1. Three Ambassadors' Performances in Constantinople
1524-1665-1786
The three events which follow are significant and focal for our research interests; because they feature the firsts which we have come to find out so far: the first ballet performance, the first drama performance in the French Embassy, and the first opera performance in Ottoman Istanbul.
The history of western performing arts in the Ottoman life covers a rather surprising time-span: from as early as 16th to 19th Centuries. Throughout this lengthy period, diplomatic corps enjoy an influential role. The initial encounters of Ottoman envoys in European Capitals as they were sent on mission in 18th Century constitute the introduction of this art form to the Ottoman society, and their ambassadorial reports and chronicles provide the initiatory evidential documents.
a. 1524 The Earliest Ballet-Palazzo Venezia
Metin And (1927-2008), doyen of performing arts studies in Turkish and internationally acclaimed performing arts historian, in his work The Italian Stage in Turkey, Turkey on the Italian Stage (Metis Publ. 1989) which, being published in both Turkish and Italian, remains an indispensable reference for Turkish theatre/opera researchers, gives us an account of a finding he encountered in a study on ballet history published in France by Ferdinando Reyna, Des Origines du Ballet, Paris 1955, p. 91).
« En 1524, à Constantinople, la colonie vénitienne fit régler un étrange ballet : une jeune fille très belle, prisonnière de deux vieillards, invoquait désespérément la Mort : en dansant elle exprimait tout cela par le geste. Et la Mort venait, elle la touchait de sa faulx ; les vêtements de la jeune fille tombaient et elle restait nue, morte, enveloppée dans ses cheveux d'or. »
As And also mentions, Reyna unfortunately does not provide the original source for this unique information.
1st Interlude / The First Turkish Themes On European Stages
Turkish themes appear rather often in various repertoires and periods in theatrical history. One example is the compilation titled "Sultans on Opera Stage", studied by Johannes Schweitzer. From Catalogo analitico "I Libretti Italiani a Stampa dalle Origini al 1800" of Claudio Sartori (Cuneo 1994), Schweitzer compiled the Italian libretto prints that bring out a "Sultan" as subject and cast. This study of Schweitzer introduces stage works with the following Sultans/Sultan figures: Osmano (Osman), Bajazet (Beyazit), Amurat II. (Murat II), Memete II.(Mehmet II), Solimano I. & II. (Süleyman I & II), Ibrahim, Selim I. & II.
Another example to the first Turkish themes on European Stages is provided by Stephan Schmuck, in his essay "From Sermon to Play: Literary Representations of 'Turks' in Renaissance England 1550-1625". The essay investigates the figure of 'Turks' in English literary and dramatic texts. One of the earliest of such is that of John Fox, titled The Worthy Enterprise of John Fox, in Delivering 266 Christians Out of the Captivity of the Turks, and is dated back to 1579. There is in fact vast bibliographical material on Turkish themes in European art. Michael Hüttler has conducted two bibliographical studies on literature collection of opera / travel / cultural exchange between Habsburg Monarchy and Ottoman Empire in 18th Century as well as of Turkish themes in the opera and drama of the 17th and 18th Centuries.
b. 1665 A Performance by the Capuchins-Palais de France
Acclaimed Austrian theatre scholar Walter Puchner, renowned for his research on 17th century religious and barock drama, in his latest article to be published in the coming volume of Don Juan Archiv Wien « European Drama and Theatre in Seventeenth-Century Istanbul », shares with the reader an astoundingly essential discovery; a drama performance in the French Embassy in 1665, evidently the first performance known to be realized in the French Embassy in Istanbul:
« There is evidence of a theatrical production by the capuchins in Galata, Constantinople, in a document of 1665. Unlike the Jesuit plays, the event did not happen in the church, but in the French Embassy. (...) The Capuchins performed the religious drama Le Baptesme de Saint Genest, an adaptation of Jean Rotrou's (1609-1650) tragedy about the story of the mime-martyr. (...) The central role in this St. Genesius play, the Roman Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, was played by the son of the chargé d'affaires of the French embassy, François Roboly (d. 1689). The performance was very successful, there were crowds of spectators, and the chargé announced that if they wished to stage another tragedy he would be the sponsor. »
2nd Interlude / Continuing Turqueries
The five-act comédie-ballet by Molière (1622-1673) and Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) titled Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman) which was first staged on October 14, 1670, reflected the European fashion, or tendency of les turqueries which was en vogue in Europe in the 18th century. The work stemmed from the diplomatic scandal caused by the Sultan Mehmed IV's envoy Süleyman Aga (Müteferrika Süleyman) who, upon visiting the court of Louis XIV in 1669, affirmed the superiority of the Ottoman court to the French. The ambassadorial report by Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmet Efendi, the most prominent Ottoman envoy of Sultan Ahmed III (r. 1703-1730) to Paris (1720-1721) is the earliest source which informs the Ottoman world about "opera", and where "opera" is initially mentioned.
