Gloria transita

Summary

Fictional film (with opera excerpts) by Johan Gildemeijer about a street singer who enjoys a brief career as an opera artist.

In Gloria transita (Bygone Glory), directed by John Gildemeijer, a street singer manages to work his way up to the position of an opera artist, only to be struck by fate, and return to his life on the street. Inspired by Cecil B. DeMille’s adaptation of the opera Carmen (1915), which ran for years in American film theatres with the accompaniment of a permanent troupe, for Gloria transita Gildemeijer shot some famous opera fragments from e.g. 'Rigoletto', 'Faust', and 'I Paggliaci'. These were incorporated into the story in such a way that they served to advance the plot. During the screening of the film, the singing of the opera fragments was performed live by a vocal quartet behind the screen. The audience was very impressed by the music, as well as the synchronization of voice and image. The film enjoyed repeat performances in the Netherlands and Belgium until 1927.

This was not the case for the sequel to Gloria transita, namely Gildemeijer’s Gloria fatalis of 1921. Despite collaborating with film composer Max Tak, the film was not successful. As the ‘Algemeen Dagblad’ wrote in 1922, the story ‘had to focus entirely on, and wrench itself towards, the demands of creating a way to reproduce excerpts from several famous operas’. The film lacked the sophistication with which Gloria transita incorporated the fragments into the plot.