Themes of Christian Spirituality, New Plastic Forms, and the Perception of Visual Formulas in Twentieth-Century French Musical and Theatrical Works

Azarova Valentina Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0003-1049-2259 Doctor of Art History Professor, Department of Organ, Harpsichord, and Carillon, Saint-Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Universitetskaya Naberezhnaya 7-9 azarova_v.v@inbox.ru Other publications by this author

Through the Catholic tradition, the theme of the sacrificial feats of saints and martyrs in the name of Christ remained relevant in French musical and theatrical art throughout the twentieth century. As an authority in the field, J. Omann notes, "Christian spirituality of the twentieth century, if it owes its development to one country more than another, then this country is France" ^{[1, p. 796]}. The works of French thinkers and playwrights G. Bernanos and P. Claudel, composers C. Debussy, F. Poulenc, A. Honegger, D. Milhaud, and O. Messiaen have received worldwide recognition. Among the works created in line with the Christian tradition are: The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian by C. Debussy (1911–1915), The Tidings brought to Mary by P. Claudel (1912—1948), The Legend of St. Christopher by V. d’Indy (1920), Joan of Arc at the Stake by P. Claudel and A. Honegger (1935—1942), Dialogues of the Carmelites by G. Bernanos and F. Poulenc (1957), Christopher Columbus by P. Claudel and D. Milhaud (1930), St. Francis of Assisi: Franciscan Scenes by O. Messiaen (1983). M. L. Muginstein, the author of the encyclopedia Chronicle of World Opera (1600—2000), defined the Mystery opera by Messiaen as "the pinnacle of the religious tradition started by the first spiritual opera: The Idea of the Soul and Body by Cavalieri (1600) ^{[2, p. 440]}." Among the dramatic and musical works of French theatrical art of the twentieth century, a group of compositions by P. Claudel, A. Honegger, and O. Messiaen stands out.

Their works unite spiritual meaning, the synthetic basis of musical and theatrical action, the identity of themes of Christian spirituality, and the presence of genre elements of mystery in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

The mystery The Tidings brought to Mary, the musical poem Joan of Arc at the Stake by Claudel, and the dramatic oratorio of the same name by Honegger, as well as the opera St. Francis of Assisi: Franciscan Scenes based on his own text ("poem") contain identical images/symbols (the cross, the sound of bells, the singing of birds, invisible heavenly forces, the light of truth). Symbolic images often function like leitmotifs that take part in developing themes of Christian spirituality.

It could be assumed that the works of synthetic theater created by French playwrights and composers in line with the Christian tradition are dominated by a complexity of themes that reveal the problem of "human life before God" (S. Averintsev’s expression). The themes included in the named complex can be conditionally designated as follows: the theme of Christian love and sacrifice to Christ, the theme of spiritual and moral achievements of saints on the way to God, the theme of healing the suffering and resurrection of the dead, the theme of invisible heavenly forces or "the voice of heaven," and the theme of praise to God’s creatures.

The theme of Christian love and sacrifice to Christ

Claudel develops the evangelical theme of the saints' repetition of the sacrificial feat of the life and death of Christ, as well as the theme of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s spiritual feat of love, humility, and mercy.

The mystery of The Tidings brought to Mary contains the theme of Christian love and sacrifice to Christ. The play's main character, Violaine, rejects the possibility of earthly love and sacrifices her life in the name of her love for Christ. After leaving her home, she joins the lepers. Eight years later, Violaine humbly accepts her own death as a manifestation of the highest form of the saint's love for God.

In Claudel's "musical poem" and Honegger's dramatic oratorio of the same name, Joan of Arc at the Stake, the heroine, having made the sign of the cross with her bound hands, says: "I want to light one candle / For the altar of the Holy Virgin / I will become this beautiful candle myself" ^{[3, p. 209]}. In the ninth part of the Sword of Joan, the spiritual meaning of the work is revealed: the legendary weapon of Joan of Arc, the defender of the French land from the invaders, the British, is not a sword but love. "This sword! That shiny sword! His name is not hate, but love!" the heroine exclaims ^{[3, p. 192]}.

