A modernmelodrama is a dramatic work in which plot, typicallysensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama".[1] Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or extremelysentimental, rather than on action. Characters are oftenflat and written to fulfill establishedcharacter archetypes. Melodramas are typically set in the private sphere of the home, focusing on morality, family issues, love, and marriage, often with challenges from an outside source, such as a "temptress", a scoundrel, or an aristocratic villain. A melodrama on stage, film, or television is usually accompanied by dramatic and suggestive music that offers further cues to the audience of the dramatic beats being presented.
In scholarly and historical musical contexts, melodramas are Victorian dramas in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action. The termmelodrama is now also applied to stage performances without incidental music, novels, films, television, and radio broadcasts. In modern contexts, the termmelodrama is generally pejorative,[2] as it suggests that the work in question lacks subtlety, character development, or both. By extension, language or behavior that resembles melodrama is often called melodramatic; this use is nearly always pejorative.[citation needed]
The term was first used in English in 1784 (in 1782 asmelo drame) and came from the French wordmélodrame (c. 1772),[3] which was itself derived fromGreekμέλος ("song" or "music") and Frenchdrame ("drama").[4][5][6]
The relationship of melodrama andrealism is complex. Protagonists of melodramatic works may be ordinary (and hence realistically drawn) people who are caught up in extraordinary events or highly exaggerated and unrealistic characters. With regard to its high emotions and dramatic rhetoric, melodrama represents a "victory over repression".[7] Late Victorian and Edwardian melodrama combined a conscious focus on realism in stage sets and props with "anti-realism" in character and plot. Melodrama in this period strove for "credible accuracy in the depiction of incredible, extraordinary" scenes.[8] NovelistWilkie Collins is noted for his attention to accurate detail (e.g., of legal matters) in his works, no matter how sensational the plot.
Melodramas focus on a victim. For example, a melodrama may present a person’s struggle betweengood and evil choices, such as a man being encouraged to leave his family by an "evil temptress".[9] Stock characters include the "fallen woman", the single mother, the orphan, and the male who is struggling with the impacts of the modern world.[9] The melodrama examines family and social issues in the context of a private home. Its intended audience is a female spectator, but a male viewer can also enjoy its presentation of resolved tensions in a home.[9] Melodrama generally looks back at ideal, nostalgic eras, emphasizing "forbidden longings".[9]
Melodrama was associated with the rise ofcapitalism in the 19th century. French romantic drama and sentimental novels were popular in both England and France.[9] These dramas and novels focused on moral codes in regard to family life, love, and marriage, and they can be seen as a reflection of issues brought up by theFrench Revolution, theIndustrial Revolution and the shift to modernization.[9] Many melodramas were about a middle-class young woman who experienced unwanted sexual advances from an aristocratic miscreant, thesexual assault being a metaphor for class conflict.[9] The melodrama reflected post-Industrial Revolution anxieties of the middle class, who was afraid of both aristocratic power brokers and the impoverished working class "mob".[9]
Melodrama arose in the second half of the 18th century as a genre intermediate between play and opera. It combined spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music. Music and spoken dialogue typically alternated in such works, although the music was sometimes also used to accompanypantomime. If there is one actor, the termmonodrama may be used; if there are two—duodrama.[10] It also sometimes appeared as a scene within a play or an opera. It was only later, in the nineteenth century, that the term lost its association with music and began to be used for plays with sentimental and sensational plots typical of popularVictorian drama.[11]
The earliest known examples of melodrama are scenes in J. E. Eberlin's Latin school playSigismundus (1753).[10] The first full melodrama wasJean-Jacques Rousseau's monodramaPygmalion,[10] the text of which was written in 1762; it was first staged inLyon in 1770. Rousseau composed the overture and an Andante, but the bulk of the music was composed byHorace Coignet.[11][12]
A different musical setting of Rousseau'sPygmalion byAnton Schweitzer was performed in Weimar in 1772, and Goethe wrote of it approvingly inDichtung und Wahrheit.[13]
Some 30 other monodramas were produced in Germany in the fourth quarter of the 18th century.[14]Georg Benda was particularly successful with his duodramasAriadne auf Naxos (1775) andMedea (1775). The sensational success of Benda's melodramas led others to compose similar works. Mozart, for example, spoke approvingly of Benda's music and later used two long melodramatic monologues in his operaZaide (1780).[10]
Later and better-known examples of the melodramatic style in operas are the grave-digging scene in Beethoven'sFidelio (1805) and the incantation scene in Weber'sDer Freischütz (1821).[10][13]
Further letters patent were eventually granted to one theatre in each of several other English towns and cities. Other theatres presented dramas that were underscored with music and, borrowing the French term, called it melodrama to get around the restriction. TheTheatres Act 1843 finally allowed all theatres to play drama.[16]
19th century: operetta, incidental music, and salon entertainment
In the early 19th century, opera's influence led to musical overtures andincidental music for many plays. In 1820,Franz Schubert wrote a melodrama,Die Zauberharfe ("The Magic Harp"), setting music behind the play written by G. von Hofmann. It was unsuccessful, like all Schubert's theatre ventures, but the melodramagenre was at the time a popular one. In an age of underpaid musicians, many 19th-century plays in London had an orchestra in the pit. In 1826,Felix Mendelssohn wrote his well-knownoverture toShakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dream, and later supplied the play with incidental music.
