Entr'acte is French for "between the acts". It can have the meaning of a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonym to intermission, but is more often used to indicate that part of a theatre production that is performed between acts as an intermezzo or interlude. Originally entr'actes resulted from stage curtains being closed for set or costume changes: to kill time, in order not to halt the action, to make a transition from the mood of one act to that of the next, or to prevent the public from getting noisy. During set changes, the action could be continued in entr'actes in front of the closed curtain (only players, no other scenery than the curtain, and a minimum of props). In this sense of taking the action from one part of a large-scale drama to the next by fitting in a part of the story that completes the missing links, an entr'acte is similar to an interquel (which is a much later concept however, and indicates an "interlude" of the same kind of resources and magnitude as the parts it joins). An intermission is a break between two performances or sessions, as in events such as a theatrical play, opera or musical concert. ... InterMezzo is a distributed file system written for Linux, distributed with a GPL licence. ... An interlude (between play) is: Look up Interlude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In the performing arts, a prop (the common short form for the more formal property) is anything that is carried by a performer during the performance. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with midquel. ...

In traditional theatre also incidental music could be used to bridge the 'closed curtain' periods: as well in Ballet, Opera and Drama there is a rich tradition of such musical interludes. The German word for this kind of interludes (Verwandlungsmusik) still refers to its original function during changing of the scene. Eventually entr'actes (or intermezzi) would develop into a separate genre of short theatrical realisations (often with a plot completely independent from the main piece), that could be produced with a minimum of requisites during intermissions of other elaborate theatre pieces (thus distinctly intended to break the action with something of a different mood, e.g. comedy or dance; also allowing the chief players of the main piece to have a break). When eventually the idea of being an insert into a greater whole gets looser, interlude sometimes has no other connotation than a "short play". Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program or some other form not primarily musical. ... An interlude (between play) is: Look up Interlude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An interlude (between play) is: Look up Interlude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... InterMezzo is a distributed file system written for Linux, distributed with a GPL licence. ... An interlude (between play) is: Look up Interlude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

When the insert was only intended to shift to another mood before returning to the main action, without a change of scene being necessary, authors could revert to a "play in the play" technique, or have some accidental guests in a ballroom perform a dance, etc... In this case the insert would rather be named divertimento (in French: divertissement) than entr'acte. In the French opera tradition of the end of the 17th century and early 18th century (Rameau, etc...) such divertissements would become compulsory in the form of an inserted ballet passage, a tradition that continued till well in the 19th century, eventually parodied by Offenbach, e.g. the Cancan ending the Orphée aux enfers. By the middle of the 18th century a divertimento had become a separate genre of light music too (that could be used for interludes in stage works, but for many of the divertimenti composed in the last half of the 18th century the relation to the theatre appears to have been lost, the music in character only having to be a "diversion" in one or another way). Divertimento is a music genre, with most of its examples stemming from the 18th century. ... Jean-Philippe Rameau, by Jacques André Joseph Aved, 1728 Jean-Philippe Rameau (September 25, 1683 - September 12, 1764) was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. ... The Waltz of the Snowflakes from Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker. ... Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880), composer and cellist, was one of the originators of the operetta form, a precursor of the modern musical comedy. ... The Can-can (also spelt Cancan, Can Can) is regarded today primarily as a music hall dance, perfomed by a chorus line of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings, harking back to the fashions of the 1890s. ... Orphée aux enfers is an operetta in two acts by Jacques Offenbach. ... Divertimento is a music genre, with most of its examples stemming from the 18th century. ...

