimming the auditorium lights was varied throughout
the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The concept of the darkened
auditorium was held as sacred in Italy whereas France and England kept
there auditoriums brightly lit. The best argument for the darkened
auditoriums is given by the character Veridico in di Somi’s dialogues. One
of the other characters points out that in Veridico’s auditorium there are
only 12 standing candelabra when he recalls as many as 250 torches in
the same hall. Veridico responds that it is a natural fact that a man who
stands in the shade sees an illuminated, distant object much more clearly
due to the fact that the sight can proceed more directly toward the object.
Veridico’s companions agree with his logic and also point out two other
advantages to the darkened auditorium: lower amounts of smoke and
lesser expenses.
From the works of Angelo Ingegneri we also have another advocate
for the dimming of the auditorium lights, though he actually suggests
dimming them before the curtain drops: “‘[the] darker the auditorium, the
more luminous seems the stage.’” We can see this convention of the
darkened auditorium in Furttenbach’s account of a religious spectacle with
he viewed at the Medici palace in 1608. There he talks about the beautiful
perspective scene that took place “in a great hall completely closed and
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made dark.” The convention of the darkened auditorium is a tradition that
we still carry over into today’s theatres.
The advocates for the lightened auditorium felt the way they did
because the theatre events were as much for the audience to see as to be
seen; the auditorium lights were also thought to cast “a festive radiance
on the stage of the Paris Opera.” Though there is mention by Tessin of the
two foremost chandeliers in the auditorium being hoisted up at the start of
a performance at the Palais Royal (1687), Bergman points out that the
rest of the auditorium lighting remained for the duration of the
performance. The chandeliers were only raised to give the boxes better
sight lines. So in the Paris Opera houses “[the] gold-shimmering light from
all the crystal chandeliers and the lights of the stage wrapped actors and
spectators into a common dream-world of mythology and heroic legend.”
It wasn’t until about 1800 that Paris thought about introducing a darkened
auditorium.
It is Serlio who introduces us to the idea of transparent light, which
he refers to as “artificial lights of translucent colors.” It is here that we first
see this idea of transparent light which, Bergman reminds us, plays an
important role in the lighting of the Baroque era. The sole reason for the
coloured bozze placed in front of the lights was purely an aesthetic
consideration meant to dazzle spectators. There are often descriptions of
how the sets of the Baroque era gave off such a brilliant light and looked
as thought the stage was filled with thousands of jewels. At the wedding
festival of Francesco de’ Medici to Joanna of Austria in 1565 we hear of
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coloured water lit from behind. Transparent light wasn’t limited to just the
precious jewel effect. It was also used to show off the coat of arms at the
top of the proscenium. Also Serlio introduces putting torches behind oiled
papers placed in the windows to help give the scene life. The ideas of
coloured lights and especially transparent light are found in both the
French Renaissance theatre (there called transparencies) and with Inigo
Jones in England.
The method of having the source hidden started to take hold and
eventually become a new way to place the lights in the theatre. Again di
Somi logically explains the reason for this convention best with his
character Veridico. He explains “that a brilliant light striking directly upon
the eye for any length of time becomes exceedingly irritating. . . The
shading of the lights [with transparent or coloured glasses] was devised to
minimize the annoyance.” Angelo Ingegneri again agrees with di Somi and
states that concealed lights “enhance the charm of the performance.” We
can see, then, this logic of the hidden lights become convention in the
Baroque theatres. Festival accounts of the Medici festivals in the late
1500's repeatedly state that the lighting sources were hidden from the
eyes of the spectators. Furttenbach talks about hidden lights in practice
at the Medici festival in 1608 in Florence. He explains that there were
lights that were hidden in the heavens creating a spectacle of riches and
that “Several hundred oil lamps were so carefully placed that the actual
lamps could not be seen, but their glow sent out such a light that it
seemed to be day . . .” He was obviously very impressed with this idea and
carried it back to Germany with him. In “Recreational Architecture” (1640)
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he states the oil lamps within the scene are “all of course completely
concealed.”
The advancement of stage scenery made the proscenium arch serve
a dual purpose of framing the perspective picture and of concealing the
stage machinery. It now also served the purpose of concealing the lights.
We also have Sabbattini explaining that the parapet was made higher
than the stage for the purpose of hiding oil lamps behind it.