InVerdi'sLa Traviata, Violetta receives a letter from Alfredo's father where he writes that Alfredo now knows why she parted from him and that he forgives her ("Teneste la promessa..."). In her speaking voice, she intones the words of what is written, while the orchestra recapitulates the music of their first love from Act I: this is technically melodrama. In a few moments, Violetta bursts into a passionate despairing aria ("Addio, del passato"): this is opera again.
In a similar manner, Victorians often added "incidental music" under the dialogue to a pre-existing play, although this style of composition was already practiced in the days ofLudwig van Beethoven (Egmont) andFranz Schubert (Rosamunde). (This type of often-lavish production is now mostly limited to film (seefilm score) due to the cost of hiring an orchestra. Modern recording technology is producing a certain revival of the practice in theatre, but not on the former scale.) A particularly complete version of this form,Sullivan's incidental music toTennyson'sThe Foresters, is available online,[17] complete with several melodramas, for instance, No. 12 found here.[18] A fewoperettas exhibit melodrama in the sense of music played under spoken dialogue, for instance,Gilbert and Sullivan'sRuddigore (itself a parody of melodramas in the modern sense) has a short "melodrame" (reduced to dialogue alone in many productions) in the second act;[19]Jacques Offenbach'sOrpheus in the Underworld opens with a melodrama delivered by the character of "Public Opinion"; and other pieces from operetta and musicals may be considered melodramas, such as the "Recit and Minuet"[20] in Gilbert and Sullivan'sThe Sorcerer. As an example from the American musical, several long speeches inLerner andLoewe'sBrigadoon are delivered over an accompaniment of evocative music. The technique is also frequently used in Spanishzarzuela, both in the 19th and 20th centuries, and continued also to be used as a "special effect" in opera, for instanceRichard Strauss'sDie Frau ohne Schatten.
In Paris, the 19th century saw a flourishing of melodrama in the many theatres that were located on the popularBoulevard du Crime, especially in theGaîté. All this came to an end, however, when most of these theatres were demolished during therebuilding of Paris by Baron Haussmann in 1862.[21]
By the end of the 19th century, the term melodrama had nearly exclusively narrowed down to a specific genre of salon entertainment: more or less rhythmically spoken words (often poetry) – not sung, sometimes more or less enacted, at least with somedramatic structure or plot – synchronized to the accompaniment of music (usually piano). It was looked down on as a genre for authors and composers of lesser stature (probably also why virtually no realizations of the genre are still remembered) - though there are examples byRobert Schumann (Ballads for Declaration, 1850s)[22] andRichard Strauss for narrator and piano (Enoch Arden (1897). The English composerStanley Hawley made many such settings, some of which were performed at the first season of theHenry Wood Proms in London. It was probably also at this time when the connotation of cheap overacting first became associated with the term. As a cross-over genre-mixing narration and chamber music, it was eclipsed nearly overnight by a single composition:Schoenberg'sPierrot Lunaire (1912), whereSprechgesang was used instead of rhythmically spoken words, and which took a freer and more imaginative course regarding theplot prerogative.
Within the context of theCzech National Revival, the melodrama took on a specifically nationalist meaning for Czech artists, beginning roughly in the 1870s and continuing through theFirst Czechoslovak Republic of the interwar period. This new understanding of the melodrama stemmed primarily from such nineteenth-century scholars and critics asOtakar Hostinský, who considered the genre to be a uniquely "Czech" contribution to music history (based on the national origins ofGeorg Benda, whose melodramas had nevertheless been in German). Such sentiments provoked a large number of Czech composers to produce melodramas based on Czech romantic poetry, such as theKytice ofKarel Jaromír Erben.
