The dramatic art of Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy: A critical study 9783111560236, 9783111189611

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STUDIES IN GERMAN LITERATURE Volume III

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

THE DRAMATIC ART OF FERDINAND RAIMUND AND JOHANN NESTROY A Critical Study

by

LAURENCE V. HARDING Associate Professor and Akademischer Rat Technische Universität West Berlin

1974

MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS

© Copyright 1974 in The Netherlands Mouton & Co .N.V., Publishers, The Hague No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers

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Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., The Hague

73-85455

For Margit

PREFACE

The present work, the result of a study of the Austrian Folk Theater extending over several years, represents an attempt to closely analyze the dramatic art of Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy, its two most gifted writers. The plays of both dramatists are considered not only from a literary point of view but also in terms of the theatrical tradition from which they emerged. It is hoped that this book, the first exhaustive critical study of either writer in the English language, will serve as an incentive to readers to become more familiar with a fascinating chapter in the history of the theater. West Berlin

L. V. H.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

7

List of Abbreviations

13

1. Introduction The Fame of Raimund and Nestroy The Viennese Folk Theater Before Raimund and Nestroy

17 17 41

2. Plot Raimund's Plots The Importance of Tradition The Blend of Comic and Serious Action Vividness of Plot Nestroy's Plots Nestroy's Creativity and his Position in the Theater. . Unconventional Uses of Conventional Material . . . Nestroy's Idea of Comic Action and its Application. . Conclusion

56 56 56 57 65 68 68 71 75 82

3. Character Raimund's Characterization Tradition and Originality Raimund's Role Secondary Characters Spirit World Allegory Nestroy's Characterization

85 85 85 86 95 100 103 107

10

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Nestroy's Role The Scholz Role Secondary Characters Spirit World and Allegory Conclusion

107 117 119 127 128

4. Language Raimund's Language The Local Element Language and the Audience Imagery Humor Sounds and the Dramatizing of Language Nestroy's Language The Language of Conventional Austrian Humor . . . The Language of Comic Superiority The Language of Comic Self-Betrayal Conclusion

130 130 130 133 136 138 145 147 147 151 158 168

5. Stage Raimund's Stage Stage and Scene Costumes and Stage Properties Architecture and Lighting The Actor and the Stage Nestroy's Stage Stage and Scene Costumes and Stage Properties The Actor and the Stage Conclusion

169 169 169 175 183 185 187 187 192 198 203

6. Music and Choreography Raimund's Music and Choreography His Relation to Music and His Composers Dramatic Uses of Vocal Music Dramatic Uses of Instrumental Music The Dance

205 205 205 207 212 216

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Nestroy's Music and Choreography His Musical Background Dramatic Uses of Vocal and Instrumental Music . . . The Dance Conclusion

11

217 217 219 227 230

7. Summation

232

Bibliography Index

236 242

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

RSW

Ferdinand Raimund, Sämtliche Werke, historisch-kritische Säkularausgabe in sechs Bänden, edited by Fritz Brukner and Eduard Castle (Vienna, Anton Schroll, 1924-1934).

NSW

Johann Nestroy, Sämtliche Werke, historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe, edited by Fritz Brukner and Otto Rommel (Vienna, Anton Schroll, 1924-1930).

NGW

Johann Nestroy Gesammelte Werke, edited by Otto Rommel (Vienna, Anton Schroll, 1948-1949).

AWVTh

Otto Rommel, Die Alt-Wiener Volkskomödie, Ihre Geschichte vom Barocken Welt-Theater bis zum Tode Nestroys, edited by Otto Rommel (Vienna, Anton Schroll, 1952).

A. Raimund RSW Abbreviated Titles 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Barometermacher = Der Barometermacher auf der Zauberinsel (II). Diamant = Der Diamant des Geisterkönigs (I). Mädchen = Das Mädchen aus der Feenwelt oder Der Bauer als Millionär (I). Phantasie = Die gefesselte Phantasie (I). Moisasur — Die gefesselte Phantasie (I). Alpenkönig — Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind (II). Krone = Die unheilbringende Zauberkrone oder König ohne Reich, Held ohne Mut, Schönheit ohne Jugend (II). 8. Verschwender — Der Verschwender (II).

B. Nestroy NSW Abbreviated Titles 1. 2. 3. 4.

Affe = Der Affe und der Bräutigam (IX). Die schlimmen Buben = Sie schlimmen Buben in der Schule (XIII). Charivari = Karikaturen Charivari mit Heiratszweck (XIII). Dampfwagen = Die Fahrt mit dem Dampfwagen (IX).

14

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

5. Erbschleicher = Der Erbschleicher (X). 6. Zu ebener Erde = Zu ebener Erde und erster Stock oder Die Launen des Glückes (VI). 7. Eisenbahnheiraten = Eisenbahnheiraten oder Wien, Neustadt, Brünn Pill). 8. Eulenspiegel — Eulenspiegel oder Schabernack über Schabernack (IX). 9. Faschingsnacht = Die verhängnisvolle Faschingsnacht (IV). 10. Färber = Der Färber und sein Zwillingsbruder (X). 11. Feenball = Der Feenball oder Tischler, Schneider und Schlosser (I). 12. Heimliches Geld = Heimliches Geld, heimliche Liebe (VIII). 13. Genius = Genius, Schuster und Marqueur oder die Pyramiden der unschuldigen Schuldigen (XII). 14. Gewürzkrämerkleeblatt = Das Gewürzkrämerkleeblatt oder die unschuldigen Schuldigen (XII). 15. Gleichheit der Jahre = Das Verlobungsfest im Feenreiche oder Die Gleichheit der Jahre (II). 16. Glück, Missbrauch und Rückkehr = Glück, Missbrauch und Rückkehr oder Das Geheimnis des grauen Hauses (VI). 17. Häuptling Abendwind = Häuptling Abendwind oder das greuliche Festmahl (XIV). 18. Haus der Temperamente = Das Haus der Temperamente (X). 19. Hochzeitstag = Der Tod am Hochzeitstage oder Mann, Frau, Kind (I). 20. Juden = Zwei ewige Juden für einen (XIII). 21. Judith = Judith und Holofernes (IV). 22. Einen Jux = Einen Jux will er sich machen (XI). 23. Kampl = Kampl oder Das Mädchen mit Millionen und die Näht erin (VII). 24. Kerkermeister = Der gefühlvolle Kerkermeister oder Adelheit, die verfolgte Witib (III). 25. Kobold = Der Kobold oder Staberl im Feendienst (II). 26. Liebesgeschichten = Liebesgeschichten und Heiratssachen (XI). 27. Lorbeerbaum = Weder Lorbeerbaum noch Bettelstab (III). 28. Lumpazivagabundus = Der böse Geist Lumpazivagabundus oder Das liederliche Kleeblatt (II). 29. Mädel aus der Vorstadt = Das Mädl aus der Vorstadt oder Ehrlich währt am längsten (XI). 30. Der alte Mann = Der alte Mann mit der jungen Frau (V). 31. Martha — Martha oder Die Mischmonder Markt-Mädge-Mietung (IV). 32. Moppel = Moppels Abenteuer im Viertel unter dem Wiener Wald, in Neuseeland und Marokko (IX). 33. Nachtwandler = Die beiden Nachtwandler oder Das Notwendige und das Uberflüssige (VI). 34. Nagerl und Handschuh = Nagerl und Handschuh oder Die Schicksale der Familie Maxenpfutsch (III). 35. Papiere des Teufels = Die Papiere des Teufels oder Der Zufall (XI). 36. Propheten = Alles will den Propheten sehen (XIII). 37. Schützling = Der Schützling (VII). 38. Sesseltrager = Müller, Kohlenbrenner und Sesseltrager oder Die Träume von Schale und Kern (II). 39. Sie sollen ihn nicht haben = Sie sollen ihn nicht haben oder Der holländische Bauer (XHI).

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

15

40. Herrn Söhne = Die beiden Herrn Söhne (XII). 41. Sulph = Der Zauberer Sulphurelektrimagnetikophosphoratus und die Fee Walpurgiblocksbergiseptemtrionalis oder Des ungeratenen Herrn Sohnes Leben, Taten und Meinungen, wie auch dessen Bestrafung in der Sklaverei und was sich alldort Ferneres mit ihm begab (II). 42. Der gutmütige Teufel = Der gutmütige Teufel oder Die Geschichte vom Bauer und der Bäuerin (XIV). 43. Talisman = Der Talisman (X). 44. Theaterg'schichten = Theaterg'schichten durch Liebe, Intrige, Geld und Dummheit (XIV). 45. Gegen Torheit = Gegen Torheit gibt es kein Mittel (VI). 46. Der Treulose = Der Treulose oder Saat und Ernte (VI). 47. Verbannung = Die Verbannung aus dem Zauberreiche oder Dreissig Jahre aus dem Leben eines Lumpen (I). 48. Verlobungsfest = Das Verlobungsfest im Feenreiche oder Die Gleichheit der Jahre (II). 49. Weltuntergangstag = Die familien Zwirn, Knieriem und Leim oder Der Weltuntergangstag (II). 50. Wohnung zu vermieten = Eine Wohnung ist zu vermieten in der Stadt, eine Wohnung ist zu verlassen in der Vorstadt, eine Wohnung mit Garten ist zu haben in Hietzing (IX). 51. Zampa = Zampa der Tagedieb oder Die Braut von Gips 011). 52. Der konfuse Zauberer — Der konfuse Zauberer oder Treue und Flatterhaftigkeit (I). 53. Zauberreise = Die Zauberreise in die Ritterzeit oder Die Übermütigen (I). 54. Zettelträger = Der Zettelträger Papp (IX).

C. Nestroy 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Die Anverwandten (V). Freiheit in Krähwinkel (V). Mein Freund (Vll). Verwickelte Geschichte (V). Hinüber und Herüber (XII). Höllenangst (V). Lohengrin (IV). Lady und Schneider (V). Nur Keck ! (XIV).

Unabbreviated 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Titles

Nur Ruhe! (XII). Tannhäuser (TV). Robert der Teuxel (III). Tritsch-Tratsch (IX). Umsonst! (XIV). Der Unbedeutende (VII). Unverhofft (XIII). Frühere Verhältnisse (XIV). Zeitvertreib (XIV).

1 INTRODUCTION

THE FAME OF RAIMUND AND NESTROY

For over a century and a quarter Ferdinand Raimund (1790-1836) and Johann Nestroy (1801-1862) have been linked by legend and criticism in a manner leading to considerable misunderstanding about the dramatic art of both. That a discussion of the former invited comparison with the latter seems hardly surprising, for the fame of both rests exclusively on the comedies they created for the Viennese Folk Theater, and collectively their works form the highest achievement of a tradition of three hundred years. Yet few are the critics who have refrained from regarding Raimund and Nestroy in terms of easily constructed, vague antitheses like moralist-corrupter, idealist-realist, romantic-cynic, perfecter-destroyer of the comic tradition. More thoughtful observers have avoided two-value judgments, but not one has undertaken to explain in detail the exact relationship between the dramatic techniques of these writers. Obviously, to survey their works from this viewpoint is to accept a fascinating challenge, because the successful solution of even a few of the problems it implies would fulfill a serious need. Nearly anyone familiar with Austrian comedy in the first half of the nineteenth century knows one or more of the legends perpetuated through literary histories and critical articles that 'characterize' the relationship between Raimund and Nestroy. 1 According to Friedrich Schlögl,2 Raimund was impelled to end his life in suicide, not because he preferred death to the thought of contracting rabies, 1

Rommel calls them "reines Literatengeschwätz", A WVTh, p. 936. • Friedrich Schlögl, Vom Alt-Wiener Volkstheater (Vienna, 1884), p. 140.

18

INTRODUCTION

but on account of the shock of seeing Nestroy destroy the folk play through the malicious wit of his parodies. Bauernfeld reports that upon reading the announcement of Nestroy's Lumpazivagabundus, Raimund sadly shook his head, saying: "So einen gemeinen Titel hätt' ich nicht niederschreiben können." 3 Another legend, attributed to Friedrich Kaiser, a writer for the Leopoldstädter Theater, concerns Raimund's reaction when he became aware that Nestroy was usurping his fame. With the resignation of a martyr, he is supposed to have uttered the words: "Jetzt ist der Nestroy obenan! Ich habe seine letzten Stücke gesehen. Ja 's ist wahr, so viel Spass hab' ich nicht wie er, aber ich möcht' doch solche Stücke nicht geschrieben haben... Na, machen wir halt Platz."4 One reads that Nestroy, jealous of Raimund's poetic gifts, sought to make his rival appear ridiculous through parody. Erdmann even suspects that the entire parodistic tendency in Nestroy's works is traceable to this single source.8 For several reasons the preceding notions about Raimund and Nestroy are not only erroneous but absurd. Critics, for example, have commonly regarded Lumpazivagabundus (1828) as Nestroy's mocking triumph over Raimund's Verschwender (1834),6 apparently ignoring the fact that Nestroy's play was written six years before Raimund's. Not a shred of evidence exists proving Nestroy's desire to parody any of Raimund's works. Raimund's letters record the joys and sorrows of his existence, and few are the references to his dramatic technique, but not a single line of writing intended for Nestroy has been brought to light, nor is there reason to believe that such correspondence ever took place. In all of Raimund's writings only a single reference to Nestroy is discernible (letter to Karl Ludolph, May 2, 1832).7 It concerns Nestroy as an actor. Raimund writes: "Dann — habe ich allen Respekt vor Herrn Nestroy, wenn er auch gar keinen vor mir hat, aber wenn meine Stücke, so lange sie noch ungedruckt sind, an der Wien aufgeführt •

RSfV, V, p. 598. AWVTh, p. 928. ' Walter Erdmann, Ferdinand Raimund, Dichterische Entwicklung, Persönlichkeit und Lebensschicksal (Würzburg, 1943), p. 253. • Adolf Bartels, Geschichte der Deutschen Literatur (Leipzig, 1905), II, p. 102. 7 RSW, IV, p. 419. 4

INTRODUCTION

19

werden, so wünsche ich, dass die Hauptrolle in meinem Geiste gegeben wird, wodurch die Stücke allein in ihrer wahren Gestalt erscheinen..." As early as 1826, Nestroy had appeared, without the blessings of the author, in Diamant as Longimanus. Encouraged by success, he then acted as the Raimund protagonist, beginning in 1827 with Wurzel {Mädchen), adding two years later Rappelkopf (Alpenkönig), Nachtigall (Phantasie), and Florian Waschblau (Diamant). As Rommel has pointed out, 8 Nestroy was rather unsuccessful with these roles, because he conceived of them as caricatures, which their creator had by no means intended. No hint discloses that he intended a parody; he merely believed that the characters were more dramatically alive as he interpreted them. Experience soon proved his error, and he abandoned these efforts, nor did he ever again show a significant interest in Raimund's works. At the time of his death, Raimund was still highly acclaimed by his audiences ; Nestroy's dramatic efforts had met with considerably less enthusiasm. Though four of his works, Verbannung, Lumpazivagabtmdus, Robert der Teuxel, and Zu ebener Erde, were quite popular, he had written not four productions for the stage by the end of 1836, but thirty-one! This is not an impressive average. Moreover, in the following year he was to write Wohnung zu vermieten, at which withering blasts of criticism were directed. Granted that Nestroy was a rising power in the Folk Theater in 1836, the zenith of his influence clearly lies in the years after Raimund had passed from the scene. Furthermore, it can be argued that Nestroy's triumphs were in an area not touching upon Raimund's strongest interests. The latter's desire to write tragedy rather than comedy is documented in his autobiography and confirmed in the structure of his plays, though, of course, they are not real tragedies. Asked about his concern for the comic Folk Theater, he replied, according to his friend Costenoble : "Lokalkomik? Volkstheater? — Ich will gar keine Lokalstücke schreiben, und nichts wissen von Volkstheater [sie]."9 Another approach to the works of Raimund and Nestroy that has » NSW, XV, p. 182. • RSW, V, p. 762.

20

INTRODUCTION

led to spurious conclusions is the biographical one. A point often stressed is that distinctions in the works of the playwrights can be explained in terms of differing socio-economic backgrounds, since Nestroy was the son of a prosperous lawyer, whereas Raimund's father was an impoverished turner. Heredity and environment are regarded as the factors which allegedly shaped Nestroy into a proud intellectual who scorned the masses, while Raimund remained simple, warm-hearted, and close to the people. With an absurd overemphasis on heredity, Hampel accounts for Nestroy's critical sarcasm in terms of "seiner moravisch-mährischen Abkunft von väterlicher Seite".10 It cannot be denied that the works of both writers reveal strikingly different personalities, but that is only one aspect of the relation between them. In contrast to what is commonly supposed, their lives reveal a persistent similarity, ironic in men so often regarded as antipodal. Both were born in Vienna, scarcely a decade apart, into emigrant Catholic families tracing their ancestry back to the Czechoslovakian peasantry. The name Nestroy is Czech and the family one of humble origin. Raimund's paternal ancestors came from Prague. Very little is known about the childhood of either writer, but both were orphaned early in life, for the parents of Raimund and Nestroy succumbed to a common illness: tuberculosis. Both felt the pinch of hard times. Raimund's sufferings are wellknown, and the Nestroy family also met with reversals of fortune and the father died in considerable debt. In their youth both men decided to make careers in the theater; accordingly, both became tragedians, comic actors, playwrights, and finally directors. Both made a hasty and unwise first marriage, which, after a brief period, each found intolerable. Unable to obtain a divorce, both sought solace in a protracted, extralegal affair from which neither derived particular happiness. Both gained wealth from their callings; yet neither was practical-minded, though Nestroy, a person of enormous vigor, channeled far more of his energies into the theater than did the ailing, temperamental Raimund. As the years passed, both undertook long and frequent trips in order to act on stages through10

Robert Hampel, Raimund Almanack (Vienna, 1956), p. 34.

INTRODUCTION

21

out Austria and Germany. Each came to know the highest praise but also the most unkind criticism. The likeness between Raimund and Nestroy does not end with the grave, for posterity, undecided f o r many decades as to whether to rank the one above the other, has gradually accorded them an equal fame. None of the foregoing facts is especially significant for the dramatic technique of these writers per se, but considered as a complex they form a warning, at least in this case, against seeking to explain antithetical tendencies in art solely through the lives of the artists. Although it leaves questions unanswered, a survey of previous Raimund and Nestroy criticism affords insight into what remains to be accomplished. Many articles were written by the contemporaries of Raimund and Nestroy, most of whom witnessed the playwrights acting in their own plays. Appearing from a field of mediocre writers, Raimund was recognized early as a dramatic genius, and especially after his third play, Mädchen (1826), he is compared with the giants of literature. His colorfulness reminds the audiences of Shakespeare, his moral seriousness is likened to Schiller's, and his comic imagination to that of Molière. Even Goethe, upon hearing about Alpenkönig, recorded in his diary for September 24, 1828: "Der Gedanke ist nicht übel und verrät Theaterkenntnis." The early reviews of Raimund's performances contain more innocent enthusiasm than critical insight. As if blinded by the charm of his plays, audiences and critics alike tended to write sentimental eulogies. 11 Dissenting voices, however, particularly those of rival actors and writers, were also to be heard. Bäuerle, himself the author of many plays, writes : O geht weg mit solchen Alfanzereien, dem bessern Geschmack zum Hohn, und lacht dereinst nicht über euch selber, dass ihr wähnt, Leute mit einem kranken Gehirn seien Poeten, und Goethe und Schiller und jener englische Riese seien Schattengestalten gegen den Aschenmann Raimund.12 In 1834, when Verschwender appeared, a wave of criticism was directed against Raimund : he was charged with failure to depict the 11

Richard Smekal, Selbstzeugnisse und Berichte von Zeitgenossen (Vienna, 1920). " RSW, V, p. 514.

22

INTRODUCTION

life of the people as it is. Not fairy-tale enchantment but 'reality' and 'truth' were demanded of the folk play. At this point, critics began especially to contrast the art of Raimund and Nestroy, finding only the latter writer modern and representative. Saphir writes: "In Hinsicht der Wahrheit und Klarheit und seiner, das Zauberwesen verschmähenden einfachen Tendenz steht dieses neue Nestroysche Stück [Zu ebener Erde] weit höher als Raimunds Verschwender,"13 The contrast, which still exists in the minds of some critics, implies that the natural function of a playwright is to worship reality, whereas the essence of all theater is the creation of an illusion. The growing tide of enthusiasm for Nestroy did not remain without disrupting undercurrents. Many observers felt that the function of the comic is to ennoble through laughter. They believed that Thalia must never be divorced from moral purpose. The harshness of poverty and the vagabondage in Nestroy's plays, though they serve powerfully in the creation of a comic illusion, were misunderstood. It was inevitable that Nestroy, too, should disappoint the critics, because he failed to follow their wishes and concentrate on an edifying representation of folk life. In the year of Raimund's death, journalists and critics joined in an attack upon Nestroy of almost incredible bitterness. Ignaz Jeitteles writes in a review of Lumpazivagabundus: "Nicht ein Funke von Sittlichkeit zeigt sich darin... Nestroy ist der Napoleon der Gemeinheit."14 Nestroy was denounced by Saphir, who turned savagely against him. Indeed, he reminded Karl Costenoble: "Immer an diejenige Hefe des Pöbels, die in Revolutionsfallen zum Plündern und Todschlagen bereit ist."18 Though Nestroy's popularity survived these malicious charges, the protest against him was carried on by Franz Dingelstedt, Karl Gutzkow, the editor of Telegraphen, the writers for the Dresdener Abendzeitimg, Heinrich Laube, Emil Kuh, and Friedrich Theodor Vischer. Even Hebbel, after responding to a performance of Schützling (1847), began to take a skeptical view of Nestroy, whose plays "

Saphir, Theaterzeitung (Vienna, September, 1834). Ignaz Jeitteles, Die Poesie und die Poeten in Oesterreich im Jahr 1836 (Gumma, 1837), p. 177. 15 K. L. Costenoble, Aus dem Burgtheater (Vienna, 1889), II, p. 33. 14

INTRODUCTION

23

he finally condemned as "giftig sittenlose Possen". 14 Thus one can hardly conclude that Nestroy caused Raimund to be forgotten. Even during the years of his fame, Nestroy was having troubles enough of his own. The protest against him is, of course, but one side of the coin; he was also greatly admired for dialogues that sparkled with wit of Shakespearian brilliance. Fürst Friedrich Schwarzenburg, who regarded Raimund as a harmless and dreamy sentimentalist, writes: Er [Nestroy] dünkt mich weit über Raimund zu stehen, dessen krankhafte zümpferliche Sentimentalität nicht mit der Volksnatur zusammenpasste: Raimund passt für den eigentlichen Mittelstand, er ist ein philosophischer, aber weinerlicher Hanswurst, in Nestroy aber lebt ein wirklich Shakespearescher Geist, Humor und Witz.1' Ironically, the acclaim of a prince did little to help Nestroy's reputation, for his enemies, remembering the words of Schwarzenberg, considered his praise final proof that Nestroy was a heartless aristocrat. In 1842, Frankl records the extent to which Nestroy now occupied the minds of the Viennese as a fascinating, controversial figure: Ein neues Trauerspiel erregt lange nicht die Sensation wie die Aufführung eines Nestroyschen Stückes, es wird Gegenstand der Konversation, man zitiert seine Witze, spricht in seinen Redensarten, auf dem Klavier der Fräulein liegen die Couplets.18 The low level of criticism and journalistic writing in this era is hardly the base upon which to explore either writer objectively, but it does make clear in what manner prejudice shaped the images of Raimund and Nestroy into irreconcilable opposites. In an era of criticism, like the Storm and Stress in its extremes, one is encouraged upon discovering at least one perceptive interpretation of Raimund: the appreciation of Franz Grillparzer. 19 Speaking to the writers of his age, he argues that Raimund ought to become their model, not on account of his ideas, but because he breathed into his simple "

Friedrich Hebbel, Sämtliche Werke (Berlin, 1904), X, p. 299. Fürst Friedrich Schwarzenberg, Wanderbuch eines verabschiedeten Lanzenknechtes (Vienna, 1844-1848), I, p. 121. 18 L. A. Frankl, in Sonntagsblätter, Vienna, January 23, 1842. " RSW, V, p. 789f. 11

24

INTRODUCTION

thoughts a poetic life of unsurpassed vividness. Grillparzer's suggestion reaches the very center of Raimund's art, but perhaps because it was uttered in the quiet tones of a poet during a word-intoxicated age, one finds no record of its influence for many years. Despite the emotional pleas of admirers like Costenoble and Bauernfeld, nothing could hold in check the swing of public taste away from the fairy-tale world; at the height of Nestroy's fame, Raimund had fallen into neglect. A criticism of 1842 typically shows him as a moonstruck weaver of dreams : [Raimund] ein liebenswürdiger, poetischer Geist, aber minder jovial und gesund, mehr träumerisch, aphoristisch und skizzenhaft, durchnebelte, die Volksbühne mit dem Mondschein der Spekulation. Nestroy, sein Nachfolger, unterwarf die an Raimundschen Nervenleiden kränkelnde, von einem poetischen Somnambulismus gequälte Volksbühne einer Gewaltkur, die zwar eine starke Krisis zur Folge hatte, aber im wesentlichen ihren Zweck erreichte.20

To the end of his days, Nestroy remained a much disputed personality, without a doubt the most provocative writer associated with the Viennese Lokalstück. The period from Nestroy's death (1862) to the time of the first collected edition of his works (1891) marks a new development in Raimund and Nestroy criticism. In the 1860's and '70's one finds but scant appreciation of either writer. Raimund's memory remained alive in only a few loyal followers who could recall performances of his works as once they had been illuminated by the poet himself and the theatrical brilliance of Theres Krone, Ignaz Schuster, Friedrich Kornteuer, and Katharina Ennöckl. The reviews of Nestroy's work at the time of his death were indulgently kind,21 but hardly had he been laid to rest when the attacks upon his character and the alleged immorality of his wit were resumed.22 Why the Folk Theater should have lost its vitality at this point is not precisely known, but Rommel offers several plausible explanations which rest largely on sociological grounds.23 He » "Sammler" (Vienna, 1842), p. 482. " NSW, XIV, p. 687ff. " F. Th. Vischer, Kritische Waffengänge, edited by Robert Vischer (Leipzig, 1914), I, p. 309ff. " A WVTh, p. 974ff.

INTRODUCTION

25

suggests that mass emigration to Vienna resulted in a breakdown of the organic connection between theater and public, which even a Ludwig Anzengruber could not restore. Higher prices and a society dominated by a plutocracy further served to scatter the once homogeneous public of the Folk Theater. Moreover, threatened by crisis, the theater directors now cultivated the operetta and exported it to other European cities, and in order to insure its acceptance they avoided depicting the Viennese spirit in a way which other audiences might find provincial. A critic such as the classicist Gervinus in his Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (1874) typifies the estrangement from the Folk Theater expressed by writers in the post-Nestroy period. In a fivevolume literary history, Nestroy is only mentioned and Raimund is described in a brief paragraph as a romantic in the decadent sense of the word. His works are described as grotesque, incoherent, and intellectually insipid.24 Gradually, however, in the years that followed, a reorientation of critical thinking began and definite signs of a Raimund revival appeared. In 1881, the sober chronologist Karl Goedeke suggested, in an outburst of enthusiasm, that Krone contains a representation of death so poignant that it surpasses all the death scenes in world literature collectively.26 In the same year appeared a three-volume edition of Raimund's plays, addresses, and letters edited by Karl Glossy and August Sauer. Although an edition of his works had been hastily brought into print the year following the poet's death by J. N. Vogl, it contains many inaccuracies and is in no sense comparable to the Sauer-Glossy edition, which is still valued for its exhaustive notes and commentary. Writing in 1885, Wilhelm Scherer suggests an idea cherished among some Raimund admirers, namely that he lacked only education {Bildung) in order to rival Shakespeare and Molière. In partial support of this argument, the King of the Alps in Alpenkönig is described as "nicht mehr ein Wiener Bürger, sondern ein erhabenes menschenfreundliches Wesen wie ein antiker Gott." 26 The " "

Gervinus, Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (Leipzig, 1874), V, p. 765. Karl Goedeke, Grundriss der Deutschen Dichtung (Dresden, 1881), III, p.

885fr.

"

Wilhelm Scherer, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur (Berlin, 1905), p. 700.

26

INTRODUCTION

advantage of considering what a poet of a bygone age might have become consists chiefly in the assurance that one may speak without fear of being refuted by him. In this case, the objection of a critic deserves consideration. It concerns Grillparzer's idea that education or the lack of it has very little to do with Raimund's art, because "gerade dieser Zusammenstoss von geahnet-Poetischen und gemeinUnkultivirten es ist, was den Hauptreiz von Raimunds Hervorbringungen ausmacht".27 Scherer tends not only to overrate Raimund but to misunderstand him as well. Not only were Raimund's virtues exaggerated in the criticism of this period, but the familiar antithetical relationship to Nestroy is voiced with greater conviction than before. R. M. Werner writes in 1886 for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie: Raimund scheint immer wie aus einem schönen Traum, der noch in ihm nachzittert, zur traurigen Wirklichkeit zu erwachen, Nestroy dagegen alles Schöne, Edele auf Erden für einen phantastischen Traum und nur den Schmutz für Wirklichkeit zu halten, jener ist Idealist, dieser Pessimist; jener quält sich selbst, dieser alle anderen. So vertreten uns beide Lebensauffassungen, welche sich gegenseitig ausschliessen. 28

Schlögl, while arguing for Nestroy, and pointing out that characters like Peter Spann (Der Unbedeutende) and Kampl (Kampl) are highminded and selfless personalities, dismisses Raimund as "ein reizbares, gutmütiges, krankes, grosses Kind". 29 The first ambitious contribution to the memory of Nestroy came in 1891 when a twelve-volume edition of his works, edited by Moritz Necker, was published by Chiavacci and Ganghofer. Neither Raimund nor Nestroy made provisions for a collected edition. The unexpected death of the former, and the disinclination of both to see their works in print (certainly as much to prevent them from being exploited by rival theaters as for reasons of modesty) worked against such an undertaking. Especially is this true of Nestroy, whose works, tenfold as numerous as Raimund's, had lain for thirty years in the dusty lofts of the Theater an der Wien. Many of the " RSW, V, 705. " R. M. Werner, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (Leipzig, 1886), XXIII, p. 454. 29 Friedrich Schlögl, Vom Alt-Wiener Volkstheater (Vienna, 1884), p. 143.

INTRODUCTION

27

original Nestroy manuscripts were not immediately available, and the publishers, faced with a stringent printing deadline, accepted whatever copies could be obtained. Thus a vulgate edition of Nestroy was printed with a full-length biography and a critique of his works which has since become obsolete, especially in its thesis that Nestroy was the realistic champion of folk life. The most valuable feature of this edition is the inclusion of the diary Nestroy kept as a young actor in Amsterdam. With a slender volume of his letters, not published until 1938, it represents the main body of his extant personal writings, and has never been reprinted. The publishing of the Chiavacci-Ganghofer edition failed to stimulate appreciative criticism. In this respect the years 1891 to 1908 are barren ones; nor, as Reichert has shown, 30 did Nestroy fare better upon the stage; an attempt to perform Lumpazivagabundus at the Burgtheater was severely attacked by the critics and the play discontinued after three performances. Writing in 1906, R. M. Meyer speaks of Nestroy as a man of "angeborener Gemeinheit", and continues, "... jedes höhere Moment hat er so höhnisch abgewiesen, wie Raimund es aufsuchte — [seine Gestalten] sind kaum mehr als Haubenstöcke, auf die er seine Witze hängt." 31 Soon after this violent and extreme rejection of Nestroy, Otto Rommel, a critic and scholar whose analysis has gone a long way toward restoring Nestroy's reputation in the twentieth century, published his first Nestroy edition (by Bong, 1908). Unlike the one of Chiavacci-Ganghofer, it contains only eleven works, but they are carefully chosen and show in a skeleton outline Nestroy's development as a dramatic artist. The first paragraph of Rommel's introduction is a warning against further attempts to explain Nestroy in terms of Raimund's achievement.32 Though scarcely a decade separates them chronologically, he points out that their dramatic efforts belong to distinctly different periods. Raimund is interpreted as the perfecter of the Biedermeier fairy-tale drama, and Nestroy as the pioneer of the modern folk-play. ,0

Herbert W. Reichert, "Some Causes of the Nestroy Renaissance in Vienna", Monatshefte, XLVII (1955), p. 222. 31 R. M. Meyer, Deutsche Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1906), p. 180. " Nestroys Werke, edited by Otto Rommel (Vienna, 1908), p. 9.

28

INTRODUCTION

During the same time new approaches to Raimund were explored. A special interest in his biography is discernible. Arturo Farinelli evaluates his plays as the dramatic expression of the poet's love for Toni Wagner, the girl to whom he swore eternal fidelity but could never marry. Farinelli's attempt is unconvincing, for it leads him to vastly overrate the idyllic element in Raimund's works and to underrate the poet's individuality: "Seine Kunst war begrenzt; sie kannte keine steilen Höhen, keine unergründlichen Tiefen, sondern bloss sanfte, liebliche Fluren"; this allegedly makes of Raimund "Ein Österreicher, ein Wiener vom Scheitel bis zur Sohle ... ".83 Of greater significance because of its reserved attitude toward the legends surrounding Raimund and Nestroy is Boerner's Raimund biography, published by Reclam in 1905. Further editions of the works, with critical introductions, helped to spread Raimund's popularity. The most notable at the turn of the century is that of Castle (1903), who elaborates upon an earlier idea of Grillparzer that the basis of Raimund's art is Baroque.34 Castle begins his critique by noting the Baroque influences upon Viennese art, architecture, and literature. He goes on to show briefly the influence of the Folk Theater tradition upon Raimund's style. Like that of Sauer and Glossy before him, his approach is sober and scholarly. With the advent of the Twentieth Century comes a more serious attempt to understand Raimund in terms of his individual plays. By far the best early contribution is Ernst von Wolzogen's edition of Alpenkönig: Ferdinand Raimund, Eine Erinnerung und Eine Mahnung. The author draws attention to Richard Wagner, who like Grillparzer before him saw the essence of Raimund's art in the poetical vividness of his scenes. He stresses Wagner's appreciation of Raimund for attempting to achieve a Gesamtkunstwerk, and he quotes from Wagner's own essay, "Über Schauspieler und Sänger" (1872), in which the composer states his belief that Raimund's achievement is worthy of a limited comparison with Goethe's Faust, since both writers utilized many folklike and theatrically convincing elements. Wagner concludes that: "Die Raimund'schen Zauber" "

Arturo Farinelli, Grillparzer und Raimund (Leipzig, 1897), p. 86. RSW, V, 705.

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29

spiele [erheben] sich bis in das Gebiet einer wahrhaft sinnigen, theatralischen Poesie."35 The Mahnung or warning of Wolzogen is that the new generation of poets must learn from Raimund's simple directness, pictorial power, and emotional force. Wolzogen's criticism avoids arbitrary contrasts between Raimund and Nestroy. Fürst's edition of Raimund (1908), though it contains a generous section of explanatory notes concerning dialectical usage (a rarity in Raimund editions!), is marred by the fiction that Nestroy was the destroyer of a tradition which Raimund entrusted to him. The most interesting feature of Fürst's work is the testimony he provides to the popularity of Raimund in the first decade of the twentieth century. Through those years Raimund's popularity and prestige grew largely at Nestroy's expense. Fürst writes : Der Name Ferdinand Raimund zählt heute zu den am meisten gefeierten seines Heimatlandes. Seine Vaterstadt hat ein Theater, das ursprünglich gut volkstümlichen Zwecken dienen sollte, nach ihm bennant, auf Wiener Boden erhebt sich sein Denkmal. 86

If one looks coolly at the criticism between 1910 and 1930, one must conclude that though the attempts were many, especially in the case of Raimund, little was accomplished to further the understanding of either writer. There are two important exceptions, however. Karl Kraus achieved a greater understanding of Nestroy. For the first time a writer who was not merely a critic but a poet and a dramatist became the champion of Nestroy's plays. Die Fackel, Kraus's satiric magazine, became the pulpit from which he preached the excellences of the playwright to whom he rightly felt himself spiritually akin. As penetrating as some of Karl Kraus's comments are, it must be stated that his view of Nestroy was a very limited one. Kraus is the first to point out in detail Nestroy's dramatic uses of language. Himself a writer of stinging aphorisms, he was particularly attracted to the social criticism in Nestroy's plays, and his most famous article, "Nestroy und die Nachwelt" (1912), is an attack on the " Wolfgang Golther, Richard Wagner, Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen (Leipzig, 1913), IX, p. 186. " Raimunds Werke, edited by Rudolph Fürst (Vienna, 1908), p. 95.

30

INTRODUCTION

shortcomings of his contemporaries, as well as a eulogy of Nestroy. Unfortunately, Kraus underestimated the importance Nestroy assigned to dramatic form. His use of stage and scene are completely neglected. The influence of Kraus is still with us ; in the minds of many, Nestroy remains above all else a Sprachkünstler. Yet the influence of critics like Karl Kraus and Otto Rommel helps to account for a gradual Nestroy revival upon the stage. Between 1913 and 1934 there were 185 performances of five Nestroy comedies in Vienna, distributed on the average of approximately 5-10 performances a year.37 In 1913 appeared Carl Fuhrmann's Raimunds Kunst und Charakter, a longish discussion of one play: Krone. As is not infrequently the case, the essay does not fulfill the implications of the title, but seeks mainly to explain the dramatic weaknesses of the play through weaknesses in Raimund's character. Foreign critics have tended to regard Raimund and Nestroy in exaggerated terms, just as have native ones. In his 1,156-page Histoire de la Littérature Allemande, A. Bossert places Raimund slightly above Nestroy, but he describes the latter as trivial. According to Bossert, Nestroy is not a writer but an actor. He writes: "Un autre représentant de la farce viennoise, mais moins original et plus trivial que Baeuerle, c'est l'acteur Jean Nestroy."38 An example of Dutch criticism that led to erroneous conclusions is found in the judgments of Van Stockum and Van Dam, who accept the plays of both writers as thoroughly Biedermeier, and Lumpazivagabundus (in which the protagonist ends his earthly life starved, ill-clothed, and chased through the streets by mocking children) is purported to show "die innere Entwickelung vom Scheinglück zum wahren Glück". 39 Kuno Francke devotes less than a line to "Raimund's harmless fairy-land pieces" in his 595-page History of German Literature as Determined by Social Forces.40 Nestroy is not even " R. M. Meyer, Deutsche Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, (Leipzig, 1906), p. 180. " A. Bossert, Histoire de la Littérature Allemande (Paris, 1928), p.772. " Van Stockum and Van Dam^ Geschichte der Deutschen Literatur (Groningen, Batavia, 1935), p. 181. 40 Kuno Francke, A History of German Literature as Determined by Social Forces (New York, 1916), p. 455.