Some famous examples of more or less elaborate and/or independent Entr'actes or Intermezzi (in some cases eclipsing the theatre productions for which they were originally written):

• La serva padrona, a two-act Opera Buffa by Pergolesi, was intended to break the seriousness of his Opera Seria "Il prigioner superbo" (1733). Eventually the Intermezzo would get more attention than the large-scale work to which it was added (see querelle des buffons).
• Mozart shows his mastery in the finale of the first act of Don Giovanni, where he mixes the divertimento-like dancing (accompanied by a small ensemble on the scene), with the actual singing: the characters mingle performing light dances, while actually they're supposed to be chasing each other for murder and rape: so the diversion and the drama become a single multi-layered item.
• Rosamunde is nowadays not remembered as a theatre play, but as the name of some intermezzi Franz Schubert composed for that play.
• In 1924, a film named Entr'acte premiered as entr'acte for the Ballets Suédois production Relâche at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Relâche is based on a book and with settings by Francis Picabia, produced by Rolf de Maré, and with choreography by Jean Borlin. This short film was directed by René Clair with the music for both the ballet and the film composed by Erik Satie (the last music he composed). For this production, the dadaists collaborating on the project had invented a new flavor of dada or surrealism: instantanéisme. The complete film takes about 20 minutes using such techniques as watching people run in slow motion, watching things happen in reverse, looking at a ballet dancer from underneath, watching an egg over a fountain of water get shot and instantly become a bird and watching people disappear. The cast included cameo appearances of Francis Picabia, Erik Satie, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. The musical direction of the orchestra at the premiere was in the hands of Roger Désormière. The film is included on the Criterion Collection DVD of À Nous la Liberté. The two parts of the film are (note that time indications are approximate, since neither film nor music techniques at the time of the premiere allowed exact temporisation in a public performance):
  • A sequence of about 90 seconds, starring Satie and Picabia firing a cannon from the top of a building. This sequence, that can be downloaded here (rm format) as silent movie, was played at the beginning of the ballet, right after the little ouverture ("Ouverturette"), and before the curtain raised ("Rideau"). The music to this part of the film is called "Projectionnette", and is included as 2nd item in the Relâche partition. A performance of this music, taking 36 seconds, can be downloaded here: in mp3 format (mpeg 284 KB) or in ram format (realaudio 71 KB). There appears no real effort for music to film synchronisation in this part of the film. Probably the "Projectionnette" music was played two or three times before proceeding to the "Rideau" part of the music.
  • The rest of the film was played as entr'acte between the two acts of the ballet. The score for this part of the film is not included in the Relâche partition, but was written down by Satie in a separate score, titled "Cinéma". This part of the music contains "expandable" repeat zones, in order to match the start of a new tune with certain events in the film (and thus it was one of the earliest examples of music to film synchronization). In the score Satie names 10 sections, that are associated with scenes in the film.
• A comparable 'filmic' interlude was foreseen in the early 1930s by Alban Berg for his Opera Lulu between the two scenes of the central act. In this case Berg only composed the music and gave a short schematic scenario for a film, that was not yet realised when he died in 1935. The Lulu interlude film, contrary to the previous example, was intended to chain the action between the first half and the second half of the opera. Because of the completely symmetrical build of this opera, the filmic interlude of Lulu is as a manner of speech the axis of the opera.
• Interludes of the divertimento kind can be found in Leoš Janáček's last, and sombre, opera From the House of the Dead (1928): releasing the tension after Skuratov's disheartening tale at the centre of the second act, two "play in play"'s (an "opera" and a "pantomime") are executed consecutively by a cast of prisoners, both presentations a farcical variation on the Don Juan theme, and mirroring the religious ceremony divertimento before the Skuratov tale.
• Also the first publicly performed furniture music composed by Erik Satie was premiered as entr'acte music (1920 - the play for which it was written fell in oblivion), with this variation that it was intended as background music to the sound a public would usually produce at intermission time, walking around and talking. To which allegedly the public did not obey (they kept silently in their places and listened, trained by a habit of incidental music), much to the frustration of the avant-garde musicians that tried to save their idea by inciting the public to get up, talk, and walk around.

