Nieznane molierianum warszawskie z początku lat sześćdziesiątych XVIII wieku
An Unknown Molière-related Document from Warsaw of the 1760s

Summary/Abstract: We are presenting a new source documenting the theatre life in Warsaw at the beginning of the 1760s outside the Saxon Operalnia. In the French Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, among the papers of Jean-Étienne Guettard (1715-1786), a natural scientist and geologist who was in Poland in 1760-1762 (accompanying Marquis de Paulmy Antoine-René Voyer de’Argenson who served as French ambassador to the Polish court of King Augustus III), there is a Polish-German theatre poster. The lower part of the poster, written in German and printed in finer letters, is a little more detailed and edited with more care than the Polish counterpart, and thus, may be viewed as the primary version. A stage artist styling himself as a “well known English funambulist” had probably come to the capital of Poland via one of the usual tracts journeyed by the so-called traveling troupes of English comedians that were going East through German countries. His last name, spelled as “Berge” (Berże), suggests an actor and entrepreneur known as André Bergé. A little later, in 1765, he was leasing a theatre house on Monbijou Square in Berlin. Using the German version of his name, Andreas, this former member of a French theatre troupe that cultivated comical opera in the capital of Prussia, produced a series of singspiels. The Warsaw show announced by the presented poster was to be performed at the riding hall by the Załuskich Palace on Długa Street and featured two titles: Doktor przymuszony albo przez kochanie zaniemówiona białogłowa and Imaginacja choroby, split by an acrobatic show by Mr and Mrs “Berże” (Bergé). The German title of the latter comedic piece, advertised as a “brand new English pantomime”, is consistent with how Molière’s Le malade imaginaire was traditionally translated. In the case of the former comedy, traces seem to lead to English adaptations as well: Le médecin malgré lui by Molière was translated into English thrice at the beginning of the 18th century: by John Otello, John Watt, and Henry Fielding. An adaptation Doctor or the Dumb Lady Cur’d by the last of the authors was played at the royal theatre on Drury Lane (prem. 23 June 1732). The present work-in-progress paper discussing the Parisian discovery made by Piotr Daszkiewicz encourages further and more detailed research.

• Details
• Contents