In Messiaen's opera about Saint Francis of Assisi, the development of the theme of Christian love and sacrifice to Christ reaches a climax when Blessed Francis begs Christ to grant him the opportunity to experience the torments of the cross. St. Francis’s heart is overflowing with all-embracing love for the Creator: "Lord! Lord! Music and poetry brought me to You! An image, a symbol, and a search for truth," exclaimed Francis of Assisi ^{[12, pp. 117–124]}.

The theme of the spiritual and moral achievements of saints on the way to God in the mystery of The Tidings brought to Mary, as in the poem Joan of Arc at the Stake

Claudel states: "France must rise again, as it has already risen once thanks to Joan of Arc" ^{[4, p. 584]}. In scene eight of the poem and Honegger's dramatic oratorio of the same name (The King is going to Reims), the main character states: "It was I who saved France! It was I who united France! All the forces of France have merged into a single state that cannot be divided!" ^{[3, pp. 160–161]}.

In the text of the mystery The Tidings brought to Mary, Claudel included the theme of Joan of Arc’s spiritual and moral achievements and presented it in the form of a display of the events of the Hundred Years' War. In act two, scene one, residents of the surrounding villages, who are building a road for the king's passage in the winter forest, are talking about the upcoming coronation of Charles VII in Reims, where Joan of Arc accompanies him. Peasants associate the presence of Joan of Arc near the king with the providence of God (spiritual predestination), as the defender of France was born on the eve of the great Christian holiday: "She was born on the night of the Epiphany!" ^{[4, p. 407]}.

The theme of St. Francis of Assisi's moral achievements on the way to God received a cross-cutting development in the Mystery opera by Messiaen. The composer presented the events of the last two years of St. Francis’s life (1224—1226), which turned out to be the peak of his spiritual path. The events of the war between Perugia and Assisi, when Francesco Bernardone (Francis) was captured, remained in the past, where he was held for a year until his release (1202–1203). The meeting with lepers (1206) was significant on Francis’s path of spiritual "conversion." Leading the life of a hermit, Francis of Assisi worked to restore the destroyed churches of St. Damian, St. Peter, and the Blessed Virgin Mary (Porziuncoli, 1208). In those years, the first of Francis of Assisi’s companions appeared: Brother Bernard and Peter Cattani. Creative inspiration prompted St. Francis to compose prayers, sermons, poems, and lauds continuously. The defining milestones on his spiritual path were the adoption of the Gospel "as a rule of life" and the beginning of the "apostolic journey" ^{[5, p. 285]}.

The English art critic, literary critic, and writer John Ruskin (1819–1900), who called the teachings of Francis of Assisi "The Gospel of Works," characterized the three main commandments of his teaching: "You have to work for free and be poor. You must work without seeking pleasure and be chaste. You must work, fulfilling your duty, and be obedient" ^{[6, p. 17]}.

A new accomplishment on the saint’s spiritual path occurred during his meeting with the pious Christian ascetic, the nun Clara—the future founder of the Order of the Lesser Sisters. St. Francis compiled a text for the Order of Saint Claire in the The rules of The Poor Clares. The spiritual life of the Younger Brothers and Sisters took place with the active participation of Father Francis.

A long preparation preceded St. Francis’s trip to the East (Egypt), where he preached before the sultan and received a new experience of spiritual life. After returning from the East, Francis of Assisi refused to direct the leadership of the Order of the Lesser Brothers; he appointed the vicar Peter Cattani as head, who was replaced by Brother Elijah.

For more than ten years, St. Francis worked on compiling spiritual instructions (Exhortations) for the Minorite brothers. These spiritual texts have been preserved to this day. Thus, Messiaen cites the provisions from the Instructions on True and Perfect Joy in the 1st picture (The Cross) of the opera about Francis of Assisi.

The development of the charter of the Order of the Friars Minor by Saint Francis ended with the writing of the corresponding bull by Pope Honorius III, which approved the charter (1223). In 1224, the signs of the wounds of Christ were revealed on Francis of Assisi’s body. In our article devoted to the consideration of the ideas and symbols of Christianity in the operas of P. Dukas and O. Messiaen (2013), it was mentioned that in the twelve centuries that have passed since the crucifixion of Christ, St. Francis of Assisi was the first to be honored with the perception of the Savior’s wounds of the cross ^{[7, p. 12]}. Messiaen revealed the mystical details of this "new miracle" or "new mystery" in the 7th painting (Stigmata).