The romantic composerZdeněk Fibich in particular championed the genre as a means of setting Czech declamation correctly: his melodramasŠtědrý den (1874) andVodník (1883) use rhythmic durations to specify the alignment of spoken word and accompaniment. Fibich's main achievement wasHippodamie (1888–1891), a trilogy of full-evening staged melodramas on the texts ofJaroslav Vrchlický with multiple actors and orchestra, composed in an advanced Wagnerian musical style.Josef Suk's main contributions at the turn of the century include melodramas for two-stage plays byJulius Zeyer:Radúz a Mahulena (1898) andPod Jabloní (1901), both of which had a long performance history.
Following the examples of Fibich and Suk, many other Czech composers set melodramas as stand-alone works based on the poetry of the National Revival, among themKarel Kovařovic,Otakar Ostrčil,Ladislav Vycpálek,Otakar Jeremiáš, Emil Axman, and Jan Zelinka.Vítězslav Novák included portions of melodrama in his 1923 operaLucerna, andJaroslav Ježek composed key scenes for the stage plays of theOsvobozené divadlo as melodrama (most notably the opening prologue of the anti-Fascist farceOsel a stín (1933), delivered by the character ofDionysus inbolero rhythm). Czech melodramas' practice tapered off after theNazi Protectorate.
TheVictorian stage melodrama featured sixstock characters: the hero, the villain, the heroine, an aged parent, a sidekick, and a servant of the aged parent engaged in a sensational plot featuring themes of love and murder. Often the good but not very clever hero is duped by a scheming villain, who has eyes on thedamsel in distress until fate intervenes at the end to ensure the triumph of good over evil.[23] Two central features were the coup de théàtre, or reversal of fortune, and the claptrap: a back-to-the-wall oration by the hero whichforces the audience to applaud.[24]
English melodrama evolved from the tradition of populist drama established during the Middle Ages bymystery andmorality plays, under influences from Italiancommedia dell'arte as well as GermanSturm und Drang drama and Parisian melodrama of the post-Revolutionary period.[25] A notable French melodramatist wasPixérécourt whoseLa Femme à deux maris was very popular.[26]
The first English play to be called a melodrama or 'melodrame' wasA Tale of Mystery (1802) byThomas Holcroft. This was an example of theGothic genre, a previous theatrical example of which wasThe Castle Spectre (1797) byMatthew Gregory Lewis. Other Gothic melodramas includeThe Miller and his Men (1813) byIsaac Pocock,The Woodsman's Hut (1814) bySamuel Arnold andThe Broken Sword (1816) byWilliam Dimond.
Supplanting the Gothic, the next popular subgenre was the nautical melodrama, pioneered byDouglas Jerrold in hisBlack-Eyed Susan (1829). Other nautical melodramas included Jerrold'sThe Mutiny at the Nore (1830) andThe Red Rover (1829) byEdward Fitzball (Rowell 1953).[23] Melodramas based on urban situations became popular in the mid-nineteenth century, includingThe Streets of London (1864) byDion Boucicault; andLost in London (1867) by Watts Phillips, while prison melodrama, temperance melodrama, and imperialist melodrama also appeared – the latter typically featuring the three categories of the 'good' native, the brave but wicked native, and the treacherous native.[27]
Thesensation novels of the 1860s, and 1870s not only provided fertile material for melodramatic adaptations but are melodramatic in their own right. A notable example of this genre isLady Audley's Secret byElizabeth Braddon adapted, in two different versions, by George Roberts and C.H. Hazlewood. The novels ofWilkie Collins have the characteristics of melodrama, his best-known workThe Woman in White being regarded by some modern critics as "the most brilliant melodrama of the period".[28]
The villain is often the central character in melodrama, and crime was a favorite theme. This included dramatizations of the murderous careers ofBurke and Hare,Sweeney Todd (first featured inThe String of Pearls (1847) byGeorge Dibdin Pitt), the murder ofMaria Marten in the Red Barn and the bizarre exploits ofSpring Heeled Jack. The misfortunes of a discharged prisoner are the theme of the sensationalThe Ticket-of-Leave Man (1863) byTom Taylor.
