Moriskentänzer 1480 - Erasmus Grasser

[Katharine Kanter]

In a book by Pino Mlakar called "Unsterbliches Theatertanz", 300 years of history of the ballet at Munich, I came across a series of woodcuttings previously quite unknown to me.

What is noteworthy, is that the figures are all dancers, and all PERFECTLY TURNED OUT, with épaulement, and respecting the laws of opposition that we know today.


It turns out, following an Internet search, that the figures

date from 1480 (YES !), and are woodcuttings made of wooden sculptures, on which the original polychrome is still apparent, by Eramus GROSSER (1450-1518).

These little beauties are at the Munich Altes Rathaus in the Tanzsaal. There are ten of the original sixteen figures still extant.


A lady at the Technical University at Munich, Dr. G. Krombholz, has reconstructed the Dances, known as Mauresques (in German, Morisken), and has even set up a group, to dance them. One can read about it here:

http://www.morisken.vo.tu-muenchen.de/index.htm

and there are pictures here

http://www.dasegg.musin.de/grafiken/grasserbild/grasserbild.htm

[haydn]

Pour rendre le sujet un peu plus explicite, je me suis permis d'en modifier le titre Katharine. J'espère que vous ne m'en tiendrez pas rigueur.

Ce à quoi fait allusion Katharine Kanter, est la "Moriskentanz", ou "Danse mauresque", tradition... germanique (!) et surtout bavaroise, qui remonte au XVème siècle.

Un sculpteur, Erasmus Grasser, a réalisé en 1480 une série de figurines en bois qui représentent ces fameux "Moriskentänzer" ("Danseurs mauresques"), qui sont aujourd'hui conservées au Stadtmuseum de Munich.

Comme le souligne Katharine Kanter, ces figurines illustrent fort bien ce qu'est l'épaulement, et révèlent des danseurs dont l'en-dehors est pratiquement parfait, ce qui est proprement stupéfiant à une époque où aucun canon de ce qui deviendra le ballet classique n'est encore fixé.











Source : http://www.stadtmuseum-online.de/

Pour en savoir plus sur ces figurines, consultez le site du Stadtmuseum München

Quelques groupes de danse cherchent aujourd'hui a perpetuer cette tradition, et possèdent des sites web :

Kaltenberger Moriskentänzer

Münchner Moriskentänzer

Ces sites sont malheureusement exclusivement en Allemand, mais les non-germanistes pourront tout de même prendre plaisir à regarder les photos.

[sophia]

Les liens ne semblent malheureusement pas fonctionner.

[haydn]

Ils marchent tous sans problème, je viens de vérifier....

[Katharine Kanter]

Have not had time to read the documents on this yet, but a cursory glance indicates that the Moriscos, Morisken, or Moorish dances celebrated by Erasmus Grasser, were, as their name plainly shews, definitely NOT German in origin.

Anyone with dark skin at the time, would tend to be called a "Moor".

Personally, I think, although I may be wrong, that the origin of Western classical dance, lies in the dances of the Indian sub-continent, as that seems to be where the turn-out, the basic figures and technique that we use, the gestures, and even the use of the EYE and face muscles, were all invented over two thousand years ago.

What the tie might be to these goings-on at Munich in the 1480s, is a question.

[haydn]

Katharine, je ne disais pas que ces danses "mauresques" avaient une orignie germanique, mais qu'elles sont devenues partie intégrante d'une tradition populaire allemande, et plus spécifiquement bavaroise. je ne pense pas que ce type de danse se pratique encore ailleurs dans le monde...

[Katharine Kanter]

On the Website of the Mathematical-Scientific High School of Munich, known as the Erasmus Grasser Gymanisum (http://www.dasegg.musin.de/), one finds a paper by Dr. Brandl-Ziegert on the Morisken Dancers (http://www.dasegg.musin.de/grasser). If you can read German, do – it’s fascinating.

It seems that Erasmus Grasser’s Morisken figures actually launched a style, known as “Stil der verschränkten Bewegung, or The Style of Rotational Action.

What we are talking about here, is the germ of épaulement ! I find this exciting to a degree, that I’m bouncing about like a India-rubber ball writing this !