The concealed light added to the wonder and comfort of the
spectator. There were some, however, who felt that there was not as
much light directly on the stage as a chandelier hung in the center would
create. There are accounts of travelling Frenchmen who visited the opera
houses in Venice and remarked that “the decor was poorly illuminated.”
The difference noticed by the Frenchmen was probably due to the
difference in the auditorium light (Paris opera auditorium was brightly lit
while the Italian theatres, as previously discussed, were dark) and to the
fact that the Italian stages were wider, making the distance to the center
of the stage further than that of the narrower French stages. The light of
the candles drops considerably at great distances.
With an increase in the stage size and spectacle we also have an
increase in lighting instruments and the placement of the lights became
more of a science. Judith Milhous, in an article researching the paperwork
from a dispute over the bills of a man, Hayling, who provided the lighting
for the King’s Theatre in Haymarket, notes that there was a “trend is
toward a very substantial increase in opera illumination. There were fifty
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percent more lights in 1781 than there had been six years earlier.” Having
more instruments became more functional with the increased control over
the sources.
Lights could now be found on all parts of the Baroque stage as “a
practical lighting system well adapted to the requirements of the
perspective scene.” Live flame was the only source of light in the Baroque.
The instruments that were used came in the forms of candles, lamps or
torches. They were placed in all areas of the stage with varying purposes,
and most of them were now hidden from the eyes of the spectator. The
works of Sabbattini and Furttenbach lend to us a detailed description of a
well used system of lighting the stage and scenery in the 1630's.
Modifications were made on their designs further into the Baroque era, but
their system gives us its’ origins.
At the front of the stage footlights are now typical of the Baroque
stage lighting. Furttenbach places these in his front pit which catches the
curtain and Sabbattini places them behind the parapet at the front edge of
the stage. In the King’s Theatre in Haymarket we there is an account of
“Front Lights three Rows, 150 each” for a total of 450 lights downstage
with a fourth row that could be added on special occasions. In France,
Lavoisier (1781) tells us that the audiences themselves forced a shift from
overhead chandeliers to footlights due to irritation. In the later part of the
Baroque era the footlights appear on a system that allowed them to be
raised and lowered, as previously mentioned, making a variation in their
intensity possible. We there are accounts of this system from Tessin at
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San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice and at the Palais Royal in Paris (1687 -
88). The footlights are most often talked about as being arranged using
lamps with multiple wicks or more rarely, as with Furttenbach, with
candles.
For the lighting of the heavens (overhead) there is a wide range of
techniques used. At San Giovanni Grisostomo, Tessin reports little
overhead lighting. He talks of a batten which could be lowered to the
stage for lighting and maintenance. The fact that he only mentions it in
the singular implies that there was only one, which was possibly because
of the great risk of fire of the overhead battens. From Furttenbach, we
have a more elaborate overhead lighting system. He gives diagrams of
glass oil lamps (perhaps bozze?) attached to the backs of the arched cloud
pieces. The placement is marked at three places vertically on each cloud
piece, but he does not tell us how many are placed across each cloud. He
remarks several times how these lights “[send] down a glow like day.”
There are other references in the French and English theatres of many
brilliant lights overhead.
Sidelight also came in a few different forms. Of movable lighting
there were turnable poles and detachable boards as mentioned at San
Giovanni Grisostomo. Other theatres simply had poles that didn’t turn or
there were rings which could be attached to boards on the scenery or
behind the proscenium. At the court theatre in Krumlov in the Czech
Republic, the light was attached to the scenery itself. At Hayling in the
King’s Theatre there was a significant difference between stationary and
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removable lights. The binding feature of all of these sidelights is that their
placement was chosen so that they were hidden behind the wing pieces
and would cast light on the proceeding piece of scenery. These lights were
either lamps or candles.
Lights were also used that were not specifically for the visibility of
the scene. One example of those are transparencies or the precious jewel
effect as mentioned above. Other lights that were not used for visibility
can placed in the category of “Special Effects.” Effects that fall under this
category are lights that imitate nature like the sun, moon and stars or
lightning. There were also effects for showing a fiery hell. The sun and
moon both followed a popular method described by Furttenbach, Vasari
and Tessin. Its base idea consists of having a glass vessel filled with water
and placed in front of a bright light which could then move across the
backdrop of the sky if desired. If the vessel was to be used as a moon it
would have the face of the moon painted on the glass. Furttenbach’s
description only tells us of water filling a space between two pieces of
glass. He does not tell us the shape of the glass he used.
