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Chapter 5.
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and Smyrna. As an anonymous writer wrote: “Manasse is the first person who brought French art to us in the Orient.”3 Yet, throughout his life, he almost always failed in his enterprises. His failures build up a narrative about the birth of a specific repertoire of music theatre, in which he not only participated with management but also with musical theatricals.
Manasse’ Early Years
Seraphin Manasse was born in 1837 to an Ottoman Armenian family. Manasse is a very well known family name, as many served in the Ottoman administration as translators or diplomats already in the first half of the 19th century.4 His exact birthplace is not known, likely Istanbul. He was educated in Paris, perhaps listening to European music and operettas, then he spent a certain time in Milan, around 1859-1860. There Manasse likely received some musical training,5 and published a book
mentioned in the Türk Tiyatrosu Ansiklopedisi (M. Nihat Özön and Baha Dürder, eds.) as the director of the Fransiz Tiyatrosu in 1868 as “Manas or Minas” (Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 1967), 185, without a separate entry for his name. In the Armenian sources available to me, he is a very marginal figure in Garnik Step’anyan, Urvagits arevmtahay t‘adroni patmut‘yan, 3 vols. (Yerevan: HSSR GA
hrtrkch‘t‘n, 1962-1975), 2:85, 188; translated for me by Gérald Papasian. In the recently translated (from Armenian to Turkish) Şarasan (Sarkis Tütüncüyan), Türkiye ermenileri sahnesi ve çalı anları, 48, 103 Manasse remains equally marginal.
3 “M. Manasse est le premiere qui nous ait porté l’art français en Orient.” Moniteur Oriental/Oriental Advertiser, 18 June 1886, 3.
4 Members of the Manasse/Manas/Manase family not only served as diplomats but some of them were
artists also like the painter Joseph Manasse. In 1852, a “Sébouh [Sebub?] Manasse” was a dragoman at the Porte. Journal des débats politiques et litteraires, 19 November 1852, 1, (based on the Journal de Constantinople, 29 October 1852). There is a curious but perhaps unrelated data, namely that the Delegation of “Turkey” (the Ottoman Empire) in Bruxelles in 1858 was headed by Pierre Manasse who in this year recommended his cousin to Mme Petiteau in Paris. Journal des débats politiques et
litteraires, 30 May 1858, 3. Metin And provides that there was an Edgar “Manas” composer, conductor etc, and another one was “Srapion Manas” (= Seraphin) who was a theatre-maker, actor and writer;
And, Osmanlı Tiyatrosu, 289. Precious information is in the website of Istanbul Armenians, http://www.bolsohays.com/?part=yazar&gorev=oku&id=21 (the website states that the Manasse-family comes from Kayseri, a Central Anatolian town) (accessed November 11, 2010 – but at the time of terminating the writing, July 2011, this was unavailable). None the less, Seraphin Manasse could also conduct the orchestra (Revue de Constantinople, 14 March 1875, 465). Manasse is a very common family name, today there are more than 60.000 people with this family name in the world.
(http://peopleaz.org/firstname/Manasse/3, accessed March 18, 2011).
5 La Comédie, 9 August 1863, 8: “musicien distingué.”
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about this Milan experience, a romantic novel (“un roman de fantaisie”).6 He was a polyglot, surely knew Armenian, French, Italian, and likely Ottoman Turkish. His father wanted him to work in the imperial administration in Istanbul, just like other
members of the family, but he felt himself imprisoned. 7 He was an Ottoman subject.8 Young Seraphin Manasse returned to Istanbul perhaps during the autumn of 1860.9 He joined a group of theatre-makers, the so-called Hekimyan theatre group who were playing mostly in a café (Café Oriental) and were called “the Armenian theatre” by the press.10 His experimental musical, The Miller’s Daughter, was
presented in the Naum Theatre in Armenian in March 1862.11 This play is said to be a prose drama, but it was a musical piece,12 today forgotten.13 Manasse perhaps decided to deal with theatre professionally, likely with the encouragement of a businessman, and went to Paris during the summer of 1863 to collect artists for a troupe for a new
“French Theatre” in Istanbul.14
6 Seraphin Manasse, La Vie à Milan (Milan: Francesco Sanvito, 1861), 5. I am grateful for Réka Koltai for her precious help in getting images of this book.
7 La Comédie, 30 August 1863, 7. Hayal, 15 May 1290 (1875), 1.
8 In the Ottoman administrative correspondence once he is mentioned as “tebaʿ-ı devlet-i ʿaliyye.”
Irade dated 10 Muḥarram 1282 (5 June 1865), I.MVL 532/23872, BOA.