INTRODUCTION

31

mentioned. In a more specialized treatment, Karl Holl's Geschichte des deutschen Lustspiels (1923), Holl, a North German, confesses at the beginning of his work that there is not now, nor has there ever been a great comic writer in the German language. Three pages of a 439-page volume are devoted to Raimund and Nestroy collectively. While according the former the title of a classical folk poet, Holl adds that Raimund is provincial and thematically quite limited. Nestroy fares even worse, because Holl does not find in him the moral earnestness and the ability to create symbols which he considers essential to all writers of comedy. Though Holl shares Saxony as his home state with Till Eulenspiegel, his book is the perfect example of the German critical tendency to underestimate comedy as a valid form of artistic expression, especially if its humor is satiric. Critics such as Moritz Enzinger in his book Die Entwickelung des Wiener Theaters vom 16. bis 19. Jahrhundert (1918-1919), began to give more thought to the traditions out of which Raimund's art arose. For Enzinger, the Jesuit Schuldramen of the Baroque age are the source of Raimund's stage technique. However, all attempts to regard Raimund as a Catholic poet have failed utterly. There is not a word about orthodox religion in any of his plays, nor does he express such feelings in his poems or letters. Moreover, it was precisely the folk element which the Jesuits borrowed to popularize their dogmas in the theater. Thus the argument is not a helpful one for understanding Raimund. Raimund is commonly considered to be indebted to the romantics also. As early as 1888, Sauer had discussed this idea in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie.41 He found a romantic mood in the plays and above all, he saw in Raimund the one writer who created the Gesamtkunstwerk which the romantics deemed the goal of all dramatic art. As recently as 1953 Joseph Gregor made the suggestion that, assuming a Baroque heritage for both, Raimund is to Nestroy as romantic atmosphere (Stimmung) to romantic irony.42 Yet two detailed attempts to evaluate Raimund as a romantic have failed. The problem seems to lie not so much in the proposition itself, as 41

"

August Sauer, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, XXVII, p. 7363. Joseph Gregor, Der Schauspielführer (Stuttgart, 1953), I, p. 132.

32

INTRODUCTION

in its demonstration. Both investigations are dissertations. The first by Grete Merck (Marburg, 1927), "Raimunds 'Verschwender', Wesen und Werk eines Romantikers", is unconvincing, not merely because she limits her observations almost strictly to only one of Raimund's plays, but because her research ends in a tedious quest for romantic motifs. An intensification of this approach is E. de Laporte's "Studien über die Beziehung Ferdinand Raimunds zur Romantik" (Kiel, 1953). The difficulty is that the more one examines the myriad visual devices in Raimund's plays, the more plastic, and one might therefore say anti-romantic, they appear. The mood of Raimund's plays is at times highly romantic, but mood exists to be felt, not dissected. Two further contributions to Raimund literature, both from the year 1920, deserve mention. The first is Eugen Gürster's dissertation, "Ferdinand Raimund und das Theater" (Munich, 1920). By 'theater' Gürster means chiefly the actor in the theater. In no sense does he consider Raimund as a synthesizer of the arts. The second contribution is of an entirely different nature. It concerns the full recognition by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, not of the childish aspects of Raimund's plays, but of their poetically 'childlike' essence, meaning that character, scene, and language become an organic whole, born of an intuitive sense for reconstructing life on the stage, more in scenes than in dialogue. 43 The decade of the years 1930-1940 is an important one in Raimund-Nestroy criticism. At its outset Otto Rommel's fifteenvolume critical edition of Nestroy's works appeared. Based on original texts and accompanied by extensive notes on the dialectal terms and local references, it also contains a wealth of reviews from the Sammler, Humorist, and Wiener Tagblatt that provide interesting testimony to the reaction of Nestroy's contemporaries. Rommel shows in detail how each play differs from the source upon which it is based. A detailed analysis treats Nestroy's position in the Folk Theater. Especially relevant here is the observation that even before Raimund's time the Folk Theater was withering away, and Rommel suggests the absurdity of describing Nestroy as its destroyer, be** Hugo Von Hofmannsthal, Ferdinand Raimund, Einleitung zu einer Sammlung seiner Lebensdokumente (Vienna, 1920).

INTRODUCTION

33

cause: "Er [Raimund] war ein edler Zusatz ... Er war der Konig, doch war die Dynastie mit ihm erloschen."44 Despite its many excellences, one misses in Rommel's discourse adequate recognition of Nestroy's musical, scenic, and choreographic elements. The edition is further limited in that it does not include the playwright's diary and scarcely any of his letters. Rommel's work was followed by Battaglia's Johann Nestroy, Abschatzer des Menschen, Magier des Wortes (1932). His book is a

slavish imitation of Rommel's earlier findings. The title, emphasizing Nestroy's language, follows the line of thinking established by Karl Kraus. Moreover, Battaglia seeks to avoid censure for the shortcomings of his efforts by pleading that his work is not a 'critical' contribution, and one is inclined to believe him when he ends his analysis with the astonishing statement that Nestroy's plays are the instrument through which the Holy Ghost speaks to mankind! The Nestroy critical edition was matched by the Brukner-Castle six-volume Raimund edition in 1934. Although it must be accepted as the standard edition, it leaves much to be desired. The planning and preparation of the volumes begun in 1914, interrupted by the war, and nearly throttled by lack of funds, could be completed only with the omission of several important items. It includes no biography of Raimund, critique of his works, or footnotes for the dialectal expressions. Yet for several reasons it is more useful than any Raimund edition before or since. Volume four contains 320 of Raimund's letters, nearly all that have been preserved. Volume five, in two parts, has 1,154 pages of reviews dealing with Raimund as an actor and the response to the plays during his lifetime. A sixth volume contains a discussion of the musical element, followed by the scores for all the songs. Margarethe and Eduard Castle have spared no pains to arrive at the most accurate texts possible. To understand the problem involved, one must realize that the editors were faced with deciding which of fifty preserved manuscripts were the originals, for Raimund, in order to avoid the pirating of his works by rival theaters, had employed copyists whenever he wished new texts. Of course, errors crept into the manuscripts. An annoying "

NSW,

XV, p. 73f.

34

INTRODUCTION

feature of the edition is that all these errors are listed, right down to the smallest difference in orthography. During the thirties the discussion about the relationship between Raimund and Nestroy continued to intrigue critics. One notes with interest Josef Nadler's constructive juxtaposition. He regards both writers as the heirs of a long tradition, whose instinctive goal was the Gesamtkunstwerk. Unlike Rommel, Nadler stresses the scenic elements and the heritage of traditional motifs preserved in Nestroy's plays. He regards both writers not as literati but as inspired practitioners of the theater. Because of the special value of his criticism for an analysis of Raimund and Nestroy, a paragraph is quoted here: Raimund und Nestroy waren der Inbegriff des österreichischen Theaters aus drei Jahrunderten. Denn im Kern der Frucht steckt die ganze Pflanze als Erträgnis und Vermögen. In beiden steigerten sich die Wesenszüge des Wiener Volkes zu anschaulicher Beweiskraft: Raimund der Schönfärber aus schwerblütigem Idealismus [sie], Nestroy der Bezweifler aus übersichtigem Realismus. Jeder hat nur in seiner Art uralte Stilmittel des Wiener Theaters nicht wieder gewonnen, denn sie waren nie verloren, sondern zu einer neuen und zeitgemässen Kunst erhöht: Raimund die barocke Welt des Hoftheaters aus dem siebzehnten Jahrhundert, Nestroy den Harlekin der Renaissance-komödie aus dem sechzehnten und frühen achtzehnten Jahrhundert. Aber beide stehen auf einem und demselben Boden. Alles was aus dem Singspiel stammt, Musik, Tanz, Melodrama, ist ihnen gemeinsam. Beide gehen von der zuständlichen Wirklichkeit des Wiener Volkslebens aus. Beide sind als grosse Schauspielerdichter Verwandlungen des alten Stegreifkünstlers. Keiner von ihnen vermag das Ganze zu bedeuten. Sie sind ein Ring, der erst geschlossen ganz und vollkommen ist. 45

The balanced criticism of Nadler remained but an episode, for within two years Vogt and Koch in their Geschichte der Deutschen Literatur von den Ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart were proclaiming Raimund as the Hans Sachs of the Folk Theater and Nestroy its sworn enemy. Giving new life to the harmful fictions surrounding the two, Vogt and Koch go further by making Nestroy the champion of the operetta and its frivolous songs which they rightly declare 46

Josef Nadler, Literaturgeschichte der deutschen Stämme und Landschaften (Regensburg, 1932), IV, p. 425.

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INTRODUCTION 46

contributed to the ruin of the Folk Theater. However, they neglect the fact that Nestroy was the only Viennese writer of sufficient power in the 1840's to stem at least partially the influence of the operetta. As has often been the case, Nestroy is here made responsible for the evils he sought to correct. Nestroy studies received a new emphasis in 1937 when Franz Mautner in a sixty-four-page treatise investigated the dramatic appeal in the playwright's chief works. While Mautner does not deny the interaction of elements in the plays, he stresses the function of wit by relating it not only to the dialogue but to the stage scene as well. For him Nestroy is not a corrupt dramatist but "von Lichtenberg bis Nietzsche der unerschrockenste Durchschauer des Menschen".47 Nestroy's humor, Mautner maintains, is stimulated by a profound scepticism about the motives of his fellows, whom he exposes when they trap themselves in a web of paradoxes through their own statements. Despite the solid contributions of at least a few critics during the the 1930's, Nestroy was performed sparingly. Though Raimund's Mädchen, Verschwender, and Alpenkönig were enjoyed regularly at the Burgtheater, and even a relatively weak work like Phantasie (enhanced by Käthe Gold as Phantasie) was acclaimed at the Staatsschauspiel in Berlin (1936), only four performances of Nestroy were given at the Burgtheater between 1934 and 1937, and the prominent critic Edwin Rollet recorded with an ironic note that Nestroy was being saved for the children's matinees in order to preserve his cultural value for future generations.48 By 1940 the Nazi influence was making itself felt in Raimund and Nestroy criticism. Though the National Socialists were interested in spreading the name of Nestroy as an early exponent of their Blubo theories, no one dedicated an important critical study of him. Attempts to proclaim Nestroy as the defender of a political idea remained fruitless. One of the excellences of Freiheit in Krähwinkel, for example, is that Nestroy shows the incongruities of not one *• Friedrich Vogt and Max Koch, Geschichte der Deutschen Literatur von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart (Leipzig, 1934), II, p. 343. " Franz H. Mautner, Johann Nestroy und seine Kunst (Vienna, 1937), p. 7. " Neues Wiener Tagblatt, February 6,1934.

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INTRODUCTION

political party, but all. The conservatives as well as the radicals are exposed to the same ridicule. Yet Kindermann has special praise for this work; through it, he maintains, Nestroy made a justified attack on a fledgling democracy. 49 Kindermann sees both writers as heroes of the Folk Theater, but he is especially attracted to Raimund, whose works become the manifestation of his racialist views. Though Kindermann obviously shares the National Socialist antagonism to Biedermeier concepts in general, he makes the significant observation that such elements are relatively unimportant in Raimund's works: Es kann auch kein Zweifel darüber aufkommen, dass Raimund, Grillparzer und Stifter in einer Biedermeierwelt lebten und infolgedessen eine ganze Reihe biedermeierliche Züge in ihr Werk eingehen Hessen. Aber gerade sie sind nicht die für die schöpferische Gesamtstruktur wesentlichen — oder sie wurden von diesen dreien zu etwas ganz anderem, weit über die Biedermeierkultur Hinausragendem umgestaltet.60 To get a full idea of how Nazi-influenced critics could distort the problem of understanding the relationship between Raimund and Nestroy, one must read Walter Erdmann's Ferdinand Raimund, Dichterische Entwicklung, Persönlichkeit und Lebensschicksal. Erdmann announces that his study is based upon a synthetic-analytic method which in practice turns out to be a conventional yard-byyard treatment. The Raimund-Nestroy antithesis which he exploits is that of Witz-Gemüt, or wit and spirit. He objects to Nestroy because he has the wit of the English. Then, defying logic, he praises Raimund because of his likeness to the greatest of Englishmen: Shakespeare. Raimund is equated with the heart, the ideal, and sunlight; Nestroy with the tainted mind, pessimism, and moonlight.61 Despite Erdmann's irrational assault, the Nazis enjoyed Nestroy on the stage, as Reichert has aptly expressed it, "with the sting removed". During the seven-year Nazi occupation of Austria, 865 Nestroy performances were recorded. 62 Though no exact figures are available for Raimund, he was accepted as a full party member, " Heinz Kindermann, Ferdinand Raimund, Lebenswerk und Wirkungsraum eines deutschen Volksdramatikers (Vienna, 1940), p. 51. Kindermann, Ferdinand Raimund, p. 486. 61 Erdmann, Ferdinand Raimund, p. 250ff. •* Reichert, "Some causes", p. 224; see n. 38.

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37

because the Nazis saw in him a great-hearted fellow-sufferer, sacrificing himself for the ideal in a corrupt world. His destiny, they believed, was a flattering confirmation of their own ideologies. A new direction in Raimund-Nestroy criticism manifested itself in an essay by Herbert Cysarz, "Raimund und die Metaphysik des Wiener Theaters" (1948). He proposes two ideas not to be dismissed lightly. In his essay, Raimund and the philosopher Leibniz join hands, and Cysarz argues that the former presented with all the devices of the theater the latters' solution of the problem of evil by declaring this the best of all possible worlds. Cysarz describes Raimund's plays as "wahre Theodizee der Komödie, eine Realisierung göttlichen Sinns in einem Spiel der Verflechtungen und Verwandlungen".53 The observation that the good fairies in conflict with evil forces are all-good but not all-powerful (they must obey certain fixed conditions imposed upon them by fate) makes the parallel to Leibniz clearer. The difficulty of accepting Cysarz's thesis hinges upon the question of knowing how much of Raimund's theater is the dramatization of a profound conviction and how much is theatrical clap-trap, of which there is a good deal in the Viennese Folk Theater. In a superficial sense nearly all Zauberspiele demonstrate that this world is the best possible one. Even if the reader questions Cysarz' thesis, however, the challenge at least to 'search' for new depths in Raimund before refuting his idea is undeniable. The second main idea of Cysarz is that the philosophy in the plays is not contrived, but the genuine triumph of the artist over the world's pain and sorrow. Raimund is seen as a Zerrissener torn between art and life. Unlike his unproblematic predecessors, he experiences all the agonies and joys of creation. Cysarz then relates Nestroy to Raimund. The former, like the latter, is viewed as a Zerrissener, though Nestroy's problem is a different one. According to Cysarz, only the theater could heal the wound in Nestroy's soul, for he experiences, to the limits of being, the gulf between pretense and reality.54 Nonetheless, Cysarz does not see the revelation of a divine plan in Nestroy's works: "Nestroys Bühne weist nicht nach Urbildern oder göttlichem Fug, am ehesten noch in ein gewisses 68 M

Cysarz, "Raimund und die Metaphysik", p. 238. Cysarz, "Raimund und die Metaphysik", p. 242.

38

INTRODUCTION 65

Pathos des Sollens." Raimund becomes the god-inspired artist and Nestroy the genius of disillusionment. The extent to which Cysarz' essay has directly influenced later critics is not known. It is equally possible that the philosophical interpretation of Raimund and the emphasis upon his Zerrissenheit is a sign of the times, and that the patron of the arts in an imperiled generation can now swear allegiance to a poet of dreams only if he, like Morpheus, has been in Hell. H. Olles in his dissertation "Die Zerrissenheit bei Raimund und Nestroy" (Frankfurt, 1954) utilizes Raimund's Alpenkönig and Nestroy's Der Zerrissene, but includes a discussion of other plays as well, and works out in detail the implications of Cysarz' suggestions. Olles' results are of value, because his study confirms the idea that a meaningful connection exists between Raimund and Nestroy, and modern man. A possible weakness of his work is its tendency to overstress both writers as problematic men-of-letters and to neglect the dramatization of their philosophies of life within the theater. Olles recognizes this problem without solving it, when he regrets that no one has yet fully explored Raimund's technique and in particular "Raimunds Bildlichkeit in allen seinen Schichten".56 Following the philosophical impetus of Cysarz and the detailed work of Olles have come such articles as Heinz Politzer's "Ferdinand Raimunds Menschenfeind".57 For Politzer the Folk Theater is of decidedly secondary importance. He examines Alpenkönig as the thoroughly modern dramatization of a psychiatric problem. Articles like Hans Weigel's "Ferdinand Raimund oder die Flucht in den Zwiespalt",58 or Martin Nash's "Die Gefesselte Phantasie and Ferdinand Raimund" 59 have stressed the tragedy of Raimund's life and its reflection in his works. If the characters with whom one is dealing are marked men, as in the works of Thomas Mann, one ought to reconsider these writers; on the other hand, one should " Cysarz, "Raimund und die Metaphysik", p. 242. " Olles, "Die Zerrissenheit", p. 86. " Heinz Politzer, "Ferdinand Raimunds Menschenfeind", in Benno von Wiese, Das deutsche Drama vom Barock bis zur Gegenwart (Düsseldorf, 1958), II, p. 9-22. 68 Hans Weigel, in Neue Deutsche Hefte, LXII (1959), p. 503ff. «• Martin Nash, in The German Quarterly, XXXVI (1963), p. 14ff.

INTRODUCTION

39

avoid the danger of undervaluing the wealth of comic inventiveness that was the delight of a more tranquil age than our own. As instructive as recent criticism has been, it tends to search for the dramatization of Nietzschean chaos and to measure the cracks in the souls of playwrights about whom Arthur Eloesser wrote not so many years ago : Auf dem Weg vom Schreibtisch zur Bühne ist der deutschen Dramatik viel verlorengegangen; Raimund und Nestroy hatten zu ihr noch ein natürliches, durchaus praktisches Verhältnis, sie waren Dichter, Schauspieler, Theaterdirektoren, so gut wie Shakespeare oder Molière, sie schufen im Auftrag eines Publikums, aus der Tradition und der Genialität eines alten Grossstadtwesens, das phantastisch und ironisch mit sich selbst ihnen eine Welt bedeutete. 60

Gustav Pichler envisions Raimund's Rappelkopf as the germ-cell of Nietzsche's Übermensch,61 and for Walter Höllerer, Büchner's works are a lesson in optimism when compared to those of the nihilist, Nestroy.62 Otto Rommel's recent contribution is more enlightening than these interpretations.63 After examining the idea of a theodicy suggested earlier by Cysarz, Rommel discerns that it appears to be achieved by sheerly theatrical means.64 He makes no attempt to solve this problem, but implies that more research about it is needed. Rommel's history of the Folk Theater (A WVTh), which utilizes his findings derived from a knowledge of nearly 2,000 plays written between its genesis and Nestroy's death, seems a masterpiece of scholarship. He treats the theater as a living organism, and traces

60

Arthur Eloesser, Die Deutsche Literatur von der Romantik bis zur Gegenwart (Berlin, 1931), p. 151. 81 Gustav Pichler, "Genesis der Rappelköpfe, Raimunds Menschenfeind-Figur und ihre Vorläufer", introductory essay to Ferdinand Raimund, Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind, edited by Gustav Pichler (Vienna, Bergland Verlag, 1959), p. 10. ,a Walter Höllerer, Zwischen Klassik und Moderne, Lachen und Weinen in der Dichtung einer Übergangszeit (Stuttgart, 1958), p. 178f. 63 Ferdinand Raimund, Gesammelte Werke, edited by Otto Romme )(Gütersloh, 1962). 64 Ferdinand Raimund, edited by Otto Rommel, p. 28.

40

INTRODUCTION

its history from birth to death. About one hundred pages are devoted to Raimund and Nestroy, both of whom are regarded as educators of the people or Bildungsdramatiker. Rommel's estimate of Raimund stresses his continued belief in the ideal despite the tragic nature of existence.65 One notes that a shifting of opinion in Rommers work between A WVTh (1952) and Gesammelte Werke (1962) is toward a doubt in the Bildung interpretation. What remains to be said about criticism of Raimund and Nestroy in the 1950's is not a great deal. Koch's treatment in 1955,68 in a chapter called "Raimund und Nestroy", brings no additional enlightenment, nor is a helpful relationship established between the writers. The same year brought Herbert Reichert's brief though valuable article in the Monatshefte, "Some Causes of the Nestroy Renaissance in Vienna". His contribution is chiefly to the history of the theater. One learns with interest of the Communist interpretation of Nestroy as an early Marxist courageously exposing the corruption of the Western World. Not the least significant of Reichert's observations is his stress upon the labors of the Munich theater director, Axel von Ambesser, to bring the Nestroy renaissance into being. One only wonders if 'renaissance' is not too strong a word when applied to the revival of Nestroy's works, since the resulting productions represent but a small percentage of even his best plays. Since 1960, three separate Raimund editions have appeared in rapid succession. None of them answers the need for a complete scholarly edition, which has yet to be written. Bergland issued a two-volume set in 1960, edited by Gustav Pichler. No hint is given as to what previous edition the text is based upon. The introductions to the plays consist of entire pages borrowed verbatim and without acknowledgement from Walter Erdmann's earlier work. 67 The two subsequent editions, one by Schreyvogel (Winkler Verlag, 1960), the other by Otto Rommel (Siegbert Mohn Verlag, 1962), possess at least the virtue of being reprints of the first two volumes of Märchendramen in the 1934 Brukner-Castle edition. Schreyvogel " A WVTh, p. 612. " Franz Koch, Idee und Wirklichkeit, Deutsche Dichtung zwischen Romantik und Naturalismus (Düsseldorf, 1956), II, p. 164ff. " Op. cit., n. 6. Ferdinand Raimund, edited by Pichler, n. 61.

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embellishes his introduction by resurrecting long since refuted fancyings about Raimund and Nestroy, which apparently to this very day stubbornly refuse to remain in the graveyard of literary legend.

THE VIENNESE FOLK THEATER BEFORE R A I M U N D A N D NESTROY

No attempt can be made here to treat at length the Folk Theater before Raimund and Nestroy. This has been done many times before, and once in admirable detail.68 Yet no analysis of Raimund and Nestroy would be complete without at least a brief glance at their dramatic heritage. The essence of the Viennese Folk Theater is the representation of native humor upon a Baroque stage, and its history is the story of Hanswurst, the people's fool, and how he tumbles comically from one situation to the next. The question of Hanswurst's origin has given rise to several theories. One writer believes that Hanswurst is as old as Germanic mythology.69 Another claims as his source the "Neidhardspiele" in which the poet Neidhard von Reuenthal (11801250) plays a barbarous game of trick and counter-trick with the peasants.70 Another maintains that "Der liebe Augustin", whose sense for hilarity the plague itself could not alter, deserves recognition as the prototype.71 As interesting as these theories are, none can be accepted as literally true, although all are advanced with a discomforting air of finality. Actually, one can state only the generality that rare was the age when the Germanic peoples had no room in their hearts for the wisdom and the folly of a fool. Surprising as it may seem to those who cherish the stereotype notion that all north Germans are dour souls, and only the Southerners light-hearted, the name of 'Hanswurst' is of Low German n

AWVTh. " Walter Erdmann, Ferdinand Raimund, Dichterische Entwicklung, Persönlichkeit und Lebensschicksal (Würzburg, 1943), p. 58. 70 Jacob Zeidler, Das Wiener Schauspiel im Mittelalter (Vienna, 1903), p. 11. 71 Alfred Möller, Ferdinand Raimund, Bilder von seinem Lebensweg (Graz, 1923), p. 1.

42

INTRODUCTION 72

origin. It was first recorded in 1519 in a transposition of Sebastian Brant's "Narrenschiff". For 'Hans Myst', the translator supplied 'Hans worst', utilizing the native word to describe the ridiculousness of a clumsy fellow whose corpulence reminded him of a sausage. The name became widespread and was soon applied to fools in general. It appears frequently in the writings of Luther, who after being credited with originating it, felt called upon to deny the honor in his essay "Wider den Hans worst" (1541). The conditions necessary for the flourishing of Hanswurst as a personality upon the stage are noticeable in the secularized passion plays of the late Middle Ages. Scattered between serious religious scenes were others that appealed to the fancy of the people and featured characters like the comical embalmer's assistant and the stupid devil. The exact moment of Hanswurst's first appearance on the stage is unknown, but his lineage in the theater can be traced back to the shrovetide plays or Fastnachtsspiele of the sixteenth century where he was frequently the comic protagonist. These plays were usually a few brief scenes performed at the Shrove Tuesday celebrations. They include hilarious quarrels between husband and wife, plaintiff and defendant, charlatan doctors who outwit their patients, and misers who lose their money to sly rogues. It is thus clear that the Viennese Hanswurst is more than just a provincial funny-man, for he is descended from a long tradition of Germanic fools, whose influence is still reflected in the annual shrovetide celebrations. The Viennese Folk Theater was born when Hanswurst performed for his first audience at the newly built Kärntnertor Theater in 1712. Unlike his ancestors who wore no special costume, the Viennese Hanswurst was colorfully clothed as a Salzburg mountaineer. His name soon became associated with special aspects of his appearance: his thick black beard, his tall, pointed green hat, the wooden sword or Pritsche which he inevitably carried, and the large red heart pinned to his chest and framed on both sides by the initials 'H.W.'. Hanswurst knew his audience well and recognized that exaggerated behavior would evoke their applause. At once he would take them ™ Friedrich Kluge and Alfred Götze, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (Berlin, 1953), p. 299.

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into his confidence by telling his secrets. Called by a later critic "the epitome of lusting humanity", 73 his jokes about sex assured him the interest of an approving audience. One should avoid regarding him as merely vulgar. Refined he was not, but neither was he out of line in an age that expected the flavor of raw sensuality in its entertainment. Hanswurst, limited by his childish mentality, had to cope with drastic events that befell him: he was chased by ghosts or wild animals, and pushed into rivers. A braggart and a coward, he continually proclaimed his bravery, cutting off the heads of fallen soldiers, when necessary, to prove it. Constantly hoaxed and duped by others, he nonetheless managed to survive his ordeals and win the acclaim of his uninhibited audience. The creator of the Viennese Hanswurst was the actor Josef Anton Stranitzky (1676-1726). The plays in which his new character appeared were called Haupt-imd-Staatsaktionen, pompous dramatizations of the deeds of kings, princes, tyrants, and martyrs. Melodramatic in the extreme, and almost never of German origin, the plays which the audiences beheld featured political intrigue and blood-curdling executions, as well as lavish weddings and coronations at foreign courts. Supposedly the populace was witnessing the tragedy and grandeur of die grosse Welt. Hanswurst appeared in scenes affording comic relief. They were not intended as a parody of the serious moments of the play, nor was the dramatic relationship between comic and serious elements more than a loose one. Rather, it arose from the Baroque conviction that the theater must present the totality of human experience. The familiar charge that serious drama was ruined by the presence of Hanswurst is unjust. For the Baroque mentality, the comic and tragic aspects of life were not irreconcilable but complementary. As early as the founding of the Jesuit drama (Vienna, 1565), the clown had his place in serious drama. In the theater of Stranitzky a complex of influences met to establish a Baroque tradition that extends in an unbroken line to the middle of the nineteenth century. Above all, the devices of the theater, as developed first in the secular spectacle plays of the Italian " Betsy Aikin-Smith, Comedy in Germany in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century (Oxford, 1936), p. 46.

44

INTRODUCTION

Renaissance and later by the Jesuit drama, served to create a vivid illusion, not only of earthly existence, but of the supernatural. Life is depicted not as conflict but as a spectacle, to which are added music and the choreographer's art from the Baroque opera. One must approach the works of Raimund, in particular, with this concept of the theater in mind, for from its rich traditions he drew freely, and his most perceptive critics — such as Grillparzer, who wrote "Das Barocke ist sein Verdienst, aber sein grosses Verdienst"74 — have always been aware of it. Stranitzky placed no creative stamp on the serious action of the Haupt-und-Staatsaktionen\ most of his theater manuscripts were translations of Italian operas, but his shaping of the comic element was another matter. Not until his time does Hanswurst emerge as an individualized clown. He had many foreign competitors, like the English Jack Pudding, Pickleherring, the French Jean Potage, the Italian Macaroni; all of whom share the greedy appetites their names suggest. None of these, however, became a genuine folk personality to the German mind. Of considerable importance for the development of the Viennese Folk Theater is Stranitzky's debt to the Commedia dell-arte. Originating in Northern Italy (circa 1550), it rapidly spread over much of Europe. Its essence is the extemporized dialogue (mainly in dialect) of masked characters, who are not individual personalities but easily recognizable types, such as the thief from Naples, the gossipy scholar, the deceived husband, the bragging soldier, and the sly servant. The Italian influence brought with it a special emphasis upon the dramatic gesture, which is otherwise not nearly so vital in German comedy. In Vienna it remained a highly cultivated art down to the time of Raimund and Nestroy. The action of Stranitzky's comic interludes, as is true of the Folk Theater as a whole, follows a familiar pattern. Stranitzky took directly from the Commedia dellarte many of his plots, which he published in 1711 under the title "Ollapotrida des durchgetriebenen Fuchsmundi". Nonetheless, Stranitzky's theater, like the Commedia dell-arte, remained one for which literary form had little meaning. In its stead, he relied upon 74

KSfV, V, p. 705.

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45

the spontaneity and imagination of the actors, providing only a few main ideas as to how dialogue and action were to be developed. Consequently the actor was at least as important as the playwright, if not more so. From the time of Stranitzky-Hanswurst to NestroyKnieriem the association of playwright-actor remained a close one. They were often the same person, and no succeeding generation lacked a comedian who breathed new life into Hanswurst, re-interpreting him for the new generation. Gottfried Prehauser (1699-1769), the successor of Stranitzky, also played the role of the Hanswurst, but added to it an entirely different concept. The black-bearded rustic clown becomes urbanized. The courts of the pompous kings and queens are replaced by the pageantry of eighteenth-century Vienna with its fairs, festivals, and growing splendor. The Hanswurst seeks a career as a Windmacher or man-of-the-world among the sophisticates and parvenus. Comedy develops when he is unable to master the situations which his new environment presents. In matters of love Hanswurst has become more discriminating, and a respectful affection characterizes his relationship to his master, recalling the loyal servants of the later Raimund plays. In his Sunday-best prose Hanswurst pens a letter to his master pleading for the hand of Columbina "zur Fortpflanzung meines hanswurstischen Stammenhauses". 75 The need for acquiring social grace makes him unwilling to identify himself with a single costume that would mark him as a stand-out, and he changes his attire frequently. Though he retains a degree of coarse simplemindedness, he gains in charm, and his desire to please endeared him to his audience. A contemporary of Prehauser with an original interpretation of Hanswurst was Josef Felix von Kurz (1717-1783), the son of an actor and a nobleman. Unlike Prehauser, Kurz wrote many of his own plays, the arias to a few of which have been preserved. 78 He revived the stage machinery of the Baroque, which Prehauser had disregarded, and added ballets, tumbling, and pantomime. Like Raimund many years later, he had a genuine feeling for the Baroque ™ O. Rommel, Deutsche Literatur, Sammlung literarischer Kunst und Kulturdenkmäler in Entwicklungsreihen, Reihe Barock (Leipzig, 1935), I, p. 142. " Rommel, Deutsche Literatur, p. 71ff.

46

INTRODUCTION

stage. Nadler comments in this connection: "Eine Bühne beider Welten, der wirklichen und der überwirklichen, gleichviel, auf welches dieser beiden Reiche man mit seiner Weltanschauung eingeschworen ist."77 Kurz is best known for Bernadon, a role he himself created. Ironically it is the least rewarding of his most characteristic roles, for Bernadon is merely a slow-witted youth who perpetually longs for marriage. While the Kurz Hanswurst is naive, he is also impulsive, mercurial, and even manic. He is as much at home in Hades, on Mount Olympus, or an exotic island as in Vienna. His adventurous spirit was made clear by Kurz's unexcelled gift for pantomime. Kurz's Hanswurst did not merely walk onto the stage, he was born out of a giant egg, and his favorite means of locomotion was atop the back of a huge rooster, a device later used by Raimund. What Kurz sought to demonstrate, with all the eloquence of gesture and circumstance, was the comic helplessness of man in a constantly changing and perilous world. His roles, however, were types, and without any hint of psychological depth. After the strong personality of Stranitzky had passed from the scene, the course of Hanswurst's development was no longer so smooth. Stranitzky had obtained the Kärntnertor Theater while it was controlled by Italians, and his own indebtedness to their dramatic techniques has already been indicated. At his death, the Italian influence was more strongly revived and the supremacy of the Hanswurst endangered. To make matters worse, Hanswurst's position was increasingly threatened, especially after 1739, for his figure was burned in effigy in Leipzig at an allegorical ceremony by the followers of Gottsched. His opponents denounced him as a vulgar clown who ought not to be tolerated on the stage. It was argued that through his very presence he had corrupted serious drama. Moreover, one missed a patriotic element in Hanswurst. If there must be a German clown, Gottsched believed, at least he ought to reflect German ideals and customs. Above all, he regarded it as a double sin if the Hanswurst appeared in a magical play, because 'art must copy nature', which for him meant the exclusion of impossible or improbable elements: "Maschinen müssen in Komödien " Josef Nadler, Literaturgeschichte der deutschen Stämme und Landschaften (Regensburg, 1923), I, p. 70.

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nicht vorkommen: weil die Götter sich in die thörichten Handlungen schlechter Leute nicht mischen ... Die Zaubereien oft anzubringen, das ist auch nichts schönes ; weil es nicht mehr wahrscheinlich ist." 78 It was of little consolation to the followers of Hanswurst that a literary war was declared equally against Italian and Spanish comedy. As crude as such criticism may seem to the modern reader, it was repeated nearly unchanged by the opponents of Raimund and Nestroy even in the twentieth century. Gottsched lacked utterly what the Viennese possessed to an extraordinary degree : the willing suspension of disbelief to gain rapport with the crude miracles of a visually oriented theater. The distance from Leipzig to Vienna was not great enough to prevent Gottsched's influence there also. Responding to a growing current of 'Enlightenment', Josef von Sonnenfels, a Viennese lawyer, critic, and pedant, was determined to purify the Austrian stage. Enlisting the aid of the Empress Maria Theresa, whose attitude toward the comic theater was one of polite reserve, he managed to have Hanswurst banished In a proclamation of 1752 it was declared that henceforth all words uttered on the stage must be included in a written text previously approved by the censor. Empörer Franz II later banned the clown from Germany altogether. The age of extemporizing was at an end, and Hanswurst fled into the hinterland to escape the wrath of his critics. As a result of the banishment of the extemporizing Hanswurst, a great need was created for plays acceptable to the censor. At first an attempt was made to build a new repertoire from translations of Molière, Goldoni, and others. Writers undertook a feverish search through chronicles, popular novels, and tales in the hope of finding themes and situations suitable for dramatization. The tottering Folk Theater could not long have survived through such frail efforts alone. Fortunately for the future development of Austrian comedy, Philipp Hafner (1735-1764), a gifted dramatic writer, emerged from the obscurity of poverty and began to create comedies as no one else had done before him. Without sacrificing vitality, Hafner, often called Vater des Volksstückes and Retter des Volkstheaters, created 78

J. C. Gottsched, Critische Dichkunst (Leipzig, 1951), p. 654.

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INTRODUCTION

a new Hanswurst, whom the censor could accept for performances at the Kärntnertor Theater. Hafner was not a writer of depth, but he had a sharp eye for the comedy that could be created out of real-life situations. His Hanswurst, temperamental and noisy, is more a Viennese character than the types which preceded him. Before writing, Hafner studied the literary comedies of Molière, Lessing, and Holberg, but he was no mere imitator. Like Raimund, he wrote eight plays : their titles, in contrast to their content, are thoroughly conventional. The spirit of his works, however, is closer to that of Nestroy's. A noticeable tone of skepticism runs through all of them, and like Nestroy he regarded the magical world and the happy ending only as theatrical devices. So well did Hafner portray the Viennese spirit that his plays survived to the nineteenth century, being revived by Perinet as Singspiele, in which both Raimund and Nestroy played the leading roles (Das Neusonntagskind, Die Schwestern von Prag). Hafner had the great fortune to write for a theater desperately needing his talent for literary form, yet he suffered the misfortune of having only two full years of creative life to bestow upon it. Before Hafner's twenty-ninth birthday his body, though not his comic imagination, succumbed to tuberculosis, for he died, it is reported, with a jest upon his lips. Though Hafner was not succeeded by a writer of comparable stature, the audiences did not forget Hanswurst. Soon they were to demand his return. Gottsched had underestimated the perennial vigor of the people's clown, and even before Goethe, in a mood of Storm and Stress enthusiasm, implied his approval by writing his own Hanswurststücke, Gottsched's followers had turned against their master. With perspicuity, Lessing recorded in his Hamburgische Dramaturgie that Hanswurst steadfastly refused to stay out of the theater; he performed as before, and, when necessary, in disguise. Lessing writes : "Im Grunde hatten sie nur das bunte Jäckchen und den Namen abgeschafft, aber den Narren behalten."79 During his exile from the Kärntnertor Theater Hanswurst was to be seen occasionally performing in Vienna on wooden platforms erected in the squares; more often he was among the strolling "

Karl Lachmann, Gotthold Ephraim Lessings Sämmtliche Schriften (Leipzig,

1954), VII, p. 77.

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49

players outside the city limits. By 1781, a company of actors from Baden had built a suburban theater after obtaining rights from the Emperor, and Hanswurst had a new home: the Leopoldstädter Theater. Among the actors was Johann Laroche, the new Hanswurst, who appeared under the name of Kasperl. So great was Kasperl's popularity that the Leopoldstädter Theater is still referred to as the Kasperl Theater, and for many German children, unaware of his origin, Kasperl is a comical puppet. Although, like his predecessors, Kasperl was not a character but a type who reappeared in many plays, he is noticeably different from any previous clown. Under the spell of Laroche's singular ability, audiences felt the complete naturalness of Kasperl. One realized that he was not simply acting; he was effortlessly being himself, and it was a delight to behold. One spectator, touched by the clown's appealing naïveté, remarked : "Er kommt mir vor, wie's liebe Brot das man nicht satt wird."80 Similar comments were later to be heard concerning Raimund's protagonists, who like Kasperl, cry often, are easily frightened, and are thoroughly unable to engage in complicated intrigue. While Kasperl is greedy, stubborn, and demanding, he gains the sympathy of the audience by suffering at the hands of those cleverer than he. Like the Hanswurst of Stranitzky, Kasperl must cope with wild animals. A recurrent situation is one in which he is chased by a huge bear. The environment of the early Kasperl plays is typically that of the danger-filled age of Götz von Berlichingen, the robber knight, whom Kasperl must accompany as a squire. The comedy of his plight arises from his sense of frustration when faced with two choices, each of which causes him to shudder. Kasperl, afraid to enter a forest with his master, is equally afraid to be left alone. However, his healthy concern about the dangers which face him contrasts with the rash unconcern of his master and a comic contrast results. In 1787 a second suburban theater, the Theater an der Wien, was erected to meet the demands of the populace for folk comedy. In 1788 a third, the Josefstädter Theater, was built. However, it never became as important as the first two. Above the main entrance of 80

Otto Rommel, Die grossen Figuren der Alt-Wiener Volkskomödie (Vienna, 1946), p. 30.