Dr. Brandl quotes the author of another monograph on Grasser, J. Müller-Meiningen,

“The legs are crossed one before the other; the torso is bent over them or bent backwards, while twisting sideways at the same time. The shoulders are placed in opposition: if the one be raised, the other will drop. The rotation carries over into the way the head is held - either it follows through the turn of the torso, or else turns backwards. Even the arms take part, whether crook’d, or reaching outwards here there and everywhere. Overall, it is rotational movement, imprinted upon the entire figure (…).”

(In “Die Moriskentänzer und andere Arbeiten des Erasmus Grasser für das Alte Rathaus in München”, published at Munich and Zurich, 1984, page 50)

Should there be specialists reading these lines, we would be most grateful for further explanation of what the Morisken Tanz may have been.

Be that as it may, and in very coarse outline, this is what Dr. Brandl has to say:

The Moriskentanz is, as its name indicates, Spanish in origin, Morisco being the term for Muslims converted to Christianity.

The Morisken Dancers are believed to have reached Southern Germany through Burgundy, perhaps as early as the Fourteenth Century. They doubtless danced at fairs and on Holidays, to the sound of the drum and flute, around a Lady who would, at the end of the dance, be given a prize such as an apple or a ring, as would the wildest and bizarrest of the dancers.

In 1470, under Duke Albrecht IV, Munich built a great new Rathaus (Council House, Town Hall), with a vast Dancing Room for which Erasmus Grasser carved sixteen Moriskendancers in lime-wood. These little beauties are between 61cm and 81.5 cm tall, and were placed six metres above the floor, at the high-point of the columns rising to the ceiling-vaults, which perspective explains why the figures’ head and hand have been carved somewhat large.

Dr. Brandl reports that researchers now think that the splendid Dance Room may have been meant as propaganda to promote Duke Albrecht’s candidacy to head the Holy Roman Empire. Grasser’s work would have been considered an “absolute novelty”, a showpiece for Munich as a modern capital, open to the world.

Six of the figures have gone lost. One is believed to be the Lady with the Apple or Ring, as well as a Piper, a Drummer, and perhaps the planets Mercury, Mars...

A fair amount is known about Grasser, who was not merely a sculptor, but one of the day’s most noted architects and builders. Thanks to the Grace of God, the Allied bombs of WWII did not destroy all his work.

In the Munich Nationalmuseum, there is to be found,

- the Monstrance altar for the Convent at St. Jakob im Anger,

- Maria und John the Evangelist for the Church at Pipping.

Other works of Grasser said to be masterpieces are,

- at Munich-Ramersdorf, the Holy Cross Altar

- at Munich, a Saint Peter from the High Altar in St. Peter’s Church

- again at Munich, the Choirstalls for the Munich Frauenkirche.

In at least a dozen other cities there are major works by Grasser, such as,

- at Freisinger in the Cathedral, an Entombment

- at Salzburg in the Nonnberg-Convent, a “Holy Spirit”.

[Katharine Kanter]

In the programme notes for the December 2004 performances of ‘La Calandria’ (Bernardo Dovizi - Bibbiena –1470-1520) played at the Louvre in Paris, one reads the following about the morescos, although the dances themselves, unfortunately, were NOT put on at the Louvre:

« Dans son récit de la première représentation de La Calandria, Baldassar Castiglione fait notamment part de la surprise créée par les intermèdes musicaux. Il en dénombre quatre.

Le premier était une moresque « exécutée par Jason qui se présenta sur la scène, par l’un des côtés, en dansant, armé à la mode antique, très magnifiquement avec l’épée et le bouclier » pendant que de l’autre s’avançaient deux taureaux « si bien simulés qu’on les prit pour véritables ». Puis il sema des dents de dragon desquelles naquit quantité d’hommes armés qui se mirent à danser une moresque endiablée. « Derrière eux vint Jason, portant la toison d’or sur les épaules et il dansa un pas merveilleux ». Au second intermède, c’est encore une moresque qui est dansée par neuf galants enveloppés de flammes sous les yeux d’une Vénus accompagnée de deux Amours et deux colombes. »