Northrop Frye saw both advertising and propaganda as melodramatic forms which the cultivated cannot take seriously.[29]
Politics at the time calls on melodrama to articulate a world-view. ThusRichard Overy argues that 1930s Britain saw civilization as melodramatically under threat - "In this great melodrama Hitler's Germany was the villain; democratic civilization the menaced heroine";[30] - while Winston Churchill provided the necessary larger-than-life melodramatic hero to articulate back-to-the-wall resistance duringThe Blitz.[31]
Classic melodrama is less common than it used to be on television and in movies in the Western world. However, it is still widely popular in other regions, particularly in Asia and in Hispanic countries. Melodrama is one of the main genres (along with romance, comedy and fantasy) used in Latin American television dramas (telenovelas), particularly inVenezuela,Mexico,Colombia,Argentina andBrazil, and in Asian television dramas,South Korea,Japan,Taiwan,China,Pakistan,Thailand,India,Turkey and (in a fusion of the Hispanic and Asian cultures) thePhilippines. Expatriate communities in the diaspora of these countries give viewership a global market.
Feminists have noted four categories of themes in the film melodrama: those with a female patient, a maternal figure, an "impossible love", and the paranoid melodrama.[9] Most film melodramas from the 1930s and 1940s, at the time known as "weepies" or "tearjerkers", were adaptations of women's fiction, such as romance novels and historical romances.[9] Drawing from a shared history with women's fiction, melodramatic films often concentrate on female perspectives and desires. From the 1930s until the late 1960s,Hays Code restrictions on the inclusion of "licentious" content in films would restrict the portrayal of female desire in the American film melodrama.[9]
In the 1950s, films by directorDouglas Sirk, such asAll That Heaven Allows (1955) andWritten on the Wind (1956), are representative of the genre. Many later melodramatic filmmakers cite Sirk and his works as significant influences.
The 1980s saw a resurgence in American "women's" melodramas such asTerms of Endearment (1983),Beaches (1988), andSteel Magnolias (1989). On television, the miniseries was a popular format for lavish, female-centric melodramas such asScruples (1980),Lace (1984), andSins (1986).[33]
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^Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A., eds. (2010).New Oxford American Dictionary, Third Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 1091.ISBN978-0-19-539288-3.
^Pickett, Joseph P., ed. (2006).The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 1095.ISBN978-0-618-70173-5.
^Brooks, Peter (1995). The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess. Yale University Press. p. 41.
^Singer, Ben (2001).Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 44–53.
^abcdefghijkHayward, Susan. "Melodrama and Women's Films" inCinema Studies: The Key Concepts (Third Edition). Routledge, 2006. p.236-242
^abcdeWilli Apel, ed. (1969).Harvard Dictionary of Music, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.ISBN0-674-37501-7.OCLC21452.
^abPeter Branscombe, "Melodrama". In Sadie, Stanley; John Tyrrell, eds. (2001).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition. New York: Grove's Dictionaries.ISBN1-56159-239-0;2001 online reprint, Grove Music Online.
^abWilliams, Carolyn. "Melodrama", inThe New Cambridge History of English Literature: The Victorian Period, ed. Kate Flint, Cambridge University Press (2012), pp. 193–219ISBN9780521846257
^Rose, Jonathan (2015).The Literary Churchill: Author, Reader, Actor. Yale University Press. pp. 11 and 174.ISBN9780300212341.
^Booth, Michael Richard (1991).Theatre in the Victorian Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 151.ISBN978-0521348379.
^Jean Tulard (1985)Naploleon: The Myth of the Saviour. London, Methuen: 213-14
^J. Rose,The Literary Churchill (Yale 2015) p. 11-13
^Collins, Wilkie, ed. Julian Symons (1974).The Woman in White (Introduction). Penguin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^N. Frye,Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton 1971) p. 47
^Quoted in J. Rose,The Literary Churchill (Yale 2015) p. 291
^Humphries, Scott (2023).The Age of Melodramatic Miniseries: When Glamour Ruled on Television, 1980-1995. Jefferson: McFarland and Co.ISBN9781476691626.
Hambridge, Katherine; Hicks, Jonathan, eds. (2018).The Melodramatic Moment: Music and Theatrical Culture, 1790–1820 (1st ed.). Chicago, Illinois:University of Chicago Press.ISBN978-0226543659.