Saint Francis composed several spiritual epistles in the last years of his life. Having abandoned his preaching due to the stigmata and an incurable eye disease, St. Francis dictated to his assistants the Logies, interpretations, A Song of Praise to God in Creation, a message to the Poor Ladies of the monastery of St. Damian, a testament. Saint Francis died in Assisi "after sunset on October 3, 1226, lying on the bare ground near the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary" ^{[5, p. 294]}. His life consisted of spiritual and moral achievements, prayerful praise to the Creator, and poetic creativity.

The theme of healing the suffering and resurrection of the dead

The above-mentioned topic conventionally reproduces the presentation of events repeatedly mentioned in the Gospels: Christ’s healing of the suffering and the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter, as well as Lazarus [John 12:9]. In Messiaen's opera, painting three (The Leper's Kiss) is dedicated to showing the miracle of Francis of Assisi's healing of a patient suffering from leprosy. Like Christ, Saint Francis healed a leper.

The theme of healing lepers has a cross-cutting development in Claudel's mystery The Tidings brought to Mary. The character Pierre de Craon (the builder of cathedrals) was cured of leprosy by the will of God; the main character Violaine, blinded by leprosy, endured painful trials on the way to holiness.

Claudel's mystery The Tidings brought to Mary, in his "musical poem" Joan of Arc at the Stake, and Honegger's dramatic oratorio of the same name embody identical themes related to the saints performing the miracle of the resurrection of a child. The event, which takes place in act three, scene two of the mystery, is accompanied by the reading of the Holy Scriptures, the singing of an invisible choir of angels, and the ringing of bells. According to the prayers of Saint Violaine during the festive liturgy of the Nativity of Christ, a child comes to life in her arms—a girl named Aubaine—whose dead body was brought to the main character by her sister Mara.

This miracle was also associated with the name of Joan of Arc, but "the Catholic Church did not consider this fact reliable and did not take it into account during the canonization" of the saint ^{[4, p. 584]}.

The theme of the resurrection of the dead was interpreted by the English writer and Catholic thinker G. K. Chesterton in the treatise St. Francis of Assisi: "One day, when St. Francis in his simple way played a Christmas action with magi and angels in stiff bright clothes and golden wigs instead of shining, a truly Franciscan miracle happened—he took a wooden baby in his arms, and he came to life" [Chesterton, p. 92]. The healing of the suffering and the resurrection of the dead in French musical and theatrical works are presented as a miracle.

The theme of invisible heavenly forces or "voices of heaven" in the works of Claudel, Honegger, and Messiaen

The theme of invisible heavenly forces or "the voice of heaven" is developed through and through, which contains the genre vector of the mystery: "action in heaven."

The development of the "voices of heaven" theme reveals the spiritual meaning of Claudel’s "musical poem," Joan of Arc at the Stake, and Honegger's dramatic oratorio of the same name. The main character listens to the voices of Saints Catherine and Marguerite; in the finale of the work, the Blessed Virgin Mary's voice joins the saints'. Images of heavenly forces are present in part one of The Voices of Heaven, part seven of Catherine and Marguerite, and part eleven of Joan of Arc at the Stake.

In Claudel's mystery The Tidings brought to Mary, the voices of the heavenly powers, singing in Latin, are heard only by the main character, Violaine. The topic in question arises in the prologue and then develops in the introduction to act two. Having reached a climax in the second picture of act three, the theme of "the voice of heaven" is confirmed in the mystery’s finale (act four).

In the fourth picture of Messiaen's opera, The Angel Traveler, the mysterious messenger of heaven (an angel) enters into a dialogue with the minor brothers, who take him for a young traveler. In the fifth painting, The Angel Musician, the messenger of God appears in front of St. Francis with a viola and an arched bow. Playing the viola, the Angel allows the saint to hear the music of the invisible world.