In the theatre festivals of the Medici family we have accounts of
Vasari’s setup of “A crystal sphere twenty-three inches in diameter filled
with distilled water and placed in front of the lantern, in which two torches
were burning.” In this method the sphere acts as a focusing lense and
doesn’t really spread the light out. When looked at from an angle an out of
focus image appears on the glass. Only when looked at directly does it
become a ball of yellow light.
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Tessin shows us a vessel that acts like a concave/ convex lense with
the light placed on the concave side. The vessel acts as a lense that would
disperse the light (concave) and then give it some focus (convex) which
would create a large semi-focused ball of yellow light visible from a range
of angles. The method described by Tessin was probably the most
effective one for the reasons described above.
There are two similar descriptions of the creation of lighting and
hell fires on stage. One is described by both Serlio and Sabbattini. It
consists of a box filled with powdered resin containing holes on the top
and a lighted candle or torch in the center. To create the flash of light, the
box is raised quickly to let out the resin which is lit by the flame. This was
probably the method used by Hayling in the King’s Theatre, as he lists the
need for “Ten Lighting Flashers three feet long tubes” and “Six pound
Ground Rosin sifted fine.” The other method described by Furttenbach
made a “long bright flame in the air like lightning” and is not quite as
sophisticated. He indicates the use of a fine meal-like yellow coloured
resin which is put in a shaped piece of tin in the right hand. The arm is
extended and the meal is then thrown into the light of a lit wax candle. He
points out that this method will not set fire to anything or cause any
damage, as well, it left a pleasant odour behind. The reason that the resin
will not set fire to anything is because, being finely ground, it burns quickly
and brightly and therefore has little chance of falling lit onto the stage.
Powdered resin in a clump or pile also does not combust, it will only melt
and act like a fuel to a wick. The colour of the flame produced by this is a
very orange-red colour. The only downfall to either method is the problem
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of the resin which does not catch fire (as it is not an exact thing to get all
the powder into the flame) will fall and make the floor sticky. This
probably did not create too much of a problem as even nowadays dancers
use rosin on their feet to prevent slipping. The odour it leaves behind is
one of pine.
There were two main sources of light of the Baroque era that come
up countless times in a wide range of literature, records and research.
These are beeswax and tallow. Of the range of others there are rosin or
pine sap, olive oil, canola or rape oil, linseed oil, palm oil, kitchen fat,
indeed anything that could be used as a fuel to burn with a wick.
Obviously live fire on stage was very dangerous. There are countless
theatres that have been lost to fire such as Drury Lane Theatre, the Globe
Theatre, and many others. These lights also ran the risk of dripping onto
actors or audience and were also very smoky. Some sources were better
than others.
Beeswax candles were commonly held as the light of all lights.
Beeswax as a source of fuel can be found as far back as Ancient Egyptian
times. Bees themselves can be found all over the world where there is
nectar for them to gather. It generally takes 8 pounds of honey to create 1
pound of wax. This output made beeswax candles a lot of work and
therefore they were expensive “upper class” items. The candles were
held in high appraisal above the other sources because of their low smoke,
bright light and lack of dripping.
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Beeswax, when rendered, comes out as a yellow cake. For an even
brighter light with less smoke the beeswax was bleached to make a white
wax that was praised by many as being the brightest, least smelliest and
best source of light. The beeswax to be bleached would be formed into
thin strips, laid in the sunlight and frequently watered. The process could
be sped up from four weeks to five days by the addition of a pure spirt of
turpentine oil that disappeared by the end of the process. This white wax
burned cleaner and brighter due to the lack of impurities in it. Many
accounts of the theatre lighting are unclear if, when they say wax, they
are referring to white or yellow beeswax.
Beeswax candles are made by being dipped, drawn or poured. In the
Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1910 moulding is said to not be possible as
the wax sticks to the moulds.
Tallow is next on the list as far as formation of candles is concerned.
Tallow is the rendered fat of mutton or cows, and is usually made from the
hard fat from the loin and kidney area (also called suet). Because of its
availability to even the poorest of households it was the most common
among the lower classes. It was used more in the public theatres than the
court theatres but still in conjunction with beeswax and oil lamps. Candles
of tallow were white and greasy to the touch. The melting point of tallow is
much lower than that of beeswax. This makes the tallow candles much
more susceptible to dripping and takes them longer to harden at room
temperature. This means that there was more of a chance of hot liquid
tallow dripping onto people below.