9 The first advertisement of his book about Milan in Istanbul (!) is in 29 June 1861 number of the Journal de Constantinople, 4.
10 Journal de Constantinople, 2 January 1862, 1. Cf. And, Osmanlı Tiyatrosu, 42. It is likely that “un jeune homme” who joined the Armenian theatre and wrote a vaudeville is Manasse. Journal de Constantinople, 1 February 1862, 3.
11 Journal de Constantinople, 26 March 1862, 3. And, Osmanlı Tiyatrosu, 42. arasan only mentions that the “Oriental Theatre” in 1862 played a “French opera” with Manasyan’s cooperation. arasan, Türkiye ermenileri sahnesi, 48. Cf. also And, Osmanlı Tiyatrosu, 42 and 289.
12 Already in the first report, the journalist ironically remarks that Manasse “a pris le chemin d’un opéra comique ‘sans le savoir’.” Journal de Constantinople, 26 March 1862, 3. Later, an anonymous letter of a reader to the Editors of the Journal mentions that Manasse’s play was “une pièce entremélée de chants.” Journal de Constantinople, 28 March 1862, 3. Continuing the polemy, another article describes the piece as “drame mêlê de chant.” Journal de Constantinople, 14 April 1862, 3. For the sujet of the play itself we can only guess: The “Miller’s daughter” “La Fille du Meunier” is a theme among the tales of the Grimm-brothers, there is also a French tale about a miller’s daughter.
13 This counts as an early Armenian play in the 19th century, perhaps translated to Ottoman Turkish, still staged in the 1880s. And, Osmanlı Tiyatrosu, 337, republished an advertisement in Ottoman Turkish from 1305 (1888) of this play, where the author’s name is missing.
14 La Comédie, 9 August 1863, 8.
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This “French Theatre” (Le Théâtre Français) was a private enterprise in the building of the Palais de Cristal that was renovated by Eduard Salla (or Sala), owned by Bartholomeo Giustiniani, as was shown in Chapter 4.15 This location offered a convenient place for conducting theatrical business, and Manasse started to use his knowledge of French to bring French music theatre to Istanbul. This can be regarded as his conscious decision to offer the modern/fashionable entertainment of popular Parisian operettas instead of high Italian opera, to the citizens of Istanbul.
Manasse’ First French Theatre in Istanbul (1863-1868)
Manasse organized a troupe in Paris, in the summer of 1863.16 The summer stay in the French capital became his practice; he surely returned to Paris in 1864,17 1865,18 1866,19 and in 186820 engaging well-known actors and singers from important Parisian theatres like the Théâtre Lyrique, but also from the countryside. He used
various French dramatic agencies, (Amédée Verger in 1863,21 Armand de Bongars in 186722). The French journals of Pera followed his travels, usually announcing in late summer/early autumn the expected programme of the troupes.23 The stage in the Palais de Cristal was usually labelled as French Theatre but also in the first years was also called “Oriental Theatre” (Théâtre Oriental de Pera).24
15 Journal de Constantinople, 16 November 1861, 3. From 1875 there is a piece of information that this construction was financed by Salla and Seraphin Manasse together. Revue de Constantinople, 23 May 1875, 371.
16 La Comédie, 30 August 1863, 7.
17 La Comédie, 23 June 1864, 7.
18 La Comédie, 13 August 1865, 5.
19 La Comédie, 13 May 1866, 8.
20 Levant Herald, 13 August 1868, 3.
21 La Comédie, 9 August 1863, 8.
22 La Comédie, 24 March 1867, 8.
23 Many times Manasse himself sent a letter to the journals, like the one in Journal de Constantinople, 26 July 1864, 3.
24 Manasse himself sends once the “tableau de la troupe française et celui de l’administration du Théâtre Oriental.” Journal de Constantinople, 19 August 1864, 3.
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By this time, Istanbul was a favourite destination of Italian musicians, but French troupes only occasionally played. With Manasse’ enterprise, French music theatre (Manasse usually brought an operetta troupe) got a strong foothold in the city in the 1860s. As I mentioned in the Introduction, this was viewed in France as a major victory in the cultural competition between Italian and French, and as a political act.25 Manasse himself looked upon his activity as a channel via which Parisian habits and fashions were transmitted to Istanbul. In 1868, he begged the mothers in Pera to let their daughters come to the French Theatre:
Where else can one acquire a better French? Where else can one be initiated into the fine manners? Where else can one pick up the original Parisian tricks? Where else can one go to copy the fashions and the outfits? (As some say): the fool invented fashion, and the wise conforms to it. [Original emphasis]26
Manasse also complained about the often-changing taste of the audience because they always demanded new pieces and new actors while in France “the directors only have to renew some of their minor actors occasionally.”27 The audience had perhaps the largest role, or at least this is how Manasse percieved it, in that the impresario had to return to Paris to bring the newest performances with new actors. The audience, in this way, “commissioned” the impresario to deliver distant fashions (cf. more in Chapter 12).