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INTRODUCTION

the Theater an der Wien is a stone likeness of Papageno, the Hanswurst in Mozart's Zauberflöte, a reminder that the first performance of the opera took place there nearly one hundred and seventy-five years ago. This theater possessed the most lavish Baroque stage in Vienna. Schreyvogel writes: "Das Theater an der Wien wurde eines der prächtigsten Theater Europas, mit seiner szenischen Einrichtung, seinen Maschinen und Flugwerken, konnte sich keine andere Bühne, auch nicht das Burgtheater vergleichen."81 It is doubtful that the Zauberflöte could be performed in a more appropriate theater. Although the opera does not contain a new Hanswurst, Papageno is, without a doubt, the most widely known example of a Viennese clown. For all his fine feathers, he would be a dull fellow indeed without the music of Mozart to sustain him. The text of the Zauberflöte provides a convenient example of Baroque scenic techniques used to proclaim the programmatic ideas of the Enlightenment. The religious passion of the Baroque age is replaced by a rationalistic faith in the dignity of man, who becomes a co-partner with the Creator in shaping the future. If one can muster sufficient optimism, it is a noble idea to believe in, but hardly, except parodistically, a fertile one for comedy. Although all Raimund's plays end in a way similar to the Zauberflöte, their structure otherwise implies an inspired dramatist, whose every scene has an aesthetic reason for existing. Schickaneder was a shallow writer, but he knew how to pack the audiences into his theater by offering them unrivaled spectacles. Eventually his penchant led to a megalomania that caused his financial ruin. The writings of Karl Hensler (1759-1826), the herald of romanticism on the Baroque stages of Vienna, represent a new chapter in the biography of the folk clown: Kasperl enters into a theatrically romanticized world, and one finds him frightened, protesting, yet serving his master against a medieval background of vehmic courts, dungeons, jousting tournaments, and miracles. Elements of Hensler's works bring us closer to the technique of Raimund, for he depicted in his scenic backgrounds not only the remote past but familiar landscapes such as the Vienna woods and the banks of the 81

Ferdinand Raimund, Sämtliche (Munich, 1960), p. 713.

Werke, edited by Friedrich Schreyvogel

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Danube. Das Donauweibchen (1798), his most popular play, which inspired many imitations including one by Ludwig Tieck, is typical. Hulda, a water nymph, seduced and forsaken by a knight, bears him a daughter. Four years pass before she can confront him again as he journeys on his wedding day along the Danube with Kasperl to meet Bertha, his waiting bride. A deep yearning overcomes the nymph and by appearing to the knight in different forms she wins him back. He renounces his earthly bride and joins Hulda in her golden palace beneath the waters of the Danube. Hensler seems to deal with the demoniac yearning of an irresistible personality, but it only 'seems' that way. A glance at the dozen or so transformations of Hulda (including one as the knight's great-grandmother!) causes one to doubt that the play is to be taken seriously. A perusal of the sequel confirms this. Albrecht, the knight, divorces Hulda and returns to his bourgeois bride. However, without the admixture of romantic feeling and Baroque stage devices which Hensler first achieved, the later plays of Raimund are unthinkable. The childlike naturalness of Kasperl becomes literal in the Hanswurst figure called Thadädl, originated by Anton Hasenhut (17661841). An adult who plays a child's role was not new to the Folk Theater, which much earlier had borrowed the adult-child role of Taddeo from the Commedia dell-arte. Many of the Kurz-Bernadon roles were also of this type. Thadädl is usually a young man between 20 and 30 who behaves like a clownish child. More successful than any of his predecessors at depicting childlikeness, Hasenhut devoted a lifetime to Thadädl, constantly refining his personality and making him, for a while, into a popular specialty acclaimed by such observers as Grillparzer and especially Tieck, who describes him enthusiastically as: "die lieblichste und graziöseste [Hanswurstgestalt], die man sich vorstellen kann. Von ihm möchte ich einige clowns des grossen englischen Dichters vorgestellt sehen."82 One finds Thadädl acting side by side with Kasperl in the Ritter-imdRäuberdramen; frequently the two are rivals for the same girl. Thadädl is the bumbling page boy, the youthful waiter, the awkward apprentice, and the loutish pupil. In all Hasenhut's roles one finds delicacy and grace; by comparison, Kasperl is a rough-mannered 82

Ludwig Tieck, Ludwig Tiecks Schriften (Berlin, 1828), Phantasus, V, p. 475.

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INTRODUCTION

clown. Hasenhut, who studied the behavior of children for many years, portrayed no ordinary child, but a mercurial one, whose trumpeting voice defied imitation. His best-known role is that of the school boy in Hensler's Der dreissig-jahrige ABC Schiitz (1799), which depicts the humorous experiences of a young man who never graduates from school. The Hanswurst as a type reached his highest stage of refinement in the Thadadl of Hasenhut. Unfortunately he developed the role more and more into a specialty, and it became increasingly difficult to find plays suitable for him. It is not surprising that Hasenhut, whose Hanswurst, Rommel assures us, was to Kasperl as a tangy spice to bread,88 could not sustain indefinitely the natural desire of an audience for variety; he spent the last two decades of his life in poverty. Yet until his seventy-fifth year, whenever the opportunity presented itself, Hasenhut continued to play the youthful roles for which he had once been famous. The most important links in the human chain of Viennese actors and playwrights who concerned themselves with Hanswurst from Stranitzky to Raimund and Nestroy are complete with the addition of three names: Josef Alois Gleich (1772-1841), Karl Meisl (17751853), and Adolf Bauerle (1786-1859). Taken as a triumvirate, the three flooded the Folk Theater with plays, farces, and dramatic scenes, completing the astounding total of over 560 works! By comparison, Nestroy's score of 83 plays seems unimpressive. A mere quantitative comparison is, of course, of limited significance, but it helps to refute the criticism that the number of Nestroy's plays is proof in itself that he wrote with thoughtless haste. After the death of Kasperl-Laroche in 1806, no new Hanswurst appeared for seven years to take his place, despite the enormous quantity of new plays being written. The monotony of mediocre play-writing was not broken until 1813 when the youngest of the triumvirate, Bauerle, succeeded in converting the old Hanswurst type into a full-blooded Viennese character. The play in which the new Hanswurst appeared is Die Burger in Wien. Although the plot is a conventional love story, the comic protagonist, Staberl, is a Viennese umbrella maker, who shows himself to be not a mere clown 88

A WVTh, p. 582.

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but an individualized personality depicted in the thoroughly realistic and modern setting of Vienna during the Napoleonic wars. Unlike his clownish ancestors, Staberl does not represent the people's connecting link to an aristocratic world. The comedy develops solely out of familiar bourgeois situations. For once the audiences witnessed an earthy personality who was more than a droll jester in cap and bells. Staberl, attempting to be heroic in an age of great men, shows his hilarious lack of heroism. The Viennese Folk Theater, which had always been a theater of comic types, was ready to turn to the comedy it now needed in order to survive into modern times: comedy of character. Bauerle might have been a savior of the Folk Theater, like Hensler before him, but the need for a hero in his generation was by no means apparent to him. As the future soon proved, Bauerle was not a man of destiny but a success-worshipper, for he tried to outstrip his previous efforts by manufacturing endless sequels. Encouraged by his efforts, other writers did the same. Karl Bernbrunn (Theater an der Wien) added to the problem by writing parodies. Soon Staberl was only a type again, like all the Hanswursts before him. In addition to the Staberl episode, another new direction is noticeable in the Folk Theater. The greater concern for realism on the stage brought with it more parodistic writings. The chief representative of this trend, Karl Meisl, wrote his best-known work, Orpheus undEuridice oder so geht es im Olympus zu, in 1813. It must

be stressed that despite a degree of urbane elegance and an occasional moment of sharpwitted skepticism foreshadowing Nestroy, Meisl's plays are not seriously intended as parodies. They are goodnatured burlesques of the romantic magical world in which one finds Mount Olympus taken over by the Viennese bourgeois. The limited importance of the mythology is at once obvious, for one notes an indiscriminate mixing of Greeks and Romans, a tendency later to be found in Raimund's plays. The gods and goddesses are only a convenient instrument to express gentle satire against the easy-going populace. Jupiter is seen as a balding, pot-bellied husband with Juno his nagging wife, Orpheus becomes a Viennese harpist. In this sense, Raimund's early works, too, are parodies, though the results he achieved were more poetic. Meisl's play is

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utterly without plot structure, and his allegories are lifeless. The best of Meisl's work was only a starting point for Raimund. The period immediately preceding Raimund's emergence brought with it striking changes that favored the flourishing of his art. By 1819 the demand for parodies and realistic works began to slacken, and a new blossoming of the magical play was evidenced. The suburban theaters were producing comedies at a feverish rate, and the audiences, able at last to breathe a sigh of relief after being freed from the threat of Napoleon's armies, were responding with a lighthearted gaiety preserved to our times in the expression Backhandelzeit to describe an era of prosperity. The Baroque splendor of an imperial city in which the nobility had their palaces was a direct influence upon the people, who saw its reflection in their daily lives. Here was a public attuned to the allegory as it looked out from parks, gardens, altars, and public buildings. The style of court ceremony and the church was Baroque. Over the generations a highly receptive audience had developed a passion for the theater such as may otherwise have existed only in Athens, seventeenth-century Venice, or Elizabethan London. A feeling of folk-consciousness was astir, and the special significance of being Viennese was expressed in the exuberant refrain: "'s gibt nur a Kaiserstadt, 's gibt nur a Wien". The prelude to an undrawn scene of greatness in the Folk Theater was introduced by the conversion plays or Besserungsstucke of Karl Meisl, Josef Gleich, and Adolf Bauerle. The perfunctory nature of the conversions is to be noted in titles like Der lustige Fritz oder schlafe, traume, stehe auf, kleide dich an, und bessere dich (Meisl, 1819). Acts and scenes are constructed peremptorily and without inner consequence. Gleich, the member of the triumvirate with the most feeling for magic, develops his Der Berggeist oder die Drei Wunsche (1819) from three foolish wishes. Unsatisfied with his present life, the protagonist demands the love of all women, absolute power, and three hundred years of robust health. In order to impress him with the folly of his desires, the Berggeist grants his wishes, adding that he may renounce two but not the third. The fulfillment of the first wish causes him to be almost killed by jealous lovers and husbands, with the second he raises a young woman of the 'untouchable' caste to the rank of princess, thus causing a revolution.

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Disappointment in love prompts him to join a band of robbers. He is soon caught and sentenced to spend the remainder of his three hundred years in a foul dungeon. Since Gleich's shallow optimism could not tolerate so ghastly a fate, the mountain spirit releases the protagonist under the strict promise that he will henceforth lead a satisfied life. Nowhere do the events develop from a genuine crisis in the lives of the characters. Like the proponents of the Commedia dell-arte before him, Gleich is a virtuoso of clever situations; his stage figures glide over the surface of life; they do not see or want to see into its depth. In other plays the protagonist is made to realize that Vienna is the best of all possible cities,84 or that unhappy marriages are not always the wife's fault. In Der Eheteufel Auf Reisen (Gleich, 1822), the Eheteufel must suffer through five marriages in which he, the husband, is to blame for ruined happiness. One notices that the number five could be reduced to three or raised to ten without affecting the result in a scheme of things where anything 'might' happen, because anything 'can' happen, for all depends on the caprice of the playwright. On December 18,1823, at the Leopoldstadter Theater, the curtain rose on the first act of a new play created by a hitherto unknown dramatist, who would substitute tragic experience for tranquil optimism, replace the anarchy of whimsical plots with fine dramatic construction, use stage machinery to produce poetic visions, enliven and dramatize language, create unforgettable folk characters and lighten his work with melody. He would be followed by a brilliant satirist, master of the ironic song and one of the wittiest of Viennese writers. The rise of Raimund and Nestroy had begun.

M

Adolph Bäuerle, Aline oder Wien in einem anderen Weltteil (1922 ),and Wien, London, Constantinople (1823).

2 PLOT

RAIMUND'S PLOTS

The Importance of Tradition Although the design of Raimund's plays is essentially his own, since no two are the same or even similar, the basic plot and often individual scenes do not differ strikingly from other Austrian fairy-tale plays. An aspect of Raimund's career suggests a reason. Only after fifteen years, as an actor thoroughly familiar with the plots and motifs of this genre, did he undertake the creation of his first work. When referring to a century-old theater tradition, it is pointless to debate whether or not every plot may be likened to that of an earlier work, and one is scarcely surprised to note that critics have indicated many plausible parallels. 1 Drawing upon his extensive practical knowledge of the theater, Raimund utilized scene and plot elements already part of the tradition in which he envisioned the possibility of exceptional dramatic effectiveness. Though his first two plays are traceable to direct sources, the Barometermacher to Einsiedel's Die Prinzessin mit der langen Nase (retold by Wieland in Dschinnistan, 1786-1789), and Diamant to Prinz Zain el Asnam und die neun Bildsäulen, from Märchen aus Tausend und einer Nacht, indebtedness to the original in each case is limited to the barest plot outline; the dramatic creation is the poet's own. Even his two most successful later plays, Alpenkönig and Verschwender, have many antecedents. Alpenkönig, which 1

Ferdinand Raimunds Sämtliche Werke in Drei Teilen, edited by Eduard Castle (Leipzig, 1903), p. 58-59.

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portrays the life of a misanthrope eventually cured of derangement by a mountain spirit, has an early predecessor in Der Berggeist (1819) by Gleich. Overcoming a father's resistance to the marriage of his daughter through intrigue, as in the case of August and Malchen, forms the basis for a typical plot in the comic tradition. The portrayal of the wasteful person or reckless spendthrift (Verschwender) was also quite common in the Folk Theater, and many times Raimund himself played the role of the spendthrift in Meisl's Der lustige Fritz (1819) and Gleich's Ydor, der Wanderer aus dem Wasserreich (1820) before writing a play about Julius Flottwell. In each case, however, and while accepting the fictions of the spirit world, he created an original composition.

The Blend of Comic and Serious Action The uniqueness of Raimund's plots lies not so much in plot invention itself as in his ability to blend levels of action and to represent them with a vividness hitherto unknown in the Folk Theater. Beginning with action that is fundamentally humorous, Raimund employed efficient comic motifs for his technique of plot development. An individual unequal to a task may attempt to master it by means especially emphasizing his lack of adeptness, and hilarity results from situations like the following: a lethargic king cannot perform the duties of his office (Barometermacher, I, p. 12), a knavish farmer struggles unsuccessfully to lie his way out of an embarrassing situation in court (Moisasur, II, p. 66); the wagging tongue of a servant who is fond of exaggerating the extent of his travels leads him into perplexing situations (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 185). In each instance the audience is amused by the bungling actions of the characters. Such moments are a basic ingredient of comedy, but they deserve mention here, because Raimund employed them with ingenious variety. An intensification of the motif of delineating the antics of characters at a comic disadvantage occurs when fixed conditions are imposed upon them. In Diamant, an entire series of comic scenes ensues when Eduard, a young adventurer, and his servant are re-

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quired to find a girl who has never told a falsehood. Lottchen, the daughter of a fairy queen, must atone for the excesses of her mother by becoming the fiancée of a poor man before her eighteenth birthday {Mädchen). In a like manner a beer-hall harpsichordist (Phantasie) must produce within a few hours a masterful poem, and a queen cannot be reunited with her husband until she has wept tears of joy in the arms of death (Moisasur). Such conditions are in themselves amusing puzzles and add to the suspense of the unfolding action. Their value in the fairy tale drama can in a large measure be explained by the addition of dramatic animation to the nearly universal appeal of the riddle. So intensely did Raimund pursue the idea of developing his plots through the imposition of fixed conditions that the action of Krone becomes dedicated to making a triple paradox dramatically possible. The protagonist must discover a hero without courage, beauty without youth, and a king without a kingdom. One thinks at this point of the traditional hero of the Märchen who sets out to prove himself in the fulfillment of a seemingly impossible mission. An important difference exists, however. Raimund, working as a comic dramatist, departs somewhat from the usual serious tone of the Märchen in order to develop comic situations, thereby transforming the dauntless hero or Märchenheld into an imperfect, earthy protagonist who gains, despite his imperfections, the sympathy of the audience. It might be argued that the inherent danger in the comic dramatization of restrictions and special conditions is their tendency to appear artificial. The critic must therefore demand that such action be more than an artful contrivance of the moment; it must enhance a unified impression gained by considering the play in its totality. Only to the extent that such dramatic moments are meaningful in terms of the whole do they possess aesthetic merit. Such is the case in the plays of Raimund. Without difficulty one can trace the pattern of drastic action which occurs in crucial moments of the plot development. This action is calculated to exert a sudden, compelling, almost hypnotic influence upon the onlooker, and emphasizes the protagonist's awakening awareness of the full import of the special plight in which he finds himself. Because Raimund's plays are shot through with such dramatic revelations, one must conclude that

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scenes which sharply restrict the freedom of the protagonists represent considerably more than the expedient bow of a virtuoso to theatrical convention. When Quecksilber eats magic figs (Barometermacher, I, p. 53), his nose becomes greatly enlarged, and, although he is severely limited by the ugliness of his profile, his personal sorrow permits him to grow correspondingly in wisdom until he eventually overcomes his previous limitation and his nose returns to its former size and shape. A similar experience forms the basis for the action in many Raimund scenes of central importance like the disappearance of Wurzel's youth until he has understood to the limits of his mind that life is a precious gift not to be wasted (Mädchen, I, p. 252ff.); or the enslavement of poetic phantasy, chained to the desk of an insipid poet until the full awareness of the mission of art dawns on her and she loses all thought of coquetry and self-satisfaction (Phantasie, I, p. 371). In a similar manner Rappelkopf is banished into the background of his family circle and forced to become a spectator in the drama of his own personality until he willingly renounces his misanthropic habits (Alpenkönig, II, p. 156f.). The number of examples might be easily increased, yet the point seems clear; limiting action in Raimund's plays is not the product of theatrical caprice but the expression of a problematic attitude toward life increasingly manifested with each scene, and the result is imaginative and in no sense fantastic, for the action is inevitably sustained by a healthy atmosphere of plausibility. An obvious technique of the writer of comedy includes farcical action whereby in a very direct and physical manner events occur that incite the audience to mirth. The name of 'Hanswurst' is synonymous with rough, boisterous, and not always coherent action. One might expect Raimund's dramatic technique to reveal a great variety of farcical situations, especially since he otherwise utilized extensively the traditions of the Folk Theater. Such is not the case, however. A survey of the plays reveals relatively few examples of farce. One cannot conclude that Raimund was incapable of cleverly developing these situations. Notable examples like the following make this seem unlikely: Quecksilber gains entrance to the bedroom of Zoraide in the middle of the night by flying in through a window atop a mammoth rooster (Barometermacher, I,

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p. 49). A convention of dignitaries of the spirit world is adjourned amidst great hilarity, and its members float away aboard a massive sausage (Mädchen, I, p. 187). A corpulent landlord is trapped in a narrow window as he attempts to pursue his escaping debtors (Krone, II, p. 251). While a comic writer may justifiably develop action through this method, Raimund, the subtle perfecter of a rich and varied theatrical tradition, certainly did not depend upon it; he remained selective, choosing wisely an opportunity to include farce occasionally in the action. An observation familiar in the history of criticism is that humorous situations often contain the potential for tragic dénouement. Despite the many conflicting theories as to what constitutes the essence of tragedy or comedy, one thing is certain: it would be erroneous to conclude that comic and tragic events represent precise, immutable opposites. One could perhaps speak of dramatic lines of force that radiate between two poles. Through a slight change in the course of the action, hilarity is transformed into grief, and the innocuous becomes diabolical. A method for visualizing the characteristic technique of an author would be to chart his course between the lines of force. By observing not only the route that has been taken but also the possible ones that have been avoided, one comes closer to appreciating subtleties of style. In the case of the Folk Theater comedies, action highly serious in tone and even tragic was not uncommon. A good example would be Die Musikanten am Hohen Markt (1815) by Gleich, which portrays, despite some comical action, degenerate actors living in utter poverty. Raimund represents an intensification of this tradition. He stands apart from his predecessors because of his special propensity for comic plots that nevertheless abound in ominous happenings. One recalls the sadism of Gluthahn, which results in his wife's death (Moisasur, II, p. 69). Fortunatus Wurzel becomes cruel and choleric (Mädchen, II, p. 207) before he is rescued from the clutches of alcoholism. Elsewhere one encounters narrow escapes from death, 2 murder (Krone, II, p. 328), suicide (Alpenkönig, II, p. 195f.), attempted suicide (Verschwender, II, p. 448), a bitter marital quarrel (Moisasur, II, p. 44), and the second act of Krone culminates (271) 2

Moisasur, II, p. 76; Verschwender, II, p. 417.

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in an outbreak of the plague and the total destruction of a city by earthquake and inundation. Although Raimund wrote no tragedy in the classical sense of the term, his plots, despite their reputation for humor, veer at times sharply toward an abyss wherein lurk the dark forces of irrationalism and madness. The extent to which the action of a Folk Theater play could swing away from unproblematic humor can perhaps best be imagined in the scene where Rappelkopf, with bleeding fists, rages before a huge mirror in an attempt to smash reality itself to pieces (Alpenkönig, II, p. 126). Nonetheless, it is a singularity of Raimund's style that these events, all quite plausible when properly performed, occur within a comic structure. Wide variations in tone occur in an area, not strictly definable, where comedy and tragedy converge. Two questions suggest themselves : is this then tragicomic action, and can the witnessing of it be an aesthetically satisfying experience? The most recent comprehensive analysis of tragicomedy in German literature is that of Karl Guthke. He argues 3 that tragicomedy does not necessarily occur when serious and humorous elements are brought into close proximity, but only when in a single experience the two become inseparable : "Nicht Tragik und Komik, sondern Tragikomik, in der das Tragische und das Komische als gegenseitige Bedingungen ihrer selbst identisch sind." For Guthke, Raimund's plays fall short of the tragicomic, because he finds the idea of tragedy in itself foreign to an exuberant fairy tale world where one never can quite lose confidence that all must end well. He claims that the characters possess powers permitting them eventually to overcome their faults and troubles. 4 What Guthke does not do in his analysis is to scrutinize the relationship between action in the real and the fairy tale worlds. He implies that the major intent of the plays has to do with demonstrating the moral betterment of the individual in an environment that is, in the final analysis, harmless. That the action in Raimund's plays is often anything but innocuous can be surmised from the types and variety of serious events discussed in this chapter thus far. It can be demonstrated that upon closer inspection the ' Karl Guthke, Geschichte und Poetik der deutschen Tragikomödie (Göttingen, 1961), p. 14. * Karl Guthke, Geschichte und Poetik, p. 175.

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action by no means follows the time-worn path of moral betterment. Moreover, a closer relationship exists between the tragic and the comic levels of action than has been hitherto suspected. Before drawing any conclusions about the blend of tragic and comic elements in Raimund's plots, it should first be pointed out that certain aspects of his life resembled a tragicomedy, a fact attested to by biographers,5 critics,8 and the poet himself, who refers in his letters to the hopelessly tragicomic nature of his existence (.Briefe, IV, p. 278). Here then was a man writing not according to an exact dramatic recipe, but according to an inner conviction expressed in dramatic form, that life is a tragic game. One encounters frequent references in his works to this attitude, like the remark of Rappelkopf when he justifies his hatred of the world by referring to himself as the participant in a macabre game of blind man's buff: "... ich habe blinde Mäusl gespielt mit ihr [der Welt], die Treue hab erhaschen wollen und den Betrug erwischt, der mir die Binde von den Augen nahm" (Alpenkönig, II, p. 149). A dramatic work containing a strongly confessional or autobiographical element is not necessarily superior to one lacking this feature, but where it is found the critic ought at least to raise the question: to what extent, if any, have the personal experiences of the author helped him to shape the structure of his plots? Bearing in mind that the life of our dramatist suggests a personal basis for the interweaving of comic and tragic action, one may inquire as to the relative significance of tragic and comic action in the plays. Although none of Raimund's works lacks a happy ending, the impression produced by the action in its entirety is deeply tragicomic, but not simply because it conforms to a superficial definition of tragicomedy, like one requiring only that serious events end happily. In each of Raimund's eight plays a higher power must arbitrarily intercede in the action in order to save the characters from ruin (deus ex machina). Raimund's three most powerful works illustrate especially well that the zigzag pattern of despair and humor is curiously interrupted, the reasons for which will be dis6

Eduard Paul Danszky, Da leg' ich meinen Hobel hin (Vienna, 1939), p. 50. * Walter Erdmann, Ferdinand Raimund, Dichterische Entwicklung Persönlichkeit und Lebensschicksal (Würzburg, 1941), p. 45.

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cussed shortly. In Madchen, Lottchen and K a r l are permitted to marry, amidst great rejoicing, but the fear which gripped Wurzel's heart during his meeting with Youth and Age remains until the end of the play, and only the 'magic' of the theater can restore this crushed and silent farmer, who is so greatly overwhelmed by the sudden awareness that his life has been little more than a ridiculous farce. In Alpenkonig, after much paternal resistance, a happy marriage forms the ending of the play, but far more important is the situation of Rappelkopf, who has just witnessed the symbolic destruction of his personality. He does not return to the city cured of his misanthropy, but remains at his country estate as a 'pensioned' misanthrope who even in the last lines of the play speaks of 'the people who betray us'. The recognition of his true nature is a first step in the direction of a cure, but it is only the beginning of insight, not final reality, and he walks with wavering steps, even when his destiny is being guided by a kindly mountain spirit. The action of Verschwender reveals that Flottwell's loss of love, wealth, and the respect of his fellow men cannot be overlooked even after the timely intercession of Valentin and the fairy queen, Cheristane, nor does the tinkling of cow bells in the final scene seriously reconcile an audience which has just followed Flottwell's career to the brink of suicide. Although, superficially regarded, each one ends with betterment and optimism, these plays are not essentially Besserungsstiicke or plays of moral betterment. The traditions of the Folk Theater demanded that cheerfulness, optimism, and the conventions of middle-class society prevail. It was necessary even for Raimund to adopt this fiction in order to insure acceptance of his plays. However, a sober glance at the action leading up to his final scenes reveals characters in inescapable situations. A t an appointed moment, the terror is suddenly called off and a Baroque nightmare averted, whereupon the poet bows to his audience, and in the final lines of each play he eulogizes contentment, the excellence of Vienna, satisfaction, and so forth. In the typical Besserungsstiick, society corrects the individual. In Raimund's works, when the total action is considered, neither society nor the individual is usually right. Only the relatively few

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characters who have remained true to themselves in a corrupt world express the ideals of the poet, and their reward is not a secular one. If the most characteristic action is tragicomic, in what manner are tragic and comic elements blended? The poet's own explanation of his art does not provide sufficient answer, since he never applies the term to his writings for the stage, and the mentioning of tragic and comic in his brief autobiography is of little value for understanding the tragicomic, because he speaks of aspiring to write tragedy and apologizes for having included comedy at all: "doch war mein Sinn vorzugsweise dem Trauerspiele zugewandt, das Lustspiel begeisterte mich weniger, die Posse war mir gleichgültig." 7 Concerning Diamant he writes: Nun sollte aber damals in dem Theater der Leopoldstadt in solchen Stücken kein ernstes Liebesverhältnis mehr stattfinden, weil man in jeder Szene lachen wollte, und der Geschmack des Publikums war in dieser Hinsicht zu fürchten. Ich wollte aber meinem Märchen seine kindliche moralische Bedeutung nicht rauben, daher bemühte ich mich, es so viel als möglich mit komischen Szenen zu durchflechten.8 So skillfully are humorous and serious elements blended within a single scene that often the two become imperceptibly one. The drunken antics of Valentin (Verschwender, II, p. 411), for example, amuse the audience, since his alcohol-clouded brain can no longer distinguish between an enemy and a servant whom he attempts to becudgel. However, this event occurs within a complex of more serious action. Innocent servants are made to appear guilty of a theft. The master of the house, betrayed by his chief servant, has just slain his rival in a duel and is preparing to abandon his fortune in order to escape to England. Later, Flottwell's recognition that he alone is responsible for ruining his life and that thanklessness is the answer of all men save Valentin to his generosity, occurs while children play happily and a goose waddles from the yard into the kitchen ( Verschwender, II, p. 430). In Diamant (I, p. 96) the comfortloving, plain-spoken Longimanus reads, while reclining in an easy chair, about a quarrel among the signs of the zodiac. They are represented as the wayward children of his realm for whose misdeeds 7

8

RSW, V, p.p. 722-723.

RSW, p. 724.

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he must pay the bills. Albeit the form of these remarks is unquestionably comic, one cannot help shuddering at the thought of chaos in the Universe. If there is discord among the stars, what can one expect of humans? The impression of tragicomic action is further heightened when, in a desperate situation, a character perceives the humorous side of his predicament. A single example is sufficient at this point to illustrate the entire technique. When Rappelkopf learns that he is being forced to loan his body to a mountain spirit, he remarks grimly that at the rate of two people to one body, even nature herself is becoming economical (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 158). Presented with such a situation, the audience is amused and surprised to discover humor in so unlikely a situation. Yet awareness of an impending calamity is not diminished but heightened because of the clarity and succinctness with which the issue has been stated.

Vividness of Plot Raimund developed his action vividly along clear, simple lines. The plots, like fairy tales, are easy to describe and easy to visualize and remember. Above all, the theater audience can enjoy the performance to a higher degree, because it is never confused as to the type of situation the dramatist is seeking to develop. On the other hand, Raimund's refreshing simplicity also points to a limitation in his dramatic talent. When he occasionally embellished his plays with increased complexity, the results were usually more tedious than entertaining. The first time that the poet conceived a complicated plot (Mädchen, his third play), he must have been aware that the lines of intrigue were not drawn with absolute clarity, because he added a 'plan' or summary9 of the action, a practice which he henceforth continued whenever writing a new play. The elaborate machinations which the two allegorical figures, Hate and Envy, undertake simply to prevent a harmless girl from wedding a poor fisherman are a convenient method of bringing spectacular situations into the theater, but at the expense of purposefulness and the usual direct • RSW, I, 295-307.

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vigor that characterizes Raimund's style. Except for Krone, which merges three motifs into one — how to make possible beauty without youth, a hero without courage, and a king without a kingdom — the plots of the remaining six plays are developed along simpler lines. It would have been difficult for Raimund to do otherwise, because his characters lack the energy of thought and subtlety without which convincing intrigue is impossible. When the action develops naturally, as in Barometermacher, plot construction is effective. Quecksilber obtains magic charms; through unwise use, he loses them, but regains them with the aid of supernatural powers. Economy of scene construction was not the only interest of the poet, because several of Raimund's most delightful scenes are episodic and exist apparently for their own sake, as for example the admonishment of the Druids and the Four Seasons by Longimanus in Diamant, or Wurzel's encounter with Youth and Age in Mädchen. As a part of the Folk Theater tradition, it was necessary to gratify the audience's desire to witness unusual happenings on the stage. Raimund's frequent accomplishment of this without departing from a basic simplicity of design is a tribute to his skill as a dramatist. The fairy tale drama does not require unity of time or place. So great was the demand for spectacle and comic effect that even unity of action was neglected. When events occur on separate or shifting levels of reality, the interaction of the levels must be convincing. Much depends on the relation of the main character or characters to these levels. Only if the relation is really gripping and personal can the impression of dramatic unity be maintained. Most commonly in the Folk Theater separate spheres of action were linked superificially through fixed conditions imposed upon the protagonist by the spirit world. Raimund largely accepted this technique, but at the same time transcended it. In Barometermacher, his first play, the spirit world initiates the action, but serves no purpose beyond this. The same is true of Diamant, Mädchen, Moisasur, and Krone. In Phantasie a greater coherence of plot development is possible, because all of the scenes occur within the spirit world except the closing scene of Act I. In Alpenkönig, however, when Astragalus impersonates Rappelkopf, real and spirit worlds

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clash powerfully within the confines of a single personality, and in Verschwender characters of both worlds share a common fate, since the beggar whom Flottwell encounters is the reflection of his own personality in spirit form. The departure of the spirit fairy, Cheristane, from the real world is not a mere dramatic convention but a personal tragedy for her and Flottwell. Through the resulting bond of sorrow and quiet renunciation between the lovers, the real and spirit worlds are interrelated and animated with fine poetic feeling. The poet paid scant attention to the effects to be gained through repetition of action, choosing instead to emphasize symbolic happenings. When Lottchen looks for a place to sleep, she does so only once; a single refusal is all that is required to represent her situation (Madchen, I, p. 207). Similarly in Diamant Eduard must survive only one adventure to reach the spirit world and only one more to become worthy of Amine. As in a dream, action is limited to what is important for symbolic representation. The clarity of Raimund's plots further increased as his technique of exposition improved. Four plays contain lengthy exposition in the spirit world before the main character is introduced. The average for Diamant, Madchen, Phantasie, and Krone is twenty-five pages (nearly one-third of each play). Detailed exposition, in itself, is not a fault. However, when real and spirit worlds are connected mainly by theatrical convention, inner unity between exposition and situations that thenceforth develop is impossible. Effective exposition is only possible either when the transition from real to spirit world is rapid (Barometermacher, Moisasur, Alpenkonig), or when it begins in the real world and incidents in the spirit world remain episodic. In Alpenkonig and Verschwender exposition develops naturally out of dialogue, but it is action and not mere conversation that is convincing. For example, the necessity for Malchen to meet August secretly emphasizes as much as the dialogue itself her father's objection to their courtship. In a like manner little dialogue is necessary to point out the innocent, trusting nature of Flottwell, because he has left the arrangements for building his new castle entirely to a servant. Contrasting action highlighted by contrasts of sound, stage set-

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ting, musical effects and tone also contributes to the pictorial quality of individual scenes. A wild drinking scene immediately precedes the quiet conversation of Youth and Wurzel. The blithe harmony of "Briiderlein fein" is the more impressive for contrasting with the foregoing dissonance. In Phantasie a noisy beer-hall celebration is followed by idyllic tranquillity on an island of poetry. More important are contrasts between comic and serious action, because they often determine the structure of the play, as in Verschwender where a constant interweaving of humor and sadness contributes to the uniqueness of this work. The exposition deals with a serious theme and indicates how Flottwell, an innocent young nobleman, is betrayed by his corrupt environment. When Act I ends, he is bitterly disappointed at losing his beloved Cheristane. Within this action there are humorous interludes afforded by clowning servants, and a band of hunters sings a merry song. In Act II Flottwell is haunted by an ominous beggar. He becomes engaged in a bitter argument and slays his rival in a duel. These events are likewise interspersed with comedy. In the final act Flottwell grows despondent, but through a fortunate turn of events is deterred from committing suicide. The background for the greater part of the action is idyllic and resounds with the happy laughter of children. The two levels of action appear to reinforce each other, and neither could be subtracted from the play without destroying its structure. Each scene or complex of scenes seems the more striking when juxtaposed by its opposite, and is the more intense, because the variety implied in the action relates to a harmonious whole and takes into account the limited attention span of the audience which requires a brief respite before each new dramatic encounter.

NESTROY'S PLOTS

Nestroy's Creativity and his Position in the Theater Proceeding from the plays of Raimund to those of Nestroy may be likened to a journey in which one leaves the romantic shoreline of a small but beautiful lake to venture forth upon the shifting currents

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of a mighty river. The far greater productivity of the latter writer, eighty-two comic plays and one tragedy produced over a period of approximately thirty years (1829-1862), compared with the eight plays of the former (1823-1834) represents a startling difference that upon closer inspection is much more than only quantitative. While Raimund restricted himself to the two-and-three-act structure of the fairy-tale drama, Nestroy rapidly transcended these limits and experimented with plots varying in length from one to five acts. Seeking to explain Nestroy's style more clearly, and hoping to order the vast quantity of his dramatic writing, critics have attempted to classify his works. Battaglia 10 suggests dividing the plays into two groups, those propounding an idea, Thesenstücke, and those which do not. Such a harsh dichotomy implies that the dramatist was a moralist writing for the theater. Nestroy's chief interest, however, was in the dramatic representation of the comic, and his plays are alive not with a single idea but with many conflicting and provocative thoughts which testify more to man's contradictory, erratic nature than to his fall from moral grace. Attempts to describe Nestroy's works chronologically in terms of an early, middle or late style are of little help, for they do not show any radical changes in the poet's treatment of plot. Mautner writes perceptively about the unchanging quality of Nestroy's dramatic art: "Unverändert blieben die Grundzüge seiner Kunst, wenn man von der Einzelheit absieht, dass die musikalische Umrahmung, die Einlietung und Abschliessung durch Chöre mit dem Talisman verschwand." 11 A more fruitful method can be devised to demonstrate the extent of Nestroy's creativity. While there may be many different plots and almost limitless dramatic situations, the types of comedy generated in the plots are quite limited. Whether their number can be reduced to four 12 is debatable, but any possible listing would have to include a common principle. Man must come into conflict with forces too powerful for him to master, and he must react in a manner that makes plain his inadequacy, which because of the absurd nature of the occurrence is perceived as comic. 10 11

"

Otto Forst de Battaglia, Johann Nestroy (Leipzig, 1932), p. 89. Franz H. Mautner, Johann Nestroy und seine Kunst (Vienna, 1937), p. 52. NCW, I, p. 108.

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In the fairy-tale drama, man is pitted against personified metaphysical forces who have their sport with him for the purpose of educating and making him properly humble. Nestroy was not content to write only in this genre, as were many of his predecessors, including Raimund. He produced several plays in which the plot depends almost solely upon the fact that, through an ingenious concatenation of events, the characters are rushed from one happening to another, unable to master the critical state of affairs in which they find themselves, such as occurs in Einen Jux, Eulenspiegel, and Liebesgeschichten. The element of chance may be substituted by a cunning individual who so directs the lives of the other characters that they are forced to become the victims of the traps he sets for them. In several of Nestroy's best plays intrigue provides the key stimulus to plot development (Haas der Temperamente, Talisman, Eisenbahnheiraten). In the comedy of character the individual is unable to master his own eccentric preferences and is forever being led into impossible circumstances because of them. One thinks of Tratschmiedl, who turns a small Austrian town topsy-turvy with his unfounded suspicions (Tritsch-Tratsch), or of Faden, a poor ropemaker (Nachtwandler) who proves that his desires, once given the opportunity for full expression, are insatiable. In Wohnung zu vermieten an entire play is developed from the eccentricity of the scatter-brained Gundelhuber, who seeks a new apartment for his family. The versatility of Nestroy becomes apparent when one remembers that he produced masterpieces in not one or two of these areas, but in at least four: comedy of metaphysics, situation, intrigue, and character. Nestroy's flood of creative activity suggests the vigor and durability of his nature and his almost demoniac urge to write, but it should also be pointed out that only late in his career did he become professionally independent and himself the director of a theater. Before this time, notably under the director Carl, he was obliged by contract to produce a specified number of plays each year, a practice most common in the Folk Theater which accounts in a large measure for the vast number of plays written and for their almost unvarying mediocrity. Among Nestroy's works, not a few plays show the strain of hurried, routinized writing. While Raimund could

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devote himself to the careful construction of each new work, Nestroy had constant deadlines to meet, and he encountered in Carl one of the most demanding, calculating, and mercenary directors in the history of the theater. For the greater part of his career, he directed nearly all of his energies to acting and writing for the stage. Although Raimund looked with melancholy upon the sad restrictions of his personal life, in the creative sense he was much more a free man than Nestroy. An understanding of Nestroy's special position in the theater, as will be demonstrated, is necessary to fully appreciate the reasons for his unique technique of plot and ultimately for his entire dramatic technique.