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The light given off by the tallow candle was the weakest compared
to the other sources: yellow beeswax candles burn two to three times as
bright as tallow candles do. Tallow candles only burned a little bit more
than half the time of a yellow beeswax candle of the same dimensions.
Tallow could also be found in the form of lamps. Liquid tallow would
be poured into clay pots or molds with a wick. The burning time of these
lamps was much longer than that of the candles, mostly due to lack of
dripping and slower combustion.
Tallow candles could be dipped, poured, drawn or molded. Dipped
candles were the most common ones in the households as it could be
done with homemade equipment. Tallow candles give off a buttery, greasy
odour. The main reason that tallow candles were used, despite all of their
disadvantages, is because they were cheap and easy to make.
Lamps were either be made of glass, clay or metal (tin or iron for
cheaper ones, brass or silver for the courts). The wicks were floated in the
oil or held up by rings of iron or cork or by modification of the lamp to hold
the wick in its center. Usually, water would be placed in the bottom of the
lamps to keep the oil at level with the wick, since the oil would float on top
of the water. As the oil burnt down during a show, someone would go
around and fill up the lamps with more oil. Furttenbach tells us that this
method of water under the oil saved considerable trouble and expense.
Lamps had the advantage of being able to have many wicks in one lamp;
Tessin mentions five wicks burning in each of the tin lamps at the Palais
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Royal. The many wicks in one place would help shed more light but they
would also produce more smoke.
In some ways the lamps were smokier than the candles and
sometime it would be the other way around. The shape of most lamps did
not allow for fresh oxygen to come up to the base of the flame to allow for
clean combustion (soot, given off as black smoke, is caused by the
imperfect burning of the wick). (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860-1), 21 & 48.
Candles also smoke if they are not properly trimmed or “snuffed”. Snuffing
is the trimming of the part of the twisted wick which was not wholly
consumed by the flame. If the candles were not snuffed charred matter
would accumulate and choke the flame.
It is rare to find specific mention of the different types of fuel used in
the lamps in preserved writings about Baroque theatre lighting. The lamps
are simply referred to as oil lamps. We do have Furttenbach kindly informs
us that he uses olive oil for his lamps. Other sources mention the use of
linseed oil and rape (now known as canola) oil. The rape oil was said to
burn brightest and cleanest of the two. The light given off by the olive oil is
the brightest and least smoky of all three, with the canola coming in
second. More then likely the oil in the lamps at the King’s Theatre in
Haymarket burned olive oil as it was stated that their “tallow and candles
are much dirtier than oil, if the oil is of good quality.” The only oil of the
previously mentioned types that might compare to beeswax candles is
olive oil. Most of the lamps produced visible black smoke when burned.
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Candles sometimes tend to be less smoky because they have smaller
wicks.
The other form that light could be found as in the Baroque theatre
was as a torch. Torches were made by bounding four or more long wicks
with either wire or wood cores. These were then dipped into resin from
pine trees, wax or tallow. The torches tended to give off the brightest light
due to having the largest flame but they were also susceptible to giving off
the most smoke. The torches were generally placed in view of the
audience either in the auditorium or as a set decoration.
The most common material for the wicks is cotton but they are also
made of flax or of the soft inside part of rushes. The wicks were made by
twisting the fibers together like yarn and then twisting together until the
desired thickness was achieved. Van der Heyden was the man responsible
for the street lighting system in Amsterdam in the 1600's. He leaves
behind detailed descriptions to the creation of the wicks. The thickness
and tightness were of large importance for a well burning lamp; even after
he gave over the job of Director of Street Lighting he still kept the making
of the wicks under his private control. Van der Heyden also points out the
downfall of many other street lighting systems, like that of Paris’: they
didn’t provide air holes on the bottom of the lamps in addition to the
chimney’s at the top. Van der Heyden insists that these air holes “are
absolutely essential to expel the singularly heavy smoke from the oil.”
Air flow in the form of drafts and wind is also an aspect not normally
addressed in writings of lighting preserved from the Baroque, yet surely it
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must have been an issue of concern. A draft of any amount can cause
burning lamps, candles and torches to smoke excessively, burn unevenly
or faster and to drip. It is interesting to see the lack of attention paid to
this detail by authorities on the subject at the time.