Edouard Salla was perhaps the one who financed the first season (1863/64),28 although later his name is not associated with this enterprise. Manasse alone asked for
permissions, signed the contracts – he was the “director of the French theatre” (“le
25 La Comédie, 17 February 1867, 9.
26 Levant Herald, 14 September 1868, 1.
27 Ibid.
28 “Le théâtre Français, de Carybde en Sylla, a eu pour premiere bailleur de fonds, la première année, un petit capitaliste qui panse encore sa blessure.” Journal de Constantinople, 24 February 1865, 1.
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directeur du théâtre français”).29 His activity was a serious threat to the long established Naum Theatre. In January 1864 Manasse asked Fuad Pasha, the Grand Vizier, to grant him the privilege to present plays in French for three years. This was important because he wanted to build a new theatre involving the bankers Antoine Alléon and Baragnon, to provide them with security in the face of the competition
with Naum.30
At the same time, the impresario of the Naum Theatre, Nicolas Pezzer, also asked the financial help of Fuad Pasha.31 A year later, Manasse actually started to
build a new theatre or to renovate the previous one in the Palais de Cristal.32 Finally, the “rude” competition33 between Naum and Manasse was temporarily solved by a contract in April 1865. Seemingly Michel Naum won and forced Manasse to sign this agreement, based on Naum’s own imperial firman. Manasse could perform plays only in French in Pera with the exclusion of opera, which in any language remained
exclusively in the hands of Naum.34 The contract was valid for two years (until April 1867), and Manasse had to pay 400 “livres turques” for these two years. There is no evidence if such a contract was repeated in 1867 but much later in the spring 1869, Giustiniani, the proprietor of Palais de Cristal, protested against the privilege of (this time Joseph) Naum and also wanted a privilege.35
29 This is the way he signed a letter, printed in Journal de Constantinople, 12 February 1864, 3.
30 French letter dated 12 January 1864, from Seraphin Manasse to Fuad Pasha, HR. TO. 445/33, BOA.
31 Journal de Constantinople, 11 January 1864, 3.
32 La Comédie, 21 May 1865, 8. Le Ménestrel, 28 May 1865, 206.
33 “la rude concurrence.” Journal de Constantinople, 22 December 1864, 3.
34 Originally, the photocopy of this document was given to me by Emre Aracı who in turn got it from Suha Umur. This is a contract in French, dated 1 April 1865, between Naum and Manasse, testified by the Municipality of Pera. At the back of the document is written Meclis-i Vale 23871. In the Ottoman Archive, I could identify this letter finally as part of I.MVL 532/23871, BOA.
35 Levant Herald, 18 March 1869, 3.
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The financial background of this business is unclear. Once in 1862, a charity
theatre evening of the Armenians produced 70000 piastres in the Naum,36 which is a considerable amount (approx. 18186 francs). There is no data if Manasse ever got a state or sultanic patronage. Certainly, he could afford the travels to Paris to hire sometimes quite well-known actors/singers. Although in the season of 1863/64 perhaps Salla did not find his profit, it was still enough for Manasse to continue. The
next year, 1864/65, Manasse had great pains with the season,37 and in the press he was made ridiculous,38 what he tried to retaliate with a court process but finally
withdrew.39 His theatrical seasons usually ended with scandals.
Season subscriptions were sold and every year the stage was also enlarged or renovated. In 1865, due to the extensive work on the theatre, three-year subscriptions
were sold.40 Manasse between 1863 and 1868 may not have become a rich man, due to the competition with Naum, a competition that was occasionally joined by other entertainers: Greek and Armenian theatres, circuses, and independent musicians, like the Hungarian violinist Edouard Reményi.41 However, by 1867 this “two theatre”
(Italian and French) structure was established and appreciated by the French press.
The Naum was considered to be “the imperial” theatre, being an Opera House, housing Italian troupes, in contrast to the “light” French theatre of Manasse. This system was partly a response to, and partly a condition of, the emergence of audience as a market that will be further explored in Part V.
