Vocabulary from the script/score
After going through the libretto, these are the words that stood out to me most as needing to be defined. This is not a finalized list and if there are other words you have questions about, let me know!
Paintings and places referenced in the libretto:
Act 1
Arpeggiated Chord (stage directions)
A chord is said to be “arpeggiated” when the notes belonging to the chord are performed sequentially rather than simultaneously. Arpeggios are also referred to as “broken chords.”
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Bustle
A bustle is a padded undergarment used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century.
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La Couple
La Coupole is a famous brasserie (restaurant) in Montparnasse in Paris.
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Stay(s)
Stays, sometimes called a pair of stays, were a common woman’s garment in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Rather like a corset, stays were commonly worn under a dress to support and shape a woman’s figure. They could also be worn like a bodice as outer clothing over a blouse and skirt.
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Tableau Vivant
A tableau vivant, French for "living picture", is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit.
Bronx Cheer
The phrase “Bronx cheer” means to create a sound when ridiculing somebody. Most often, both lips are closed to blow a whistle by using the tongue as the piping organ to create a sound of disrespect. It is the sound of contempt, similar to jeering and cat-calling.
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Pastoral
The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture.
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Follies
Refering to the The Folies Bergère, a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France.
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Promenade/
Promenading
To take a leisurely public walk, ride, or drive so as to meet or be seen by others.
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Garbage Scow
A garbage scow is a large watercraft used to transport refuse and waste/garbage across waterways.
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Ballast
Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship (or in the gondola of a balloon), to provide stability. Figuratively, anything that steadies emotion or the mind.
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Liebchen
A person who is very dear to another (often used as a term of endearment.
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Act 2
Gavotte
A medium-paced French dance, popular in the 18th century or a piece of music accompanying or in the rhythm of a gavotte, composed in common time beginning on the third beat of the bar.
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Beaux Arts
École Des Beaux-arts, school of fine arts founded in Paris in 1671. The school offered instruction in drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, and engraving to students selected by competitive examination. Georges Seurat trained here.
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Group of Independent Artists
The Société des Artistes Indépendants (Society of Independent Artists) or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris. Georges Seurat's paintings were shown here when they were denied from the official salons.
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Florodora Girl
A girl in the chorus line in Forodora, an Edwardian musical. ​
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Monet, Renoir, Sisley
Three of the most famous French Impressionist painters working just prior to Seurat. ​
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Theme and Variation
A theme and variation is a form of music that begins with a main melody (the theme) that is then altered or changed in some way throughout the piece. More broadly, any type of art that alters or edits a main through-line/theme.
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https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/understanding-music/theme-and-variations/
Neo-
Expressionism
Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. It is characterized by intense subjectivity and rough handling of materials.
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