Unconventional Uses of Conventional Material While Raimund's plays can be traced with certainty to only two direct sources, in the case of Nestroy the sources for fifty-two of his works or about sixty-five per cent of his total dramatic production have been definitely established, and it is likely that most of the remaining plays are based on sources not yet discovered. Critics have often lamented that Nestroy was not an inventor of original plots, forgetting that works among the most monumental in literature, such as Goethe's Faust or Gottfried's Tristan und Isolde can be traced to not one but many sources. Nestroy did not need to invent plots to prove his dramatic genius, but he did have a great need for plays containing an abundance of conventional comic situations which he could imbue with his own spirit. One is reminded of a similar practice in painting for which Rubens furnishes a good example. The artist frequently permitted his pupils and assistants to perform routine work in his group paintings, adding to the design and coloring of the whole whatever was necessary to suggest the dynamic relationship and expressive quality of the figures which he alone could create. Although a few of Nestroy's plots are based on German and Austrian originals written by popular writers of the day like Meisl, Gleich, and Bâuerle, many more can be traced to the French theater and the novel. Eugène Sue and Charles de Kock, whose preferences

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for the bizarre appealed to Austrian theater-goers, were the writers from whom he most frequently adopted material. So satisfactory a technique did Nestroy develop in utilizing French and native sources that he otherwise rarely turned to foreign literatures, with the exception of three English works, among them an ambitious but relatively unsuccessful attempt to dramatize Charles Dickens' novel Martin Chuzzlewit; and Umsonst (based on the Hungarian original) of Eduard Szigligeti. By adapting the setting to Vienna and including his own dialogue, Nestroy produced from appallingly mediocre plays and novels his most brilliant comedies, such as Talisman, Der Zerrissene, Kampl, and Lumpazivagabundus. What then were the typical plots to which Nestroy resorted, and why have critics objected to them? First of all, the characters live as it is possible to do only in the theater. The events which befall them are the familiar ones that can be traced back to the Commedia dell'arte and to the Ancients. One finds daughters arbitrarily engaged by fathers intent on making a profitable match. There are secret marriages, lost wills, duels, and mysterious letters. Rich uncles appear suddenly when the fortunes of the protagonists are at their lowest ebb, or a winning lottery ticket restores the fortunes of a young profligate. To these general situations must be added a special interest in criminal activities like the following: Sesseltrager deals in part with the adventures of a check forger; in Gleichheit der Jahre a major portion of the action concerns discovering the person who has purloined one thousand guilders; Papiere des Teufels explains how a poor, fatherless family regains its stolen inheritance. To facilitate a perpetual round of mistaken identities and comedies of error there is, of course, a multitude of side doors, folding partitions and convenient closets or draperies for the actors to hide in. Before examining specific uses of these common situations, it is worth noting that no one was more aware of their exact nature than Nestroy himself. Several of his plays contain direct references to his dramatic technique, as in the following examples: Nebel, a writer for the theater, expresses Nestroy's view when he states in the closing lines of Dampfwagen (IX, p. 79) that he could be quite capable of writing an original plot, but the audience, always reject-

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ing the new, would scarcely have the good sense to appreciate it; "Ich kunnt mir zwar selber noch schreiben was Neu's, doch es gibt Geschöpfe, die gehen nur einmal aufs Eis." In Einen Jux (XI, p. 234), with an obvious touch of irony, he laments that so many uncles and aunts must expire simply to achieve a happy ending: "Also hat sich der Fall schon wieder ereignet? Nein, was's Jahr Onkel und Tanten sterben müssen, bloss damit alles gut ausgeht...!" In Liebesgeschichten (XI, p. 446), Nestroy adds a constructive note to his criticism, implying a defense of his dramatic technique and a partial explanation for the effectiveness of his comedy. He points out that it is not the events in a humorous play which are of prime importance, since the basic circumstances are usually the same, but 'how' this action occurs, because herein are possibilities for nearly endless variety: "Es ist was Eigenes mit diese Lieb'sg'schichten, sie drehen sich doch immer ums Nämliche herum, aber die Art und Weise, wie's anfangen und aus werden, ist so unendlich verschieden, dass's gar nicht uninteressant is, selbe zu beobachten!" Only a dramatist who was the urbane master of his subject could afford to intersperse the dialogue of his plays with such frank observations. The plots, however, are complex and difficult to remember, but this is of little consequence, for it was not Nestroy's intention to impress his audience with an unforgettable dramatic story. Always taking a moderate, if not skeptical view of his fellows, he was content to hold the attention of his audiences, and even to lull them into complacency with a routine plot. He would then pivot suddenly and shock them into a thinking state with sharp darts of highly perceptive criticism the more striking because of the ordinary circumstances in which they occur. Nestroy was aware that the complexity and the improbability of his plots, when measured against real life, were in no sense a violation of the principles of comedy, since the density of consecutive comic happenings necessary to a good theatrical production is itself, in reality, an improbability. It is a prime function of art, regardless of the medium employed, to restructure events so that human experience achieves in new form a significance not previously apparant. Since the highly satiric content of Nestroy's plays arises out of the familiar circumstances of comic convention, it represents an

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unusual blend in the history of the Folk Theater and merits a further discussion. Before Nestroy wrote, as Mautner has demonstrated, 13 the idea of a satiric local play in Austria (satirische Posse) or of a genuine parody would have been a contradiction of terms. In contrast, it should be noted that not a single Raimund play is literally a parody. Raimund was the refiner and perfecter of the tradition entrusted to him. Nestroy was a transitional writer who demonstrated the inadequacies of tradition without creating a new one, hence his particular preference for parody. The extent of his skill in this genre is revealed in his parody of Hebbel's Judith und HoloJernes. Absent is the mild, good-natured punning of Raimund's era, for here the egoistic Assyrian general, Holofernes, is exposed in a series of hilarious situations, and with relentless logic the preferences of this idealized tyrant are permitted to become so extreme that he is ultimately denounced as absurd — and with him the entire romantic cult of self-glorification. Nestroy's conventional plots represent the sweet outer coating beneath which lies the bitter pill of satire, or in less figurative terms, the plots are a concession to the audience, which the satiric or parodistic dramatist must generally make if he hopes to have his plays produced, for his paradoxical position requires in many instances that he be dependent upon the attendance of the very audience he is seeking to condemn. As in the plays of Raimund, there is no attempt to conform to the unities of time and place. In a play such as Verbannung, the action covers a period of thirty years, and in Einen Jux, although it does not contain magical elements, a deliberate and rapid shifting of scene occurs throughout the play. Precisely the tempo of the whole makes the action seem plausible when it is occurring, because the spectator, as if witnessing a film, has little opportunity for reflection. Since events are structured in terms of their comic effect, no action can be permitted to grow too serious, or the impression of satiric humor which the dramatist seeks to create would be destroyed. Hence one encounters in the majority of Nestroy's works a constant balancing out of serious moments. A comparison between Raimund and Nestroy with respect to their realistic techniques thus has little value for better understanding the two writers, since neither was u

Mautner, Johantt Nestroy, p. 36.

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primarily interested in naturalistically copying reality but rather in transforming it into art. The plots indicate that it is a misunderstanding of intentions to refer to Nestroy as a realist per se.14 The most that can be argued is that he was more realistic than Raimund.

Nestroy's Idea of Comic Action and its Application It has often been observed that a great writer, be he lyricist, narrator, or dramatist, is so able to imbue his material with the stamp of his personality that it remains forever unmistakably his own. Such is the case with Nestroy, and if this can be demonstrated at the plot level, commonly regarded as the least original feature of his art, then it can with greater certainty be validated for more creative aspects of his dramaturgy such as characterization and dialogue. Back of the unique impression achieved by such a writer, behind the fresh impact of his style, there is inevitably a sustaining idea that lends to the whole of his work an undeniable unity. This idea need not be an original one, but it must be applied to new situations with wholehearted vigor and a high degree of inventiveness. Yet what perhaps most struck Nestroy, when he reflected upon the nature of man, was that life as he found it in Vienna during the early nineteenth century was becoming increasingly stereotyped and stratified at all levels of society. The mechanization he refers to in his plays and which is reflected in the structure of his plots is not of an external but of an internal sort. It has to do with the conventionalized, standardized reactions of people in all aspects of their behavior. Nestroy felt quite simply that the surprising degree to which the average individual is removed from an ideal state of spontaneity, naturalness, and moderation affords an unlimited opportunity for comic representation upon the stage. By manipulating his characters and impelling them from situation to situation, much as one would control the actions of marionettes, by permitting them to act for a 14 Compare the article of Moritz Necker in Nestroy Werke (Vienna, 1891), XII, p. 215, edited by Chivacci and Ganghofer. Speaking of Nestroy, he writes: "Er war ein Realist durch und durch, der Antipode Raimund's. Und aus seinem Realismus erklärt sich seine ganze Lebensführung und Lebensarbeit."

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time as persons worthy of emulation and then letting them display the soulless, unheroic nature of their motivations, he achieved his dramatic purpose. The characters are 'found out' and appear at last in the ridiculous light which they fully deserve to have cast upon them. From such a vantage point as this, many of Nestroy's plots seem anything but conventional. Consider, for example, the actions of schoolmaster Wampl in Die schlimmen Buben. His insipid and totally ineffective methods of teaching soon become clear. One has to laugh at his vain struggle in a series of hilarious situations to retain his equilibrium, as his authority is gradually undermined by the worst pupil in the class, the fiendishly perceptive Willibald. In order to prevent an atmosphere saturated with humor from deteriorating into one of serious concern for Wampl's ultimate fate, Nestroy introduces a deaf governor, who, fortunately for the schoolmaster, is not only incapable of noticing the latter's asinine qualities, but awards him a pension as well. However, this merely adds to the satire, and the play ends with the audience aware of Wampl's pettiness in precisely the manner which the dramatist intended. One may argue that here, as in countless other instances, Nestroy utilized the rough outline of an earlier play.16 This cannot be disputed, but what really matters is considerably more important. Such a plot fitted perfectly the dramatist's idea of comedy, and he needed no one to tell him how to develop humorous situations from his basic source. His choice of a borrowed plot was guided by a sense of dramatic values, and he imbued the original work with a new spirit of sparkling satire. One may inquire as to the intent behind Nestroy's plot structure. Are the plots designed to illustrate man's moral improvement? While in the action of the plays characters are often temporarily purged of their foolishness, when given the opportunity they usually revert to their old habits. Knieriem, for example, cured for a time of his alcoholic tendencies, is later observed about to sell his clothes in order to buy brandy (Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 77). In the sequel Weltuntergangstag he does not fare better than before. While Raimund's works have nearly always been mistaken for plays of moral 15

The plot of Die schlimmen Buben is based on Locroy's Maitre d'ecole (1842).

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betterment, the judgment concerning Nestroy has tended to the opposite extreme, that he deliberately structured the events in his plays to allow base or immoral elements to triumph. 16 This is hardly the case. The protagonists in Verbannung and Gegert Torheit lead more and more corrupt lives, but as they do so their suffering increases. Longinus in Verbannung, a descendant of the gods, ends his career on earth as a street-sweeper. Neither writer was a firm believer in the betterment of man, but for different reasons. In Raimund's view, man could not improve his lot because of an ever-theatening environment. For Nestroy, however, it was not the external world which prevented the achievement of goals, but the inner world, or the essentially incorrigible nature of man himself. Nestroy did not require material that would show his characters in hopeless situations for which they were not responsible. The very innocuousness of many of his plots is designed to emphasize that his characters deserve whatever happens to them, and their difficulties are due to the weaknesses and imperfections of their own personalities. Nestroy is not, with respect to plot technique, necessarily more nor less modern in his thinking than Raimund, but he certainly belongs to a different class of writers, the ones from Aristophanes to Shaw, who created comedy out of human irascibility, and for whom the ominous situation, where it arises, is usually a direct result of that nature. The idea of contrasting action as employed by Raimund illustrates the Baroque idea offortuna. Scenes of laughter and gaity are followed by sorrowful happenings, and the impression of the impermanence of life is heightened, because the wheel of fortune turns ever anew. Nestroy also utilized contrasting action but in a different way and to achieve a different end. A possible use of it open to the satiric writer is to juxtapose the corruption of his age with the noble past. One discerns in such a technique Schiller's classical definition of satire: "Satirisch ist der Dichter, wenn er die Entfernung von der l

* The remarks of Ernst Rose in A History of German Literature (New York: University Press, 1960), p. 241, are typical: "His best plays [Raimund's] achieved a sympathetic depiction of life in terms of Christian morality... Nestroy did not capture the same freshness and honest simplicity. His Lumpazivagabundus (1833) was hardly more than a glorification of vagabondage."

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Natur und den Widerspruch der Wirklichkeit mit dem Ideal zu seinem Gegenstand macht." 17 A danger in developing action through the contrast of reality with the ideal is that the stage may become a pulpit or a "Schaubühne als moralische Anstalt".18 The desirability of this feature in comic writing is very much open to question. Can a dramatist convincingly demonstrate the absurdity of his fellows with so naive a technique? Perhaps, but instinctively Nestroy chose a method more appropriate to the creation of comic happenings. His contrasting action is designed to reveal the absurdity of both the ideal and reality. In Zauberreise the boredom of the present day is contrasted not with the splendor but the barbarity of a former age. Haus der Temperamente depicts the confusions which arise when the daughters of four old friends are courted by the wrong suitors. Each father has a predominating temperament (choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholy) and a daughter of corresponding mentality who is attracted to her opposite. Nestroy does not establish one temperament as the ideal in the hope of correcting the others. Instead he creates humor by contrasting the excesses of all four. Zu ebener Erde is also based on the principle of antithetical events exploited for comic effect. This contrast is between the rich family living on the second floor and the poor one on the first floor. In no sense, however, does Nestroy praise the virtue of the poor, honest folk and condemn the depravity of the rich. On the contrary, he demonstrates with a keen eye for effective detail the irrationality of a world in which opulence and poverty exist in such close proximity. One can find in even the simplest of happenings an organic contrast boldly emphasized by a multi-level stage. When the poor family lights a candle at the dinner table, the upstairs quarters are illuminated by chandeliers. When the poor eat a thin soup and dry bread, the rich entertain guests at a lavish banquet. The contrasts are admittedly as old as the concept of the division of wealth itself, but Nestroy's use of simultaneous contrasting action in the service of comedy is original and highly amusing. Since Raimund and Nestroy differed considerably with respect to 17

Friedrich Schiller, Werke in zwei Bänden, edited by Knaur (München, 1952), II, p. 663. " Schiller, Werke, II, p. 467ff.

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their basic ideas of comic action and its function in the theater, a comparison of specific kinds of action utilized by the two writers leads one to understand at a practical level the exact nature of their contrasting views. On certain points, of course, the two dramatists could agree. Both freely employed humorous situations depicting awkward persons ill-equipped to master the tasks imposed upon them. No doubt many of Nestroy's scenes would have greatly amused Raimund had he lived to experience them, and he would have recognized the technique as similar to his own. One thinks especially of the blasé millionaire, Herr von Lips (Der Zerrissene) who, believing he is being sought for murder, masquerades as a farm hand and attempts with hilarious results to perform chores for which he has no aptitude. Both dramatists employed an intensification of this technique, the comedy of limiting action. Nestroy is here closer to the comic tradition than Raimund, because he usually divorced such happenings from any implications of tragedy. In Affé one character wearing the fur of a monkey is required under the strictest of penalties to adopt all of the habits and mannerisms of a chimpanzee. In Papiere des Teufels a gullible servant is convinced that he has signed a pact with the devil, but the audience, fully aware of the true identity of the supposed devil, is free to enjoy the comic situations which then develop. In Gleichheit der Jahre, a character called the Schrankenzieher (the attendant at a railroad crossing), who does not limit his activity to railroads, goes about restricting the freedom of his fellows in so arbitrary a manner that humor results. The reserved use of farcical action in the plays of Raimund contrasts with Nestroy's much greater employment of it. A dramatist who perceived with such clarity the absurdities of his fellows could afford to depict them demonstrating their oddities to the utmost. Genuine surprises result when rival suitors, planning to elope, stand face to face on the same ladder ([Einen Jux, XI, p. 215ff.), or when a bored millionaire determines to add zest to his life by marrying the next girl he sees, regardless of her condition (Der Zerrissene). Characters are soaked by buckets of water that fall unexpectedly upon them, they trip into bins of flour, and magicians chase each other in and out of the pit. While Nestroy is often spoken of as a defier of

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tradition, his interest in the comic situation represents a revitalizing of theatrical tradition rather than a denial of it. Serious action occurs in the plays of Nestroy, but most often only episodically. Where it is employed to emphasize a central idea, the total effect of such action differs from what Raimund had intended in his fairy-tale, dramas. Nestroy's actors and Bohemian types passively surrender to their inclinations until they reach a stage of dissolution. Since the characters lack tragic stature, they usually accept carelessly whatever happens to them. They testify, however, to the illogical, contradictory nature of man, who makes the same errors ever anew. It is undeniable that the folly of man affords sufficient ingredients to precipitate tragedy, but the appeal in Nestroy's plays is mainly to the intellect and not to the emotion. His plays convey a serious meaning in the sense of Brueghel's masterpiece, The Fall of the Blind, where seven blind, ungainly peasants holding onto each other with their staffs stumble ridiculously into a brook. The artist suggests as does the dramatist that men grow blind not through physical malady alone, but because they are insensitive to the refining influences about them and would prefer destruction to the effort required for true independence. While the action in Raimund's plays tends humorously to limit the characters in their choices and opportunities, in many of Nestroy's plays a different method for developing action is discernible. Characters are projected into situations where they have nearly unlimited opportunity to realize their innermost desires. Nestroy believed that if a man is a nitwit, he should, in comedy at least, be provided with every opportunity to demonstrate this fact. He was aware that the eccentric or absurd tastes of the average individual are frequently unsuspected by others, perhaps the character himself is only dimly aware of them, simply because he has never really had an opportunity to act out his foolishness on a grand scale. Such a technique applied to comedy might be described in German as Entgrenzungskomik. The normal pressures and restraints that force us to be rational beings, if we otherwise lack good sense, are removed. Among the foolish wishes precipitating comic action are the belief that tomantic love, wealth, or life as a famous artist necessarily bring happiness (Zauberreise). Their fulfillment through

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dreams, inheritances, or lottery winnings unleashes a chain of events in which characters lose their common sense, modesty, honesty, and charitableness. It should be noted that Raimund set definite limits to the situations in which his characters behave absurdly. One recalls that Wurzel is seen squandering his wealth (Mädchen) only briefly. For Flottwell, the spendthrift (Verschwender), the wheel of fortune has already turned when he first appears in the play and his career follows a line of descending action. Nestroy, on the other hand, brings entire acts in which the characters follow a long line of rising action, and only in the last scenes of the play are their pompous careers undermined. Nachtwandler illustrates this point well. Only at the end of the play does the titanic immodesty of the protagonist bring about his downfall. After being granted the fulfillment of every wish he can prove necessary to his happiness, he suddenly demands that a capricious desire be granted, and the spell under which he has dominated others is broken. His career ends abruptly, and he is returned to his original humble state. Situations like the foregoing demonstrate the extent to which man may remove himself from the golden mean, if only a substantial opportunity appears, and suggest a basic interest of the dramatist in depicting as a comic discrepancy the gulf between expectation and reality. When a scheming widow is certain that a wealthy suitor eagerly awaits her, she enters his room only to find him snoring loudly (Der Zerrissene, XII, p. 265). A young man who has come to the kitchen for food is offered love by an aging spinster (Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 249ff.). A character convinced he will be punished is offered a reward (Der konfuse Zauberer, I, p. 227). Such contrasting of expectation and reality leads inevitably to amusing scenes. When considering the action in Raimund's plays, words like unusual, exotic, highly individualized, come to mind. Certainly Raimund wanted to emphasize the unique features of his plots, despite the fact that he added no types of action new to the theater. Nestroy, on the other hand, deliberately attempted to erase the impression of the unique event. Since he believed his contemporaries were selling themselves too dearly, he did not want to strengthen their notions about the exclusive nature of man. He therefore em-

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ployed with great frequency the technique of repetitive action, that is, action repeated to demonstrate its commonness, and the absurdity of the characters who attach exaggerated significance to it becomes clear. When a disappointed lover decides to end his sorrows by hanging himself from a dog leash, the audience may be moved to pity at his plight. However, when his two friends meet with a similar misfortune and decide upon the same method of suicide (Sesseltrager, II, p. 332f.) all three lovers appear ridiculous. Viewed from such a perspective, self-destruction represents a mechanical, unimaginative process and is therefore, on the stage at least, hilarious. When one sleepwalker walks along the narrow edge of a roof, the audience may fear for his safety. The dramatist may encourage our interest in mysterious happenings as we speculate upon the secret urges that motivate such singular and dangerous preoccupations. However, when the first sleepwalker is followed by two identical somnambulists who survive with ease the jeopardy of such activity, one is confronted with a quite different situation, and the exotic nature of the first event is held up to ridicule (Nachtwandler, VI, p. 374ff.). Nestroy parodies sentimentality by encouraging not one person to cry over his plight (Nagerl vend Handschuh, III, p. 157), but four. Such deliberate repetition represents a timely corrective to unjustified special appeals for sympathy. The everyday nature of an illicit love affair dawns upon us when three unsuspecting apothecary clerks are betrayed by their wives, each in the same manner (Gewurzkramerkleeblatt). The image of man is not flattered by such a technique, nor are the sorrows of lovers, poets, or dreamers encouraged. In place of this, with cleverness and a light touch, the return to modesty and common sense is convincingly proclaimed.

CONCLUSION

Working within a traditional framework, Raimund developed uniquely dramatic situations that set his works apart from those of all other folk writers* He created dramatic stories which, like fairy tales, emphasize unusual events designed to remain in the memory

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of the audience. He found most of the material he needed within the Austrian Folk Theater with which he had become intimately acquainted as an actor. Nestroy drew upon a much wider range of source materials, especially from French literature, and rewrote entire plays, adding to the rough plot outline a new spirit of parody and satire. Unlike Raimund, he emphasized conventionalized scenes as part of a greater plan to expose the loss of spontaneity among his fellows. To this end he employed the techniques of the repetitive event, comic discrepancy, and wish fulfillment. Raimund achieved humorous results by placing his characters at a comic disadvantage, and assigning them tasks they perform awkwardly. He further limited them by imposing fixed conditions upon their manner of behavior. Usually, Nestroy released his characters from the restraints of everyday life, permitting them ample opportunity to demonstrate their absurdities. Hence, his plays contain far more farcical scenes than those of Raimund, who sought to depict life in a serious and even tragic light by expertly weaving ominous happenings into a comic structure. The effect is tragicomic up to the point where Raimund was forced by dramatic convention to employ a deus ex machina and end his plays by striking the note of moral betterment. Yet the deeper impression created by the action in its totality reveals life as a paradoxical blend of comedy and despair from which there is no escape. Nestroy avoided the blending of comic and tragic moments. Usually his milieu is a relaxed one. Where this is not the case, he makes it quite clear when characters become enmeshed in hopeless situations that their problems are of their own making. Like Raimund he was skeptical of human betterment; not, however, because of the menacing nature of the external world, but because human nature irascibly resists all attempts to perfect it. Raimund's departure from clear, simple lines of plot development was unfortunate, for his special but limited genius did not allow him freely to create effective intrigue. Nestroy, on the other hand, was a master of intrigue, and with apparent effortlessness he could develop four plots within a single play, creating hilarious scenes by crossing and recrossing the lines of action without ever losing control of his material. Neither writer adhered to the unities of time or place, but

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both agreed upon the necessity of unified action. Raimund ingeniously blended the worlds of fantasy and reality. For Nestroy, a sharp division existed between the everyday world and that of imagination. Thus he found the fairy-tale drama an unsatisfactory medium for dramatic portrayal. Raimund's plots are essentially symbolic and skillfully conceived to animate each stage scene, the vividness of which is enhanced by effective contrasting of events. In the case of Nestroy, situations are contrasted satirically to demonstrate the imperfections of man and his ideals.

3

CHARACTER

RAIMUND'S CHARACTERIZATION

Tradition and Originality What is unique about Raimund's characters and why do they still fascinate theater audiences? A survey of the dramatis personae reveals not a single character type new to the Folk Theater, for characters representing three levels of reality were traditional. Familiar figures from everyday Vienna — the tailor, carpenter, wine merchant, and harp-player — have adventures with nymphs, fairies, elves, magicians, spirit kings, queens, and princesses in a supernatural realm, or the immortal beings appear on earth. Besides types of the real and spirit world, allegorical figures issue warnings, represent virtues and vices, and even participate in the action. Raimund did not begin writing for the theater because of a lack of comic folk plays. There were more than enough. His predecessors produced incredible numbers of magic plays, parodies, farces, dramatic scenes, and so forth (Bauerle 78, Meisl 184, Gleich 2241).1 Many were destined for only three or four performances. Nearly all are the result of a dramatic recipe designed to attract large uncritical audiences through spectacular situations, routine comedy, praise of Vienna, and the triumph of bourgeois morality. Not one has remained in the living theater. A frequent critic of the inferiority and superficiality of these plays, Raimund commented: "Mit unseren Dichtern geht es immer miserabler, sie betreiben ihre Kunst bloss, um Geld herauszulocken, 1

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nicht um Ehre zu ernten, und es ist zum Verzweifeln, was man für Schmierereien lesen muss" (.RSfF, V, p. 226). With increasing despair he protested to his friend Costenoble: Da ist erstlich der Esel, mein Schwiegervater, der Gleich, und dann der Beamte Meisl; die Kerls übergeben mir ihren Mist zur Durchsicht, und ich muss zwei Akte kassieren, eh' ich einen halben von ihrem Geschmier brauchen kann. Und wenn ihre Pastete fertig ist, so muss ich sie erst anfüllen mit meinen Ingredienzen, wenn sie geniessbar werden soll. So ist mir's gegangen mit dem 'Gespenst auf der Bastei'... und mit allen anderen Lokalstücken. Es ist halt ein Elend. CRSW, V, p. 226). In 1819 Gleich began to write a mediocre benefit play for Raimund, Prinz Tutu. Growing impatient, the latter himself revised and completed it; the result was a brilliant success. In Raimund's case the progression from actor to critic to poet is especially significant. Because no adequate means of dramatic self-expression existed, he created his own works and designed for each a role to mirror not only the antics of homely Viennese characters but also the uniqueness of his own personality.

Raimund's Role When discussing dramatic characterization, it is helpful if a typology can be established which reveals the main tendencies of the writer and suggests the degree to which he has created characters whose impact upon the audience is unusual and persuasive. The question should also be raised as to whether the characterization demonstrates variety of technique and a shifting of viewpoint or whether the writer chose to develop the role of the protagonist upon limited lines, substituting increased refinement and depth of portrayal for a wider range of types and methods of representation. The chief role in each Raimund play relates to the preceding one, because the poet designed them to suit his special needs as an actor. However subjective his attitude toward the creation of his characters may have been, it was accompanied by a precise and sensitive appreciation of the requirements of the theater. That Raimund's characters are all uncomplex individuals with limited thoughts and

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abilities does not necessarily make them less significant or less worthy of the critic's attention, especially since they are meant, at least in part, to be comical, and the comic character does not suffer from limitations in his personality or intelligence as a tragic hero might, but instead may actually benefit by them. Even a puppet show, if it is skillfully conceived and executed, may demonstrate the aberrations and problems of man with some tragic force. Certainly the intellect of a character does not guarantee that he will be remembered by theater audiences. There is an eloquence of simple directness that speaks to the emotions as well as a more rational one whose labyrinthine turns can be followed only by an alert mind. The simplicity common to all of the protagonists is accompanied by a vigor and freshness of conception that make each of them unique. Although they cannot be grouped to advantage in terms of mentality or social station, since they are all plain-living servants, artisans, farmers, or recluses, one discovers marked differences in their emotional response to the problems, real or imagined, with which they struggle. There are naive bunglers like Quecksilber (Barometermacher), Nachtigall (Phantasie), and Simplizius (Krone), maneuvered into outlandish situations by the diabolically ingenious members of the supernatural world. In the presence of ominous forces they behave as buffoons, not because they are entirely carefree, but because the role of jester is thrust upon them by circumstances. It is not their nature to create a web of comic happenings. Their efforts are directed to escaping from the snares that have been set for them. Left to their own devices, they would return to living uncomplicated, satisfied lives. A greater measure of characterization is revealed in a second type of character such as Wurzel (Madchen), Gluthahn (Moisasur) or Rappelkopf (Alpenkonig). These individuals determine more emphatically the course of events within their environments. Each is turbulent, headstrong, and almost monomaniacal in his attitude toward the world. The third character type is represented by Florian (Diamant) and Valentin (Verschwender). Despite threatening circumstances and mirth-provoking episodes, each acts as constructively as he can. Awkward and buffoonish by nature, they succeed in being good-hearted, honest, and completely loyal, for these

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servants choose to sacrifice their own interests to champion the cause of their master. Raimund's main personages are clownish, but their personalities may be passive, destructive, or constructive. No one type is necessarily more effective than another. Each presents to the actor its own specific possibilities for character portrayal, and Raimund possessed sufficient energy and imagination to create living and appealing characters at all three levels. Despite the typological description just given, which may assist the critic who wishes to visualize more clearly the main traits of the artist he is considering, Raimund himself, of course, did not conceive of his characters in arbitrary groups. His technique of characterization was dedicated to a single central concern: illustrating the tragicomic nature of the protagonists. He achieved this, in part, by blending innocent humor with grotesque or ominous events, as in Krone (II, p. 255), where a poor tailor, half in joviality and half fearing for his life, wanders through a realm of pestilence and death, singing songs and getting himself into frightening situations. In Raimund's plays one always finds an organic unity between background and the expression of individuality. In every instance the characters have comical adventures in theatening environments, or at least they imagine that they are being threatened. The relationship between character and background upon the stage is a vital factor in dramatic technique, because only if the one element reinforces the other meaningfully can a unified impression be created. In Raimund's plays the menacing external world makes more significant the comic responses of otherwise simple artisans and jokesters. A second possibility for comic characterization deals with contrasts between persons whose individuality stands out in bold relief and whose relationship to each other, or the lack of it, becomes vividly alive. Contrasts of temperament are as old as the history of comedy, but this does not detract from their value if they are well conceived, and in this respect Raimund added to the comedy of misunderstanding the tragedy of it as well. Husbands like Rappelkopf (Alpenkdnig) and Gluthahn (Moisasur) rage at their patient wives and thereby precipitate absurd happenings, but a sobering emphasis, not usually found in comedy, is placed upon their

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blindness to the purity and truth their spouses represent and which they fail to recognize, for the wife of the former character is driven to an untimely death, and Rappelkopf himself to the brink of suicide. Another favorite device of Raimund's was to indicate the contrast between gullibility and sophistication which results in neartragic happenings, as in the case of Zoraida and Quecksilber (Barometermacher, I, p. 26), where the latter is stripped of his gifts and made an outcast fearing for his life, or the comedy of such a contrast may be shown to advantage when a wrinkled crone believes that a young dandy from Paris is paying a tribute to her beauty (Verschwender, II, p. 384). That Raimund employed character contrast to reveal the gay and sorrowful aspects of existence indicates that he considered his stage figures far more than mere jokesters such as one finds in most Viennese folk plays, which feature the non-personalized relationships of servant/master and Columbina/Harlequin.2 Raimund adopted this framework, but he enlivened and personalized it and developed therefrom the simple, effective contrasts suggested here. A third type of tragicomic relationship concerns the character's attitude toward himself. At this level one reaches the most significant area of Raimund's dramatic characterization, where questions must be raised like: how are the attitudes or feelings of the actors projected onto the stage, and how do they relate to the structure and theme of the play? Where such projection is obscure or only episodic, the dramatic quality of the play will obviously suffer. If, on the other hand, a dramatist solves this difficult problem to a high degree, he deserves the admiration of the critic. Raimund transformed the soul life of his characters into drama, by envisioning it in terms of powerful contrasts. Each one has a very definite idea of the kind of person he is and how he appears to others. In every instance the audience is permitted to witness the protagonist's delusion about his true nature, since a wide discrepancy shows up between his self-image and the way he is regarded by the external world. The entrance monologue, preceded by a brief aria, introduces the main character whose self-image at once becomes discernible, as he * Karl Holl, Geschichte des deutschen Lustspiels (Leipzig, 1923), p. 251.

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describes his personality to the audience and accounts for the problems that surround him in terms of his own precise view of the world. The monologue thus employed is never superfluous, because an exact acquaintance with the character's idea of reality is essential for appreciating the resulting action. As if standing before a mirror, each character describes in song and with humor who he is and how he regards himself. In the following action the inadequacy of these ideas about the self is made clear. To achieve this impression, Raimund portrayed the contrast between the character with melancholy thoughts and his comical appearance (Quecksilber), the trembling coward revered as a hero (Simplizius), the ugly creature who fancies himself talented and attractive (Nachtigall), the haranguing sadists who believe implicitly in their own goodness (Gluthahn and Rappelkopf), the uncouth farmer who dotes on the idea that he is an urbane gentleman graced by fortune (Wurzel). Such characters are not only tricked by those who strive to take advantage of them, but they also deceive themselves. In such a situation the utterances of otherwise comic characters assume a new dimension, and the idea that man is limited and duped by his sense impressions is heightened. Not content to merely depict a procession of defenseless, inadequate beings on the stage, Raimund imbued his characters with lightness, for they behave and speak in a comic fashion despite their tribulations. One finds that comic self-disparagement is frequent. The protagonists refer freely to their absurdities, and in their frustration at being unable to cope with situations they call themselves cods, fools, and clods. The audience is amused and sympathetic toward characters who give themselves an occasional verbal kick. The humorous remark in a dire situation might be termed comedy of despair. Raimund's characters envision life in terms of an antithesis in which the perilous and the farcical are joined. By perceiving, during one supreme moment, the absurdity in the traps laid for them by fate, they can rise above their troubles, and their terror is dissolved in laughter. Humor is here employed to quiet a fear very old and recurrent in man, that back of the seeming order and permanence in the universe there is only chaos. The destiny of man is especially referred to by quips like the following: Valentin, when

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asked if the profession of a hatter is a dependable one, answers that it is not; if mankind loses its head, no one will need a hat (Verschwender, II, p. 355). Quecksilber, who narrowly escapes death in the ocean when shipwrecked, again ventures forth in a boat singing that he will continue to trust fortune, because it is blind (Barometermacher, I, p. 12). Such humor reflects a deeply questioning attitude toward the world combined with the naïveté of a small boy whistling in the dark to keep up his courage. An additional motif demonstrating the tragicomic essence of man is comedy of contradictory emotion. A character torn between two emotions shifts suddenly from one to the other, disclosing his inner confusion and the painful struggle to regain emotional equilibrium. Angry at Zoraida for betraying him, Quecksilber is immediately fascinated by Linda: "Mich, mich so zu betrügen. (Sieht Linda an) Die hübschen Augen, die s' hat. (Wie oben) Nein! Nein! (Wie oben) Das Mädl gefallt mir, bei der bleib ich!" (Barometermacher, I, p. 39f.). Such a moment reveals much about the dramatic artist who created it. Comical characterization thus achieved seems psychologically real, because Quecksilber is being absurd in spite of himself. The unexpectedness with which he shifts his position is not only amusing, but it relates directly to the theme of the plays : man, who hates and loves simultaneously, is a creature of many contradictions and confusions, and therefore at a great disadvantage in coping with the threats of the external world. These characters are the childlike victims of fate rather than simply creatures who willingly commit irresponsible or inefficient acts, and precisely this fact has a special meaning for them, making inevitable the tragicomic role assigned to each and from which there can be no escape. Since they are incapable of real intrigue or subterfuge, their plans are quickly discovered, and their masks easily detected. Not one achieves a convincing disguise through his own cunning, and even Quecksilber (Barometermacher), who pretends to be a physician, is assisted by supernatural powers. Unable to mask their true personalities, they appear naive and contrast especially with characters of the spirit world who not only conceal their motives but also have the power to change their forms. Raimund's characters gain the sympathy of the spectators because

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in addition to possessing the limited view of children, they are equally spontaneous, confiding, and genuine. One has the impression that it is natural for them to be naive, as it is for children; therefore they are amusing but never ridiculous. Even those who resort to malicious practices believe in the goodness of their intentions. Nachtigall believes that it is right for him to beat poetic imagination with a stick so that she will produce a poem for him (Phantasie), and Rappelkopf, despite his many unkind actions, believes implicitly in his own goodness (Alpenkdnig). A further link with childlikeness is apparent concerning the ease with which these characters are victimized and made the dupes of superior forces. Even the helplessness of Rappelkopf, the most aggressive of the Raimund characters, who smashes the furniture and rages at his family, is evident, since he suffers from mental unbalance and is thus deprived of the necessary rationality to solve his problems. These characters bear misfortune not without fear and lamentation, which enhances their realness; and their mirth, frequently unintentional, makes them the more appealing. Being creatures of feeling, their emotions are close to the surface. Freely and according to their moods they weep, laugh, rage, shout, exult, and fear. Not only do they weep with good cause, as when Quecksilber finds himself stranded on a strange island (Barometermacher, I, p. 7), or when Wurzel is suddenly transformed into an old man (Madchen, I, p. 230), but also they grieve when they are in no way threatened, 3 and in such moments their moods may shift from joy to sorrow almost without transition; their emotions, thus freely expressed, are void of sentimentality, and the spectators' feelings are rightly with the individual who must face the complexities and dangers of the world with the mentality and the emotional equipment of a child. The characterization of these uncomplex personalities is extended and deepened to include the nobility of spirit which especially surrounds two of the servants, Florian (Diamant) and Valentin (Verschwender). In this respect Raimund struck a fresh note in the Austrian comic folk play. These servants are natural but never uncouth, albeit the crudity of the original Hanswurst is often * Compare Diamant, I, p. 125 and Verschwender, II, p. 452,

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4

misunderstood. Not always heroic, they possess, despite their weaknesses, mature selflessness and pure mindedness. Their humor is always discreet and requires no references to sex. Not paragons of virtue, they nevertheless represent in their best moments a psychological truth born of unspoiledness and humility. The dramatic significance of the tragicomic figures depends especially upon two important factors: the character's own awareness of his unique relationship to the world and his ability to communicate it successfully to the audience. Herein lies a limitation of the innate childlikeness which the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal 5 considered the predominant feature of Raimund's personages, for they are, in reality, adults who have suffered during their whole lives because they possess innocence and naivete. With greater awareness than children, they experience the treachery of the world and their own sorrow. By blending maturity and immaturity, it was possible for Raimund to create psychologically realistic developing characters with whom audiences could identify themselves. If the protagonists were mature only, they would not be unique in the sense that the poet intended, and if they were merely immature, they would lack sufficient attraction to sustain for long the interest of a sophisticated audience. Many of the characters, Gluthahn (Moisasur) and Rappelkopf (Alpenkdnig), for instance, are more relentless than children in pursuing their desires. They do more than simply represent avarice and misanthropy, because one notices in them, as in all the protagonists, a radical change in mental outlook. Whoever takes the time to trace the development of Raimund's protagonists will observe that each of them gains in the course of the action a deeper understanding of his own nature. The message of Rappelkopf in the closing lines of Alpenkdnig — "Ich hab mich erkannt heut, ich weiss wer ich bin" — applies as well to the other characters whose weaknesses are exposed. All of them profit by this experience, developing a clearer but not necessarily more pleasant perception of reality, as in the case of Gluthahn, who does not 4

Otto Rommel describes the jokes of Hanswurst as infantile comedy accepted with zest by earthy Baroque audiences {NSW, XV, 111-124). 6 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Gesammelte Werke, Prosa III (Vienna, 1952), 471-478.