Following the tradition of Claudel, Messiaen discovered the theological meaning of the opera Saint Francis of Assisi: Franciscan Scenes as a word addressed to a person: the call of God. In the seventh painting (Stigmata), through an invisible choir, the composer quotes the Gospel, the Epistle of the Apostle Paul, and a fragment from the text of St. Thomas Aquinas. Messiaen realized the artistic intent of this work by expanding with the help of quotations and the space of the meaning behind the mystery opera. "I wanted to capture in a sequence of eight paintings the evolution of grace in the soul of the saint," the composer noted ^{[9, p. 67]}. The theme of invisible heavenly forces or "the voice of heaven," as shown in the works of Claudel, Honegger, and Messiaen, reveals the meaning of the dialogue between God and the saint.

The theme of praise for creations in the works of Claudel, Honegger, and Messiaen: The theme of praise for creations as an independent development.

Paying special attention to the long tradition of Christian poetry, we uncovered its relevance in the twentieth century. An example of the poetic genre of praise is The Canticle of Brother Sun by Francis of Assisi, otherwise called Praise of Creations. This work contains a fragment dedicated to the element of fire: "May my brother Fire praise the Lord — always / Cheerful, cheerful, clear / A companion of peaceful leisure and work / Invincible and beautiful! (Translated by D. S. Merezhkovsky)" ^{[10, p. 8]}.

The finale of Claudel's poem and Honegger's dramatic oratorio, Joan of Arc at the Stake, contains a hidden quote from The Canticle of Brother Sun by Francis of Assisi. Here the praise of the element of fire is represented in the chorus. On behalf of the French people, Claudel and Honegger glorified France’s heroine: "May our sister Joan be glorified, holy, pure, lively, ardent, eloquent, all-conquering, invincible, dazzling!" ^{[3, p. 244]}. The poet compared the image of Joan of Arc with that of an ever-living flame burning in the heart of France.

In Messiaen's opera dedicated to Saint Francis, the main character sings Praises to Creations stanza by stanza in paintings two, five, and eight, which allows us to conclude that one of the main themes of the spiritual creativity of Francis of Assisi is developing through the work. Chapter 125 of Tomasso da Celano’s Latin text is titled: "The creatures responded to him with love. The fire did not burn him" ^{[11, p. 108]}. Including in the libretto a semantic rhyme with the text of The Canticle of Brother Sun by Francis of Assisi, Messiaen emphasized a shade of meaning that goes back to the Christian sacrament of God-given grace (gratia gratis data). In the first picture of Messiaen's opera (The Cross), Saint Francis, talking with Brother Leon (one of the Minorite monks), draws the attention of his constant companion to the cause of the appearance of all objects of the visible world. "In every creation, he praised the Artist; and everything he found in the creations he attributed to the Creator," the biographer of St. Francis noted ^{[11, p. 106]}. "He recognized the Supreme Beauty in beautiful things," summed up Tomasso da Celano ^{[11, pp. 106–107]}.

In the second painting (Laudæ), Francis of Assisi glorifies the elements bestowed by God: wind, water, fire, and earth. He blesses the Lord, who created time, space, light, and color, as well as beauty and ugliness. In the fifth painting, Blessed Francis, praying in solitude, sings two new praises, honoring "Brother Sun" and "Sister Moon." Messiaen discovered the ascent of St. Francis’ thoughts to the meaning of the text of Holy Scripture (One Epistle to the Corinthians of St. Paul the Apostle. XV, 41–42), which mentions the various purposes of the sun and moon, and also talks about the death of a person and the immortality of their soul.

In the finale of the opera (picture eight), St. Francis praises "the sister of our bodily death, which no one can avoid" ^{[12, p. 56]}. Over the course of eight paintings, the composer reveals the world of the spiritual, poetic creations of Francis of Assisi as an experience of life intended to affirm the praise of the Creator and glorify the beauty of the visible world.

The composer realized a grandiose artistic idea, the purpose of which was to discover the increasing grace in the saint's soul. The embodied idea of the author—a synthetic performance about Francis of Assisi—is often likened to a unique musical and theological "creation," and its creator Messiaen is called "the musician of God."

New plastic forms of dance and the reception of visual formulas in the creation of French musical works of the twentieth century

French musical theater in the twentieth century actively attracted both bright masters of painting and stage space converters, which in the early 1900s led to the emergence of a new type of theater painters and stage architects.

