gloire (ou machine d'aplomb)

12:15 Dec 9, 2016 

Just as an afterthought, on the clouds being used to conceal the ropes: in the Spanish court theatre (with which I'm more familiar) they used to wrap coloured cloth round the ropes to make them blend into the background. I expect they did the same in France.

15:48 Dec 8, 2016 

I don't think it would be a good idea to use a word like basket or chariot that refers to the particular form such a machine might take, since this varied according to the scenic requirements in each particular case. The descriptions cited in the question make it clear that the gloire consisted simply of a horizontal surface (plateau, plancher), decorated as desired and usually including clouds. Flight machines certainly could take the form of chariots, but these (for obvious reasons) were usually "machines de travers", capable of flying horizontally or diagonally, rather than simple "machines d'aplomb" like this, which just moved up and down (or rather down and up, since they appeared from above). Both kinds of machines ("de travers" and "d'aplomb") were in use over a century before Boullet.

15:10 Dec 8, 2016 

I think Brunelleschi's 'dome' might in fact have been an inverted one, since it mentions the performers being IN rather than UNDER it; and of course, the 'chariot' was probably literally so, since chariots were often used to depict the movement of the Sun or planets etc.
I would be wary of 'platform', since in stage technology, that tends to imply 'something raised', rather than a simple flat structure, which I suppose is what you are referring to here.
BTW, the 'clouds' were used, among other things, to conceal the ropes suspending the device!

15:05 Dec 8, 2016 

In classical times the "machina" probably used a lever mechanism rather than ropes and pulleys. But that's the ancestor of all this, yes.

14:25 Dec 8, 2016 

@ Marco: I was working on that too!
During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th centuries, the deus ex machina was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina

14:14 Dec 8, 2016 

Yes, indeed... except that THAT usage of 'ex machina' very largely pre-dates Asker's context here, by which time I suspect the figurative sense would have almost entirely supplanted the literal meaning.

14:08 Dec 8, 2016 

It sounds like the "machina" of the "deus ex machina".

14:00 Dec 8, 2016 

Thanks for this link, even though it's not a paradiso in this case (no copper dome here), I used your search terms and was able to find "gloire" which is kept in French. Thanks so much! https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KTgcAY36rfEC&pg=PA367&dq... https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nFaOOQG6-GYC&pg=PA354&dq...

13:53 Dec 8, 2016 

I think you're right! That's pretty much what I remember, and it ties up, as at one point I did a lot of reading about Brunelleschi.

Thanks so much!

13:51 Dec 8, 2016 

Were you maybe thinking of a 'paradiso', Tony?
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Tb-OAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA376&lp...

12:23 Dec 8, 2016 

I do have the plate, but the quality of this image isn't great. I wouldn't say that it looks like a basket really, I'd actually translated nacelle as platform. The picture shows the gloire from the front, basically a wide structure that is attached to the sides and top (with wires I assume), with lots of fluffy clouds in the front that rise up a bit in the middle and then again on the sides (we can't see what's behind the clouds). And perhaps a figure in the center of it, but I'm not so sure. I like heavenly and celestial though, will try to work those in!

11:57 Dec 8, 2016 

Do you have the actual plate? If so, you might get a better idea from that...
As long as you take care to put it in quotes, you might be able to use something like "heavenly basket", or maybe "celestial basket"?

11:51 Dec 8, 2016 

Thanks Tony, this is very helpful in furthering my understanding of what this is - but I can't figure out for the life of me what to call it! I've been searching for hours to no avail, I may just have to leave it in French if no theater experts have any ideas! I agree with you about 'lift", wasn't happy with that one as the characters definitely come down from above. But I like your suggestions of "special flying machinery", thank you!

11:10 Dec 8, 2016 

By an ingenious use of pulleys and lines, it is possible to not only make such a device move simply up and down, but also move across the stage and possible even ascend or descend as it does so; hence, I suspect, why they mention a special machine for it.

11:09 Dec 8, 2016 

I had a felling this was in fact called a 'gloria' in EN, but it must have been a figment of my imagination, as I cannot find a single reference to that on the 'Net. This sort of thing was taught to us on our stage technicianss' course!

I wouldn't use 'lift', which in stage terms tends to suggest pushing up from below — whereas I think this is in fact suspended from above.
I would also be wary of 'flying machine'; firstly, because it is intended to be a 'heavenly' effect, but not necessarily to represent any kind of 'aircraft' (!); and secondly, probably more important, is the fact that 'flying' is the general term for suspending things in a theatre; hence a 'flying machine' could be understood as 'a machine used for flying things'.
It's important to remember that, at least in French theatre in this period, most scenery slid in and out on floor rails, and so was most decidely 'earth-bound'; hence the all the more dramatic effect of anything that came down from the 'heavens' above!
I would try and find a word for 'gloire' that reflects the description as a 'nacelle', and then use something like 'special flying machinery' to describe the 'machine d'aplomb'.