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retreat from his position of household tyrant. He is too coarse and egocentric to grieve even at the death of his wife, but his heart is gripped with fear, and he is forced to acknowledge that he is not a law unto himself (Moisasur). A different character type like Valentin, whose spiritual development soars above his childlike intellect, begins his life in self-conceit, and his horizon is limited to serving his master, enjoying good food and drink, and flirting with the chambermaid. As the years pass, he does not become a veritable titan of virtue, but gradually he understands with greater insight the purpose for which he has entered the world (a state which many philosophers never achieve). He knows what truth and goodness, loyalty and thankfulness are, for he practices them in his daily life and is ready to sacrifice the comforts of home and family to sustain them. Death holds no fear for him, because he achieves the humility born of a pure and patient spirit. As un-alike as are Gluthahn and Valentin, they illustrate complementary aspects of the same technique. Raimund was not so much interested in contrasting good and evil characters as he was in permitting each, with inevitable backsliding accompanied by humor, to develop dramatically the potentiality inherent in his personality and then allowing each with calmness or a shudder to glance into his own heart. The inner changes in the characters are reflected on the stage quite literally. Transformation from one physical form to another, as occurs in the fairy tale, is frequent. One notes special qualities common to these external changes. None of them is grotesque, even in situations where a lesser dramatist might have been tempted to utilize bizarre means of gaining the attention of the audience. When Quecksilber's sorrow and his lack of cunning are represented through the sudden elongation of his nose, Raimund points out in the stage directions that the new nose should not be grotesque, but instead well-proportioned (Quecksilber, I, p. 53). Although this remark at first glance may appear unimportant, it indicates a view, confirmed by its frequent recurrence, that the stage should serve the interests of beauty, grace, and harmony. Whatever the audience sees should be, for the most part, pleasing to the eye. Raimund was, of course, aware of the ugliness and suffering in the world, but as a dramatic artist he did not choose to represent it baldly upon the

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stage. He is much closer to the Apollonian tradition of art than to the Dionysian; rather like Laocoon, he affirmed the dignity of man in pain. Especially in such moments, he breathed life into his characters by adding a note of humor. When Wurzel becomes in a twinkling an old man, this event is preceded by mirth-provoking incidents (Madchen, I, p. 230), and when he suffers most as an ashman gathering the ashes of the townspeople, the tribulation of his mind is lightened by his comical appearance. One may argue that Raimund's transformations are childlike, but they are also artistic, psychologically motivated, and not without humor.

Secondary Characters When a poet creates a lyric poem, he need not write about the conflicts among people. It is enough if he describes a mood or a condition of the soul that makes more graphic the subjective workings of the mind, but a dramatist dealing with flesh and blood characters on the stage must be concerned with human relationships and what they reveal. The dramatist's point of view will obviously influence his technique of writing, and it is clearly a misconception to imagine that there exists on the one hand the writer's message to the audience, and on the other his purely objective technique for expressing it. When form and content enhance each other, an important requisite for a work of art is fulfilled, and the critic can scarcely discuss with profit the one without at least relating it to the other. Clearly, the portrayal of the secondary characters, if successful, will make the protagonist more understandable and emphasize his uniqueness, thereby heightening the dramatic interest. One need not apologize for the simplicity that exists in the relationship between the central and the lesser characters. That it is easily defined by the critic and visualized by the audience can be reckoned as a decided advantage. It has been stressed that Raimund's characters perceive the universe as children do, especially in the sense that for them the world contains exactly three kinds of people; those who help and/or love them, others whom they accept with no special thoughts or feelings, and those to be feared. The uniqueness

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of their personalities becomes clearer by demonstrating what types of individuals are included in each group and how they are represented. Persons of high social position, or at least a higher rank than that of Raimund's artisans and servants, tend to lead virtuous but uninteresting lives. They are entirely serious and lack the comic vitality of their underlings. Shadowy figures beside the humbler folk, they behave statically rather than demonstrating with dramatic vigor their special qualities. Such persons generally befriend the protagonists and seek to promote their interests; yet they find life in many respects equally as difficult to master. Flottwell (Verschwender), the most mature character of this type, is the benefactor of Valentin for a time, but in attempting to solve his own problems, he is scarcely less naive, nor does he reveal his personality sufficiently through action. That he wastes material goods is important, for it leads to his financial ruin. More important, his instinctively kind spirit is wasted in a corrupt world. Yet this is not convincingly portrayed, for, despite the generosity which others attribute to him, he is not generous with his possessions, he merely wastes them foolishly. Twice he squanders wealth by throwing away a valuable necklace and a vase (Verschwender, p. 392ff.). While others vouch for his noble character, he performs no act evidencing this nobility. He is a desperate lover in the first two acts, and a disappointed old man in the final act. Compared with the sprightly Valentin, who indicates his character in word and deed, Flottwell is a passive individual. Raimund's most convincing characters are those enlivened by humor and descended like himself from a plain ancestry.6 The direct influence of women upon the main characters, on the whole, is not a very great one. Only three are married, and of this number Valentin alone leads what could be described as a satisfying life. Nonetheless, the role of women is a significant one in the plays, for they are usually loving, domestic, and industrious. Virtuous wives like Trautel (Moisasur), and Sophie (Alpenkönig) have the • Grillparzer was among the first critics to notice the limitations of Raimund's art of characterization. He recorded his views as follows: "Das Ernste ist Ihnen bloss bildlose Melancholie; wie Sie es nach aussen darzustellen suchen, zerfliesst es in unkörperliche Luft. Im Komischen haben Sie mehr Freiheit und gewinnen Gestalten, dahin sollte Ihre Tätigkeit gehen!" (RSIV, V, p. 516).

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desire to exert influence for the good of their husbands. The difficulty is that these men have grown reproachful. The sorrowful nature of Raimund's characters is apparent, for in most cases they must face life alone, either as confirmed bachelors, dissatisfied husbands, or adventurers for whom feminine companionship is seldom possible. It is not true, however, that Raimund idealized or stereotyped women in his plays. One finds an amusing realism and even uniqueness. To begin with, the poet discarded standard comic types like the faithless wife, the shrewish wife who dominates a hen-pecked husband, and the mother anxious to marry off a son or daughter. When women are conceived as comic, they are portrayed with occasional faults like vanity, garrulity, and irony. Although existing apparently solely to gain a suitor or to please a husband, they do not always remain passive, for Raimund portrayed equally well sharp-tongued women such as the practical Rose (Verschwender), who supplements her gentle-spirited husband. Perhaps the most convincing aspect of the portraiture of women is the completeness with which they enter into love relationships. Linda ([Barometermacher, I, p. 40) speaks with ennobled conviction when she pursues Quecksilber, consoling him with the words: Ich will Ihnen mein Herz dafür geben, Sie können freilich damit keine Armee herblasen — aber einen einzelnen Verteidiger werden S' ewig an ihm haben. Tausend Getreue werden Ihnen nimmermehr zu Diensten stehen, aber wenn Sie an das Herzenstürl da anklopfen, so wird Ihnen eine treue Person entgegenkommen, und Sie werden sehen, wenn Sie mich heiraten: so werden Sie recht glücklich werden, und Sie werden auf alle Hörner vergessen. Woman, the sufferer, the consoler, usually more loving than man but not without faults, is represented, surprisingly enough for the comic tradition, with realism, respect, and Sympathie understanding. Because of the innate childlike qualities of Raimund's protagnists, it was not necessary for the poet to introduce into his plays the 'ThadädV role, in which an adult impersonates a child for comic effect. Nonetheless, children appear in every work except Phantasie, and while often their only function is to enhance the exotic back-

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ground as genii, they also serve or even protect the protagonists, as in the case of a tiny soldier who defends Quecksilber in battle (Barometermacher). Being closer to instinctive truth, they reveal with unintentional irony the tragic essence of situations. In this respect, Raimund utilized the naive honesty of children to gain striking effects. When Flottwell becomes convinced that he has wasted his life, he gains this awareness from a small boy who, pointing to the former's picture, remarks: "Und es hat nicht viel gekostet. Es hat kein Mensch was geben wollen dafür." (Verschwender, II, p. 436). When children bring revelations of this order to the adult characters, one senses that they are more than mere pawns or decorations, for the voice of fate speaks through them in unmistakeable tones, echoing the theme that man is mortal. An important difference exists between individuals who cannot assimilate themselves into society and anti-social types who blame their misfortunes upon the structure and institutions of a rejected society. Each Raimund figure accepts, like a docile child, the order of things exactly as he finds it. Since Raimund did not create comic character types as a means of social protest, one never finds in his works the hypocritical clergyman, the inefficient military leader, or the inadequate schoolteacher. As the representatives of important institutions, they are accepted without reservation, and the inequality between rich and poor, monarchs and their subjects, is regarded uncritically. Only twice are doctors represented, but not critically.7 When a loquacious charlatan gives a harangue at a banquet, he does not imply a criticism of the medical profession (Barometermacher); the audience knows he is only disguised as a physician, and the quack impostor was a common figure on the Austrian stage since his adoption from the Commedia dell 'arte two centuries earlier. Court officials are not differently represented. The judge who pronounces a defendant guilty does so because of the many contradictions in her appearance (Moisasur, II, p. 75). Though boorish and superstitious, he carries out his duties honestly and with seriousness. After he has pronounced sentence, he remarks: "Hätte ich denn nicht Recht geübt an diesem Weib? Wenn ich darüber mein Bewusstsein spreche, sagt es mir, du hast noch nie 7

Barometermacher,

I, p. 66; Verschwender, II, p. 406.

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verletzt des Rechtes noch des Menschen Pflicht und hast deinen Platz behauptet, auf den Bestimmung dich gestellt." Of the hermits who appear in the plays, none are critical of society and one even defends with eloquence the Divine Right of Kings (Krone, II, p. 282). While it is well known that the Metternich system suppressed criticism through strict censorship, this did not limit Raimund in his technique of characterization, for even his lyric poetry and letters, which were not subject to censorship, indicate no dissatisfaction with the regime. He believed that avarice, deceit, and envy are the aberrations which hollow out men's souls, but this action is not aggravated by society. Whatever happiness man can gain on earth is possible only by accepting one's role in a world scarcely less stratified than in the Middle Ages. Of all Raimund's protagonists, only Gluthahn betrays others, and even a misanthrope like Rappelkopf is not innately malicious, for his embitterment proves to be only a temporary derangement. It is most often the case that these characters must be on their guard against a deceitful world, and they have the most to fear from persons who pretend friendliness, because their unsophisticated minds cannot perceive the distinction between sham and reality. A dramatist might resort to at least two quite different techniques for representing how the corrupt world ensnares the innocent. Traditionally, the artful machinator delights the audience by devising ever anew schemes and counter-schemes to promote his interests. His chief weapon is a kind of brazen resourcefulness, and a complex dastardliness, that makes of him a formidable opponent. A second possibility does not necessarily produce comedy and concerns the false servant who causes the ruin of his master by a single act. The betrayal of Christ by Judas, often depicted on the stage, is the most dramatic example of such an act, but it is not the result of complicated intrigue. With devilish simplicity, Judas delivers up Christ and earns his thirty pieces of silver, as all Christians know, merely by kissing him. Raimund portrayed neither the skillful intriguer in his plays nor any character of the magnitude or villainy of Judas, but his technique of characterization as regards the treachery of man more closely approaches that contained in the latter event, which is symbolic and complete in itself. It is enough that Lorenz

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(Mädchen) deserts his master and Wolf (Verschwender) steals from him and lies about the other servants. By conveying the drama of these incidents in well-chosen moments, Raimund required neither detail nor repetition for the audience to understand fully their significance. Unlike his predecessors the poet did not conceive of the relationship between servant and master as comic. Although the protagonists are common people themselves, they cannot rely upon the masses for aid in time of need. In a typical instance, citizens beat each other blind and bloody in a streetscramble for golden coins, and later they desert a stranger whom they had befriended, after learning that he is penniless (Barometermacher, I, p. 15f.). While it is not to be expected that the folk poet will always represent the people in a favorable light, so intense were Raimund's convictions that he regarded the masses only as faithless cowards. According to his mood, they are dishonest, hypocritical, childish, short-sighted, and ignoble. An attitude as uncompromising as this suggests his aristocratic impatience, mistrust, and even fear of man collectively, and is enhanced by the fact that the people are never once depicted in a representative task or amusement. Even the professions of the main characters are not eulogized; they are shown comically. Valentin, the kindhearted cabinet maker, is ready to renounce his trade instantly in order to serve his former master as he remarks: "Wer weiss, wers noch vergilt, und ich denk mir halt, wenn ich einmal recht alt werd, so möcht ich doch auch andere Erinnerungen aufzuweisen haben, als dass ich einen Stuhlfuss geleimt hab und einen Schubladkasten gemacht" (Verschwender, II, p. 446). It is not his profession that sustains him and makes him a unique being, but the fidelity to his master. Valentin might have practiced any one of a dozen different trades. The significant thing about his being a carpenter is, at the very most, that he eventually becomes resigned to his work and leads a useful life.

Spirit World Raimund constructed his plays in such a manner that the hopes and the fears of his everyday characters are always viewed in terms of a

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supernatural or fantastic background, usually referred to as the fairy-tale world or the world of spirits. Raimund's supernatural beings are always either parodied characters, folklike nature spirits, or non-Germanic gods and heroes treated seriously. The parodied characters are most frequent in the early plays, but never did Raimund represent comically figures from Greek or Roman mythology. Instead, he depicted the Emperor Franz I as a good-natured, fatherly Spirit King who adopts for his kingdom within a volcanic mountain the relaxed speech and mannerisms of the Viennese. His officials are types drawn from Viennese officialdom such as Feuergeist {Diamant), whose zealous devotion to duty results only in confusion, and Pamphilius (Diamant), a smooth-talking flatterer who denies the existence of problems. Spirits, like officials on earth, are summoned, dismissed, and receive a fixed salary. Others are from towns and cities well known to the Viennese. The court of the Spirit King contains magicians from Warasdin and DonauEschingen, and a nymph from Karlsbad. The spirits ride in coaches, write letters, attend concerts, and exchange greetings in the Viennese manner. Although at times these parodied beings display vanity, garrulity, and jealousy,8 never do they become uncouth or sheerly ridiculous. One could only imagine that the audiences were drawn closer to their system of government and their ways of life by watching Raimund's parodied characters, whose teasing is harmless and gay like the floats at a carnival. While Raimund was not the first writer to populate his supernatural world with nature spirits, he made them seem more convincingly alive than his predecessors. For the poet, nature was an asylum from his trials among humans. His lyric poetry and his letters abound in references to the spiritual rebirth he experienced when permitted to escape from Vienna and relax in the soothing forests of the Brühl. As a result of his deep and personal relation to the landscape, it is not surprising that the attitude of his characters on the stage toward nature is more than merely conventional. One notes that the forces of nature in Raimund's plays nearly always work seriously to benefit man. Drama, of course, requires that the spirits do more than merely guide or control humans. There 8

Compare Mädchen, I, p. 178; Phantasie, I, p. 321,

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must be a convincing interaction between the two worlds, and although Raimund was not always able to make the spirit world appear as a dramatic necessity, he did succeed in utilizing it to increase the suspense by placing his protagonists at a comic disadvantage as in the case of Rappelkopf, who must exchange bodies with the King of the Alps (Alpenkönig), or Nachtigall (Phantasie), the beer-hall harp-player, who is forced to attempt to create a great lyric poem. The interaction between man and nature in Raimund's plays is especially plausible, because his everyday characters respond intensely to their natural environments even when the spirits are not present. There are characters who greet the mountains as a friend and offer praise to the sun; others achieve in the wilderness the asylum which Raimund himself sought. 9 Rossi {Moisasur, II, p. 75) attempts to determine the guilt or innocence of a prisoner by imploring the elements for a sign when he asks: "Ich will die grüne Wiese suchen und den blauen Himmel, um ihn zu befragen, ob man, wie dieses Weib, so edel sein kann und auch so schuldig." When characters reach a crisis in their lives, the inevitability of their fate is often reflected by what they perceive in the landscape. When Wurzel suddenly becomes old, it snows in the summertime (Mädchen, I, p. 227), and the misfortunes that await Flottwell when he decides to flee to England are suggested by a gathering thunderstorm (Verschwender, II, p. 413). Although nature is not listed in the dramatis personae, the sun, the moon, and the storm directly influence the lives of the protagonists. By using such techniques Raimund made the magical powers of these beings convincing, for he succeeded in dramatizing on the stage the close union between man's emotional life and the elements. Raimund was not a folk poet in the sense that he peopled his spirit world with popular figures from German legends and fairy tales such as Rübezahl, Eulenspiegel, or Tannhäuser. Instead he portrayed non-Germanic gods and heroes like Apollo, Hades, the Furies, and Octavian. While his spirit world characters of this type remain shadowy and theatrical, one may nevertheless admire the poet's attempt to unite in a serious dramatic composition the Vien* Zadi (Barometermacher), Octavian (Krone).

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nese harlequin and figures from classical mythology. The creation of convincingly real, tragic characters implies the representation of life as the poet had never experienced it, and even his fine dramatic imagination could not conceal this. One may liken Raimund's ambitious experiment to that of Faust, when he conjured up not Helena's essence, but her shade. Though the poet was unsuccessful at recalling the greatness of a former age, without sacrificing comic imagination, he nevertheless blended into his plays a near-tragic seriousness hitherto unknown in the Folk Theater. Although it must be admitted that Raimund succeeded in showing changes of character more in spite of than because of the spirit world, he did, in fact, achieve such transformation to a remarkable degree, and the reasons for it concern largely his technique of allegory.

Allegory Into his allegorical figures, the connecting link between the human and the divine, the poet breathed the very breath of life. N o other writer in the Folk Theater created characters so convincingly real, familiar to all audiences, yet uniquely drawn. Few have attempted it, and no one has ever successfully initiated them. While a mere listing of names cannot explain the charm of these creatures, who must be seen upon the stage to be fully appreciated, one can sense the imaginative range of character types through which Raimund transformed abstractions into dramatic reality. These include the passions of hate and envy, moods ranging from hope to lethargy, spiritual qualities like virtue, stages of human development such as youth and age. Raimund animated nature by representing the wind, the sun, the mist, the four seasons, and the times of the day. He included the elemental forces of death and transitoriness, even portraying intangible states and conditions like poetic imagination, and the fiftieth year of human life. The exact limits of his ingenuity must be left to speculation, for his stage directions refer to lesser allegorical beings simply as mehrere allegorische Personen (Madchen). In the simplest terms an allegorical figures is a character, not necessarily limited to dramatic literature, whose being represents what-

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ever abstraction the poet chooses; its appearance signifies to the beholder that a concept, emotion, or state of being has emerged as tangible reality. While all allegories contained in plays from Amor and Psyche of classical antiquity to Wedekind's Fruhlingserwachert share this feature, great differences, of course, exist in the skill and imagination employed in their portrayal. The lifeless allegories who appear in Karl Meisl's Der lustige Fritz (1813) are examples of personification at the crudest level and typify the technique that was the rule in the Folk Theater before Raimund began to write for the stage. Much of the latter's characterization takes full advantage of the striking vividness with which allegory can communicate the truth of an invisible reality, and several reasons account for the superiority of his allegorical technique over that of his predecessors. While Raimund often represented his allegories in contrasting pairs like Love and Hate, Youth and Age, Summer and Winter, it is not the external contrast in these beings which makes them unusual, but rather the antithesis revealed in the personality of each individual character. The deep impression which Youth makes upon Wurzel results from such an antithesis. Youth is apologetic but inexorable, almost ridiculous yet awe-inspiring, infinitely sympathetic but frightening. When Age arrives after Youth departs, a different but not less effective antithesis is created, for Age inclines to badinage despite his seriousness. Absurd and grotesque, terrifying and jovial, decrepit yet the irresistible destroyer of life, he is powerfully conceived. That he appears as a consoling jester adds to the enigma of his nature without lessening the fear which he inspires in all who behold him. One notes that Raimund's allegories often suggest not a single quality but several. While the Beggar (Verschwender) is not a completely allegorical figure, he fulfills, in part at least, this function, because he represents the fiftieth year of Flottwell's life. He, like the allegories, is antithetically portrayed, since he is at first subservient and later highly persuasive, wretchedly poor and filled with prophetic insight. He represents not only poverty, but also old age, misery, loneliness, helplessness, hope, and envy. By combining allegorical qualities in single characters, Raimund made them more alive and dramatically appealing. The allegorical beings usually have a more meaningful influence

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upon the protagonists than members of the spirit world, and the poet intended that the audiences should regard them seriously. Nonetheless they do not seem bloodless and abstract, since their very appearance is often comic, as in the case of the Four Seasons, who behave as wayward children at the court of the Spirit King {Mädchen). Moreover, they delight in occasional puns and make satiric or ironic observations. Hate lightly mocks his own being by declaring that he would gladly fall in love if only he were not Hate. When allegorical figures thus enliven their personalities, their dry humor seems original and well-chosen. Raimund's allegories are not mere ethereal creatures of his imagination, for the poet humanized them through finely observed specific detail. Hope is described as a young Viennese lady, quite attractive and a bit coquettish, who enters the wrong door (in her preoccupation) and asks to be forgiven (Diamant, I, p. 11 If.). During the conversation that follows she emits a cough, grows envious of her sister, and becomes annoyed when no one offers her a chair. Only after the audience has gained the impression that she has human faults, frustrations, and temperament, does she represent hope abstractly, and even then she describes her important role in precise, concrete examples: "Ich habe Sie als Kind auf meinen Armen getragen, als Knabe Ihre Schmerzen versüsst, wenn Sie die Rute bekommen sollten, als Jüngling Ihnen die Leiter gehalten, wenn Sie zu Ihrem Liebchen auf die Terrasse gestiegen." Not only in their external make-up are these allegories like humans. Many of them have a regret or a personal sorrow that adds a plaintive note to their existence, like Hope (Diamant), who suffers from the ingratitude of an unsatisfied world. Because of their sensitive natures the allegories weep and laugh with the characters of the everyday world and despite their universal responsibilities they know about the joys and sorrows of mortal life. Moreover, they do not merely remain static or representative beings, but also participate in the action, aiding man in his troubles or intriguing against him, assuming disguises, and influencing directly the course of events. The uses of allegory thus far described begin to indicate Raimund's dramatic skill, but they do not suggest how these beings relate to the

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thinking of the everyday-world characters. In reality, allegories like Youth and Age are Doppelgänger of the protagonist and reveal clearly to him during a moment of extreme crisis in his development the person he has been and the one he will become. These allegories have a dramatic existence of their own, but they are also an inseparable part of the main character's personality. Raimund's protagonists are often in conflict with their own natures. An emotional struggle begins as Wurzel refuses to recognize that he is growing old, and the undramatic process of aging becomes a highly dramatic event when his allegorical other self forces him back to moderation and renunciation. So central is this conflict in Raimund's plays that he repeated it in each of his three most mature works. The theme of self-conflict is repeated in Alpenkönig and intensified. Astragalus, the Spirit King, becomes the equivalent of the allegory of self-awareness when he enters the body of Rappelkopf to begin a life-and-death struggle in which the latter perceives his true nature only at the point of self-destruction. When man and allegory are thus united, an immeasurable element of suspense and psychological realism is gained. In Verschwender, in which this motif is continued, Flottwell attempts to demolish his own image as it is reflected in the Beggar. The allegories are irresistible in the influence which they exert and resourceful in their methods of approach. Often they gain at once the trust of the 'real' characters through their seeming harmlessness or slightly comical appearances, and usually they arrive alone at a moment when a great need for them exists. Even in a humorous episode, such as the summoning of the Four Seasons to the court of the Spirit King, their arrival is most necessary, since their quarrelings have upset the balance of nature (Diamant). If no alternative is available, the allegories resort to smashing their way into the lives of the characters whose personalities they share. Wurzel, protesting against the intrusion of Age, bolts the door in defiance, but the latter enters by shattering a pane of glass with a single blast of wind (Mädchen). Nowhere else in the Folk Theater is man pitted against himself in such striking conflicts, and nowhere else is this process described with such an acute sense for the value of a psychologically realistic technique.

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NESTROY'S CHARACTERIZATION

Nestroy's Role Whatever may be argued for or against Nestroy's art of character portrayal, one fact is undeniable. Here was a writer who revealed the limitations of his fellow man with an objectivity so startling that it is at once amusing and thought-provoking. In this respect the often quoted but more often misunderstood sentiment of Strick, a rope-maker's apprentice, has significance, when he remarks: "Ich glaube von jedem Menschen das Schlechteste, selbst von mir, und ich hab mich noch selten getauscht" (Nachtwandler, VI, p. 311). Such a remark is more than merely cynical or pessimistic, for it contains a scathing self-honesty that cannot easily be ignored. Moreover, it is they key to Nestroy's idea of human nature and, as such, is of particular consequence for his dramatic technique. Whereas Raimund had regarded the deceit of the world as tragic because his experience failed to correspond to his ideals of fidelity and truth, Nestroy, on the one hand, perceived the gulf between the real and the ideal not as a heart-rending disappointment but rather as an unavoidable consequence of existence. It should be stressed, however, that while Nestroy observed the antics of his contemporaries with nearly scientific detachment, his characters speak to the emotions as well as to the intellect. Certainly Nestroy intended to shock his audiences and to make them think, when, through the poet Leicht (Lorbeerbaum, m , p. 342), he announced with unafraid candor that he was insulting the whole world, because the world with all its imperfections was insulting him. The comedy of disappointment so highly perfected by Raimund could find no further extension in the Folk Theater, and it remained for Nestroy to develop a comedy of skepticism by demonstrating repeatedly not the nobility of man but his shortsightedness and his immodesty. Nestroy's knowledge of the human personality reminds one of Hogarth, whose perceptive drawings reveal the hypocrisy and conceit of the middle-class England of his day. Like the artist, the dramatist shows the baseness that exists behind a thin surface of conventionality. He is not overwhelmed by the sophistry of the

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world; instead, he makes it, in endless variations, the subject of his art. When Nestroy created a play he nearly always had in mind the specific actors for whom the major roles were intended, the most central of which was the role designed for himself. So concerned was he with the practical aspects of character portrayal in the theater that he never thought seriously of his works as plays to be read by a wide public, unfamiliar in many instances with the conditions of the living theater. His skeptical and provocative remark about the influence of the theater in the shaping of opinion still stands after well over one hundred years. Through a hack play-writer, he comments: "Narr, wer kiimmert sich um das, was gestern im Theater war?" (Zetteltrager, IX, p. 3). Nestroy was the perceptive recorder of the foibles and madnesses of his age, but he was far too wise to deem himself a reformer or even an educator. It is thus scarcely surprising to note that by the year of his death (1862), of his more than eighty plays only twelve had been printed for public consumption. The remainder existed as Rollenbucher or texts intended solely for the actors. What then was the nature of Nestroy's role and what its function within the play as a whole? To begin with, he did not intend this character to mirror his own personality dramatically in the sense that Raimund did. The Nestroy figure is never a schizophrenic personality pursued by thoughts of madness and suicide. Nestroy's protagonist is inevitably a person different from the other individuals with whom he comes in contact, for he never establishes permanent relationships with anyone. His efforts are directed not toward finding someone who shares his high ideals of fidelity, as in the case of Raimund, but rather he observes with critical suspicion and often quite conscious superiority of intellect the absurdities of his fellows. He does not seek friendship, but is content with a keen awareness of the motivations of those about him, and he records his impressions with an extraordinary wit and power of expression given to no other character. To survey the classes of individuals thus represented would result mainly in a listing of the typical occupations of the artisans and shopkeepers of nineteenth-century Vienna, but one notes as well a particular preference for socially impov-

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erished types like the sedan-chair-carrier, Rot (Sesseltrager), the barber's apprentice, Feuerfuchs (Talisman), and the street-sweeper (Longinus).

Two personality types recurrent in Raimund's plays, the hypochondriac inclined to suicide and the misanthrope, are not to be found anywhere in the writings of Nestroy except as parody. Nestroy has often been accused of deep-rooted pessimism, but one may search in vain for a single protagonist who professes to hate himself or mankind, although nearly all perceive with admirable lucidity the imperfections of the latter. Moritz (Herrn Söhne, XII, p. 416) speaks representatively for the other characters when he remarks: "Misanthropie ist immer töricht." One could hardly feel affection for these Nestroy figures as one could for the childlike Raimund personages, such as Florian Waschblau and Valentin Holzwurm, because the audience itself is the target of their provocative, stinging remarks. On the other hand, one is attracted by the exceptional vitality with which they are drawn, the irresistible vigor with which they plead their cases, probe the corruption about them, or simply struggle to elude a bewildering concatenation of events. A character such as Titus Feuerfuchs {Talisman), a barber's apprentice who rises to an influential position in the castle of his benefactor, may be mercenary and bent upon advancing himself at any cost, but he is highly resourceful and what is most important for the theater, he is incomparably alive in every word, gesture, and action, as he strives to prevent his humble origin from becoming known. The audience may not identify itself with this arch-striver, but it will respond to the precariousness of his plight and appreciate the inexorable manner in which he successfully avoids being unmasked until the end of the play, although the difficulties of his impersonation constantly increase. Contrasted with the wit and agility of the Nestroy figure, the bourgeois world seems secure but utterly trite and unattractive. Because of the vast number of roles in which Nestroy appeared, critics have attempted to classify them according to types in order to understand them better. Otto Rommel, for example, discerns four classes of Nestroy roles :10 those where external absurdity is but 10

AWVTh, p.p. 969-971.

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a veneer for profound shrewdness; and those who are the astute rationalists, the cynics, and the wise observers of the human scene. Such arbitrary divisions are of little value in discovering why these types are effective on the stage, nor are they by any means mutually exclusive. Willibald (Die schlimmen Buben), for example, is absurd and shrewd, but he is rational, cynical, and has a wise understanding of human nature as well. For the purposes of this study it is to be conceded that some variation exists in Nestroy's character types, but the emphasis will be upon what is generally true of all the Nestroy personages — that is, it is here of greater value to perceive in what manner they are unmistakably the creation of but one possible author. The validity of this method becomes clearer when one realizes that in over one hundred years of criticism no writer has yet attempted to demonstrate the superiority of the later works over the earlier ones. Indeed, several of Nestroy's strongest productions are among his first: Verbannung (1828), Lumpazivagabundus (1833), Robert der Teuxel (1833). For him, there is no appreciable change in the art of character portrayal, with the exception that some of his later protagonists 11 grow mellower and more resigned to their fate. Certain character types reveal striking differences in technique between Raimund and Nestroy. Nestroy frequently depicted the comic absurdities resulting from intoxication, a device nearly entirely absent in Raimund. One of Nestroy's best known protagonists, Knieriem (Lumpazivagabundus), is an incorrigible alcoholic. Since Nestroy concentrated upon the faults of man, it was natural for him to depict individuals driven to excess. In whatever manner the Raimund figures behave, their Nestroy counterparts are capable of developing humorous behavior to a greater extreme. Raimund characters in love, like Quecksilber, Florian, and Valentin, are not overwhelmed by their passions. In the case of Nestroy, one encounters great extremes, and the Liebesnarr or fool of love, an individual dominated by an intense appetite for sensual pleasure, is common. The character types controlled by their physical desires range from the typical comic adventurer to the desperate lover and the philandering husband as represented in the eccentric poet, Leicht (Lor11

Kampl (Kampl), Schnoferl (Mädel aus der Vorstadt),

(Schiitzling).

Gottlieb Herb

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beerbaum). The perpetual gossiper is another extreme type favored by Nestroy. Raimund's figures are rarely thus represented, because they are so entangled in their own difficulties that they have no time to concern themselves with the problems of others, nor do they possess the bubbling eloquence that insures the effectiveness of comic gossipers like Gundelhuber (Wohnung zu vermieten) or Tratschmiedl (Tritsch-Tratsch), whose astounding loquacity contributes to the impression that an eccentric, unique individual is speaking to us. Although Nestroy's criticism of his countrymen was keenly aggressive, he avoided portraying the melodramatic villain or completely evil personality, for he did not believe in absolutely evil beings, such as might be found in the fairy-tale drama. Man, he asserted, is often ignorant, short-sighted, and egoistic, but seldom malicious perse (Nur Ruhe!, XII, p. 6). It is interesting to note that certain of Nestroy's characters appear to be a continuation of Raimund's. Johann, for example, the scheming servant in Zu ebener Erde, is reminiscent of faithless Raimund servants like Lorenz (Mädchen) or Wolf (Verschwender). Yet Johann is more formidable than any of Raimund's evil characters, for he is cleverer, more calculating, and more tenacious. Nestroy's few evil characters are arch hypocrites. Although they seek to convince others of their goodness, they do not try to convince themselves. No Raimund character is able to mask his real interests with such singular effectiveness as Nebel (Nur Ruhe!), who avoids paying his bills by masquerading as a nobleman. He prides himself on controlling others to his advantage, boldly emphasizing his unwillingness to work for a living, since this would detract from his accomplishments as a parasite. He remarks: "Wenn man aber nix g'lernt und nirgends gut getan hat, wenn man dabei eine spezielle Abneigung gegen die Arbeit und einen Universalhang zur Gaudie in sich trägt und dennoch die Idee nicht aufgibt, ein vermöglicher Kerl zu wer'n, darin liegt was Grandioses" (Liebesgeschichten, XI, p. 368). Another Nestroy figure, Edelschein (Die Anverwandten), devotes himself to gaining an inheritance by dishonest means, but he has no illusions about himself or the world, and he, like Nebel, is proud of his villainy.

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Nestroy's characterization .in no sense should be considered the polar opposite of Raimund's. Despite the differences thus far observed between the two writers, several of Nestroy's characters illustrate the nobility of the human spirit as effectively as Raimund's. One finds positively oriented persons who direct their energies in an unassuming and even humble fashion towards helping others. As early as 1841, with over twenty years of his writing career still before him, Nestróy wrote Mädel aus der Vorstadt and created the figure of Schnoferl, a small town official, who despite many disappointments remains kindly and just. Another personality equally unpretentious but with a strong sense of integrity, Peter Spann (Der Unbedeutende), defends the honor of his sister against the knavery of a court secretary. Although Spann is only a carpenter, he remains unafraid of the corrupt noblemen who attempt to defame his sister's reputation, and once stirred into action he does not rest until he has exposed the web of falsehoods that nearly cost him the good name of his family. Perhaps the most fully developed character of this type is Kampl (Kampl), a plain-living village doctor who dedicates himself to locating a missing girl. Although he discovers her as a rich heiress under the influence of mercenary guardians who intrigue to gain her inheritance, he eventually outwits his opponents and exposes their hypocrisy. Like Florian in Raimund's Diamant, he serves as a human barometer of truth in the sense that he detects sham and falsehood whenever it approaches, but unlike Florian he records his abhorrence of corruption with convincing eloquence, not through mute suffering alone. Seldom have critics failed to mention that Nestroy did not employ developing characters in his plays. Yet this was a conventional feature of his technique, since in the Austrian comedy of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century the vast majority of protagonists are types who do not develop in the course of the action. While Nestroy contended that man only rarely profits from his errors, and wrote a play to illustrate this idea (Gegen Torheit), he was more concerned with creating comic situations and dialogue than in portraying unforgettable characters. Nestroy's figures are, on the whole, more memorable for their thoughts, their modes of expression, their ability to project themselves and others into astounding

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situations than for being attractive personalities. In spite of their agile wit and shrewd observations that explode the prosaic life about them into hilarious absurdity, a drabness pervades their exteriors. Nestroy continued throughout a lifetime to exploit the dramatic implications in the notion that personality is unalterable. An individual who will sanely adapt and modify his ideas may deserve credit for his common sense, but this will not enhance his portrayal as a comic character designed to reflect human frailty. It would be far better for the dramatist to create personalities with intolerant views who persist in developing them to all the logical absurdities of which they are capable. In the theater Nestroy would have found little use for a prodigal son who returned with genuine repentance to his father. Aside from the inappropriateness of such behavior to his technique of characterization, he felt a natural scorn for those lacking the courage to live as they really are: "Mir war der verlorene Sohn immer verächtlich, aber nicht deswegen, weil er ein Schweinehirt war, sondern weil er wieder nach Hause gekommen ist" (NSW, XV, p. 692). Disadvantages, of course, can also be discerned in Nestroy's use of static characterization; the chief of these is that it accounts at once for the typical failure of his sequels like Weltuntergangstag, which followed Lumpazivagabundus. It was not possible for him to sustain interest through dialogue and situation alone, since portrayal of character ought to be an important concern in a play that retains for part two the same individuals as appeared in the first part. It is not enough that the habits of persons worsen steadily through a succession of acts. There must be variations and surprises to sustain the general interest. Often enough Nestroy had difficulty with plays of character such as Gegen Torheit, because the worsening situation of the protagonist reaches a point where his lot becomes too grim to be thought of any longer as comic. Often the Nestroy character conceals his true thoughts and emotions behind a mask of sophistication and showmanship. Unlike the Raimund figures, whose naivete prevented them from adapting to new situations, Nestroy personages are far more skillful at concealing their motivations. If such concealment were a complete success, it would have no place in comedy, since humor requires that

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human inadequacy be manifested. Nestroy accomplished this in permitting many of the characters to betray themselves by talking excessively. The abruptness with which their behavior shifts when they perceive a way of satisfying deeply rooted materialistic desires results in a comic discrepancy. Especially is this true with respect to individuals such as the alcoholic Knieriem, who repentantly avows abstinence, but in the midst of his remorse, when led to believe that Judgement Day has arrived, hurries off to the tavern for a last drink with his cronies (Weltmtergangstag, II, p. 176). The gossipy Gundelhuber, after affirming his unconcern for gardening, changes his interests with radical suddenness upon learning that an attractive widow owns the neighboring garden (Wohnung zu vermieten, IX, p. 351). The possibilities for thus recording the paradoxes of human nature are many. Surprising sudden shifts occur when characters learn that their behavior will gain or lose for them a sum of money. Others recall in the midst of serious discussions that they have not eaten breakfast or have forgotten some trivial errand. Through such responses in unguarded moments they display the mechanical patterns of which their lives consist and about which they seek to create a flattering illusion. The use of emotion in the plays of Nestroy to reveal human nature is quite different from that in Raimund's. Since Nestroy perceived in human behavior the mechanical or puppet-like response, he found expressions of feeling to have questionable validity, because they can be repeated and imitated. Seldom do the Nestroy figures resort to tears, for they are imbued with a high degree of rationality. Exceptions are hypocrites like the scheming servant, Johann, in Zu ebener Erde (VI, p. 61) who, after stealing money from his master and re-investing it with him at eight per cent, begins to cry when the slightest doubt is cast upon his honesty. Fear exposes the hypocrite and unmasks his falseness and pretence. In Weltuntergangstag not only the Nestroy figure, but all who believe in the prophecy that the world is coming to an end, cast aside their veneer of sophistication and behave as they really are. Despite their keen wit, the reserved Nestroy characters are seldom moved to laughter, for they observe the world with a clarity that permits them to generate mirth although they themselves remain unmoved by it.