The cult of painting as such reigned on the stages of Russian musical theater, where the founders of new theatrical paintings, M. V. Vasnetsov, V. D. Polenov, and A. Ya. Golovin, formed a professional branch of theatrical and decorative art. New views on modern stage scenery were discovered by authoritative Russian painters K. A. Korovin, M. V. Dobuzhinsky, I. Ya. Bilibin, M. A. Vrubel, B. I. Anisfeld, A. N. Benois, N. K. Roerich, and L. S. Bakst. Russian artists' theatrical sketches of scenery, costumes, and graphic works were discussed in the pages of Russian and foreign magazines and newspapers. In May 1913, an international exhibition in Paris was devoted to sketches of Bakst's theatrical scenery and costumes. "Painting has flourished on the Russian stage. Russia turned out to be far ahead of its foreign neighbors," noted art critic R. I. Vlasova ^{[13, p. 6]}. Painting’s conquest of the Russian theater scene soon became known abroad, first of all in France, where representatives of musical and theatrical art (theatrical painting, pantomime and recitation, singing, and the plasticity of ballet dance forms) showed interest in the current idea of updating dance art, music, and painting.

Russian ballet director S. P. Diaghilev (1872–1929), who defined the tasks of Russian ballet as "pictorial" and the art of dance as "painting movements," owes its history to the assertion of the idea of the synthesis of arts as a new artistic phenomenon in world ballet ^{[13, p. 6]}. The aesthetics of Russian ballet, with its exemplary status of classical dance both during Diaghilev's lifetime and after his death, remained the initial criterion in the system of assessing dance art.

New principles in Diaghilev's work were formed during the creation of his permanent troupe (1911), which were performed in I. Stravinsky's ballets The Firebird, Petrushka, Le Sascre du Printemps, Polovtsian Dances to the music of A. Borodin, L’Arpès-midi d’un Fauneand Games to the music of C. Debussy, Tragedy Salome to the music of F. Schmitt, Daphnis and Chloe to the music of M. Ravel (1912), and The Legend of Joseph to the music of R. Strauss. Diaghilev noticeably updated Russian ballet's repertoire during his collaboration with Russian artists M. Larionov and N. Goncharova in Paris. In the early 1920s, Diaghilev invited the French decorator A. Derain to participate in choreographic productions of "Russian Ballet," then composers from the group of "Six" F. Poulenc and D. Milhaud, who wrote the ballets Lani and Blue Express. Pablo Picasso participated in the design of the ballet performances The Cocked Hat by M. de Falla and Pulcinella by I. Stravinsky. In productions by the dancer and choreographer B. Nezhinskaya of the Milhaud ballet Blue Express (1924), new forms of dance interacted with costume elements by G. Chanel and M. Laurencin. By the beginning of 1922, Diaghilev was the inspirer and organizer of seventy projects.

Describing Diaghilev's activity, researcher I. V. Nestiev noted: "Before us is the 'restless daring' (Benois), an enthusiast devoted to art, who possessed a rare artistic flair and an irrepressible desire to continuously update and move forward his beloved spheres of musical theater" ^{[14, p. 211]}.

Since the early 1900s, the renewal of dance art has been embodied on the stage of French musical theater by the famous Russian dancer and actress Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (1883–1960), who arrived in Paris in 1908 with Diaghilev's troupe. In 1909, I. Rubinstein, along with the soloists of Diaghilev's ballet A. Pavlova, T. Karsavina, V. Nijinsky, and M. Fokin, performed the role of Cleopatra in a one-act choreographic drama with stage music by Russian composers (the premiere of the play took place at the Théâtre du Châtelet ). In 1910, the ballerina performed the main role of the play Scheherazade to the music of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (the performance took place at the Grand Opera). Creating the images of Cleopatra and Scheherazade, the ballerina sought to give the images emotional fullness and reveal the features of their characters. After leaving Diaghilev's ballet, Rubinstein created her own enterprise in Paris. She presented interpretations of biblical, historical, and mythological themes turned to the restoration of the ancient genres of miracle and mystery, in which the themes of Christian spirituality were realized. Stage pantomime, ballet, melodrama, dramatic reading (melodeclamation)—an extensive range of genres, which revealed the versatile experience of Rubinstein's creation of a multifaceted dance pattern, later defined as "intellectual dance."