36 Journal de Constantinople, 7 April 1862, 3.
37 Journal de Constantinople, 24 March 1865, 1.
38 Journal de Constantinople, 3 March 1865, 3.
39 Journal de Constantinople, 28 March 1865, 3.
40 Le Ménestrel, 28 May 1865, 206.
41 For instance, Levant Herald, 17 May 1867, 1.
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The Troupes in the 1860s
Manasse collected a new troupe every year, although some of the actors, like Léopold
Larose, were long-standing. This totally forgotten42 French actor-painter-impresario43 started his carreer in France and Germany, continued in Istanbul and finally finished in Cairo. As a comedian, he played first in the season 1864/65 in the French Theatre
in Istanbul.44 He spent the season 1865/1866 in Berlin in the troupe of de Silveryra.45 In March 1866 he returned to the group of Manasse in Istanbul, with a universal
acclaim, then the whole group went to Alexandria for guest-plays.46 In 1868, Larose would follow Manasse to Egypt. Larose seems to have had a talent for comic roles and participated in numerous seasonal theatre troupes.
Manasse often had troubles with his artists, like in 1865 when “Mlle A” left the troupe with her lover, breaking her contract, so Manasse alarmed the police and the couple was arrested at the Dardanellas.47 His troupes were judged usually favourably in the French press of Pera, especially the 1867/68 season.
42 Larose is only mentioned in the publications of ʿAbdūn, like ʿĀyida, 28 and in Sadgrove, Egyptian Theatre.
43 He is described as a painter usually. Abdoun, Genesi dell’ “Aida”, 142, footnote 68, repeating in his ʿAbdūn, ʿĀyida, 28, (muṣawwir), and Sadgrove, Egyptian Theatre, 72 refers to him as a painter (Sadgrove based on Abdoun and Le Moniteur Egyptien, 1880).
44 Journal de Constantinople, 16 January 1865, 4. His brother, Edmond Larose, was a singer (a bass) in France in the 1860s and 1870s.
45 La Comédie, 30 July 1865, 5 and 26 November 1865, 4. It is possible that previously he played in Hamburg in 1863 since the journal frequently mentions that he was applauded in Constantinople and Hambourg. La Comédie, 11 February 1866, 6.
46 La Comedie, 25 March 1866, 8.
47 Journal de Constantinople, 26 January 1865, 3.
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Adventures in Cairo and Paris (1868-1872) – the Manasse-Affair
When in September 1868 Manasse had begged the mothers of Pera to visit his French theatre, the governor of Egypt, Khedive Ismāʿīl, was staying in his Istanbul palace, Emirghan: he had came to Sultan Abdülaziz for the final permission for the Suez Canal ceremonies. Manasse now received an offer from the Khedive that he could not refuse. He was invited to become the director of the Comédie, the Egyptian “French Theatre” in Cairo. Thus, together with the 32-person troupe that he collected in Paris for the new season in the French Theatre in Istanbul (they arrived 5 October 1868)48 he decided to leave for Cairo almost immediately. This engagement represents the first state supported music theatre in Egypt, the patronage of a French genre for Egyptian official culture.
It is likely that there is a connection between Manasse’ open letter and the Khedive’s invitation. There is less than two weeks between the publication of this letter (14 September 1868) and the departure of the Khedive (end of September 1868). At that time, probably, their agreement (perhaps mediated by one of Ismāʿīl’s
secretaries) was ready49 since Manasse also left for Paris looking for especially those actresses/singers who were, like Mlle Schneider, “old and tried friend of the Viceroy.”50 This intimate information was published in Paris also, so Manasse
publicly refuted it in the Le Figaro.51 He hired finally Céline Montaland (1843-1891) as the leading star, and brought along to Cairo the comedian Léopold Larose too.
48 Levant Herald, 5 October 1868, 1.
49 The exact date of the offer is not known. It must have been around end of September because in a letter addressed to Kiamil Bey someone is already talking “du théatre de Constantinople” in connection with the proposed theatre in Cairo (“le théatre que d’un propose de faire établi au Caire”). Letter dated 22 September 1868, from ? to Kiamil Bey, Carton 80, CAI, DWQ. The first public news that Manasse will move to Cairo is published in the Levant Herald, 16 October 1868, 2.
50 Levant Herald, 16 October 1868, 2.
51 Republished in La Turquie, 16 November 1868. Manasse called Ismāʿīl “le roi d’Egypte.” I am grateful to Emre Aracı for this reference.