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Nestroy was a master at showing the comic incongruity between character and action. Although Bertram, the high commissioner of the Devil, supposedly possesses awesome power, an amusing discrepancy is revealed when he unleashes his malice, not on a grand scale appropriate to the Devil but in a petty outburst of ill temper. His idea of destruction is of the schoolboy variety, because he contents himself with breaking a chair, cutting a hole in the tablecloth, and smashing a wine bottle, as he ciies out: "Ein Loch ins Tischtuch g'schnitten, das is g'scheit... Nur Böses ... Nur Böses!" (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 269). A variation of the same technique is discernible in a character like Longinus, who drinks, gambles, flirts, and lies. Such behavior seems humorous, because he describes his aimless life as worthy of emulation, and he stresses that it is highly systematized and carefully planned (Verbannung, I, p. 14). By permitting Longinus to elevate his life to the dignity of order and form, Nestroy exposes through parodistic contrast its inherent disorder and holds it up to ridicule. Nestroy did not expect to awaken sympathy for his characters by encouraging the audience to identify itself with their moods and feelings. He wished them to be conceivable to the spectators, but his prime intention was to shock and expose their callow attitudes and paradoxical behavior. This he accomplished by creating protagonists with uncompromising eccentricities who are comic because they stubbornly persist in unrealistic views. Some of them account for their actions in terms of a single fixed idea or habit, such as Dappschädel, who holds that he must be forever unkind to others because his wife died on their wedding day (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 104f.), or Knieriem (Lumpazivagabundus), who interprets each new experience in terms of his love for alcohol. One encounters political revolutionists like Ultra (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 148), whose idea of freedom becomes so radical that it enslaves his thinking: "Mein Blut is rote Freiheit, mein Gehirn is weisse Freiheit, mein Blick is schwarze Freiheit, mein Atem is glühende Freiheit ..." There are poets like Leicht (Lorbeerbaum) who deny their families food in order to write mediocre verse, city sophisticates like Laffberger (Nur Ruhe!) who dote upon their superiority to the peasant, as well as class-conscious eccentrics who view the world with con-

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descension because they are landlords, woodchoppers, or cobblers. It is not enough to state that Nestroy achieved realistic characterization. Although his protagonists had counterparts in everyday life, they are, in addition, intensifications of the conceit and intolerance of bourgeois existence made dramatically alive by behavior and thinking carried to its logical absurdity. One notes a sharp contrast between the uses of the monologue in the plays of Raimund and Nestroy. In the former, often amidst good-natured punning and introspective musings, the personal sorrows of the protagonists are made known. The tendency in Nestroy's works is to replace the limited, personalized monologue with a more impersonal type in which a wide range of human weaknesses and follies are reflected upon and further described in couplets which follow. The themes include the faithless wife and husband, the old man or woman who pretends to be young, the marriage of convenience, the imitation of foreign speech and mannerisms, the ineffectual education of children, exaggerated fashions, political corruption, and the defects of bureaucracy. It is significant that the protagonists in Nestroy's plays do not limit themselves to speculation about the outcome of events or the creation of intrigue. Byond this, one encounters far-reaching questioning concerning the goodness of God, the futility of knowledge, and the persistence of evil in the world. The addition of philosophical depth to the folk play has led critics to the conclusion that Nestroy was in reality a wise moralist, and his plays thinly disguised sermons. Although one senses in Nestroy's monologues the incensed prophet scourging his contemporaries, not unlike Abraham a Sancta Clara, the Baroque sermon writer of two centuries earlier, such a comparison must remain a limited one, because Nestroy was genuinely interested in the dramatic representation of character as well as in expressing his misgivings about the age in which he lived. Several of his monologues are sharply defined character sketches. A classic portrayal of the pretentious individual is contained in a monologue of Nebel, an idle, materialistic suitor who demands a wealthy wife but oifers nothing in return (Liebesgeschichten, XI, p. 368). In a brief monologue Ledig is so penetratingly represented that he could serve as a prototype of the self-indulgent, marriage-shy

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bachelor (XJnverhofft, XIII, p. 12f.). In a like manner Nestroy sketched the overworked and poorly paid office clerk, Federl, who survives the routine of a ten-hour business day by imagining that the contracts which he copies are the odes of Horace and that his crude straw bed has the softness of eiderdown (Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 248). Although such characters are admittedly types, their singular ways of viewing the world make them unique representatives of their class.

The Scholz Role Nestroy was aware that the agile wit and penetrating observations of his protagonists could be enhanced through a second character with contrasting traits. Such a personality he found in Wenzel Scholz (1787-1857), a comic actor fourteen years his senior who before Nestroy produced his first play (1827) was already noted for his portrayal of naive, amiable, phlegmatic bourgeois types. Nearly all attempts of critics to describe the secret of Scholz's humor and his particular appeal for the Viennese begin with a description of his physique and general appearance. Those who witnessed his performances assure us that Scholz's massive bulk added to a primary impression of bumbling awkwardness. He was more than a roly-poly fellow with a serious face, for his bodily movements were not without coordination and balanced control that made his formidable corpulence the more enjoyable. When one recalls that Nestroy was exceptionally tall and slender, one can conclude that the sight of these two actors on the stage might well have called to mind earlier heroes of satiric literature like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. It is thus not surprising that nearly every Nestroy play written between 1832 and 1857 contains a corresponding Scholz role, for the dramatist was aware that his own comic art, though resplendent with precise observations and reflected subtleties, required an earthy supplement to achieve its fullest effect. By blending different levels of humor, Nestroy in his own role could criticize his countrymen without sacrificing the redeeming good-naturedness of the Scholz characterization.

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Since Nestroy and Scholz were friends for a lifetime, the dramatist had the advantage of writing roles for a person whom he knew intimately. He realized his partner's talents would enable him to play not merely the role of the innocent dupe; he conceived as well a variety of characterizations to draw out the full range of his comrade's potentiality. In a few essentially parodistic Scholz roles, the characters become involved in problems requiring an energetic or diplomatic solution for which they are ill-adapted. A variety of comic types are represented, like the father who regards his daughters as commodities to be sold into marriage to the highest bidder,18 the ineffectual schoolmaster, Wampl (Die schlimmen Buben), the irate landlord, Cajetan {Wohnung zu vermieten), and Fass, the driver of a beer-wagon who dreams of a communist revolution (Verwickelte Geschichte). Only rarely did Scholz parody historical personages, but then with great effectiveness. As the Assyrian general, Holofernes, he made clear the absurd, egotistical nature of a tyrant. Scholz also portrayed naive personalities like Reimboderl, afraid even of the rain (Robert der Teuxel), Schafgeist, who believes absolute quietude is possible (Nur Ruhe!), and Pfrim, a wine-soaked cobbler, convinced he has sold his soul to the Devil. Such individuals seem humorous because they permit themselves to be victimized by their imaginations, although with respect to their harmlessness they would also be conceivable in the plays of Raimund. Nestroy added variety to the Scholz roles by utilizing the latter's amusingly disarming exterior as a mask for the intriguer and the malicious plotter. In the roles of Dickkopf (Heimliches Geld) and Patzmann, an intriguer in Der Unbedeutende, Scholz's Santa-Clauslike exterior was reinforced by unpredictable energy and diabolical cunning. To Nestroy the combination of apparently harmless bulk and a malicious mentality was a valid source of comic representation, and the pleasure that Scholz afforded to theater-goers in such roles may be partially explained by the widespread interest of the Viennese audiences in caricature. The Scholz role was further varied to include the grotesque. In Der gutmütige Teufel a ridiculously ugly servant of the Devil, when 12

Maxenpfutsch (Nagerl und Handschuh), Brauchengeld (Nachtwandler).

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commissioned to seduce a farmer and his wife to evil, succeeds only in becoming the victim of his own planning. During nearly thirty years, Nestroy wrote for Scholz a total of sixty-five roles adding vitality to them through simple but well-calculated contrasts like the wise and the foolish brother, the virtuous citizen and the social outcast, the phlegmatic and irascible nature, rich and poor, the bold and the cowardly. He manifested thereby an unselfish interest in his friend's development as an actor that is otherwise uncommon in so competitive a profession.

Secondary Characters Although it has been pointed out many times that Nestroy as the son of a lawyer was born into a higher level of society than Raimund, whose father was merely a turner, this difference is not reflected in the character types which the two writers created. While Nestroy more often included in his plays persons of high social rank than Raimund did, they inevitably remain on the periphery of the action and are chiefly conventional background figures. With the exception of Kern (Der alte Mann), not one of the roles which Nestroy wrote for himself depicts an upper class individual. All are drawn from middle and lower class Vienna, the chief source of comic inspiration for both writers. Like Raimund, Nestroy did not question the social order; the contrasts between rich and poor, powerful and lowly, enlightened and unenlightened are regarded as the natural consequences of existence to be exploited comically. The ideal which he represented on the stage was that of the individual who, like himself, retained the external conventions of bourgeois life without sacrificing the right to say and think what he pleased. Far more critical of the representatives of the social order than Raimund, Nestroy was content only with the keenest of satiric characterizations. This is reflected not only in the portrayal of the protagonists but also in the secondary characters, many of whom are carefully sketched so as to contribute effectively to the satire of the plays. Although critics have often represented Nestroy as a hasty craftsman who gave his careful attention only to the important roles he created for himself and

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Scholz, such was not always the case. An entire range of personalities who have betrayed the trust of those committed to their charge are held up to ridicule in a manner impossible in the plays of Raimund. Among these are the physicians. Although Nestroy reserved for himself the role of Kampl (Kampl), a kindly, reliable country doctor, most of the healers in his plays are depicted in a satiric light. There are incompetents like Gutmann who worry more about their reputations than about their patients (Nur Keck, Xrv, p. 299). One finds pompous, unsympathetic types like Berg (Der alte Mann, V, p. 506), and conceited doctors like Hilfreich, who praises his skill even after the patient has died (Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 268). Nearly all are sycophants whose aim is to please the patient regardless of the consequences. Nestroy's treatment of the physician as a secondary character does not reveal special creativity, in part because of the episodic nature of the roles, but also because they belong to the long tradition of'Dr. Eisenbarts', the irresponsible charlatans of comedy. Nonetheless, these figures, despite the brevity of their appearance, are clearly conceived, and the audience soon learns with amused surprise all that is necessary to know about them. The schoolmaster or the tutor is frequently included in the plays of Nestroy, and always he is portrayed satirically. Nestroy believed that the asinine behavior of mankind is encouraged by preceptors who set a poor example to youth. Accordingly one encounters teachers like Pflastertritt (Verbannung), who guides his pupils to the belief that wisdom consists solely in the pursuit of pleasure. One discovers educators like Master Bakulus who conducts an illicit love affair while preaching piety and virtue to his charges (Gleichheit der Jahre), and Wampl who grades his pupils according to the social status of their parents (Die schlimmen Buben). The scholar, Staub, a master of ten dead languages, relates all new experience to his knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome (Verwickelte Geschichte). One could scarcely expect the pupils to be better than their teachers; the inevitable results are dishonesty, hypocrisy, and superficiality. Nestroy especially objected to the Grand Tour or Bildungsreise in which young men of means were supposed to round out their edu18

Otto Forst de Battaglia, Johann Nestroy, p. 126.

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cation in travel and study. In his plays, the students return from such trips in worse condition than at their outset. The experiences of Peregrinus, the son of a rich landowner, are typical: "Wir forschten und forschten von einem Branntweinhaus zum anderen und machten endlich eine glückliche Entdeckung, dass Branntwein, in grösseren Massen angebracht, Dampf erzeugt" (Kobold, II, p. 558). The more idealistic Raimund entirely avoided satirizing learning. In only one of his plays is there a mention of education, but the tone is not humorous. The young painter, August (Alpenkönig, II, p. 191), returns from Italy to Austria after three years of study, and in words reminiscent of Goethe's poem "Mignon" he praises Italy as the home of scenic beauty, romantic enchantment, and artistic achievement. His experiences south of the Alps have only increased his admiration for his own country which he expresses in the lines: Aus dem Tempel der Natur Kehr ich heim zur stillen Flur. Denn im biedern Vaterlande Ketten mich die teuern Bande Zarter Liebe, feste Treue, Und der Riesenbilder Reihe, Die wie Träume mich umwehen, Schliesst ein frohes Wiedersehen. Nowhere are the divergent views of Raimund and Nestroy better reflected than in their treatment of education as the subject of comedy. Whether Nestroy would have chosen to do so or not, he was forced to exclude from his plays, to a large degree, the representatives of church and state. Although six of his works are classified as political comedies in the critical historical edition,14 in only one, Freiheit in Krähwinkel, are the political events more than a peripheral concern. The more remarkable, however, is this single work, because it boldly indicts the champions of the Revolution of 1848 and the reactionaries as well. Nestroy's interest in the political events of his age was greater than Raimund's, but having once made them the subject of a comedy, he found a repetition unnecessary. It is doubtful that removal of the strict Austrian censorship would have benefited 14

NSW,\.

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this aspect of his writing, for Nestroy discerned corruption in nearly all aspects of existence and was in no sense dependent upon portraying the farce of political institutions. He was content to have accomplished this once effectively. No member of the clergy is satirized in Nestroy's plays, although the Ligorians, a hypocritical religious sect, is referred to in Freiheit in Krähwinkel. Portrayed only once is a military leader, Rummelpuff, the commander of the Krähwinkel National Guard, who seeks personal glorification in war. Police officials, as might be expected in an era of strict censorship, appear on stage only for the serious business of making arrests and preserving the public order. In spite of these restrictions, one source of comic characterization was unreservedly available to Nestroy. It concerns the petty government official, the minor bureaucrat with an inflated sense of his own importance and an unsympathetic attitude toward those requiring his services. Through such portrayal Nestroy implied the limitations of government, showing the stilted behavior of its lesser representatives. Nestroy did not depict nature in his plays as Raimund did. The tangible and intangible manifestations of the natural world, which animate the whole of Raimund's dramatic structure, are absent. Only rarely do the characters become aware of the existence of nature. Their sorrows and longings are not externalized by projecting them onto the landscape, nor do they seek to escape the complexities of life through a hermitlike existence. Nature, Nestroy believed, had not only been glorified by romantic enthusiasts; they and their followers exploited it to such a degree that refuge from the world grew impossible. Return to the wilderness became a fashion, utterly mechanical and meaningless, whereby nature was reduced from an active, vital force to mere decoration. With this awareness, Gottlieb Herb (Schützling, VII, p. 132) postpones taking his life because he lacks the appropriate eerie, romantic background. Similarly a painter bewails the lack of suitable motifs. Art has become mere repetitive decoration: Um jeden steinischen Felsen sitzen drei Maler herum und pemseln [sie] drauflos! Jedes Backbrückel, jedes Seitel Wasserfall prangt auf der Leinwand, das ganze Salzkammergut existiert in Öl, die Schweizer Natur hat

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keine Quadratklafter mehr, die nicht schon zehnmal in der Kunstausstellung war... {Juden, XIII, p. 111).

Nestroy was by no means a bored sophisticate; he had a deep respect for life in all forms and the mystery from which it emanates. 15 His objection was to man's perversion of nature, not to nature itself, whose essence he did not pretend to criticize. As in the case of Raimund, Nestroy's most important characters are men, and the world in which the action of his plays unfolds is largely masculine. While he was not unaware of the comic weaknesses of women, the male impressed him as having the greater capacity for extreme views and the stronger tendency toward eccentric, naive, or absurd behavior. Although there was no lack of adequate actresses, not one appeared for whom Nestroy might have created a role to rival his own, such as Raimund had done for Theres Krones, whose performances as the allegory, Youth, even sober critics have described as epochal. 16 It was also inevitable that the conventional plots employed by Nestroy would require familiar comic feminine roles such as the matchmaker, the spinster who seeks to catch a husband, the faithless wife, and the mother eager to marry off her sons and daughters for money. Nestroy's insight into human nature permitted him to record the vanities, aberrations, and occasional malice of women with mirth-provoking accuracy, but he did not dwell on these traits. Rather like Raimund, he created feminine characters with an appealing combination of modesty, naturalness, and virtue. One of the most successfully drawn is Salome {Talisman), the red-haired goose girl. Although unlettered, wretchedly poor, and treated as an outcast, she remains patient and cheerful. She possesses, despite her naivete, an instinctive shrewdness and common sense that contrasts with her beloved's stubborn ambition and sheerly rational view of the world. A personality reminiscent of Raimund's Marthe (Alpenkönig), yet 15 This attitude is expressed by Gottlieb Herb (Schützling, VII, p. 139f.): "Da fliegt ein Johanniskäfer. Er leuchtet in derfinsterenNacht, denn er lebt, während ein Krondiamant in der Dunkelheit glanzlos ist, die garnichts ausschaut. Es ist beinah, als ob uns die Natur zeigen wollt', dass das miserabelste Leben mehr wert ist als der brillanteste Tod."

"

AWVTh, p. 736.

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portrayed in greater detail, is Sepherl, the hard-working wife of an unsuccessful junk dealer. She is the strict but loving mother of four children who wisely adapts herself to the limitations of a humble existence with the words: "Man muss die Welt nehmen, wie s' is, und nicht wie s'sein könnt." (Zu ebener Erde, VI, p. 19). Neither Salome nor mother Sepherl, though they represent the most feminine and natural of Nestroy's characters, is more than indirectly involved in the comic action of the plays, but they provide are freshing balance to the discrepancies and distortions produced by their male counterparts. Nestroy's comic technique required representation of children different from Raimund's. Children appear not only in secondary roles, they are in several instances the chief characters,17 for Nestroy perfected the child role played by an adult, adding to it a new dimension of satire. The innocent, gangling exterior of these personages becomes a mask behind which a highly perceptive mind directs a stream of lethal wit and raillery at his opponents. In this manner Willibald (Die schlimmen Buben) is depicted; he ranks lowest in deportment, but first in his ability to expose not only the shortcomings of his teacher but of the world at large. The sophisticated humor of a confirmed skeptic manifests itself when Willibald observes that the fundamental difference between school and the outside world consists in the fact that in school the dunces are seated on special benches, whereas in the world they are scattered everywhere. He defines man as the creature claiming divine origin, which, he adds maliciously, could scarcely be flattering to the Creator (Die schlimmen Buben, XIII, p. 226). Hansi (Der Unbedeutende, VII, p. 30ff.) is portrayed as a washwoman's son whose fear of goblins causes him to imagine that he is conversing with the devil when a court secretary in a black coat confronts him. This imagining becomes the instrument through which the secretary then forces the boy to assist him in an intrigue. Thus a childish fear becomes important to the development of the plot and indirectly serves to determine the outcome of events. One may conclude that while Nestroy used child characterization chiefly 17

Natzi (Eulenspiegel), Longinus (Verbannung), Dalkopatscho (Kerkermeister).

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as a mask for satire, he was by no means insensitive to the comic effects to be achieved by representing plainly the guilelessness of youth. Because the Nestroy protagonists usually discern with clarity the distinction between sham and reality, the role of the faithless servant has a different emphasis than in the plays of Raimund. Thanklessness and infidelity are not experienced with surprise or disappointment; they are accepted as belonging to the ways of the world. In Nestroy's very first magic play (Verbannung), the dishonest servant appears; however, his dishonesty is recorded objectively, and no regret is expressed about his lack of loyalty. The master whom he betrays is not naive and kind-hearted, but himself a knave. The chief difference between the master and the servant is that the latter is a hypocrite, while the former makes no attempt to conceal his misdeeds and has no illusions about his own degenerate nature. One finds in the plays of Nestroy not kindly servants like Valentin, who remain true to their masters in adversity; rather, the opposite is the case. A character like Fabian Strick, for example, leaves his master after a quarrel but quickly returns upon discovering that the latter has acquired wealth. Having once been forced to share his master's misfortunes, he now intends to share his fortune, declaring: "Ich hab' die Not mit Ihnen geteilt, es ist jetzt meine heiligste Pflicht, auch in die guten Tag' Sie nicht zu verlassen" (Nachtwandler, VI, p. 326). Nestroy depicted the loyal servant on occasion, but he is regarded as a household liability rather than a champion of his master's interests. Gabriel (Der alte Mann), the servant of a factory-owner, does not harm his master, but he is scarcely an asset to him, for Gabriel is the quintessence of all the petty annoyances imaginable in a domestic. He is an indolent, surly, prying gossiper, who uses his twenty-nine years of employment as an excuse for refusing to perform his duties. Another such personality is Schippl, who would never dream of openly intriguing against his master, but a sober glance at his behavior reveals him as a lazy fellow, whose rudeness drives customers away from his master's bookstore. With obvious satisfaction he remarks: Ich hab's den Leuten austrieben, das ewige Bücherumtauschen, Kommissekkieren, ang'schnurrt hab' ich s', dass sich fast niemand mehr her-

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ein'traut hat um ein Buch; kurzum, ich hab' mir das G'schaft so eing'richt't, dass es a Gusto war fur ein' alten Diener. (Mein Freund, VII, p. 268). Nestroy's view of the domestic is a harsh one, but it is never the source for tragic betrayal. His intent was to depict, as is usually the case in modern comedy, the absurd situations which arise when servants become aware of family secrets and peculiarities. If one attempts to regard Nestroy merely as a cynic, a survey of the role played by the people in his works reveals a surprising paradox. While he did not choose to sentimentalize the folk mentality any more than Raimund did, his attitude reveals more balance and a sympathetic interest that contrasts with Raimund's paranoiac mistrust of the masses. Perhaps Nestroy found it less difficult to be objective because he understood more clearly the nature of human failings. Since he did not expect as much of people, he was not as disappointed with the results. Although the vast numbers of folk characters — the sly innkeeper, the skylarking apprentice, the gossipy seamstress, the irascible landlord, and the moneylender, to mention but a few — surge like an ocean over his stage, they have no particular sociological significance, since Nestroy's interest was the typically comic responses of man, apart from any limited setting. However, he knew Vienna life best, and not a few of his plays reveal his concern for depicting with detailed impartiality the habits and amusements of his contemporaries. In Der Unbedeutende, fourteen pages of the action occur at a typical Viennese carnival. In Kampl, the events unfold at a folk dance, for sixteen pages. One discovers local characters who have long since passed from the scene, like the sedan-chair-carrier and the traveling merchant as he appears in Lumpazivagabtmdus (II, p. 27), with a huge cartload of pipe cleaners, suspenders, tobacco pouches, and briefcases. Without prejudice, Nestroy invites the spectator into the poorest hovels and discloses in a single family the lazy, impractical sycophant living next to his hard-working, modest brother. Many individuals irritated Nestroy and stirred him to creativity, but he never fell victim to moody subjectivism, and many of his folk characters live on today sustained by the refreshing open-mindedness with which he created them.

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Spirit World and Allegory Before any objections are made to the way Nestroy represented spirit world figures, it should be recalled that the number of magic plays which he produced is only a small fraction of his total dramatic achievement — about one-seventh — and that most of these were written during his beginning years as a dramatist (1828-1834). While immense numbers of such plays were prepared for the theater, few survived more than half a dozen performances. Moreover, even for Raimund, who is generally regarded as the unexcelled master of the Austrian magic play, the spirit world remained his weakest area of characterization. Nestroy did not begin writing magic plays with the sole idea of parodying the spirit world. This had been done many times before. Rather he intended it to be mainly a frame into which he set the drama of human comedy. Thus, his interest in the world of the spirits had well-defined limits from the very beginning. In his first play, Verbannung, one finds more extreme parody than is discernible in Raimund, who would never have depicted a spirit king as a drunkard with an incorrigible son. When Nestroy chose to parody the spirit figures, he did so more drastically than Raimund. Often they do not command the respect of their subjects, or are hopelessly in debt. Yet in Lumpazivagabundus, his most widely known magic play, parody is absent, for the spirits are a council of solemn elders concerned with moral betterment. In Hochzeitstag and Sesseltrager the deities are dignified personalities seriously concerned with leading humanity back to modesty and common sense. Nevertheless, Nestroy was not able to integrate the human and spirit worlds except by arbitrary theatrical means, nor could he create a single, individualized spirit being. His allegories were not more effective. The figure Honesty leaves much to the imagination, for he is conceived merely as a tall man in a grey robe with a loaf of bread, which he assures the audience is all he requires to be happy (Verbannung, I, p. 65). What may be the most detailed stage direction in the history of the Austrian theater concerns a representation of the allegory Impossibility covering over three full pages (Hochzeitstag, I, p.p. 143-146). Despite the manifold directions of the dramatist, the

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allegory seems wooden and lifeless. In other instances, the allegorical figure appears to have been devised solely for adding to the play a witty remark as in Weltuntergangstag (II, p. 91f.), when Fate, carried sleeping onto the stage, awakens suddenly, remarking before he returns to his slumber: "Es ist etwas Prächtiges, das Schicksal zu sein, man tut rein gar nichts, und am Ende heisst es bei allem, was geschieht, das Schicksal hat es getan." At least three positive aspects of Nestroy's magic plays are worth noting. Firstly, unlike Raimund, who sought to depict exotic, nonGermanic characters, Nestroy wrote in terms of his own culture, even when constructing a superhuman level of action. In his magic plays one finds characters like Rübezahl, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Wilhelm Tell, and Undine. Secondly, Nestroy possessed the good sense to recognize clearly the limitations of the magic play. Lastly, by a wisely economic use of the world of spirits, he created two of his best-known plays, Verbannung and Lumpazivagabundus.

CONCLUSION

Raimund and Nestroy were by no means polar opposites with respect to characterization. Both were actors and practical theater directors who created the roles in which they performed. Their characters are drawn almost exclusively from the Viennese middle and lower classes. Both portrayed an essentially masculine world in which only a few persons of integrity are found. A major distinction separates the two writers. Raimund was dedicated to the idea of life as tragicomic; Nestroy conceived of existence as a satiric comedy, and the technique of representing these differing views affords an impressive contrast in many respects. The Raimund figures are naive, introspective, yet appealingly unique personalities. As in a dream they stumble awkwardly through life, deceiving themselves and being duped by others, but gradually gaining insight into their true natures in terms of a dramatic struggle with the self, vividly portrayed against a supernatural background into which humanized allegories are introduced to awaken man from the stupor of his senses. The Nestroy figures are comic types

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rather than individualized beings. An awareness and sophistication not to be found in a fairy-tale world are their inherent possessions. They gain the interest of the audience because of their rationality, the agility of their wit, and the vigor of their arguments. Raimund's beings are incapable of any substantial criticism of society; they mistrust the masses, seek refuge in nature, and emulate the innocence of children. Nestroy's characters, adept at distinguishing the rogue from the honest man, are not intolerant and are unwilling to retreat from life, because they understand the ways of the world. They are not deceived by others but betray themselves when they talk too much, behave mechanically, or in a manner disappropriate to the situation.

4 LANGUAGE

RAIMUND'S LANGUAGE

The Local Element Exceptional variety of technique and a high degree of skill characterize Raimund's language in all his plays. The poet inherited a tendency to mix formalized stage German with the folk language. One finds the Alexandrine, blank verse, the Knittelvers, and the distich in close proximity to prose passages in Viennese dialect. Stately and somber poetry is followed by the rough but amusing speech of the Austrian peasant. To variety of expression Raimund added vivid imagery and skillfully devised verbal humor. Why has the speech of his characters delighted countless audiences? Certainly, in part, because it is so varied, swift-moving, and filled with unexpected turns that the listener remains fascinated until the final curtain. Raimund's technique was not the result of a study of theories, and it would be a grave misunderstanding to envision him astutely weaving linguistic subtleties into his plays. His knowledge of the dramatic uses of language developed through long years of apprenticeship as an actor, before he was ready utilize them, more with feeling than rationality, in plays born of an inner necessity. Lower Austrian dialect, the language Raimund learned as a child and continued to speak throughout his life in preference to High German, is the chief one in which the plays are written. The role he created for himself was always dialectal. Although Lower Austrian differs from conventional stage German in several respects, it can

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be understood with little difficulty, and German-speaking audiences have enjoyed Raimund's works wherever performed. The poet naturally emphasized the differences between dialect and stage German which best contributed to the portrayal of his characters. The common people favor diminutives and contracted speech. Viennese may lack the vigor and precision of standard German, but the pitch of the voice, the many gliding inflections and elisions render it an excellent medium for expressing the beguiling artlessness of the characters. In the fairy-tale drama, persons of high social rank and allegorical figures normally speak stage German, whereas the less exalted use dialect. The poet respected this tradition when creating allegories; however, his chief concern was not the characters of a class society, but folk individuality represented against a magical background. One observes that highly individualized characters like the wealthy landowner, Rappelkopf (Alpenkönig), King Longimanus (Diamant), and the parvenu, Wurzel (Mädchen), speak in dialect. Yet persons of humble origin, not treated in depth, often use stage German. Raimund best expressed his unique nature in dialect. Even his kings and rich men are in reality often thinly disguised peasants and everyday citizens. Foreign languages and dialects occasionally introduce comic contrast. The laborious German of an emigrant Hungarian, such as Bustorius (Mädchen), enlivens the dialogue, and the peculiarities of Swabian dialect contrast amusingly with Viennese. Similarly, Youth's Prussian twang enhances the scene in which Wurzel must submit to the inevitability of growing old (Mädchen, I, p. 222). Although no play exploits the speech oddities of the Englishman or the Italian, a feature of many other folk plays, several pretentious and artificial characters embellish their conversations with French. The best example is Dumont (Verschwender), the comical Frenchman who eccentrically admires nature as a painting. Other characters like Tutu, Quecksilber (Barometermacher) and Habakuk (Alpenkönig) make farcical errors when attempting to express themselves in French. Regardless of the language, Viennese is the norm, and deviations from it are exploited comically. It can easily be demonstrated that Raimund achieved a person-

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alized atmosphere through local references and dialectal expressions, an exact knowledge of which contributes greatly to the enjoyment of the plays. These include references to well known streets in Vienna, amusement centers, and the mountains of the Vienna Woods and Stryria, as well as disparaging names like Mondkalb (silly person), Bisgurn (malicious woman), and Socius (crude individual). Many Viennese words suggest a farcical situation like durchwassern (give a beating to), ausserbrateln (gain by trickery), wini (enraged), zermudeln (disarrange). Such localizing helps to explain the popularity of the plays; their vocabulary is a genuine reflection of folk life and interests. The folk play commonly includes the parody of popular dramas, operas, and novels. Raimund gained interest through characters whose pretense of literary knowledge is humorously exposed, 1 or they may liken themselves to well known personalities from literature with whom they have nothing in common. 2 In either case not literature but the characters who discuss it are represented comically. A few lines from Schiller are woven into the plays, 3 but they imply no criticism. These literary borrowings embellish rather than detract from the originals, because they remind the audience in a lighthearted manner that it shares the heritage these works represent. Naturalness and liveliness mark the characters speaking dialect. They are convincing because they employ the language their creator knows best. Unfortunately this is not the case for the higher personages who converse in stage German. Their utterances are stilted and colorless. The comments of Castle are typical of numerous critics who object to this weakness: Solange Raimund im Dialekt spricht, bewegt er sich frei in seinem Element, sobald er zum Hochdeutschen greift, geht er wie auf Stelzen. Je erhabener es klingen soll, desto ungelenker werden Wort und Vers, desto verstiegener werden die Bilder und Gleichnisse, desto hohler und bombastischer wird die pathetische Phrase.4

Raimund's warmest admirer could scarcely defend the nebulous 1

Barometermacher, I, p. 36; Diamant, I, p. 143. * Diamant, I, p. 98; Phantasie, I, p. 355. ' Barometermacher, I, p. 7; Mädchen, I, p. 240. 4 Ferdinand Raimunds Sämtliche Werke, edited by Eduard Castle, p. 120.

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verbosity of the king's son, Amphio (Phantasie, I, p. 333) and the general, Phalarius (Krone, II, p. 223). Even Cheristane does not rise above the merely theatrical when she speaks of the distant clouds floating in eternal magic circles over Persia and Arabia (Verschwender, II, p. 370). Her words can be accepted only as a decorative phrase, because they never develop into more. Raimund's most skillful uses of language, as will be further demonstrated, are limited almost entirely to the Viennese dialect and the uncomplex world with which he was familiar. Language and the Audience Although the language of the plays admittedly has special appeal for the Viennese, it illustrates techniques that transcend the limits implied by dialect, permitting one to think and feel more intensely with the characters. When the main character first appears, he addresses himself to the spectators in a trusting manner and is already a familiar figure when the action begins; a greater possibility now exists that he will be regarded sympathetically, because he has confided his innermost thoughts. Each play also ends in a direct appeal to the listeners. In Mädchen it is even suggested that the allegorical figure Satisfaction should escort the public home after the performance. The dialogue is interwoven with questions designed to stimulate curiosity by intensifying the absurdity of a situation or on occasion by emphasizing its seriousness. The bond with the audience is strengthened when well placed questions cause one to be anxious about the fate of the protagonist, as in the following examples: "Kann ich bauen auf dieser Krone Macht?" {Krone, II, p. 222); "Als die Sonne sank, ward ich geboren. Wenn sie wieder sinken wird? Wo werd ich sein?" ( Verschwender, II, p. 436). Other questions emphasize comic confusion: "Hat denn die Uhr einen Rausch?" (Mädchen, I, p. 220); "Ist denn die Liebe nicht auch ein Rausch?" (Barometermacher, I, p. 36). Philosophical questions, a rarity in the Folk Theater, add a more serious note: "who is worthy of fortune?" (Barometermacher, I, p. 3); "is a life of dreams preferable to one of action?" (Krone, II, p. 241). Raimund attempted to raise the tone of

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the folk play by providing his audience with thoughts for sober reflection during and after the performance. Accordingly, his comedy is not superficial, but relates to a desire for Bildung, conceived here as education through laughter to a higher state of awareness about the nature of man and the world. The questions are not really answered in the plays: this would be expecting too much of comedy. What actually matters is the realization that even in laughter the problematic, insecure nature of man is never quite forgotten. Moreover, the characters add to the dialogue direct appeals urging the listeners to think of them often after the performance. Raimund conceived of his public not as a crowded mass of onlookers, but as beings of emotion and intelligence who, he hoped, would remember his characters long after the final curtain had fallen. A device for revealing the thoughts of a character by a short passage spoken in an undertone or directed to the audience, the aside, helps to hold interest. According to theatrical convention, it is presumed inaudible to other characters on the stage. Often criticized as artificial, it has rarely been employed since the advent of Naturalism. All the conventional uses of the aside can be found in Raimund's works, i.e., for stressing traits like vanity, maliciousness, and cowardice; a special condition may be emphasized, such as the terms of Rappelkopf's wager with Astragalus (Alpenkonig, II, p. 163), or the sentiments of a hypocrite may be exposed by contrasting his speech and his thoughts. 5 Raimund advances beyond these uses, making the aside perform several functions at once. It is then no longer a traditional contrivance but enhances dramatic expression. In a magnificently constructed scene Rappelkopf communicates the chaos of his soul and all the tangled conflict of his thinking and feeling with the aside.6 Dedicated to misanthropy, he is forced by supernatural powers to imagine that he is not. Each aside stresses the discrepancy between his true personality and the role he must play. With grotesque humor he addresses his wife in the guise of a kindly brother and pretends to console her, while his remarks to the audience indicate he is filled with rage and paranoiac suspicion. Step by step the tension mounts, and in a series of well ' Moisasur, II, p. 35; Verschwender, II, p. 347. • Alpenkonig, II, p. 162ff.

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calculated asides Rappelkopf leads the audience along with him toward inevitable suicide. When the dénouement comes, everyone clearly understands what has been happening, for all have experienced the ever-increasing pressure upon the wracked emotions of the protagonist. The manner of speaking is carefully defined for each character. Raimund knew exactly what effect could be created with each line. The precision and detail of his stage directions makes them unique in the Folk Theater. Even directions not normally associated with comedy are included, as is evidenced in the recurrence of words like mit Pathos, edel, innig, and gerührt. Like descriptions of speech in a novel, the stage directions contain fine shadings of emphasis and meaning. Not content that characters merely punctuate their remarks with laughter, Raimund lists twelve different kinds of laughter,' and not one or two degrees of joyfulness, but five. It would require an actor of considerable skill to render all of them accurately. 'Joy' is zarte Freude, innige Freude, freudig, voll Freude, Ihr ganzes Wesen löst sich in zitternder Freude auf. As the occasion demands, not a single effect but an entire range is represented. The emotional shading imparted to a crucial speech may imply a subtle contrast. Age appears as a frightening enigma, speaking with kränklicher Freundlichkeit und persiflierendem Wohlwollen {Mädchen, I, p. 228). The careful attention paid even to single words is illustrated by the following example : Hades first appears uttering the word ich. For this one word Raimund's directions prescribe the pitch of the voice, the atmosphere evoked, and the tempo of expression {Krone, II, p. 217). One notes with surprise that the directions of a single page may include as many as ten shifts of mood and expression (Phantasie, I, p. 326). Raimund's stage directions indicate that his basic appeal is not to the intellect but directly to the feelings. The dialogue is almost never divorced from strong emotion. Characteristic are many stage directions in the superlative8 and the sudden introduction of new emotion for comic effect.9 ' Wild, dumm, boshalf, heftig, höhnisch, heuchlerisch, heimlich, behaglich, ironisch, schadenfroh, herzligh, verzweifelnd. 8 Mädchen, I, p. 206; Moisasur, II, p. 36; Krone, II, p. 230. • Alpenkönig, II, p. 103; Phantasie, I, p. 381 ; Diamant, I, p. 116.