Expanding the range of themes and genres led Rubinstein to update the elements of stage movement and dance. The dance included in the libretto's literary (dramatic) text's content modified the entire performance's semantic load. In works of religious content, the texts of the Holy Scripture quoted by the authors of the libretto—a source of a special kind—are endowed with semantic and dramatic functions. (In the Christian world, there is traditionally an idea that the Holy Spirit created the texts of the Holy Scripture). The content of religious works in the French synthetic theater of the twentieth century is often conveyed in the language of plastic movements (dance, gesture, pantomime). Therefore, it can be argued that an integral element of the works of the French synthetic theater is new plastic forms of stage movement and dance. Thus, designed to express the depth of the content of the religious text, the dance was endowed with a depth of sacred meaning. By incorporating elements of dance art based on free body plasticity into dance, Rubinstein contributed to the expansion of the range of dance forms in the French synthetic theater of the 1920s and 1930s. Here, "dancing forms" subordinated to the laws of dance were presented, which organized the interaction of form (body), stage space, and time (rhythm) in a new way. The concept of the "dancing form" was expressed by the art critic O. Naumova with the formula: "The dance of the body is the dance of the form" ^{[15, p. 13]}. The named form transformed both plasticity, stage movement, and the organization of space.

Rubinstein integrated elements of fine art into dance, strengthening the interaction of plastic forms and painting. In 1915, she performed on the stage of the Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet as a dancer and dramatic actress in the title role of the saint in G. D’Annunzio's mystery—C. Debussy's The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The dance drawing of the actress was replete with bizarre and diverse plastic forms. The artist not only expressed the idea of an animated sculpture or an ancient Egyptian bas-relief made of bronze or plaster but also discovered a new understanding of the organization of the stage space, in which the elements of the color of the scenery and costumes of Bakst, light, and shadow interacted. In the language of rhythmic alternation of movements and static elements of dance and body plasticity, Rubinstein sought to visualize the expressive elements present in the pictorial images of the execution of St. Sebastian dancing on hot coals. Rubinstein's contemporaries interpreted the new plastic forms of her stage movement and dance as the discovery of the synthesis of elements of various arts.

Creators of works for musical theater in France—M. Maeterlinck, P. Dukas, and C. Debussy—discovered a new attitude to the problem of semantic aspects of drama, opera, and mystery. First, we are talking about a new understanding of the problem of the interaction of elements of paganism and Christianity. The problem received an artistic realization in the mysteries of G. D’Annunzio and C. Debussy's The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, which prepared the appearance of synthetic musical and theatrical works by F. Schmitt, V. d'Endi, A. Honegger, and I. Stravinsky. The problem of synthesizing aspects of antiquity and Christianity in Debussy's mystery The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian is devoted to chapter four of our monograph Antiquity in French opera of the 1890s–1900s (2006) ^{[16, p. 144]}.

From 1928 to 1935, having become a famous performer of dance and dramatic roles, a patron, and a customer of works for the French musical theater, Rubinstein created at least twenty creative projects.

In the synthetic artistic form of the play Joan of Arc based on P. Claudel's "musical poem," the elements of the drama interact with the expressive emotional and psychological space of the vocal-symphonic musical fabric and with new types of "dancing form" based on the free plasticity of the body. In creating the image of Joan of Arc, Rubinstein included various plastic forms of stage movement.

The new organization of the stage space in the play about Joan of Arc required the integration of masks and stage accessories, as well as "silent actors" and new plastic forms of stage movement. Features of genre elements of Honegger's dramatic oratorio Joan of Arc at the Stake were considered by us in a separate article (2018) ^[17]. To expand the reader's understanding of the French synthetic theater, we will add several judgments about the synthesis of elements in the dramatic oratorio of Joan of Arc at the Stake to the published text. In the production of this work, it was assumed that Claudel's special requirements for the principles of the organization of the stage space, for the staging of mass scenes with the participation of a symphony orchestra, soloists, mixed and children's choirs, and pantomime were fulfilled. A prerequisite for the playwright was "une scene, deux étages" (the location on the stage of two levels). On a higher level, there is a place of execution with a pillar to which Joan of Arc is tied. At the lower level, episodes from the main character’s life were to be shown with the participation of various characters, including backup actors ^{[18, p. 44]}. Claudel discovered the principle of the duplication of actors portraying the main characters in the productions of traditional Japanese theater. The playwright described this principle in the theoretical articles Bunraku Theater and Nō Theater and applied it in the productions of his own plays ^{[19, pp. 44, 46]}. Thus, the interaction of elements of modern Western European theater with those of the traditional theater of the East, which is relevant to modern synthetic theater, was achieved. "Claudel wanted a real synthesis of all its constituent elements to be achieved in the theater, in which each of them would occupy only a place strictly corresponding to its characteristics," A. Honegger argued ^{[20, pp. 172–173]}.