The Ottoman envoy of Sultan Mahmud I (r. 1730-1754) , Mustafa Hatti Efendi (~1680 - ~1760) who was sent on a mission to Vienna in 1748 attended operas there.
These spectacles were as follows: on July 14th La Diana oder Le pazzie di Diana, (composer unknown), July 17th Alessandro nell' Indie by Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777), and on July 29th of 1748, Mustafa Hatti attended the performance of a German comedy (Deutsche Komödie). Another opera that Mustafa Hatti watched on August 20th was Orazio by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736).
In 18th century opera, the Turqueries are embodied and culminated quintessentially in W.A. Mozart's (1756-1791) Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio (1782) and Zaide (1780) as well as in works of Haydn (1732-1809) i.e. L'Incontro Improviviso (1775), and in works of C.W. Gluck (1714-1787) i.e. Le cadi dupe (1761) or La rencontre imprévue (1764) a.k.a. The Pilgrim of Mecca.
c. 1786 The First Opera Performance- Palais de Suède
The earliest given opera performance in Istanbul is recorded to have taken place in the year 1786 - for Vienna the year of Nozze di Figaro (Da Ponte/Mozart, May 1st) and Cosa rara (Da Ponte/Martini, November 17th) - and on the date of February 22nd in the Swedish Embassy, by the then Swedish Ambassador Hrn. Von Haydenstamm. It is recorded to have been an Italian opera piece with the embassy deputies themselves appearing in the roles of stand-ins. Interestingly enough, the Ambassador himself had not only composed the opera, but also had he conducted the orchestra (Magazin der Musik. Herausgegeben | von | Carl Friedrich Cramer, | Professor in Kiel. | Zweyter Jahrgang. | Zweyte Hälfte. | 1786. | Hamburg | in der Musicalischen Niederlage).
« Den 21sten November, 1786. | Nachrichten. Auszüge aus Briefen. » (pp. 915-991), darin pp. 956-957:
« 14) Aus einem Schreiben aus Pera, vom 17ten März, 1786. ) In dem Hotel des allhier residirenden Königl. Schwedis. Gesandten, Hrn. von Haydenstamm, war am 22sten Febr. die sehr seltene Fette der öffentlichen Vorstellung einer italiänischen Oper, wobey die Rolle bloß von Standespersonen von den Gesandtschaften gespielt wurden. Die Frau von Haydenstamm und die Tochter des Spanis. Gesandten, Hrn. von Bouligny, spielten die ersten Damen=Rollen; der Spanis. Gesandte selbst, der Venetianis. Gesandschafts=Cavalier Barbarini und die Hrn. Ristorini und Bianchi spielten die vornehmsten Rollen; die Soubrette wurde von einer gebornen Constantinopolitanerin, Sophia Michel vorgestellt. Der Schwedis. Gesandte selbst hatte die Oper componirt, und dirigirte das [pag. 957] Orchester, der Kayserl. Dollmetscher, Hr. von Raab, war Theatermeister, und der Italiänis. Cavalier Calogera, Soufleur. Alle hier residirende Standespersonen, und selbst viele vornehme Türken, waren gegenwärtig. »