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Imagery Raimund's imagery stirs the imagination and the emotions when the characters emphasize their special characteristics in vivid similes. During a fit of rage, Rappelkopf reminds the audience that his hair is standing up like the bristles of a hedgehog (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 120), and Sockel, the unreliable contractor, threatens to collapse like an old garden wall (Verschwender, II, p. 346). The actors describe each other, which enables one to view them with greater understanding, because descriptive similes, like stage directions, explain how they should appear. It is observed, for instance, that a silly, aged woman sways like an old swan (Verschwender, II, p. 387), a kindly mountaineer and his wife are regarded as two fruit trees in an oasis {Moisasur, II, p. 71). Especially vivid are similes describing the act of becoming. Moisasur, the personification of evil, appears suddenly on the stage and is likened to a poisonous weed sprouting from the earth (Moisasur, II, p. 10). The complacent imagination is further awakened when the order of nature and reason is reversed in drastic comparisons forcing the audience to envision the world afresh. Thus Rappelkopf states that even in an upside-down world he would tenaciously hold to his misanthropy. He views the North Pole as a mass of glowing flames, birds fly without wings, and the sun, robbed of its rays, continues to shine (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 137). Most strikingly, language illustrates how Rappelkopf's perception is distorted, as the familiar patterns of the external world are thrown chaotically into reverse. The persistence of his misanthropy is humorously intensified through such exaggeration, and the comparison contributes to the comic characterization. Raimund's characters have dramatic appeal because they express themselves in metaphors depicting life with childlike but intense visualness. Expressed in the poet's terms, a garden becomes a colored eye watching humanity, the world a poisonous belladonna, fortune a waiter leaping from table to table, and imagination a lady selling pictures. Individuals are described with picturesque concreteness. Wurzel, for example, has soot-black hair and a heart that beats like an iron hammer; his stomach is sultan over two empires, and his fists are two sturdy brothers. The picturesque terms in which

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the characters are described enable one to sympathize with them more readily. Because Raimund's images often center on an action depicting unusual growth or motion, they are especially suitable for the theater. The following examples will make this point clearer: Hassar does not present mere poetry to the court, but the fruits of the muse, ripened in the heads of the greatest Indians (Barometermacher, I, p. 62). Wurzel asks not simply if time is moving backwards, but if time has swallowed a crab, because the hours are walking backwards (Mädchen, I, p. 227). One can easily visualize the action in such word pictures. The conclusion is evident that not only are Raimund's dramas imaginative; his images are also dramatic. The poet possessed a gift for adapting figures of speech from serious literature to suit the needs of the Folk Theater. He made the vague horror of transitoriness comprehensible through the epic metaphor. Time is not described as an old man with a scythe, but as a drill corporal who chastizes each person according to his age with familiar instruments of punishment which grow more severe as time passes. In another epic metaphor the passage of life is compressed into the time needed to eat a meal beginning with soup for infants and ending with black coffee served by the grave digger (Mädchen, I, p. 198). Such metaphors, while amusing, describe with dramatic vividness the overwhelming, intangible forces that beset mankind. Inanimate objects or abstract ideas become appealing through personifications in which a special emphasis is placed upon the dramatic gesture. Thus misfortune pitches its black tent over a city {Krone, II, p. 254), comfort receives a thrust in the ribs (Moisasur, II, p. 49), humanity raises its hands in joy (Verschwender, II, p. 444). Personifications are even referred to as real characters. Hence, Zoraida says to Hassar: "Marsch fort, alle zwei hinaus, Er und seine Schönheit" (Barometermacher, I, p. 48). Such expressions enabled Raimund with a single stroke to add vividness to his plays and amuse the spectators. Raimund was aware of the limitations of language. He perceived in his most effective scenes that persons experiencing a crucial moment in their lives are often overwhelmed and can utter only single words or phrases. Such portrayal is not only psychologically

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realistic, it also contributes to the event's visual impressiveness. With wise economy of words, Raimund depicts his chief recognition scenes, and similarly he portrays the awakening of love, the sorrow at parting, and a reunion after many years of separation. 10 Rivalry between word and action for the attention of the audience ceases to exist, because the spoken words highlight the event itself. The scenes judged most memorable by critics and audiences alike contain clipped speech. In the dialogue between Youth and Wurzel {Mädchen, I, p. 220), each word adds to the visual impressiveness of the scene. Wurzel speaks with cautious taciturnity and is answered by Youth's brief firmness. Raimund did not consider the spoken word the most direct and trustworthy medium for communication. The precise detail with which he indicated how words are to be uttered and how the mode of expression should change according to each situation further illustrates his application of the knowledge that words are far more easily misconstrued than understood.

Humor

Raimund employed no comic language technique unfamiliar to the Folk Theater audiences. Original though he was, his audiences did not require a period of adjustment to become accustomed to his style of humor. It was at once discerned and appreciated. Remarkable, however, is the skill with which he utilized a nearly inexhaustible variety of amusing devices to animate the language of his plays. There are few scenes completely lacking in verbal merrymaking. It is the life blood of the dialogues. The humorous name may characterize an individual by emphasizing the most important aspect of his personality. A coward calls himself Zitternadel (Krone), a sly knave, Wolf (Verschwender), and a hot-tempered person, Rappelkopf (Alpenkönig). Some have a comic sound like Ajaxerle, Habakuk, and Aprikosa (Mädchen), while others point to an action of special comic interest. An old lady who becomes young again is named Aloe (Krone), because she, 10

Verschwender, II, p. 373, 407, 426.

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like the African lily, is capable of rejuvenating herself. A suitor who is a thorn to his beloved's father is called August Dorn {Alpenkönig.) Thus the qualities these appellations represent are continually reemphasized in the action. The comic name commonly refers to a profession. A rich financier is called Silberkern (Alpenkönig), a tight-fisted landlord, Riegelsam {Krone), and a fisherman, Karl Schilf {Mädchen). Seldom does a character possess an ironic name; Raimund's sympathy for their sufferings did not permit him to view even the worst of them in a ridiculous light. While the comic epithet may point to human weaknesses, it can also emphasize gentleness or faithfulness; 11 and the poet used both possibilities to good advantage. It is unusual that some are drawn from nature, a source new to the Folk Theater. Comic personalizing is achieved by relating characters to birds or insects. Such names are never chosen eccentrically, but always with an eye to effective humorous characterization. A pompous groundskeeper's true personality is suggested by Hänfling, or linnet, a small finch which feeds on flax seeds. Even the famous carpenter-servant, Valentin Holzwurm, is named for a woodworm. The significance of such comic personalization becomes more obvious when one considers that it is a feature of every role which Raimund himself played. His closeness to the characters is further indicated in the dramatis personae, since the Christian and the given name are often listed, whereas the Folk Theater tradition required only the family name. Comic titles contribute to the imaginative humor of the plays. Friends and enemies alike endow each other with mirth-provoking appellations. Although not all are equally successful in the effect they produce, rare are the Raimund personages who do not indulge in name-calling when a suitable opportunity arises. At the simplest level are plain insults which imply no special technique but nevertheless enliven the dialogue. Among these are comical descriptions. The black servant, Hassar, for example, is addressed as a spy of ebony {Moisasur, II, p. 6). Seldom are the titles ironic. Most men11

Linda (Barometermacher), Ronan, Waschblau {Diamant), Azur (Verschwender). Raimund employed the popular notion that blue is the color symbolic of fidelity.

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tion a trait in harmony with the character described. Not a few are titles of comradeship, like "Du lieber Narr", "ihr vier Haimonskinder", or "alter Schwed".12 An amusing pictorialness is often achieved when humans are associated with birds, plants, insects, or animals. In this manner the homesick Lottchen is well characterized when addressed as a melancholy wild duck; her fiancé is called her favorite Junebug, and an insistent messenger from the world of spirits sent to aid her is dubbed a Swabian weed.13 Comic titles cause a character's appearance, personality, or mannerisms to become more alive for the audience. It is significant that even Raimund's system of name-calling has a unique and amusing style. Humorous characterization is achieved through the comic oath. A character may stress the earnestness of his remarks by punctuating them with an appeal to whatever he considers sacred. The comic effect is derived in part simply from the unexpectedness of such remarks, but also because, unlike the serious oath, they emphasize the unpoetic and the earthly. They are nonetheless convincing, when drawn from the area of life the character knows best. Moreover, Raimund oaths are original and carefully selected to fit the mentality of the speaker. Thus the Feuergeist swears by all the tinder boxes in England that he speaks the truth. His fiery assertion is contrasted by the dampening reply of Pamphilius who disagrees by imploring all the fire extinguishers in France (Diamant, I, p. 91). The comic effect is heightened because the opposing natures of the characters are contrasted. Another use of the oath emphasizes comic despair. This is the case when the talentless Nachtigall appeals to all the Greek and Italian poets for poetic inspiration (Phantasie, I, p. 375). Never are Raimund's oaths profane. They add to the goodnatured humor of the dialogue and contribute to the personalized unique quality of his characters. A familiar device of comedy is the favorite expression repeated to emphasize a special aspect of personality. Such remarks are comical when they contrast with reality, revealing the disproportion between a character's estimate of himself and the view of him maintained by others; the malicious moneylender, Gluthahn (Moisasur) refers con" "

Diamant, I, p. 100, 103. Mädchen, I, p. 190, 205.

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stantly to his good-heartedness, and Habakuk falsely insists he has lived two years in Paris (Alpenkönig). Comic leitmotifs thus established serve as valuable instruments for characterization. Raimund possessed an exceptional fondness for plays on words. The significance of this inclination becomes evident if one considers how the mentality of many a comical character is illustrated by his puns. Since the characters are artless and without the power to use words to special advantage, the humor they evoke depends upon a play on two words having the same sound but a different meaning. Most are everyday words or expressions like the cobbler's remark to Phantasie: "Dem Herrn sein War treten die Leut mit Füssen" (Phantasie, I, p. 348). The puns deal with the names of characters, popular pastimes, foods and beverages, animals, and a score of other matters defying exact classification. However, their simplicity and harmlessness make them alike. As Cysarz has observed, puns may represent considerably more than random indulgence in wordplay. Using the beer-hall poet Nachtigall as an example, he notes how an entire personality is described. Cysarz writes: Solches Sich-reimen des Ungereimten kann einen ganzen Charakter bestimmen wie den Harfenisten Nachtigall in der Gefesselten Phantasie. Er heisse Nachtigall, weil die Leute ein Gall' haben, wenn er auf die Nacht singt. Er hat viele Lieder gesetzt, war also liederlich. Raben machen ihn rabiat. Seine Freude am Bier beweist, dass Hopfen und Malz an ihm nicht verloren sind.14 Puns may be appreciated as artless humor, but in terms of their total effectiveness they have a definite stylistic and dramatic function. Raimund's characterization would be immeasurably weaker without them. The writer of comedy must not only permit confusions to arise between characters, he must emphasize them. It may be stated without exaggeration that the laws of semantics often apply to comedy in reverse. How well Raimund illustrates this through his humorous limitations of the awkward speech of simple people! A messenger or peasant 15 may express himself in a clumsy fashion, including 14

Cysarz, "Raimund und die Metaphysik des Wiener Theaters", Wellrätsel im Wort (Vienna, 1948), p. 236. " Compare Mädchen, I, p. 255.

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absurdly irrelevant details at an important moment when the audience has expected terseness. This is the case when the peasant, Hans, is called before the judge to offer testimony. By beginning with an account of how he arose from his bed that morning, he only confuses the court, and his wife must complete the testimony for him. Such humor has the advantage of naturalness, for unsophisticated persons under stress really do express themselves in this manner. The enjoyment of the plays is enhanced by distortions and perversions of language emphasizing the rustic simplicity of the characters. Owing to their lack of education and an artless mentality, they mispronounce words or use them incorrectly. The essential requirement of comical word confusion is for a word of higher order to be replaced by one with a similar sound of a lower order. The mind is forced to vacillate between the two meanings, and the absurdity of the verbal error becomes apparent. The subject matter of the word confusions may vary from the mispronounced names of poets and heroes to the corruption of household terms,16 but all are of value when they make more understandable the character who utters them. This is true of the ignorant peasant Wurzel, who refers to Rubinen (rubies) as Ruben (carrots). Such a remark does not seem contrived when uttered by a bumpkin, and must be accepted as a valid example of his mentality. To word confusions should be added the distortions arising when characters attempt to reason in violation of logic. Concise rationality has little place in Raimund's comedy; humorous contradictions and irrational remarks are the rule. Having only three guilders, Florian intends to give four of them to the poor and keep the change. Later he assures his bride she could claim his life if he were dead.17 These remarks suggest not a world of purposeless nonsense, but one in which even the immutable laws of reason may be suspended briefly to serve the ends of comedy. When language appropriate to one activity is employed to describe another, comic distortion often results. A character wishing to be convincing about matters he does not understand may betray " "

Diamant, I, p. 107. Diamant, I, p. 121.

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himself through his choice of words. Raimund's language distortions are intended to disclose a character's limited view of the world at a time when much depends upon concealing this fact. Many possibilities thus exist for the comic unmasking of insincerity. A good example is afforded by Zoraida, a materialist who pretends to be in love but speaks as if love and money were the same thing. She fears that a disappointed suitor may stand before her like a theatergoer at the ticket window demanding a refund (Barometermacher, I, p. 23). Lust for wealth so dwarfs her soul that she can neither feel nor feign love. Mixed language is used here to make this clearer. Even a character attempting to conceal his motives does not escape revealing his true personality. It is inevitable that imposters who defeat their own purposes through the unwise use of language add to the comicality of the plays. Common are the mixed metaphors and similes which depend for their effectiveness upon an absurd exaggeration disclosing the speaker's ineptness. Uttered at serious moments, verbal blunders may be especially humorous, because an earnest attempt to communicate is couched in inappropriate language. The pleasure of the audience is increased if a familiar figure of speech is distorted, for the character making such a remark reveals that his knowledge does not equal the audience's, and the laughter evoked arises from a feeling of superiority. The confused Biblical quotation, as employed in a domestic quarrel, is an illustration. The irate Carambucco observes that it would be easier for an elephant to pass through the eye of a needle than for his wife to be dutiful (Moisasur, II, p. 45). A weakling, impersonating a hero, displays a similar contradiction of terms by arguing that one may open an oyster and find an elephant {Krone, II, p. 306). Such remarks are good examples of catachresis used for comic characterization. They lighten the effect of serious scenes and aid in the fulfillment of the foremost demand of the Folk Theater that every scene must contain comic speech or action. One is struck by the frequency with which Raimund's characters are unable to make themselves understood to each other, because the lines of communication between them have broken down or in many instances never existed in the first place. The effects produced vary from the hilarious to the grotesquely comic. It is not enough

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that two characters simply do not understand each other; each must believe he comprehends the other's viewpoint, but the dialogue makes his error obvious. Because the audience knows the truth, it can appreciate the contrast between what the characters imagine and what is, in fact, the case. For such dialogues to be dramatically convincing, characters are required who cling to their original ideas in spite of new evidence. They must be subjectivists so preoccupied with their own affairs that they do not heed the changing world around them. Such persons are comic because of their manner of speaking; but beneath the surface they are lonely, as if nature's penalty for pre-occupation with the self were continuance in a direction ultimately limiting the ability to communicate so sharply that one becomes, like many of Raimund's characters, eccentric and even deranged. This idea really bears upon the center of the poet's art, because Rappelkopf (Alpenkdnig), his most powerful comic figure, responds in such a way during the entire play. He reverses the true order of things by greatly overestimating himself and underestimating everyone else. The dialogues in which he appears are masterpieces of the mistaken notion employed as a comic disruptive force; his behavior becomes so extreme that he throws his whole environment into confusion, and all the energies of a spirit king are necessary to restore his faculties. Loss of communication as a technique reappears throughout Raimund's plays. Depending on the situation, either the seriousness or the comicality of it are emphasized. One of the most effective comic dialogues, the one between Dumont and the old woman, is based upon the principle that both think they know what the other refers to and both are in error (Verschwender, II, p. 385). Dumont views the old woman as an art treasure, and she in turn accepts his compliments as literal truth, concluding that he is making love to her. The possibilities for misunderstanding in comedy, as in real life, are nearly infinite. They are inherent in the differences between the sympathetic and the embittered (Moisasur, II, p. 21), the imaginative and the unimaginative (Phantasie, I, p. 375), the suffering and the exuberant (Krone, II, p. 257), the oratorical and the plain-spoken (Verschwender, II, p. 433). Only the comic poet adds meaning to the confusion by showing how it is created. The result may

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momentarily stir the audience to thoughtless hilarity, but the insight necessary to produce such mirth penetrates to the core of human nature. Raimund's characters are not masters of language but its victims. Seldom do they distort language comically to prove a point or gain an advantage. One such distortion occurs when Age speaks in diminutives to emphasize how man becomes increasingly weak and helpless as he grows old (Mädchen, I, p. 231). Another is employed by the loquacious Quecksilber, who confounds an entire court with his verbosity (Barometermacher). In addition, the comic title is based upon a deliberate distortion, when a person is addressed as a thing. Thus, a maid servant, knowing that her mistress is in love with a painter, begins to tease by addressing her as a painting (Alpenkönig, II, p. 99). Despite these examples, a lack of further evidence speaks against the extensiveness of this technique. Moreover, no garrulous person plays a major role in Raimund's plays. Not the vehicle of critical ideas nor the means for characters to conceal their motives or skillfully defend themselves, the comic distortion of language is mainly intended to set the characters at a disadvantage, by which their simplicity and limitations are revealed.

Sounds and the Dramatizing of Language Below the language level are a large variety of human, animal, and nature sounds. Although the effects produced may range from the hilarious to the frightening, all relate to a single dramatic purpose — holding the attention of the audience. One means to achieve this is the use of sudden shifts and unexpected reversals, which may be emphasized by sound effects. Never should the audience relax, feeling confident of the outcome. The task of the writer when he introduces sounds into his plays is to select those which emphasize the action and make it more meaningful. The sounds may be quite theatrical without detracting from their effectiveness. In Mädchen, I, p. 262, for example, a pistol is fired to gain the attention of the audience. One is impressed by the frequency with which bells ring, windows slam, and off-stage noises enliven the scene. On two oc-

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casions even the roar of cannons is employed to good advantage.18 Listening exclusively to the animals and birds in Raimund's plays, one would hear owls hooting, ravens croaking, roosters crowing, dogs barking, cats yowling, and oxen lowing. Sounds from nature like the echo, the thunderclap, the roaring of the wind, and even the eruption of a volcano introduce, accompany, and punctuate the action. A special feature of Raimund's technique includes comic sounds skillfully woven into serious happenings to make them acceptable to an audience demanding amusement at any cost. Because a gentle knock at his door with a lily stem produces a great rumbling noise, Death himself appears out of a comic contradiction of sound {Moisasur, II, p. 60). In a more detailed use of this technique, a charcoal-burner's family is depicted in all the abject misery of poverty. An element of humor rendering this description suitable for the Folk Theater is an absurd cacophony of sounds caused by a sneezing grandmother, a meowing cat, a howling dog, and a squalling infant (Alpenkönig, II, p. 127ff.). Although Raimund's world of sounds extends from the creaking gates of Hell {Krone, II, p. 217) to the tinkling of a little bell in a popular Viennese dance hall {Phantasie, I, p. 375), such extremes are effective for evoking surprise, humor, and atmosphere. It is impossible to dissociate the plays from the auditory effects accompanying them. Raimund's dramatic instinct led him to introduce words especially vivid, because characters act out their meanings in an appropriate background. Colorless, commonplace utterances suddenly appear revitalized, when the unity between speech and action is restored. Great is the surprised amusement of the audience at witnessing the abstract or the figurative as bold reality. The characters employ many words literally, illustrating not only childlike simplicity but also a vivid manner of expression. Theirs is a world of concrete experience in which the gulf between the abstract and the literal does not exist. Moreover, comic characterization is enhanced in situations like the following: in order to become bloodthirsty, Simplizissimus must first drink from a lake of blood {Krone, II, p. 277). Florian, transformed into a dog, complains that he must lead a dog's life {Diamant, I, p. 136). The abstraction envy assumes new 18

Mädchen, I, p. 256; Alpenkönig, II, p. 154.

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meaning, when spoken by a tangible allegorical 'envy', visible to the entire audience. Besides individual words, a host of familiar expressions and even folk-sayings are acted out on the stage. A single example is representative of the entire technique. When a character quotes the familiar saying, 'One fool brings ten', ten fools actually appear testifying to the truth of this remark (Phantasie, I, p. 335). Herein lies the dramatic essence of Raimund's language, for word, action, and scene become not separate entities but a well integrated unity. Though lightened by the introduction of humor, the tradition of the Gesamtkunstwerk, as it originated in the Baroque Theater, is here extended to a new level of fulfillment, and it appeals strongly to the comic imagination without sacrificing the seriousness of the idea represented.

NESTROY'S LANGUAGE

The Language of Conventional Austrian Humor Whatever unique features may be claimed for Nestroy's style of language, one fact should not be neglected. Nestroy, like Raimund, spoke the Lower Austrian dialect and employed it as the chief language in his plays. Most characteristically one encounters the speech of the everyday Viennese, the city dwellers, rather than that of inhabitants outside the city limits, for his plays are not dialectal in the sense that he preferred the idiom of the peasant. While critics have often attempted to analyse the complexities of Nestroy's language, it can also be appreciated at a simple level, and rightly so if one accepts the thesis that he is essentially a folk dramatist. One discovers, for instance, a special charm in his imitation of the conversation of customers in a grocery store at the peak of the business day, each demanding articulately in his native idiom that his wants be supplied (Einen Jux, XI, p. 134). In this manner, Nestroy imperceptibly created Viennese atmosphere and made the audience aware of its speech habits by emphasizing them. Such an example excerpted deliberately from a commonplace occurrence further serves as a

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warning against regarding Nestroy solely as the ultra-sophisticated manipulator of Austrian. Though his language, because of its refinement and subtilization, has been compared to the flowering of an exotic plant,19 the roots, nevertheless, extend deeply into his native soil. Many of the characters are fond of quoting folk sayings to emphasize the significance of an event, or as in Raimund's plays, the folk saying is illustrated through the action. Popular expressions like 'Dem Dummen kommt das Glück im Schlaf' (Der konfuse Zauberer, I, p. 243), 'den Mantel nach dem Wind drehen' (Erbschleicher, X, p. 342), 'Die Kunst geht nach Brot' (Juden, XIII, p. 101) are more than decorative phrases, because their meaning is acted out literally on the stage and incorporated into the action. While many linguistic differences can be discerned between Raimund and Nestroy, their views were similar with respect to activating the folk expression and restoring its vitality. Nestroy enlivened time-worn expressions borrowed from philosophy, classical drama, the Bible, and he added humor to them where none was originally intended. In Papiere des Teufels (XI, p. 253), the often quoted remark, O Schwachheit, dein Name ist Weib, becomes, O Schwachheit, dein Name ist Mann. In Talisman (X, p. 404) the protagonist, who is promoted not on the basis of his ability but on account of the color of his wig, converts the saying, 'Der Mensch denkt und Gott lenkt', into, 'Der Mensch denkt, und die Perücke lenkt'. Such usage need not be destructive, since the unexpected shift in meaning draws attention to the original saying in a manner more effective than could be achieved by merely quoting it verbatim. In keeping with Nestroy's greater interest in parody one finds this type of expression more frequently than in Raimund's plays. Nestroy's language is not less localized than Raimund's, for the characters refer to a wide range of Viennese habits and institutions. Conventional stage German is usually avoided, and even for the speeches of spirits and allegories dialect is common. Although Viennese remains the fundamental medium of communication, foreign languages are woven into the dialogue for comic effect, usually by persons claiming a linguistic proficiency that is soon disproved by "

Nestroy Werke, edited by Chiavacci and Ganghofer, XII, p. 201.

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their inept use of French, Italian, Russian, English, or Latin. While Nestroy's knowledge of foreign tongues considerably exceeded Raimund's (the former had a knowledge of Italian, Latin, and French, whereas the latter spoke only the native idiom), the inclusion of non-Austrian elements in Nestroy's plays does not detract from their value as indigenous literature, since Vienna is a cosmopolitan city. One finds, besides the imposter, the genuine emigrant, especially the Hungarian, Englishman, Jew, and Italian, whose efforts to master Austrian are amusing. One hears also the contrasting dialects of Northern Germany, Switzerland, and Swabia. The mere presence of these variations in speech prevents the plays from growing linguistically dull. Moreover, the native idiom is stressed, since it alone remains the language of veracity and boldness. One should note, however, that foreign tongues are utilized mostly in the conventionalized representation of non-Austrians, that is, the Englishmen are traveling gentlemen of great wealth: "Ein Engländer reisst einen Wirt auf ein viertel Jahr heraus" (Nachtwandler, VI, p. 297). The North German is invariably stolid and prosaic, the Frenchman affected, the magistrate who speaks in Latin pedantic, the Jew is a moneylender, and the Hungarian an irascible landlord or shopkeeper. These are types that the Austrian folk comedy required and Nestroy portrayed them speaking in their own idiom. It is not surprising that the juxtaposition of native and foreign speech led also to little word inventions composed of one German and a non-German element. Thus a bold plan is venividivizisch ausgedacht (Kampl, VET, p. 521); that which is difficult becomes diffikultätisch (Tritsch-Tratsch, IX, p. 36); Do you understand is rendered Verstandevous? (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 194). Such inventiveness served to invigorate ordinary speech by fusing it humorously with new elements. Nestroy's comic imagination was by no means only invective. His works contain many plays on words that may be termed goodnatured and without ulterior motive. Evidence of this is contained in the fact that the pun recurs with great frequency. As in the case of Raimund, the subjects of the puns seem nearly limitless, although certain types are typically Nestroyan, like the pun on a name,

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especially when it becomes a verb. Thus, Steffel asks his beloved, "Steffelt sich nix in dein Herzel?" (Der Zerrissene, XII, p. 307). The future of an amorous suitor called Ludwig is predicted as nur fortgeliebt und geludwigt (Kampl, V, p. 429). The pun on a profession is another Nestroy favorite. Hence, it is observed that one develops a 'taste' for soap-making (Lorbeerbaum, III, p. 367). Occasionally, however, the pun is employed for a subtle, yet striking characterization; pun and stage scenery form an organic unity when a girl with an insatiable appetite for wealth asks her suitor if she can depend upon receiving a castle as a wedding present. Referring to the castle, she expresses her wish as, "Kann ich darauf bauen?" She thus implies that even if she owned it, she would want to build a castle on top of the castle. Her fiancé interprets her request literally by asking, "Drauf bauen? Nein, er ist ja ohnedem drei Stock hoch" (Nachtwandler, VI, p. 349). Although one discovers puns that allude to specific Austrian landscapes — "Sie ist eine gebürtige Hintere Brüllerin" (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 274) — or to special varieties of wine — "Ich bin aus der Holl', ich kann ein' Schwefel vertrag'n" {Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 265) — most of them are not limited in scope and are therefore comprehensible to all German-speaking audiences. It would be erroneous indeed to reject Nestroy simply because one lacked a feeling for satiric writing; his works abound also in naive humor to which the pun bears adequate testimony. The dialogue of Nestroy's plays is enlivened by comic riddles. Staberl (Kobold, II, p. 556) asks how it is possible to determine the sex of an umbrella and answers his own question by recommending that one observe carefully the point at which the umbrella is held, because it is female if held by a woman and male in the hands of a man. Further comic animation is provided by the humorous proportion. Two lovers who are forced to part, affirm that separation is to love as an empty plate is to a hungry stomach (Sesseltrager, II, p. 329). One should not conclude that Nestroy's fame rests solely upon the inventing of such comic contrivances, but they do illustrate that he valued the conventional techniques of Austrian humor and knew how to please his audiences with them. Nestroy's stage language, like Raimund's does not lack an amusing vividness. Thus, chance is a drunken coachman (Mädl aus der

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Vorstadt, XI, p. 70). Conventional techniques include speaking nonsense. A character insists he will kill himself first and then his rival (Verbannung, I, p. 29). Another complains of catarrh in his elbow (Weltuntergangstag, II, p. 130). Amusing word confusions such as Raimund employed are also discernable. Amulett becomes Omlett (Mädl aus der Vorstadt, XI, p. 101). Nestroy appreciated the value of comic-sounding words in the Folk Theater: "lastim-plastimgummilastum" (NagerI: III, 126), "abstrakte Extracte und vertrakte Kontrakte" (Papiere des Teufels: XI, 248), "Hudriwudri Geschöpf" (Kampl, VI, p. 473). As in the plays of Raimund, a confusion of sounds achieves a background of dissonance appropriate to the folk comedy: doors bang, windows slam, whistles are blown, the actors clap their hands suddenly, cats meow, and the din of everyone talking at once is frequent. Certain characters have favorite sounds like Qua-Qua, Hu, Larifari. Having mastered techniques like the foregoing, Nestroy developed startling innovations, and to them we must now turn.

The Language of Comic Superiority Despite the many features of Nestroy's language which serve to identify it as folklike, they only begin to suggest the reasons for its dramatic appropriateness. His language possesses a wide range of subtle variations that easily elude attempts at exact classification. Yet some generalizations will be helpful to serve as a guide for further analysis. A highly significant area of expression in the plays concerns the speech of the protagonists, whose manner of communicating differs from ordinary conversation in several respects. One discovers uncommon images, precise distinctions in meaning, and unusual phrasing of words. The sentences are complicated and a full appreciation of their meaning requires a more alert mind than for Raimund's simpler style. It is thus fitting to refer here to a language of comic superiority, because the main characters' choice of words is semantic, bitingly aggressive, and according to their wishes an instrument for clarifying or confusing important issues. In place of humor that consoles man and makes him more willing

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to bear his lot, one finds the witty remark that exposes his paradoxical behavior. Wit as Nestroy understood the term consists of perceiving a similarity in objects, conditions, or situations that otherwise are apparently unrelated. A cleverly turned phrase is not allowed to exist for its own sake; it must reveal at the same time a fundamental weakness in the human condition. The power to speak in this manner is limited largely to the Nestroy and Scholz figures and makes them formidable, althought isolated, personages, since their keen perception renders them aware of problems and incongruities unsuspected by other characters. When Eberhard Ultra (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 155), an assistant-editor, is arrested for outspoken political views and asked to describe his physical characteristics, he relates a police officer's routine questions to a unique series of answers, for he supplies a description, not of himself but of the German League that supports the popular cause, and refers to himself as four-and-one-half-months old, explaining that the founding of the League marked the birth of German freedom. As it unfolds, the entire procedure appears highly incongruous and mirth-provoking, but suggestive of the frailty of human institutions as well, since it is implied that the future of freedom can be no more reliably predicted than that of an infant. Nestroy's figures are adept at reproducing the characteristic speech of others, but the implications of such a procedure suggest considerably more than parodistic imitation alone. Because the actors shift abruptly from one manner of speaking to another, they emphasize the mechanical features of communication. Whoever has learned the patterns may employ them in any combination that will gain for him an advantage, and the gulf between mere words and what they represent is revealed as a comic discrepancy. Whereas Raimund's technique stresses the literal meaning of words to achieve exceptional plasticity, Nestroy's language emphasizes the distinctions between appearance and reality. When Nestroy's characters employ the language of passion in a perfunctory fashion, he achieves an unusual humorous effect. In one instance a character, like an actor learning his lines, memorizes a curse in order to express his rage (Kampl, VII, p. 462). The dramatic quality of Nestroy's monologues is stressed when a person holding a discourse with himself

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assumes a manner of speaking typical of other individuals in order to stress a conflict of opinions. Schlicht (Mein Freund), reflecting on the way his supposed friend has stolen two thousand guilders from him, imagines himself in a courtroom as he alternately addresses the jury as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, and the dilemma created through prejudiced language is apparent, since the defendant seems guilty or innocent according to the words selected to describe his crime. Through inner monologues Nestroy enhanced vividly the speeches of his protagonists and dramatized his doubt that absolute truth is attainable, because ideas are expressed in words which never correspond exactly to the things they represent. Nestroy's characters are virtuous masters of language, combining the artist's imagination with the insight of the poet and the precision of the logician; but the motivating force that guides them is the desire to expose satirically through their command of words the absurdities and superficialities of man. One method of achieving this is to include in the dialogue remarks aimed at the shortcomings of specific classes of individuals. By depicting characters not as personalities for their own sake but as representatives of definite groups and typifications of the human race, Nestroy maintained the interest of the audience through the principle of widened perspective. Obviously a satirist may achieve more striking effects the more apparent it becomes that his observations are valid for a wide area of the human scene. Thus Nestroy remarks of women collectively, "Im weiblichen Herzen gibt's nie einen ganz freien Eintritt" (Mädl aus der Vorstadt, XI, p. 7). And of men he says, "die Männer sind heutzutage mit allen Wassern gewaschen" (Der konfuse Zauberer, I, p. 244). He refers categorically to lawyers who always have an answer, old men with wealth and their marriage prospects, servants treated condescendingly by their masters, even the characteristics of a milkmaid are regarded as representative of a class {Haus der Temperamente, X, p. 41). Nestroy is at his best in simple, direct statements that describe man as a whole, as in the following reference to human insatiability: "Sie gehen aufs Geld, es sind Menschen" {Einen Jux, XI, p. 229). One also finds the comic rhetorical question that refers to an entire class: "Ein Jesuit und Verrat?" (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 159), and "Wer hätte die Nerven-

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schwäche in einer Kellnerin gesucht?" (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 321). Raimund's plays lack such satiric questions. Nestroy's works may be likened to an encyclopedia of comic definitions which animate the dialogue, because they reveal a witty viewpoint. While these definitions do not form any particular pattern, many of them nonetheless suggest the follies of special classes of individuals and thus are a valuable part of Nestroy's satiric technique. Lovers (Liebhaber) are so named because love is their only possession (Nur Ruhe !, XII, p. 80). A vagabond describes himself as an artist, since he knows how to live at the expense of others (Eulenspiegel, IX, p. 89); and servants, owing to their tendency to gossip about the private affairs of their employers, are called the free press of the domestic constitution (Der alte Mann, V, 472). Frequently aphorisms occur in the dialogue. Not mere embellishment, they are an important feature of Nestroy's dramatic technique. Whenever a new aphorism occurred to Nestroy, he jotted it down, creating a reserve of ideas to be exploited in his plays.20 Usually the aphorism is a short, pithy remark that expresses a truth. Unlike the folk-saying, it is challenging, because it combines freshness of perspective with boldness of imagery, and above all gains its effect from thought-provoking content. Nestroy's aphorisms are appropriate for the theater, because they describe ideas in vivid terms. A few examples will make this clear. Pride is described as the lion who awakens easily, because he always sleeps with only one eye closed (Nachlass, XV, p. 690). The journey from youth to manhood is referred to as the passage over the Bridge of Sighs (Nachlass, XV, p. 681). One might argue that these observations are actually metaphors, but as truisms concisely stated they are also aphoristic and indicate that Nestroy's interest in general truths did not prevent him from employing the plastic speech associated with the Folk Theater. Moreover, the aphorism enabled Nestroy to illustrate the paradoxical nature of the world. Noting the incongruity of addressing important persons as iWohlgeboren\ he remarks: "Wohlgeboren ist das dümmste Wort, denn jeder Sterbliche ist Weh geboren" (Nachlass, XV, p. 685). The sight of a house on fire reminds him of the inappropriate behavior of man : "Was das für "

NSW, XV, p. 680.

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ein Lärm ist, wenn's in einem Haus brennt! So mitleidig, so hilfreich ist alles! Und wenn's in einem Herzen brennt, wie boshaft, wie schadenfroh da die Leut' sind!" (Zu ebener Erde, VI, p. 65). One cannot fully appreciate the value of these aphorisms when they are removed from their context, but obviously a dialogue bristling with such pointed observations is a decided asset in widening the limits of the Folk Theater and making it acceptable to a critical, sophisticated audience. Many of the metaphors reveal vivid imagination and the ability to express relationships that demonstrate the paradoxical nature of life. One cannot safely generalize concerning their subject matter, but a tendency to the unpoetic is evident. One finds human behavior associated with spiders, old shirts, a dog sniffing at sausages, and worn-out shoes. Beyond this, however, Nestroy succeeded repeatedly in portraying the falseness and absurdity in the ethics of his contemporaries. The degree to which honor had lost its original value as an ideal is neatly implied in a metaphor which terms it the parade horse in the circus of life (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 165). Other metaphors point out incongruities in human relations. When an old man forces a young girl into marriage, the bride is described as an alpine rose held fast by a glacier (Nur Keck, XIV, p. 197). Imagery thus employed contributes to dramatic technique, because it portrays with great condensation the unyielding stubbornness of the man and the helplessness of the girl. What especially distinguishes Nestroy's imagery from Raimund's is its satiric intent, compelling logic, and antipoetic objective. Like Raimund, Nestroy also employed the extended metaphor, but he did so satirically. In one instance, he conceives of the world as a vast apothecary in which teas, salves, pills, and plasters are utilized not as healing agents but as instruments of hypocrisy. He remarks: "Pflaster hat die Welt gar viele, sie heissen: Rang, Titel, Auszeichnung, vor allem aber wird das sogenannte Goldpflaster bei Gemütsverletzungen mit grossem Erfolg appliziert; auch aufs Maul gepappt ist dieses Goldpflaster von wunderbarer Wirkung" (Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, XIII, p. 270). Nestroy's abstractions become plastic through original, concrete associations like "blondlockige Ideen" (Der alte Mann, V, p. 462) and "ins kalte Wasser der Beschämung"

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(Der Unbedeutende, VII, p. 73). A preference for caricature caused him to create personalities with extreme views who speak in hyperboles. A lover insists that he would continue to praise his beloved if he had seventeen sore throats (Sulph, II, p. 237). Another offers to lift himself up by the collar and throw himself out the door if it can be shown that he is not telling the truth (Die Anverwandten, V, p. 82). Such techniques suggest the linguistic resourcefulness of the dramatist and the suitability of his imagery for the satiric theater. Nestroy's verbal imagination caused him to experiment with words to achieve effects that are unconventional and amusing. The intent of such experimentation is to demonstrate the comic dissonance of life. Accordingly the characters speak a language of caricature in which one finds unexpected shifts in emphasis, reversed meanings, and humorous exaggeration. Nestroy was a master at creating what might be termed comic unbalance. Just as one's appearance may be distorted before the trick mirrors at an amusement park, words are re-formed and gain their maximum comic advantage for the theater through amusing innovations. Humor is achieved, for example, when the common-place is elevated to a level of particular importance. Nestroy accomplished this by inventing specialized abstractions to describe familiar experiences. A frugal character who cannot afford coffee and pastry suffers from Kaffeelosigkeit and Kipfelentbehrung. An extension of this technique is discernible in dignified, euphemistic terms for dastardly behavior. Thus a thief is not a Dieb, but a Meinunddeinverwechsler, an intoxicated person becomes a Rauschinhaber, and a rival who steals another man's bride is termed a Brautwegfischer. A gay shift in emphasis occurs when the inanimate receives a personal name. Thus the favorite room of a girl named Theresa is referred to as the Theresarium. In other instances parts of speech are utilized in an uncommon way. In Nestroy's dialogue, nouns become adjectives — landmädlerische Grundsätze, antichambrische Ideen. Nouns are transposed into verbs — verschwiegersohnen, Die Woche hat sich gesamstagt, beaugapfeln. Verb stems become their opposites: übermannt becomes iiberweibt. The language superiority of the protagonists is further manifested in their ability to create unusually long word combinations whose

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ponderousness is designed to overwhelm the other characters. A saleslady in a clothing store is described as a Modewarenverlagsniederschlagverschleisshändlerin. (Einen Jux, XII, p. 155). Marriage i s a Mannundweibes-Einleibleidundfreudmiteinandertragungsanstalt. {Heimliche Liebe, VIII, p. 38). Common-place adjectives become dramatically enlivened when they appear in unexpected combinations like schneeblühweissgewascWne Seele and stockpechkohlrabenschwarze Nacht (Tritsch-Tratsch, IX, p. 37). Other devices highlight the absurdity of man's undertakings. Normally the suffix ei adds to the noun form in German the idea of annoyance or great effort in words like Schweinerei, Schlepperei-, or it is associated with downto-earth activities (Brauerei, Metzgerei). But Nestroy illustrates his scorn for inefficient political representatives and writers by referring to their efforts with the same suffix (Volksregiererei, Freiheitspresserei). Clever uses of the diminutive like the following are employed to reflect the insignificance of human achievements. Eberhart Ultra humorously reviews the political situation in Krähwinkel, emphasizing in the suffixes the smallness of his town's share in affairs of government: "Wir haben ein absolutes Tyrannerl, wir haben ein unverantwortliches Ministeriumerl, ein Bureaukratieerl, ein Zensurerl, Stadtschulderln, weit über unsere Kräfterln, also müssen wir auch ein Revolutionerl und durchs Revolutionerl ein Konstitutionerl und endlich a Freiheiterl krieg'n" (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 144). Nestroy employed the comic title to indicate the affected selfimportance of his contemporaries. By endowing the characters whom he wished to satirize with high-sounding but absurd titles, he made clear their superficiality in forms like Professor der höheren Schwimmkunst for a pedantic specialist (Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, Xin, p. 313); a jealous husband is a Techniker der Eifersucht (Kampl, VII, p. 393), and even a common thief is politely referred to as Euere Diebigkeit (Höllenangst, V, p. 364). Unusual feminine genders which reveal malice, Krokodilin, and stupidity, Nichtbisfünfzählenkönnerin are not uncommon. Such inventiveness contributes to the liveliness of the dialogue and the impression that language thus employed characterizes effectively man's hilarious, incongruous nature.