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When the troupe arrived to Cairo, the theatre was not yet ready (perhaps the
construction was not even started)52 so they performed in a palace in December.53 The freshly built Comédie was inaugurated on 4 January 1869 with the favourite piece of
the Khedive, Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène,54 which was reported back to Istanbul as a failure55 but in Paris as a success.56 None the less, in the next two months Manasse became a very influential man at the Khedive’s court.57 He had a contract for four seasons, and during his short stay in Cairo he was paid 4000 Ottoman liras.58
The troupe of the Comédie under the direction of Manasse played also for the visiting Prince and Princess of Wales.59 This time Nubar Pasha, then Foreign Minister, arriving in Cairo after his long negotiations abroad, was astonished how the court of the Khedive had changed to Europeans exclusively. Of course, the Khedive invited him immediately to the Comédie in mid-January 1869, which became the meeting place of the court, whose members had a “talon rouge.”60
Manasse’ theatre soon was troubled because Montaland fell on stage, and the leading actor, Larose, had to be released because of a family tragedy; thus the Comédie was deprived of its two main stars and the theatre was empty. Furthermore, the newly arrived circus of Théodore Rancy took all the favours from the Khedive and the public.61 From the ironic sentences of the correspondents of the Ottoman
52 De Vaujany, Le Caire et ses environs, 245, says that the site was empty when the artists arrived.
53 Levant Herald, 26 December 1868, 4 (letter from the anonymous Cairo correspondent, dated 15 December), “les débuts de la troupe de Manasse.”
54 Sadgrove, Egyptian Theatre, 46.
55 Letter dated 13 January 1869, Levant Herald, 23 january 1869, 2.
56 Le Monde Illustré, February 6 1869, 85-86.
57 Already in a letter dated 13 January 1869 the anonymous Cairo correspondent of the Levant Herald mentions him as “our most prominent character.” Levant Herald, 23 January 1869, 2.
58 Amr Karīm Manṭūqa, dated 19 Muḥarram 1869 (1 May 1869), Daftar 30, Microfilm 27, al-Maʿiyya
al-Saniyya al-ʿArabī, DWQ.
59 Letter dated 6 February 1869 in Levant Herald, 18 February 1869, 4.
60 Mémoirs de Nubar Pacha, 349-350.
61 Levant Herald, 2 March 1869, 3.
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French journals, it seems that Manasse was considered a very “able” person and he fought to regain the favours.
Manasse’s position was indeed very strong during his first months in Cairo.
He was requested by the Khedive to arrange a ballet troupe with the only condition
“that the ladies should be pretty.” Thus on 7th January 1869 Manasse in Paris commissioned Amédée Verger,62 the dramatic agent with whom he previously
worked,63 to arrange a ballet troupe. In the end of February he sent another letter to Verger to start immediately to recruit a fine opera company without minding the cost.
This is the first indication that the Khedive Ismāʿīl wanted an Opera House (or at least an opera troupe). In March, Manasse was in different negotiations and intrigues concerning the singers.64 A credit of 15000 Ottoman liras was opened for him in
Paris.65 It is possible that he received an order to supervise the construction of a new Opera House.66 This might allude to his being (almost?) named as superintendant of all khedivial theatres.67 (See also this issue in Draneht’s life below.)
However, at this point, one of the strangest events in the history of the Ottoman theatres, the so-called “Manasse-affair” took place. On Friday, 2 April 1869, a bomb was discovered in the Khedive’s box in the Comédie before he arrived.68 The
62 Amédée Verger later became in 1872 the director of the Théâtre Italien in Paris. Théophile Gautier, Correspondance Generale, dir. Pierre Laubriet, 12 vols. (Genève: Librairie Droz, 1996), 10:460.
63 Already in 1863, La Comédie, 9 August 1863, 8.
64 All of this information comes from a report of the Levant Herald, 24 April 1870, 10, in connection with the later trial of Verger against Manasse.
65 Qīmat Krīditū maftūḥ bi-Bārīs ilā M. Mānās: 15000. “The value of credit opened in Paris for M.
Manasse: 15000.” Undated table with number 66, at the bottom of the page number 81, in Daftar 30, Microfilm 27, al-Maʿiyya al-Saniyya al-ʿArabī, DWQ.
66 De Vaujany, Le Caire et ses environs, 246.
67 Indeed, Manasse is named later as “ex-surintendant des théâtre vice-royaux d’Egypt.” Le Gaulois, 31 July 1869, 3. Cf. also Hayal, 15 Mayis 1290 (27 May 1874), 1-2. (Appendix 7.)
68 Telegram dated 3 April from Alexandria, Levant Herald, 5 April 1869, 2. Cf. Sadgrove, Egyptian Theatre, 47. It is said that the bomb was “under the seat of the Khedive” but other reports only confirm that it was in the loge.