Le Rendez-vous, ou l'Amour Supposé
Le Rendez-vous, ou l'Amour Supposé (lit "The assignation, or the imagined love") is a one act French comedy in verse by Barthélemy-Christophe Fagan, (also known as "Fagan de Lugny", 1702-1755)[1].
Also known simply as Le Rendez-vous
Contents
The original French text (1733)
Le Rendez-vous, ou l'Amour Supposé (lit "The assignation, or the imagined love") is a one act French comedy in verse (also referred to as an "operetta") by Barthélemy-Christophe Fagan, (also known as "Fagan de Lugny", 1702-1755)
First performed as Le Rendez-vous, ou l'Amour Supposé in Paris at the Théâtre-Français on 27 May 1733.
Published in Paris by Chaubert in 1733, in Volume 6 of Le Nouveau théâtre françois by E. Neaulme, 1735[2] and in the collected works of Fagan in 1760.
Translations and adaptations of the French text
The play was adapted in a variety of ways, and the result has been two notable and popular adaptations, one in German by Von Kotzebue and another in English by Ayrton, both performed in South Africa, and a burlesque version by M'Collum's Circus.
Der Mann von Vierzig Jahren, a German version by August von Kotzebue (1794)
Der Mann von Vierzig Jahren ("The man of forty years", or "The forty year old man") is a one-act comedy by August von Kotzebue (August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue, 1761-1819)[3]], and is a free adaptation of Le Rendez-vous, ou l'Amour Supposé. It was first performed in the Königlichen Schaulspielhaus , Berlin in 1794 and published in Leipzig by Paul Gotthelf Kummer, 1795.
Translations and adaptations
The Kotzebue version was in turn translated into Dutch as De Man van Veertig Jaren by an unknown author.
Rendezvous, or Love in All Corners, an English version by Richard Ayton (1818)
The French play was translated into English as The Rendezvous (or Rendezvous, or Love in All Corners) by Richard Ayton (1786-1823)[4]. First Performed at the Theatre Royal, English Opera, in September, 1818, and became extremely popular for most of the 109th and early 20th centuries. Published by S. French, 1818, I. Riley in 1818?, by John Cumberland
Translations and adaptations
Le Rendezvous (wrongly titled La Rendezvous by Bosman, 1980), was performed by M'Collum's Circus in Cape Town in 1860, and billed as a "laughable extravaganza". It was probably a burlesque version of Ayrton's English adaptation of Fagan's original.
Performance history of all versions in South Africa
1849: The Dutch version performed as De Man van Veertig Jaren in Cape Town by Door Yver Bloeit de Kunst on 19 June, as an afterpiece to Charlotte Blandford, of De Wedergevonden Vader (Anon/Engelman)
1860: Performed by M'Collum's Circus in Cape Town during August, with two tableaux (Harlequin Statue and Mont au Ciel ) and scenes from the burletta Fra Diavolo, or The Beauty and the Brigands (Byron).
1861: The English version performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, as Rendezvous, or Love in All Corners by Sefton Parry and his company on 22 August, with The Lady of Lyons (Lytton).
1878: A piece called Love in All Corners was produced by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 23 march, as afterpiece to The Octoroon (Boucicault). F.C.L. Bosman (1980, p.366) seems to call it a "new ballet", but it is far more likely that this was just a typographical error, a semi-colon having been left out, and that this was simply a version of Ayton's play, with the ballet performed as an interlude, as was often the case with Roebuck's performances.
Sources
Facsimile version of the 1733 published French text, Gallica[5]
E. Neaulme. 1735. Le Nouveau théâtre françois (Volume 6) [6]
Fagan. 1760. Théâtre de m. Fagan, et autres oeuvres du mesme auteur. (Le rendez-vous. La grondeuse. La pupille. L'amitié rivale. Jaconde. Le musulman), N. B. Duchesne
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barth%C3%A9lemy-Christophe_Fagan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ayton
Catalogue of the works of August von Kotzebue: Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum (MDZ), Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (BSB)[7]
Gesa Dane. 1994. Die heilsame Toilette: Kosmetik und Bildung in Goethes 'Der Mann von fünfzig Jahren'[8]
Facsimile version of the 1795 German play, HathiTrust Digital Collection[9]
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barth%C3%A9lemy-Christophe_Fagan
Catalogue of the works of August von Kotzebue: Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum (MDZ), Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (BSB)[10]
Gesa Dane. 1994. Die heilsame Toilette: Kosmetik und Bildung in Goethes 'Der Mann von fünfzig Jahren'[11]
Facsimile version of the 1795 German play, HathiTrust Digital Collection[12]
F.C.L. Bosman. 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [13]: pp. 455,
D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 98, 139, 366
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