La serva padrona (The Servant Mistress) was originally sandwiched in between the opera seria Il prigioniero superbo (The Proud Prisoner), also by Pergolesi. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Comic opera. ... Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (January 4, 1710 - March 16, 1736) was an Italian composer, violinist and organist. ... Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and serious style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1720s to ca 1770. ... Events February 12 - British colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. ... A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who gather to perform music. ... Rosamunde can refer to: The German name for the Beer Barrel Polka Incidental music composed by Franz Schubert to a play with the same name, see Rosamunde (Schubert) (and String Quartet No. ... InterMezzo is a distributed file system written for Linux, distributed with a GPL licence. ... Franz Schubert. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Relâche is French for cancellation. Relâche was the name Erik Satie and his surrealist (former Dada) friends gave to the ultimate ballet production in which Satie was involved as composer. ... The Théâtre des Champs-Elysées is a Parisian theater, famous for being the place of the scandal related to the first performance of Igor Stravinskys Rite of Spring in 1913. ... Francis-Marie Martinez Picabia (January 28, 1879 - November 30, 1953) was a well-known painter and poet born of a French mother and a Spanish father who was an attaché at the Cuban legation in Paris, France. ... René Clair (November 11, 1898 – March 15, 1981) was a French filmmaker. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Kay Sage. ... One half of a bronze mold for casting a socketed spear head dated to the period 1400-1000 BC. This article is about the manufacturing process. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Francis-Marie Martinez Picabia (January 28, 1879 - November 30, 1953) was a well-known painter and poet born of a French mother and a Spanish father who was an attaché at the Cuban legation in Paris, France. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Man Ray photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Man Ray (August 27, 1890–November 18, 1976) was an American Dada and Surrealist artist. ... Marcel Duchamp. ... Premiere, from French language première meaning first, generally means a first performance. Premieres for theatrical, musical, and other productions are often extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media attention. ... Roger Désormière (September 13, 1898 - October 25, 1963) was a French conductor. ... À nous la liberté is a 1931 film by René Clair concerning the escape of a convict and his subsequent rise up the industrial ladder. ... RealPlayer is a media player, created by RealNetworks, that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, as well as multiple generations of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo codecs. ... Relâche is French for cancellation. Relâche was the name Erik Satie and his surrealist (former Dada) friends gave to the ultimate ballet production in which Satie was involved as composer. ... Relâche is French for cancellation. Relâche was the name Erik Satie and his surrealist (former Dada) friends gave to the ultimate ballet production in which Satie was involved as composer. ... Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity that involves organized and audible sounds and silence. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935) was an Austrian composer. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognisable opera houses and landmarks. ... Lulu is an opera by the composer Alban Berg. ... Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935) was an Austrian composer. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Divertimento is a music genre, with most of its examples stemming from the 18th century. ... LeoÅ¡ Janáček in 1928 LeoÅ¡ Janáček â–¶ (help· info) (July 3, 1854 in Hukvaldy, Moravia – August 12, 1928 in Ostrava) was a Czech composer. ... From the House of the Dead (Z Mrtvého Domu in Czech), is an opera by Leoš Janáček. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... A farce is a comedy written for the stage, or a film, which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely and extravagant - yet often possible - situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include puns and sexual innuendo, and a fast-paced... Don Juan is a legendary fictional libertine, whose story has been told many times by different authors. ... Divertimento is a music genre, with most of its examples stemming from the 18th century. ... Furniture music, or musique d’ameublement, was French avant-garde composer Erik Saties theory of minimalist background music. ... Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (Honfleur, 17 May 1866 – Paris, 1 July 1925) was a French composer and pianist. ... Premiere, from French language première meaning first, generally means a first performance. Premieres for theatrical, musical, and other productions are often extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media attention. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... Elevator music, also known as piped music or Muzak, refers to the gentle, bland arrangements of popular music designed for play in shopping malls, grocery stores, telephone systems (while the caller is on hold), and, of course, elevators. ... An intermission is a break between two performances or sessions, as in events such as a theatrical play, opera or musical concert. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ...

External Links

• Film online at Ubuweb