Beyond traditional theatricality. The interaction of sound and visual (color and light) elements is due to the peculiarities of synthesizing opera and mystery genre elements in Messiaen's work St. Francis of Assisi: Franciscan Scenes

The author's commentary on each of the eight paintings describes the action, stage lighting, character costumes, and mise-en-scène elements. The laconic characteristics of landscape features vary from scene to scene, as do Messiaen's indications of lighting transformations. The composer duplicates the description of the appearance of the characters from one painting to another; the opera's main character is dressed in a Franciscan robe that’s terracotta in color, with a hood hanging along his back; blessed Francis is girded with a rope on which knots are tied. The minor friars are dressed in black Franciscan robes with hoods; the monks are also belted with ropes hanging from the right.

The characteristic details noted by the composer relate to St. Francis is that he was a man of short stature and humble appearance, wearing a sparse reddish beard, reddish-dark hair, and a tonsure—constant signs of St. Francis’ appearance. In the commentary on the seventh picture (Stigmata), Messiaen pointed out that the saint had aged, and his beard was touched with gray. Francis of Assisi is still dressed in an old cassock with a hood (the cassock is mended in places). A bleeding wound is visible through the tear on the right. The saint's bare feet are shod in sandals.

Messiaen gave new instructions regarding the visual scope in the final seventh picture: the whole scene with the choir located on it is illuminated in red-orange. In this flow of color and light, a large golden cross and St. Francis' brown cassock stand out in contrast. The color elements are visual formulas created by the composer.

Part of the author's commentary reveals the principle of reception of visual formulas from paintings of the Proto-Renaissance era. "It is necessary to recreate the similarity with the portrait of Francis of Assisi painted by Cimabue in Assisi, as well as the gestures and poses of the saint, which Giotto endowed him with," Messiaen noted ^{[21, p. 46]}. Let's pay attention to the works of Cimabue and Giotto, recommended by Messiaen. J. Vasari, in the biography of the Florentine painter Giovanni Cimabue (1240–1302), who noted that the artist was invited to "Assisi already being a famous master in Florence, the author of the image of St. Francis on a small board, on a golden background, surrounded by twenty stamps... with tiny figures [also] on a golden background" ^{[22, p. 18]}. The golden color indicates the sacred purpose of the frescoes.

In Assisi, while working with several Greek artisans in the Lower Church of St. Francis, Cimabue created a picturesque part of the vaults; on the walls, he painted the life of Jesus Christ and the image of St. Francis.

The famous art critic Hippolyte Taine (1828–1893), who studied Cimabue’s painting in Assisi with a Vasari book in his hands, noted the characteristic features that distinguished the works of the Florentine artist from the images of Greek masters created according to a template. "A soul that has its own life, an individual and special character that makes you feel even in a vague rough draft—what a novelty!" exclaims I. Teng ^{[23, p. 92]}.

For the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, Cimabue created a life-size image of St. Francis holding a red-covered book with staples in both hands. The book's appearance is a bright coloristic detail, standing out against the background of a worn cassock falling to the ground. This book, it can be assumed, symbolizes the result of Francis of Assisi's spiritual work, which is called the Gospel of Works. The unique features of this image are the gentle gaze of St. Francis and his humble posture.

Giotto di Bondone (1266–1337) created a cycle of thirty-two frescoes on the theme of the life of St. Francis, continuing the work of his teacher Cimabue. The combination of several visual formulas is represented in Giotto's fresco The Miracle with the Spring, located in the Upper Church of St. Francis of Assisi's Monastery. The figure of a kneeling monk is directed after the palms of his hands stretched out to the sky in prayer. The saint's face conveys his state of mind. This is a prayerful ecstasy: the eyes of Blessed Francis are turned to heaven with faith and gratitude. Vasari noted the abundance of gestures and poses of various characters from the entourage of the head of the Franciscan Order. Reflecting on the peculiarities of the gestures and poses of the characters in Giotto's images, the famous Russian art critic, historian, and writer P. P. Muratov (188–1950) clarified that movement was of little interest to Giotto. "He was completely absorbed in the great task—to give artistic existence to man, to embody in forms the diverse states of the human soul...He was not as concerned with mental movement as the state of mind. Everything is said about his figures by their position in the painting, by the pose assigned to them by the artist's thought," Muratov summarized ^{[24, p. 62]}.

