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The Melodramatic Thread
Interdisciplinary Studies in History
EDITOR
Harvey J. Graff
James R. Lehning
The Melodramatic Thread
Spectacle and Political Culture in Modern France
Indiana University Press
BLOOMINGTON & INDIANAPOLIS
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© 2007 by James R. Lehning All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in anyform or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying and recording, or by any information storageand retrieval system, without permission in writing from thepublisher. The Association of American University Presses’Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception tothis prohibition.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lehning, James R., date.        The melodramatic thread : spectacle and political culture in modern France / James R.Lehning.            p. cm. — (Interdisciplinary studies in history)        Includes bibliographical references and index.        ISBN 978-0-253-34900-2 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-21910-7 (pbk : alk. paper)1. Theater—France—History—19th century. 2. Theater—France—History—20th century.3. France—Politics and government—19th century. 4. France—Politics and government—20th century. 5. France—History—Revolution, 1789–1799—Theater and the revolution.I. Title.        PN2634.L44 2007        792.0944—dc22
2006100897
1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07
F OR A MANDA AND C HARLES
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Varieties of Performance in Nineteenth-Century Paris
3. Boulevard Spectacles of the Third Republic
4. Spectacles of Light and Darkness between the World Wars
5. Commercial Spectacles in Postwar Paris
6. Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
The completion of this book owes much to people who have helped me along theway. Harvey Graff first suggested to me that I write a book that became this one,and offered a place for it in his series with Indiana University Press. Harvey andBob Sloan of IUP have both been supportive as I have written the book, and I willalways be grateful for their patience. The referees for the press, especially VenitaDatta, made comments that greatly improved the book. I have also learned muchfrom friends and colleagues with whom I have talked. As always, Joan Scott’s supporthas been crucial. At the University of Utah, Bob Goldberg, Ray Gunn, RonSmelser, Esther Rashkin, and Bruce Dain helped with suggestions, references, andloans of books. Parts of chapter 3 were presented as a paper at the Society for FrenchHistorical Studies meeting in March 2005, and I am grateful to the commentator,Ray Jonas, and to the audience and other participants for their comments.
The Interlibrary Loan office of the Marriott Library at the University ofUtah helped, as usual, to overcome the limitations of the library collection. Ialso thank the libraries of the University of California, Berkeley, the Universityof Washington, and Brigham Young University for allowing me to use theircollections.
Financial support for this project came from the University of Utah ResearchCommittee, which gave me a Faculty Research Grant for research in Paris andthen extended it when my original plans did not work out. Robert Newman,Dean of Humanities at the University of Utah, has supported my work sincehis arrival in Salt Lake City, and I am particularly grateful for his permissionto leave behind my administrative duties and head for Paris in February 2004.Liz Leckie, Assistant Dean of Humanities, also deserves thanks for taking overthose duties during my absence from campus. Ray Gunn and Eric Hinderaker,chairs of the History Department during the life of this project, have also beensupportive in every way possible. To all these people, and to those I may haveneglected to mention, my deepest thanks.
Salt Lake City      October 19, 2006
The Melodramatic Thread
1.     Introduction
On June 8, 1794, at the height of the Terror, the leaders of France and the peopleof Paris celebrated a Festival of the Supreme Being in central Paris. WithJacques-Louis David as impresario, the houses of Paris were decorated withtree branches, flowers, and tricolored flags to demonstrate the productivity ofthe soil of France and the glory of the Republic. The Tuileries Gardens, whichwould be the site of the first part of the festival, featured a statue representingatheism, with the inscription “only hope of the foreigner” on it. Across theSeine, the Champs de Mars, the site of previous revolutionary festivals, hadbeen renamed the Champs de la Réunion. In the immense field rose a highmountain that would be the focal point for the second half of the celebration.
The Festival of the Supreme Being began with a cannon salvo summoningmen and women from each section of the city to the Tuileries. Mothers carryingroses symbolizing mercy, young girls with baskets filled with flowers tosymbolize youth, and men and boys with tree branches to represent the masculinevirtues of strength and liberty all converged on the Tuileries Gardens.They were met by members of the Convention, with Maximilien Robespierre,in his role as president of the Convention, at their head. The Conventionnelsalso participated in the symbolism of the festival, holding shocks of wheat,flowers, and fruits. 1
Robespierre welcomed the processions from around the city with a speechcelebrating France’s devotion to the Supreme Being, the source of all that wasgood, including the Republic and the liberty written in men’s hearts. In spiteof the ongoing war, the Terror, and the need for revolutionary vigilance, heurged his fellow citizens to give themselves over to joy on this day of festivities.This speech was followed by a performance by the Opera of TheodoreDésorgues’s song “Father of the Universe, Supreme Intelligence,” set to musicby François-Joseph Gossec. Robespierre then set fire to the statue of Atheism,which disappeared in flames to be replaced by a statue of Wisdom. Interpretingthe pageant in a second speech, Robespierre described the disappearanceof atheism and with it “all the crimes and unhappiness of the world.” Onlywisdom, he told his audience, could lead to the prosperity of empires.
After the ceremony at the Tuileries the members of the Convention marchedin procession across the river to the Champs, surrounded by tricolored bannersand children with flowers. A coach in the middle of this procession carriedtools and goods made around the country, a plow covered with wheat andoak branches, and a printing press. These were placed next to a statue of Liberty, to indicate that liberty was necessary for the arts to flourish. Robespierre was atthe head of this procession, exposing him not only to the cheers of the crowdbut also to hecklers who accused him of wanting to be a god. 2
At the Champs de la Réunion the Conventionnels assembled at the highestpoint of the mountain constructed in the middle of the field, while a hymn tothe Supreme Being and a symphony were performed. The groups of men andwomen sang while children threw their flowers into the air. Young men drewtheir sabers and swore to be victorious, while elderly men gave them a paternalblessing. The festival ended with another artillery salvo, representing thenational vengeance, and a fraternal embrace by all of the participants and thecry of “Vive la République!” Impressed by its perception of the festival—thebeauty of the weather, the decorations, the joy of the people, the unanimityof the sentiments expressed, the speeches, and “the cordiality and order” thatreigned during the ceremony— Le Moniteur summarized the events as “themost beautiful festival whose memory could be perpetuated in the pomp ofthe Revolution.” 3
Mona Ozouf has shown how the Festival of the Supreme Being marked cleardivisions in the politics of the Republic. While endorsing equality of originsand celebrating agriculture, a “festival of dairy products, fruit and bread,” itarticulated support for the Republic against radicals on the left who supportedthe radical dechristianization that had been portrayed in the Cult and Festivalof Reason the previous winter. 4 But it was also about reconciliation andnational unity. The symbolically destroyed Atheism was replaced by Wisdom.The national representatives in the Convention were prominently featured.The ceremonies were open to, and incorporated, the entire population of revolutionaryParis. 5 The festival was therefore not only a description of the virtueof the Republic and the evil of its enemies, but also an attempt to consolidatethe Revolution as part of the patrimony of France in a unified Republic of allthe French. Yet, while Robespierre might urge his listeners to set aside theirpolitical concerns for a day of festival, reminders of the internal and externalenemies of the Republic remained present, not only in the heckling he receivedbut also in the need to m