A burlesque (; ) is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects."Burlesque", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, accessed 16 February 2011 The word is loaned from French and derives from the Italian , which, in turn, is derived from the Italian – a joke, ridicule or mockery.In theatrical use, a burla was "a comic interlude or practical joke introduced, usually extempore, into a performance by the servant masks of the commedia dell'arte ... developed at will into a small independent 'turn', the characters returning at its conclusion to the main theme of the plot". See Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found. "Burla", The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre, Oxford University Press, 1996. Oxford Reference Online, accessed 16 February 2011 "Burlesque News – The Growth of Burlesque", New York Clipper, Vol. 62, No. 31, September 12, 1914, p. 18 (accessed February 28, 2017, via MyHeritage)
Burlesque overlaps with caricature, parody and travesty, and, in its theatrical form, with extravaganza, as presented during the Victorian era.Fowler, H. W., rev. Sir Ernest Gowers (1965). Modern English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 68 and 96 The word "burlesque" has been used in English in this literary and theatrical sense since the late 17th century. It has been applied retrospectively to works of Chaucer and Shakespeare and to the Graeco-Roman classics.Baldick, Chris. "Burlesque", The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press, accessed 16 February 2011 Contrasting examples of literary burlesque are Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock and Samuel Butler's Hudibras. An example of musical burlesque is Richard Strauss's 1890 Burleske for piano and orchestra. Examples of theatrical burlesques include W. S. Gilbert's Robert the Devil and the A. C. Torr – Meyer Lutz shows, including Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué.
A later use of the term, particularly in the United States, refers to performances in a variety show format. These were popular from the 1860s to the 1940s, often in cabarets and clubs, as well as theatres, and featured bawdy comedy and female striptease. Some Hollywood films attempted to recreate the spirit of these performances from the 1930s to the 1960s, or included burlesque-style scenes within dramatic films, such as 1972's Cabaret and 1979's All That Jazz, among others. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s.
Literary origins and development
The word first appears in a title in Francesco Berni's Opere burlesche of the early 16th century, works that had circulated widely in manuscript before they were printed. For a time, burlesque verses were known as poesie bernesca in his honour. "Burlesque" as a literary term became widespread in 17th century Italy and France, and subsequently England, where it referred to a grotesque imitation of the dignified or pathetic.Fredric Woodbridge Wilson: "Burlesque", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 04, 2008), (subscription access) Shakespeare's Pyramus and Thisbe scene in Midsummer Night's Dream and the general mocking of romance in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle were early examples of such imitation.Stanton, p. 50
In 17th century Spain, playwright and poet Miguel de Cervantes ridiculed medieval romance in his many satirical works. Among Cervantes' works are Exemplary Novels and the Eight Comedies and Eight New Interludes published in 1615.Burlesque, MSN Encarta, accessed 18 June 2012 The term burlesque has been applied retrospectively to works of Chaucer and Shakespeare and to the Graeco-Roman classics.
Burlesque was, from the outset, intentionally ridiculous in its imitation of several styles and by combining imitations of certain authors and artists with absurd descriptions. In this, the term was often used interchangeably with "pastiche", "parody", and the 17th and 18th century genre of the "mock-heroic".Sanders, p. 291 Burlesque depended on the reader's (or listener's) knowledge of the subject to make its intended effect, and a high degree of literacy was taken for granted.Speaight, George. "All froth and bubble", The Times Literary Supplement, 1 October 1976, p. 1233
17th and 18th century burlesque was divided into two types: High burlesque refers to a burlesque imitation where a literary, elevated manner was applied to a commonplace or comically inappropriate subject matter as, for example, in the literary parody and the mock-heroic. One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque is Alexander Pope's "sly, knowing and courtly" The Rape of the Lock.Sanders, pp. 290–91 Low burlesque applied an irreverent, mocking style to a serious subject; an example is Samuel Butler's poem Hudibras, which describes the misadventures of a Puritan knight in satiric doggerel verse, using a colloquial idiom. Butler's addition to his comic poem of an ethical subtext made his caricatures into satire.Hudibras was so popular that it became the subject of parody itself. See Sanders, p. 255.
In more recent times, burlesque – true to its literary origins – is still performed in revues and sketches. Tom Stoppard's 1974 play Travesties is an example of a full-length play drawing on the burlesque tradition.Stanton, p. 50; and Hunter, Jim (1982) Tom Stoppard's Plays. London: Faber and Faber, , pp. 23–33, 141–146 and 237–242
In music
Classical music Beginning in the early 18th century, the term burlesque was used throughout Europe to describe musical works in which serious and comic elements were juxtaposed or combined to achieve a grotesque effect.Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, p. 134 As derived from literature and theatre, "burlesque" was used, and is still used, in music to indicate a bright or high-spirited mood, sometimes in contrast to seriousness.
