Adolphe Appia (1862–1928)
Swiss theorist and reformer of the modern stage. After experiencing the premiere of Wagner’s Parsifal in Bayreuth in 1882, Appia decided to dedicate his life to the stage, in particular to the works of Wagner. In the early 1890s he published his first studies on Wagner. This work lead in 1899 to the publication of Musik und Inszenierung, in which he proposed that actors’ movements in space be determined according to the drama’s rhythmic structure. The work that followed emphasized the rejection of painted sceneray in favor of three dimensional representations. In 1906 he became intensely involved with Jaques-Dalcroze’s teachings. In 1909 and 1910, Appia sketched his famous “espaces rhythmiques” for Jaques-Dalcroze, and in 1912–13 staged Gluck’s Orpheus und Eurydice with Jaques-Dalcroze in Hellerau. Other well known stagings include Wagner’s Tristan in Milan with Toscanini (1923), and Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in Basel with Oskar Waelterlin. He died of alcohol poisoning in 1928.