Melodrama Primary Sources

Finding primary sources for melodrama was more challenging than I expected. Identifying the most famous and influential works was easy; it was already done for me in a lot of the secondary sources I had found. Actually finding out information about their plots and critical reception was a lot trickier.

For example, one of the works I decided to include was Coelina, ou L'enfant de Mystère by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixerécourt (quite a mouthful!). This play was referred to in several of my secondary sources as the very first melodrama produced, so I thought it was important to include. However, it was very difficult to find any information at all on the play. I could not find any book at the library that had it or any plot synopses online. None of my secondary sources did more than mention it as the first melodrama. 

I knew that the play had been translated into English as A Tale of Mystery, so I decided to look this up instead. This search was more fruitful and I was able to find out information about the plot and its reception in both France and England. 

One of my other primary sources is the play Uncle Tom's Cabin, which I actually did not know was a play! The same year Harriet Beecher Stowe published the novel, it was dramatized and watched by millions of Americans. The version I chose had four musical numbers and used music to establish the mood and build suspense. Although this version, like all other versions, did feature blackface minstrelsy, it was an abolitionist play. It portrays Tom as a kind, almost Christlike man and Legree as a sadistic villain. This is one example of how melodrama could be used as a form of social protest or criticism.

However, something I found interesting was that many other melodramatic re-creations of Uncle Tom's Cabin were produced, some of which were pro-slavery. Furthermore, the version I chose, which was abolitionist, was never produced in the South. Thus, it doesn't seem like the most effective form of social critique, since the only people who would attend an abolitionist play were against slavery themselves. Nevertheless, I was glad to find one melodramatic work that at least tried to do more than just make the audience sob and heave.