What we have for the lighting in the Baroque theatres is a flickering,
smokey source that illuminates performers and an infinite perspective
scene. The Baroque gave us many conventions which today we take for
granted: controlled intensity, hidden lights, a flexible, movable system and
lighting’s art. There were men like Furttenbach who “showed the germs of
creative thinking that has borne full fruit only in the recent theatre . . .”
The sole purpose of the theatres of the Baroque was to delight, impress
and entertain. From accounts of performances they seem to have done
that quite well. Unfortunately for us, the only view of the “festive
radiance” of the Baroque that we will experience is in our heads. We can
only imagine the brilliance and spectacle a performance at the court
theatre of the time would convey.
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Allardyce Nicoll, The Development of the Theatre (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1970), 103.
“Baroque period,” Encyclopedia Britannica [encyclopedia online], accessed 20 April, 2001, available from http://www.Britannica.com
Allardyce Nicoll, 103.
Ibid., 103.
“Baroque period,” Encyclopedia Britannica.
“History of Theatre - Middle class drama” Encyclopedia Britannica [encyclopedia online], accessed 25 April, 2001.
Allardyce Nicoll, 104.
Gosta M. Bergman, Lighting in the Theatre (New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1977), 69.
Gosta Bergman, 98.
Ibid., 96-97.
Ibid., 94 - 95.
Leone di Somi, “The Dialogues of Leone di Somi.” The Development of the Theatre. Trans. Allardyce Nicoll, 274.
Nicola Sabbattini, “Manual for Constructing Theatrical Scenes and Machines.” The Renaissance Stage. Ed. Barnard Hewitt. (Florida: University of Miami Press, 1961), 111 - 112.
Joseph Furttenbach, “Noble Mirror of Art.” The Renaissance Stage, 230.
Nicola Sabbattini, 95.
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Gosta Bergman, 104.
Nicola Sabbattini, 59 - 61.
Allardyce Nicoll, 275.
Gosta Bergman, 66.
Joseph Furttenbach, 180.
Gosta Bergman, 124 - 126.
Ibid., 135.
Sebastiano Serlio, “The Second Book of Architecture,” The Renaissance Stage, 33.
Gosta Bergman, 96.
A. M. Nagler, Theatre Festivals of the Medici (Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1964), 15.
Sebastiano Serlio, 29.
Gosta Bergman, 59. In one of Inigo Jones’ scenes in a Masque of Oberon (1610) there is a description of “a bright and glorious palace, whose gates and walls were transparent.” (Bergman, 121)
Leone di Somi, 274.
Gosta Bergman, 66.
Ibid., 71.
Joseph Furttenbach, 180.
Joseph Furttenbach, 192.
Nicola Sabbattini, 95 - 96.
Furttenbach gives accounts of the hidden light that made it seem like day (180) but we also have in Serlio’s book the advice that the scene is best lit from the middle (28 - 29). It seems that Furttenbach followed what became the Itallian way where Serlio’s idea was taken up more by the French and English theatres.
Gosta Bergman, 125.
See Sections 5.3 and 5.5 in Appendix.
“Lighting at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket 1780-82,” Theatre Research International 16, no. 3 (1980): 218.
Gosta Bergman, 73.
Ibid., 73.
Judith Milhous, 218 - 219.
Gosta Bergman, 152.
Gosta Bergman, 96.
Joseph Furttenbach.
Judith Milhous, 219.
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A. M. Nagler, 10.
See Appendix, Section 5.7.
Judith Milhous, 225.
Joseph Furttenbach, 229.
Nicola Sabbattini, 93.
“Wax,” Encyclopedia Britannica: 1895, pg unknown.
“Candle,” Encyclopedia Britannica: 1910, 179.
The melting point of beeswax is 60 C. The melting point of tallow varies due to its’ purity but ranges from 25-45 C.
See Appendix, Section 5.3 and 5.5.
Joseph Furttenbach, 236.
Gosta Bergman, 124.
In Michael Faraday’s lectures on the Chemical History of the Candle it states that an irregular airflow around the flame causes a guttering of the flame and incomplete combustion.
“Candle,” 179.
Lettie Multhauf, “Street Lighting in 17th Century Amsterdam,” Technology and Culture 26, no. 2 (1985): 236 - 250.
Judith Milhous, 232.
Lettie Multhauf, page unknown.
Barnard Hewitt, “Introduction.” The Renaissance Stage, 17.
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