In the lower church of St. Francis of Assisi, Giotto presented St. Francis in heaven, surrounded by virtues (obedience, prudence, humility, hope, chastity, repentance, and purity). Giotto's frescoes dedicated to the heavenly life of St. Francis are a picturesque analogy of the Christian poetic genre of praise. The image of Francis of Assisi is presented here as the personification of Christian spirituality. According to Bernard Bernson, an authoritative researcher of Italian Renaissance painting, Giotto conveyed the spiritual meaning of each of the numerous scenes "to the extent that his own skill and conditional limitations of painting allow him" ^{[25, p. 25]}.

The principle reception of visual formulas operates in the fourth picture of Messiaen's opera St. Francis of Assisi: Franciscan Scenes (The Angel Traveler). The composer outlined in the libretto his idea of the rainbow palette of colors on the wings of an Angel and the details of his costume. Messiaen, who had a keen eye for the artist, noted in the image of the Annunciation by Fra Beato Angelico (1400–1455) the combination of colors on the Angel's clothes: "His [Angel's] costume is similar to the image in one of Fra Angelico’s paintings The Annunciation, which is in the Museum of St. Mark in Florence. The Angel's clothes are purple-pink and gold on the chest and back... The wings on the back are five-colored; the colors are separated by vertical multicolored stripes... In the middle of the Angel's wing is a large blue insert" ^{[21, p. 64]}. The composer included a visual formula in the description of the wings of an Angel appearing in the fourth picture of the opera.

The libretto of the opera contains Messiaen's explanation of the nature of the Angel's movement in space, literally conveying the composer's understanding of the concept of "dancing form." The unusual movement of the Angel along the road leading to the monastery of the Minorite monks on Mount Verna is characterized by Messiaen as follows: "The Angel is motionless, then he takes a few steps. It's like he's dancing without touching the ground" ^{[21, p. 66]}. The interaction of the elements of painting, the "dancing form" of the Angel's movement in space, and the parameters of the vocal-symphonic musical fabric formed a "real synthesis" of the arts in Messiaen's mystery opera.

The visual formulas in the images of Blessed Francis by the artists of the Proto-Renaissance and Fra Beato Angelico reveal "undying archaic elements" in French musical and theatrical works of the twentieth century. Messiaen's mystery opera asserts the relevance of Christian themes of spirituality and the importance of examples from the lives of holy confessors of the Christian faith for contemporaries. Peter Sellars, director of Messiaen's opera St. Francis of Assisi: Franciscan Scenes, expressed the idea of the significance of works representing the achievements of the righteous, ascetics, and martyrs: "The life of saints never loses its relevance, which is steadily preserved as a cornerstone for each generation. Saints come to life again in our thoughts and hearts and, more importantly, in our actions" ^{[21, p. 120]}.

Turning to the conclusions, we note:

In the works of twentieth-century French synthetic theater, there is a complex function to the themes of Christian spirituality, revealing the actual meaning of the interpretation of a person’s problem of holiness and moral behavior.

The reception by twentieth-century French playwrights, theater directors, and composers of the visual formulas of thirteenth to fifteenth-century paintings led to the expansion of the range of interacting elements of various arts (drama, music, painting, dance, stage movement, light, and color sphere) in twentieth-century musical and theatrical works.

Special plastic forms, subject to the laws of dance, formed the concept of the "dancing form" in twentieth-century French synthetic musical and theatrical works. They present a dance-modified play of shapes, proportions, color, and light.

The works of P. Claudel, A. Honegger, and O. Messiaen perform significant functions on the musical and theatrical stage, revealing both a "thinking attitude to the past" and "mediation with modern life" (H.G. Gadamer) ^{[26, p. 220]}.