In this sense of farce and exaggeration rather than parody, it appears frequently on the German-language stage between the middle of the 19th century and the 1920s. Burlesque operettas were written by Johann Strauss II (Die lustigen Weiber von Wien, 1868),Lamb, Andrew (1992), "Strauss, Johann" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) Ziehrer (Mahomed's Paradies, 1866; Das Orakel zu Delfi, 1872; Cleopatra, oder Durch drei Jahrtausende, 1875; In fünfzig Jahren, 1911)Lamb, Andrew (1992), "Ziehrer, C. M." in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) and Bruno Granichstaedten (Casimirs Himmelfahrt, 1911). French references to burlesque are less common than German, though Grétry composed for a "drame burlesque" (Matroco, 1777).Charlton, David and M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet, "Grétry, André-Ernest-Modeste: Works," Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, accessed 24 February 2011 Stravinsky called his 1916 one-act chamber opera-ballet Renard (The Fox) a "Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée" (burlesque tale sung and played) and his 1911 ballet Petrushka a "burlesque in four scenes". A later example is the 1927 burlesque operetta by Ernst Krenek entitled Schwergewicht (Heavyweight) (1927).
Some orchestral and chamber works have also been designated as burlesques, of which two early examples are the Ouverture-Suite Burlesque de Quixotte, TWV 55, by Telemann and the Sinfonia Burlesca by Leopold Mozart (1760). Another often-performed piece is Richard Strauss's 1890 Burleske for piano and orchestra. Other examples include the following: 1901: Six Burlesques, Op. 58 for piano four hands by Max Reger 1904: Scherzo Burlesque, Op. 2 for piano and orchestra by Béla Bartók 1911: Three Burlesques, Op. 8c for piano by Bartók 1920: Burlesque for Piano, by Arnold Bax 1931: Ronde burlesque, Op. 78 for orchestra by Florent Schmitt 1932: Fantaisie burlesque, for piano by Olivier Messiaen 1956: Burlesque for Piano and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 13g by Bertold Hummel 1982: Burlesque for Wind Quintet, Op. 76b by Hummel
Burlesque can be used to describe particular movements of instrumental musical compositions, often involving dance rhythms. Examples are the Burlesca, in Partita No. 3 for keyboard (BWV 827) by Bach, the "Rondo-Burleske" third movement of Symphony No. 9 by Mahler, and the "Burlesque" fourth movement of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1.McGregor, Andrew, "Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concertos 1 & 2 Review", BBC Music, accessed 24 February 2011
Jazz The use of burlesque has not been confined to classical music. Well-known ragtime travesties include Russian Rag, by George L. Cobb, which is based on Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor, and Harry Alford's Lucy's Sextette based on the sextet, 'Chi mi frena in tal momento?', from Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti.Harrison, Max (2006): Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings p 229
Victorian theatrical burlesque
Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as "travesty" or "extravaganza",According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "the various genre terms were always applied freely", and by the 1860s their use had become "arbitrary and capricious": see "Burlesque," Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, accessed 3 February 2011 . In an 1896 article on Burlesque in The Theatre, the three terms are used interchangeably: see Adams, W. Davenport. "Burlesque: Old v. New", The Theatre, 1 March 1896, pp. 144–45 was popular in London theatres between the 1830s and the 1890s. It took the form of musical theatre parody in which a well-known opera, play or ballet was adapted into a broad comic play, usually a musical play, often risqué in style, mocking the theatrical and musical conventions and styles of the original work, and quoting or pastiching text or music from the original work. The comedy often stemmed from the incongruity and absurdity of the classical subjects, with realistic historical dress and settings, being juxtaposed with the modern activities portrayed by the actors. Madame Vestris produced burlesques at the Olympic Theatre beginning in 1831 with Olympic Revels by J. R. Planché.Adams, W. Davenport. A Book of Burlesque (London: Henry and Co., 1891), p. 44 Other authors of burlesques included H. J. Byron, G. R. Sims, F. C. Burnand, W. S. Gilbert and Fred Leslie.
Victorian burlesque related to and in part derived from traditional English pantomime "with the addition of gags and 'turns'."Schwandt, Erich et al. "Burlesque", Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, accessed 3 February 2011 In the early burlesques, following the example of ballad opera, the words of the songs were written to popular music;Moss, Harold Gene. "Popular Music and the Ballad Opera", Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Autumn, 1973), pp. 365–82, University of California Press, accessed 2 February 2011 later burlesques mixed the music of opera, operetta, music hall and revue, and some of the more ambitious shows had original music composed for them. This English style of burlesque was successfully introduced to New York in the 1840s.Rogers, Delmer D. "Public Music Performances in New York City from 1800 to 1850", Anuario Interamericano de Investigacion Musical, Vol. 6 (1970), pp. 5–50, accessed 2 February 2011