What is it about?
Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, French composer Claude Debussy and Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein are all mythical, larger-than-life figures of modernity. They mark the threshold between 19th and 20th century aesthetics, soon to be dominated by the avant-gardes. This paper shows how the theory of Austrian avant-garde architect Adolf Loos can help to understand the structure of D’Annunzio’s and Debussy’s faux-medieval play "Le Martyre de saint Sébastien" – and why it confused its audience when it premiered in 1911.
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Why is it important?
The paper combines perspectives that are normally kept separate, tackling at the same time literature, music, costume design, architecture. It shows that the variegated artistic project "Le Martyre de saint Sébastien", often regarded as kitsch and monstrously over the top, obeys a unified aesthetic logic at odds with austere avant-gardism. The paper thus helps us understand better artistic developments in the 20th century.
Perspectives
It was great fun to write about such famous, important and, in part, flamboyant artistic figures, vying for success, yet failing in this particular case, as funny anecdotes proved fruitful for understanding the aesthetic particularities of the play - in my paper, you will find a description of D'Annunzio's hotel room or Debussy's little daughter incessantly chanting D'Annunzio's name: "Gabriel! Gabriel!".
Henning Hufnagel
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Crime et ornement : suggestions sacrales et présences corporelles dans Le Martyre de saint Sébastien de Gabriele D’Annunzio. Avec une coda à propos d’Hélène de Sparte d’Émile Verhaeren, November 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004747265_014.
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