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The Language of Comic Self-Betrayal Raimund's attitude toward language was basically that of an artist, and Nestroy's that of a thinker with an extraordinarily lucid mind. While it would be an oversimplification to accept the foregoing statement as final truth, it does serve as a starting point for an appreciation of a most central concern regarding the dramatic nature of Nestroy's language. Neither the appealing qualities of conventional Austrian humor alone, nor the satiric electrifying of the dialogue, nor its extreme plasticity describe the essence of comic expression as Nestroy conceived it. As language-conscious as Raimund was, Nestroy may be termed infinitely more so. The wisest of his characters ponder the nature of language and its limitations. They experience the comic dilemma which occurs when the same word or expression signifies both joy and sorrow; they grope for words to express their thoughts and find the results inadequate, because no word conveys the fine shading of meaning they wish to express; they are aware of the comic absurdity created when others reverse the meanings of words to suit their own convenience, as in the following example: "Freilich, G'fälligkeit und Schuldigkeit, das wird jetzt so oft untereinand'g'worfen, dass man sich nicht mehr recht auskennt. Einem Kellner a Trinkgeld geben, das nimmt er als Schuldigkeit; dass er ein' 's Glas ordentlich hinstellt auf'n Tisch, das is eine Gefälligkeit..." (Nur Ruhe!, XII, p. 12). Above all, they perceive that speech betrays personality and they know the means through which such betrayal can be encouraged and exploited. As Nestroy himself observed: Ich spende in der Regel nie physische Püffe, ich halte es mit den geistigen Hieben, und diese auszuteilen geben uns die lieben Mitmenschen Gelegenheit im überfluss. Da glauben die meisten, zum Schlagen braucht man einen Stock, eine Reitgerte oder die Hand; weit gefehlt. Die eigenen Worte des Menschen sind das, womit man sie am triftigsten schlagen kann. {Umsonst!, XIV, p. 439). Fortunately for the development of hilarious situations, no one in the plays communicates with absolute astuteness, and to a greater or lesser degree each illustrates the realization of Nestroy's idea of comic self-betrayal.

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One method of exposing an absurd viewpoint through speech is to stress it by contrasting dialogue. While Raimund's chief use of incongruous dialogue was to illustrate the grotesque humor resulting from the mental isolation of his characters, Nestroy utilized the same technique but added a new emphasis. As in Raimund's plays, persons misunderstand each other because they converse on different levels, and one recognizes the note of dissonance common to Raimund that is struck when a husband and wife refer to life's consolations, since she is speaking of love and he of brandy (Färber, X, p. 217). More characteristic of Nestroy is the dialogue in which elevated and prosaic speech are woven into a single conversation in order to show that one character is as lacking in imagination as the other in common sense. Leicht, the poet, whose dream is to produce a perfect magic play for the Folk Theater, reads the dialogue of his latest work aloud to his wife, Therese, who has no interest in poetry and is concerned only with how her impractical husband will pay the rent. A clever linking of the grandiose stage action with Leicht's desperate financial situation occurs in such a manner that the poet's real-life appears as a parody of these events (Lorbeerbaum, III, p. 348). Leich (in poetischer Begeisterung, ohne auf sie zu hören). Der Zauberer erscheint. Therese. Der Schneider und der Schuster kommen auch herauf. Leicht (wie oben). Zwei Furien kommen aus der Versenkung. Therese. Der Hausherr wirft uns hinaus. Leicht (wie oben). Ein Ungeheuer naht sich. Therese (lamentierend) ... is die letzte Kerzen im Haus. Leicht (wie oben). Griechisches Feuer beleuchtet das Ganze. In other examples the manner in which individuals speak is not contrasted, but the comic result is impressive. When Natzi and Dorothea rejoice at the prospect of being married, they converse on different levels of understanding. He wishes through marriage to prove he is grown-up, and she intends to make her girl-friends jealous (Eulenspiegel, IX, p. 138). In this instance an ironic contrast is created between the seriousness of marriage and the superficial motives for consummating it. Nestroy's contrasted dialogues are designed to satirize stereotyped, materialistic thinking, whereas Rai-

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mund emphasized through the same technique the confusions that lead one to experience the world as tragicomic. Comic self-betrayal can be especially effective when someone speaks the truth without realizing its implications. Usually the Nestroy figures are sufficiently astute to avoid self-incrimination, although the Scholz characters regularly victimize themselves through their choice of words. When Eisenkopf proudly announces that he heads the household since his wife's death, his naivete rather than his manner of expression is amusing (Verbannung, I, p. 211). In other instances a word or expression has an uncomplementary connotation of which the speaker is unaware. Thus a brewery owner when mentioning the color of his relative's hair unwittingly calls his kinfolk stupid: "Lauter dunkle Köpfe, kein lichter Kopf zu finden soweit die Freundschaft reicht" (Talisman, X, p. 462). In other instances the one who blurts out the truth then tries to conceal it. A parvenu butcher speaks of his former trade at an embarrassing moment, and hastily attempts to correct his blunder: "Was is ein Wirt gegen einen Fleischsei ... sprich ich [ji'c], gegen einen Partikulier" (Liebesgeschichten, XI, p. 392). Though Nestroy is traditionally praised for wit and sophistication, it is clear that he did not reject the naive personality in the Folk Theater, because his technique of language presupposes a multitude of such individuals. Interesting revelation of character develops out of dialogue illustrating the discrepancy between an individual's urgent desire to express himself and his lack of sufficient opportunity. Though the technique of permitting one speaker to frustrate another in his efforts to converse dates back to the beginnings of comedy, Nestroy's application of it is dramatically convincing, because he not only demonstrates the comic confusion in attempts to communicate but also represents rigidity of thought and intolerance of coherent thinking. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in Freiheit in Krähwinkel (V, p. 146), when Ultra attempts to give an oration on the subject of freedom. Continually interrupted, he never gets beyond the first line of his speech. The abrupt manner in which he is perpetually hindered is humorous, but it suggests a grotesque paradox as well: the masses give lip-service to progress while resisting implacably the free exchange of ideas upon which it is based.

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Nestroy's technique of dialogue is dedicated not merely to exposing exaggerations and contradictions but to emphasizing them in dramatic contrasts. Those who speak in a highly emotional, sentimentalized fashion, receive dispassionate monosyllabic replies (.Zauberreise, I, p. 388). Through such juxtaposition Nestroy held up to ridicule the fashionable but superficial Ritter und Räuber Stücke. Occasionally the speech of two independent dialogues is hilariously crossed and recrossed in such a way that one shows the absurdity of the other. The question of a girl to her suitor as to whether he is truly aware of her identity is answered by her father ordering dinner at the next table when the latter cries out: "Eine Gans; die muss aber fett sein, ungeheuer fett" (Treulose, VI, p. 164). The deliberate tangling of the lines of communication thus becomes an excellent weapon of parody and satire. Although some of the characters have typical Austrian names, one notes many of special comic significance. Whereas Raimund emphasized unusual qualities through names, Nestroy satirized commonplaceness and weaknesses. His methods for achieving this were varied and imaginative. The audience is reminded of the prosaic nature of persons designated as Pumpf, Rumpf, Klopf, Kessel, Grob. A name may be indicative of an unpleasant personality or annoying habits: a complaining wife is Bisgurnia, Pantsch a dishonest innkeeper, Richtaus a malicious gossiper, Maxenpfutsch a spendthrift, Edelschein a hypocrite. Although Nestroy, like Raimund, supplied his characters with the names of birds, animals, and insects, he selected those suggesting their drab ordinariness or irksomeness — Maus, Spatz, Hornissl, Mehlwurm. While it is difficult for a non-Austrian to determine the exact value of names with diminutive endings, since these forms are especially common in Southern Germany and Austria, within the context of Nestroy's plays they emphasize the small-mindedness of individuals called Schreiberl, Knöpfel, Fassl. As earlier critics have observed,21 many persons bear a name suggesting their occupation. Thus Madame Klang is a singing teacher, Kopfl a baker, Krautkopf a farmer. An intensification of this technique is discernible when a particularly routine character11

Otto Forst de Battaglia, Johann Nestroy, p. 120.

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istic activity of a profession is alluded to: hence Hackauf is a butcher and Streusand is a notary. The wealthy are referred to humorously: Geldsack, Goldfisch, Dukatenstein; but lack of worldly goods is also perceived in a comic light through appellations like Schlucker, Bittmann, and a poor nobleman is von Nix. Foreigners are assigned names making their nationality instantly obvious, because they call to mind a popular association. Thus Frenchmen are Millefleurs, Point d'honneur, Bonbon, Odeur. Englishmen are Punschington, Kipflton, Inslbull. Babushka is Bohemian. Maccaroni, Parmensano, and Salamucci, the owner of a salami factory, are Italians. Exaggerations of temperament are revealed in Braus, Froh, Trxib, Schlaf. Occasionally the absurd nature of a character is expressed through comic-sounding names like Fitzliputzli, Rummelpuff, Ramram. The inns mentioned comically expose the weaknesses of their proprietors through names like Zur unbestimmten Ordnung and Zur langen Nase. While most of the names considered here suggest qualities of those held up to ridicule, even when Nestroy felt a close sense of identification with the protagonist he preferred plain names that bespeak modesty and common sense, like Schlicht, Herb, Kern. The foregoing examples are, of course, but a sampling of the total to be found in the plays, but they reflect their author's keen sense for satirically dramatizing the boorish materialism of his contemporaries. Because of the importance of depicting the prosaic essence of the characters in a humorous fashion, the repetition of words and expressions illustrating this is of special significance. The manner in which emotion becomes part of a stereotyped pattern is evident when followers slavishly repeat the sentiments of their leader (Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 7). The monotonous reply of the allegorical personage Melancholy to all questions asked of him, ranging from his taste in coffee to his outlook for the future, is "Schwarz" (Derkonfuse Zauberer, I, p. 250). The rigidity of his one-level thinking is thus amusingly emphasized in an appropriate way. When Holofernes speaks of the fear he will strike into the hearts of his enemies, the chorus dwells on the word Schrecken to the point of absurdity (Judith, IV, p. 165). As in the plays of Raimund, one finds a character's recurrent remark employed for comic effect.

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However, in Nestroy's works it occurs with much greater frequency and variation. At the simplest level are burlesque remarks which add to the absurdity of the characters: 1st Leberwurst!, Das ist dumm!, Au weh — mein Kopf.22 The characters' limited views of the world are amusingly exposed when they insist repeatedly on the validity of their prejudices. Thus a travelling salesman learns nothing from his travels except the superiority of Fischament, his birthplace, and final judgment for him is contained in the phrase So war das nicht in Fischament (JLorbeerbaum, III, p. 336). The repeated expression shows the mechanical responses of the characters, especially when it occurs in situations where the remark cannot possibly be relevant, as in the case of the servant, Melchior, who adds to nearly every comment the pronouncement, Das ist klassisch (Einen Jux, XI, p. 124ff.). The chief distinction between Raimund's and Nestroy's use of the recurrent expression concerns the type of character revelation achieved. Raimund invites the audience to behold an amusing self-deception; Nestroy stresses the hypocrisy of individuals whose actions contrast sharply with their words. So wide is the gulf between speech and action that concepts are inverted and gain a new, ironic meaning, when, for example, a rogue punctuates each lie with the exclamation, Auf Ehre (Zauberreise, I, p. 411). Nestroy made the stock expression an effective satiric weapon against pretense and calculated deception. Nestroy's uses of parodistic language to reveal character are more sophisticated and vastly more extensive than Raimund's. While Raimund relied principally upon mixing but a few levels of speech to produce parody, Nestroy was a tireless inventor of countless new and amusing sources of language distortion. Characters are permitted to exploit the technical vocabularies of philosophy, theology, the theater, and the natural sciences. Equipped with impressivesounding phrases, they indulge in sheer verbal nonsense, inventing new terms that are meaningless except for the degree to which they parodistically expose the exclusive language of the professions. A lover receives from his beloved a bouquet of flowers and identifies the species as Rotodendronspeciossissimumsapraloidesrubamuska" Zauberreise, I, p. 381; Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 282; Zerrissene, XII, p. 273.

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blühflora (Martha, IV, p. 139). Mixed levels of speech produce hilarious results: a drunk threatens to beat his wife while speaking in the manner of an astronomer (Weltuntergang, II, p. 114). More frequently the stilted language of the bureaucrat and the pedant are introduced into situations where one would expect emotional excitement. Thus a girl accepts a marriage proposal like an official approving a contract ( Weltuntergangstag, II, p. 141). Most amusing are confessions of love from persons so dedicated to material interests that they can speak only by referring to them. A single example will illustrate the technique as a whole. An aging landlord who finds his heart victimized by love cannot forget, even when referring to his passion, that he is still a landlord, and he describes his feelings accordingly: "In mein' Herzen war's schon lang Zehn vorbei, 's Tor war zug'sperrt, alle meine Gefühle sind in einem Rosschlaf g'legen, auf einmal läut't's an bei mei'm Herzentor, wer war's? Kommt die Lieb' noch so spät herein und bringt mir alle Gefühle aus'n Schlaf" ( Wohnung zu vermieten, IX, p. 311). Humorous distortions occur when a character addresses himself in the third person in the manner of a small child; or, through a series of witty associations, he may mention himself or another individual as an inanimate object. An intriguer speaks of himself as a champagne bottle being opened at a party, since his ideas have fermented and he is ready to 'pour out' his plans (Kampl, VII, p. 395). In another situation a jealous lover is addressed as a pipe stuffed with tobacco, whose mixture is ignited by the flames of anger (Haus der Temperamente, X, p. 72). Nestroy is generally regarded by critics as a parodistic writer. Indeed, Judith, a travesty on Hebbel's Judith und Holofernes, is among his most famous works. His comic versions of Wagner's Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, Grillparzer's Ein treuer Diener seiner Herrn,23 and his parodistic treatment of many French plays and novels testify to the rightness of this opinion. However, he set limits to these interests which are worth noting here, because they help to clarify the way in which his dramatic technique relates to Raimund's. Unlike Raimund, Nestroy exposed weaknesses in contemporary M Der Einsilbige oder Ein dummer Diener seines Herrn (1829). The text is counted as a lost manuscript in NGW, I, p. 190.

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dramatic literature wherever he found them. Yet with respect to Goethe and Schiller, one finds virtually no parody of the former, though the Faust theme, for example, was frequently parodied in the Folk Theater, 24 and Nestroy's treatment of the latter's writings does not differ essentially in technique from Raimund's. Quotations recognizable by anyone possessing even a passing acquaintance with Schiller are woven into the dialogue. Humor results from the contrast between the emotional fervor of the Schillerian lines and the earthy speech of the Nestroy characters. In another aspect of his technique, a few brief references to Schiller's ballad Ritter Toggenburg by a bride who demands a castle for a wedding present make clear her gross materialism, for she threatens to behave exactly as did Toggenburg, who continually fixed his gaze upon a castle until his death. The contrast in motivation produces a clever comic discrepancy, since Toggenburg sacrificed his life not for wealth but ideal love. Not the weaknesses of the poet but the almost fanatical greed of the character who reads her own avaricious meaning into the poem are exposed. As for additional treatment of Schiller, though Nestroy criticized the manner in which the heroine in Kabale und Liebe ends her life by drinking poisoned lemonade, "D'Lemonadi macht alles so schaurig" (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 179), such instances are rare, and one even finds characters who quote Schiller to prove their point in a serious discussion (Der alte Mann, V, p. 449). One may conclude that without abandoning his sense of humor Nestroy, despite his reputation for scepticism, was not necessarily less susceptible to the greatness of the German classicists than Raimund, and included occasional parody mainly to emphasize the immodesty of his own characters. The discrepancies revealed in the dialogues provide a nearly inexhaustible source of humor. Words and phrases that at first glance appear antithetical are ingeniously combined to render a new comic meaning, and it becomes apparent that the manifold aspects of this technique are designed to underscore the idea that the ways of the world are hilariously incongruous. Of a classical scholar it is said M

Bauerle, Doktor Fausts Mantel (1817); Gleich, Doktor Fausts Schlafhaube (1819).

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that he makes his living from dead languages ( Verwickelte Geschichte, V, p. 573); and a man-about-town is observed coming home every night in broad daylight (Nur Keck, XIV, p. 169). Moreover, abstractions are employed where one would normally expect a concrete word, and the contrast between expectations and result is highlighted in a witty fashion. Thus a character announces that he detects the odor of mortgage in a room because numerous creditors have been there (Weltuntergangstag, II, p. 150). Adjectives that imply obedient acquiescence modify nouns suggesting malicious intent: untertänigste, gehorsamste Feindschaft (Weltuntergangstag, II, p. 100). Amusing distortions are created by doubling the description of physical attributes: Gib mir zwei Herzen und vier Arme ( Verwickelte Geschichte, V, p. 552). The manner in which a character speaks contrasts humorously with his appearance when Zwirn, an enormously fat tailor, sings a Viennese ditty with a light, tripping, anapestic meter (Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 13). Other discrepancies are produced when the gulf between word and deed betrays the mundane nature of persons who seek to appear grandiose. One finds those who speak bravely of fighting a duel while eating soup (Die Anverwandten, V, p. 38), and others who praise justice but silence anyone who contradicts them. A source of comic revelation in the plays concerns the manner in which people emphasize the unimportant. In referring to a series of love letters, a servant describes them in terms of an irrelevant classification, stressing their external appearance at a time when only the contents are important (Der konfuse Zauberer, I, p. 271). Unprecise speech discloses the disorderly minds of individuals who add to each statement remarks like oder was, oder wie. Some fall victim to the double meaning implied in their speech. A pedantic schoolmaster appears in a ridiculous light when he observes while taking attendance, "Ich sehe schon wieder einige, die nicht da sind" (Die schlimmen Buben, XHI, p. 217). Others appeal to reason while speaking nonsense: Knieriem reasons that since astronomy is his only passion, he should renounce beer and drink wine (Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 32). Nestroy was aware that an absurdity uttered in the name of reason can be strongly expressed, because the rational and the irrational are directly contrasted. One finds linking of the

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important and the unimportant in what might be termed antipathetic speech. The technique is a variant of Nestroy's use of comic diminutives, and its function is to demonstrate the small-mindedness of characters which remains constant even when they are dealing with larger issues: a bisserl zehn Jahr, ein wenig tot schlagen, Gehen Sie etwas durch mit mir. People speak of the boundlessness of their joy, sorrow, fear, and love, but simultaneously restrict their feelings to shallow limits of time, place, and social class. A youth confesses his love in such contradictory terms when he mentions that on a trip he cannot forget his beloved until he reaches the next town {Lorbeerbaum, III, p. 373). When the journeymen in Lumpazivagabundus (II, p. 31) win a large sum of money, no superlative is adequate to express their joy, but each wishes to celebrate by inviting only the members of his own profession. The mourning of a widower is expressed as stereotyped behavior in the expression vierzehntägige Untröstlichkeit (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 104). The significant and the trivial are also combined to reveal materialistic attitudes through incongruous listings in which one or more elements contrast comically with others in a series. Thus the praise of a count's niece seems absurd in the toast, Es lebe hoch die Nichte und das Pferd (Tannhäuser, IV, p. 217). Occasionally the incongruous listing achieves its effect through a play on words. The four continents are described as Europa, Asina, Afrika und Paprika (Eulenspiegel, IX, p. 97). In other examples a series that contains no dissimilar parts appears absurd through the manner in which the meaning of the series is interpreted. Thus the Golden, Silver, and Copper Ages refer not to stages of mankind's development but the wages of a maid-servant (Wohnung zu vermieten, IX, p. 345). As the preceding examples suggest, not the least of Nestroy's abilities consisted in dramatically transforming drab, platitudinous reality into art. Without sacrificing clarity and common sense, he utilized the associative power of words to unmask the incongruous and the superficial.

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CONCLUSION

Despite a surprising variety of language techniques which both writers inherited from the Folk Theater, one can discern three main currents for each. In the case of Raimund, localization, vividly dramatic imagery, and the animation of speech through humor; for Nestroy, skillfully employed traditional Austrian humor, the language of comic superiority, and comic self-betrayal. Both writers sought to gain the sympathy and interest of the audience by employing the speech of everyday people and by referring to local institutions, topography, and habits in an attempt to make the audience more conscious of sharing in a common Austrian culture. While the devices for characterization through language are in many cases identical — the comic name, oath, title, pun, incongruous dialogue, and favorite expression — the radically different viewpoints of Raimund and Nestroy caused each to utilize these techniques in a sharply contrasting manner. With imaginative variation Raimund wove his comic devices into near-tragic scenes, thereby causing the spectators who demanded only amusement to become more interested in his view of man as a suffering creature in an unpredictable universe. The question and the aside serve to hold attention. Fine shadings of emphasis and meaning are implied in the stage directions, and the speech of the characters inevitably contributes to the stage scene, rendering what is witnessed more intense. As a satiric writer, Nestroy exposes the shortcomings of his contemporaries through deliberately unpoetic dialogue, witty antithesis, vividly aggressive figures of speech, provocative aphorisms, definitions and questions that reveal the weaknesses of entire classes of people. While both writers utilized the idea of comic self-betrayal through language, Raimund concentrated on disclosing the naïveté and tragic isolation of his characters, whereas Nestroy created a web of hilarious incongruities by crossing and recrossing the dialogues, parodying the speech of professions and exclusive groups, exploiting the confusions created by imprecise speech, faulty reasoning, and words with double meanings to suggest the stilted, mechanical thought and behavior of his age.

5 STAGE

RAIMUND'S STAGE

Stage and Scene Raimund expressed himself most forcefully not in words but directly through the stage scene itself. He is not the author of aphorisms or unusual thoughts, despite the attempt of a recent publisher to represent him as such.1 Yet his ability to communicate familiar ideas and emotions in imaginative stage settings is unexcelled in the history of the Austrian theater. Critics seeking a thinker in him have always been disappointed; those regarding him as an artist, creating scenes of beauty and power through a variety of visual techniques, have come closer to understanding the major intent of his art. In the construction of each play, the basic unit is not the act nor the individual scene, although his works contain of course these formal divisions; more important is the stage scene, the Bühnenbild, accompanied by all the effects of a centuries-old theatrical tradition. Critics have shown remarkable consistency in praising those scenes of Raimund which depict life in dramatic portraits, blending the real and the fantastic, such as Wurzel's loss of youth, his appearance as an ashman (Mädchen, II, p. 22Iff., 248), and the recognition scene between Flottwell and Valentin (Verschwender, II, p. 425ff.). Most of the plays have a well-organized structure; dialogue and action form a unity with the stage setting. The action in Alpen1

H. Christian Mettin, Ferdinand Raimund und Johann Nestroy Wiener Brevier (Munich, 1957).

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konig, for example, is related to a fundamental clash between Rappelkopf and his environment, and is reducible to three central scenes with his family, nature, and his dual personality, respectively. Raimund was aware of an architectonic quality that grew as each new stage scene was fitted into the structure of his plays. As the poet himself expressed it, each successive element must be fitted into the whole, like a block of marble into a wall (Phantasie, I, p. 366). The stage setting was most important to Raimund because it formed the base upon which to develop dialogue and action. This becomes more understandable when one considers the tradition to which his works belong. The plays were performed in Vienna in three principal Folk Theaters — the Leopoldstadter Theater, the Josefstadter Theater, and the Theater an der Wien. The stage of each was well adapted to representing not only the plainest everyday scenes, but also the most grandiose ones, occurring in the realms of the good and evil spirits. One recognizes the same division as on the Baroque stage, where action occurs in Heaven and Hell as well as on Earth. The Baroque and the Folk Theater stage are designed for actors who transcend the limitations of time and space, shifting from the domains of everyday reality to those of imagination. The aim of both stages is didactic, but an important difference should be noticed. Whereas the Baroque Theater demonstrates with religious fervor that salvation is attained only by renouncing this world and preparing for the next, the Folk Theater exploits comically the impression that man is the plaything of the supernatural, and the grim emphasis upon memento mori is shifted to a glorification of the ideals of a complacent bourgeois society. Considering the Folk Theater writers collectively, one finds that only Raimund and Nestroy presented within comic happenings a serious and selfformed view of man's place in the universe. Raimund proved himself a master of stage technique during an age that developed the most spectacular scenes in the history of the Folk Theater. What did the poet depict, and why do his scenes still appear fresh and original to present-day audiences, whereas those of his contemporaries are all but forgotten? In the first place, he did not reject the tradition of the spectacular event, nor could he afford to, for audiences demanded and received lavish displays. The extent

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that Raimund used these scenes to good advantage is evident from even the briefest survey of his works. According to his will, the stage became a Gothic cathedral, an enchanted forest, or an Indian temple. An exceptionally wide stage, characteristic of the Folk Theater, made it possible for audiences to witness fiery volcanoes, towering precipices, and inundating floods. These sights were accompanied by transformations too elaborate to be performed in most modern theaters. As if by magic, ruins turn into a vast tent of roses, an erupting volcano becomes an ocean of silver, and a cloud emerges as a black stallion with golden reins. The mechanical means for shifting the complex scenery with rapidity and ease were the carefully guarded secrets of each theater. Even today it is still argued as to how such elaborate transformations were engineered. In a scene where a magic torch transforms gloomy reality into an opulent dream {Krone, II, p. 245), an episode entailing five sets of scenery with four rapid changes, the precise timing and swiftness of execution necessary to make each shift of scenery credible is emphasized by the following stage directions: auf einen Schlag, schnell, sodass die Verwandlmg kaum dasAuge belauschen kann, im Nu, and schnelle Verwandlung. Modern performances of Raimund have often suffered because a narrower stage and less machinery could not make clear the virtuosity of his stagecraft. A second type of scene shows the threadbare reality of the common folk. The stage becomes a fisherman's hut, a beer hall, or the shop of a tailor or carpenter. No attempt is made to utilize these scenes as a protest against social injustice or the unequal distribution of wealth: the characters accept their humble surroundings as completely natural. Raimund was not interested in social problems or even in reality for its own sake. Rather, his poetry expresses his belief in the recurrent Austrian theme that illusion is more precious than reality. The folk scenes are significant because of the manner in which they contribute to the total impression. Contrasting scenes of the real and the spectacular, juxtaposing the drab and the exotic, Raimund enhanced his scenes by framing them with their opposites, thereby making the audience more keenly aware of the uniqueness to each new setting. His stage contains a wide variety of natural background. The

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idyllic representation of nature, favored during the Baroque age because it suggested asylum from a chaotic environment, was incorporated without change (Phantasie, I, p. 333). In addition, the stage setting contains the homely realism of the Biedermeier idyll; a cottage nestled in the Valley of Satisfaction is portrayed complete with lilies and fluttering doves (Madchen, I, p. 211). As is to be expected of an artist who experiments in order to achieve versatility, Raimund was not always successful. A scene in which a nobleman, disguised as a hunter, courts his love in the wilderness upon a bench garlanded with flowers is affected and sentimental (Verschwender, II, p. 367). Nonetheless, moving in other directions, Raimund became a bold innovator of nature scenes. A remarkably high percentage of the action in his plays occurs out-of-doors. Unlike his predecessors, for whom nature was mainly a decorative element, Raimund was genuinely devoted to it. His letters and verses contain enthusiastic descriptions of the sprawling forests, snow-capped peaks and swift mountain streams of the Vienna Woods and the Styrian Alps, where his tormented mind and plagued body sought solace from real and imagined sufferings. It is well-known that scenes from Moisasur and Alpenkdnig were written in a country churchyard, and the entire Verschwender was created at Gaaden in the peaceful woodlands of the Briihl. In Gutenstein, a nearby hamlet where he maintained a country estate, he wrote "An Gutenstein", a lyrical representation of nature as the bride upon whose bosom he would rest in death. Raimund concentrated upon making his landscapes as real to the audience as possible. As his skill developed, he was attracted less to the landscape of far-off islands and more to the forests and mountains near Vienna. All of the scenes in his first play occur on a tropical island, whereas in two later works, Alpenkdnig and Moisasur, the setting becomes chiefly the Austrian Alps. Since individualized nature backgrounds occur in each of his plays, they must be considered not a dramatic whim but an essential feature of the poet's stagecraft. One notices in the stage directions a sense of identification with the landscape and the attempt to personalize and humanize it. Note especially the adjectives in typical stage direction like eine reizende

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Gebirgslandschaft, ein romantisches Tal or liebliches Gebirge. The animation of nature is effectively represented, for the earth, the clouds and the cliffs are peopled with genii conjured up when a magic word is uttered, or appearing of their own accord to tease the other characters. Beyond the humor of such gay episodes, Raimund dramatized the idea that in the forms of nature spirits dwell who wait to emerge as physical realities. Aside from the general atmosphere provided by the natural backgrounds, Raimund used the landscape to dramatize special conditions : as a character grows old, the forest through which he walks becomes autumnal (Madchen, I, p. 232). Emotions are also reflected in the stage setting: an angry mountain spirit unleashes torrential rains and a hurricane as visible evidence of his wrath (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 153). The stage setting may illustrate a central theme. Raimund's Baroque representation of transitoriness and the fickleness of fortune is especially memorable: a reversal of fortune is illustrated when a beautiful garden is transformed in a twinkling into a foul swamp (Phantasie, I, p. 326); a mighty castle crumbles without the slightest pause before a sudden inundation {Krone, II, p. 271). Scenes change with the characters, and a Seelenlandschaft is created to emphasize a quality, an idea, or a condition by magnifying it in the external world. The scenic contrasts Raimund employed are fundamental ones. They include day and night, opulence and poverty, country and city, nature in violence and tranquillity, the indoor and outdoor scene. Moisasur affords an excellent example of the last-mentioned technique, when the confined armosphere of a courtroom (Act III) is contrasted with a spacious Alpine terrain (Act I). Such contrasts are characteristic of a poet who saw life simply but intensely as an awesome juxtaposition of opposites. A further unusual feature of Raimund's scenic art is his tendency to portray nature without limits. Individual scenes appear to be widened beyond the natural boundaries of the stage. The first nature scene of Alpenkdnig exhibits this idea. Lischen runs away, a bird flies up, a mountain rises in the background. In contrast to the normal tendency of the Folk Theater to stress the foreground, Raimund placed particular emphasis upon the background, giving his

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scenes an especially realistic quality; seldom did he neglect to include in the distance the mountains, lakes, and forests. While Raimund's theater may suggest that life is a dreamlike and chaotic illusion, the mad and miraculous events that befall his characters are portrayed lucidly. A methodical planner, he knew how to invest his scenes with a convincing symbolic quality. If Raimund borrowed elements of the erratic and irrational from a world of dreams, his imagination also seized upon its super-real clarity. The stage settings enhance character portrayal by symbolizing an extreme aspect of personality as in the case of Flottwell (Verschwender, II, p. 419), whose lavish castle devoted to the heedless pursuit of pleasure is a reflection of his own soul. A second castle is built to intensify the significance of his extravagance. In later years, when hard times descend upon him, the castle of his youth falls away to ruins much as his own life becomes a shambles. In this typical example of his stage technique, Raimund was not content to symbolize statically the conflicts of the soul; he permitted the scenery to mirror the protagonist's tragic awareness that his life was wasted. One cannot fail to realize that the castle filled with parasites and sycophants, and all the scenes relating to it suggest the poet's impression that the gifted individual inevitably wastes his genius upon an ungrateful, materialistic society. A view of the world is thus expressed through the scenery; in this sense Raimund's theater is metaphysical, but never abstract. What a singular talent the poet possessed for transmuting abstractions into reality by means of the stage setting! Many of his scenes have an allegorical quality. Ingratitude is represented by a character standing beneath the wall of the city which has exploited his naive generosity, stolen his gifts, and exiled him. A gatekeeper appears on the wall threatening to unleash tigers upon him. In this particular context, the wall is not mere decoration but a symbol to indicate the thanklessness and insensitivity of the masses; it signifies the artist's loss of contact with the people and further holds for him the threat of being destroyed by those whom he has sought to befriend. The clear, simple, yet meaningful lines of this scene bespeak with allegorical directness the ingratitude of man. With poignancy Raimund transformed into scenic allegory other abstractions such

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as memory {Alpenkönig, II, p. 152ff.), vengeance (Krone, II, p. 323ff.), death (Moisasur, II, p. 58ff.), and mediocrity (Phantasie, I, p. 372ff.). It is an error to think of Raimund only as a practical theater director. He was more than a manipulator of scenes, for he transformed the lifeless staging into dramatic and original visions. Like a prophet, the poet holds up to the audience the image of its pettiness and boorishness. However, he offers as well consoling scenes of fidelity, patience, and gratitude. In order not to be misunderstood, he created a world in which the good is the beautiful and the evil is ugly. His representation of good and evil is hence more that of an artist than of a philosopher. His characters succumb to evil not when they fail to recognize it in time, but when it is too powerful for them to resist. During the first scene in which Moisasur appears, no one can doubt that he is intended to be the incarnation of evil; he emerges with a crash of thunder from a black cloud as a hideous scaly dragon. In order to claim a victim, he sends four black figures hurrying across the stage to carry out his will (Moisasur, II, p. 12). One recognizes here a technique of the Baroque stage, an appeal to the senses with all the eloquence of scenic art that man should fear to do evil and love the good. A scene depicting the fidelity of a husband to his wife is described as a symbol when the poet, dwelling upon the beauty of this moment, remarks: "O, könnten doch alle die lieblichen Frauen dies seltene Beispiel von Männertreu schauen" (Moisasur, II, p. 43). In a like manner, Raimund employs the stage scene to warn his audiences that selfishness makes men blind {Diamant, I, p. 143), or to express the idea that satisfaction means enjoying life with simplicity and naturalness (Mädchen, I, p. 21 Iff.). Raimund's stagecraft may be best described as his imaginative representation of good and evil forces influencing the lives of his unsuspecting folk characters.

Costumes and Stage Properties One is struck by the careful attention which Raimund devoted to the stage properties of his plays and the unusual and varied effects

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he achieved. To begin with, his costumes reveal him as an artist who knew how to represent the drama of form, texture, weight, and color. Decidedly more than mere surface embellishment, they are a description in fabrics of what the speeches and movements express in words and actions. It must be admitted that Raimund's interest in stage costumes was limited to three areas, but these are considerable ones: the artistic, the humorous, and the psychological. Never does he dwell upon the details of folk costumes, and in most cases they are not mentioned at all. It would be wrong, however, to conclude that Raimund assigned no importance to them. His approach was a simple one, yet startling in its directness. It is a well known fact that numerous artists attracted by an exceptional pictorial quality have portrayed his scenes and characters. Witness Moritz von Schwind's painting, Raimund als Aschenmann. Many art lovers who have had no contact with Raimund's plays are familiar with the striking portrait of Wurzel (Madchen) transformed into an ashman. Imagine this downcast old man, his back bent with the weight of a large ash tub as he plods along with a rake crooked in his right arm. The angular lines of his patched jacket, the ragged ends of his leather apron, the battered hat askew upon his head, and his long protruding strands of unkempt hair suggest a man whose exterior is alive with meaning. Here utter simplicity in costume design joins the absurdity and the sorrow of man in a single dramatic moment. Raimund often painted his scenes in intense colors, selecting the costumes of his characters to harmonize with their backgrounds or on occasion to present contrasts. In Diamant, the home of conceit and falsehood is drab and its inhabitants live in windowless houses and dress in dreary clothing. When genuine lovers of truth and naturalness arrive from the outside world, this is indicated by their costumes. Descending from the golden cabin of a dark blue balloon trimmed with white, Kolibri emerges with a bright red flag; he is followed by Eduard wearing a green suit and white leggings; the scene is completed by Florian in a red coat with gold buttons. Such costuming is dynamic. It demonstrates the principle that on the stage clothes must be translated into something which they were not before; something must be added to them which was not previously apparent. To be more specific, the costuming enhances the dramatic

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mood of the scene and contributes to the idea reemphasized in the scenes following, that falsehood is to truth as gloom to the colors of the rainbow. For Raimund, costume was an important form of artistic expression. He often refers to the clothing of a character as malerisch, or picturesque. Even the old lady of the mountains (Verschwender) is described in her ragged garments as malerisch zerlumpt. Like an artist who may be recognized by his characteristic colors, Raimund tended to employ those which supported popular beliefs: white is equated with purity, black with evil, blue relates to fidelity, green signifies envy, and red is hate or anger. One notices native costumes such as those of the Oberländer Küchelmädchen (Diamant, I, p. 130) or the Swabian merchant {Mädchen). To these the poet added the colorful costumes of other nationalities — Greek, Egyptian, and Spanish. It is not enough merely to suggest Raimund's aesthetic pleasure in beautiful costumes. They are an organic part of the scene in which they occur. The perfect costume should have a quality difficult to define in words, but should produce a harmonious, easily perceived effect. That Raimund's scenes and even the details of the costumes have remained firmly in the minds of the audience has been attested to by many who witnessed the original performances and also by later critics.2 Although Raimund's interest in the comic aspects of costuming were decidedly subordinate to his aesthetic concerns, his technique of humor also deserves consideration. One expects of the practiced dramatist that he will extend a line here or heighten a quality there; he will intensify a tone; he will eliminate and underscore; he will do whatever is necessary to say the dramatic thing that is necessary to the moment. The poet achieved this by demonstrating the incongruities of his characters as revealed in their clothing: a king of plain tastes and boorish manners wears an outlandish house coat (Barometermacher, I, p. 51); an insensitive misanthrope evicts a poor family for a handful of coins and then appears wearing the unfortunate former owner's coat and tattered night cap (Alpenkönig, II, ' Fritz Brukner, Ferdinand Raimund in der Dichtung seiner (Vienna, 1905).

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p. 146). One should not fail to note that Raimund emphasized in most cases the harmony between the actors and their costumes. Whatever a character is becomes externalized directly through his clothing. Only seldom did the poet emphasize for comic contrast the discrepancy between the appearance of a character and his true nature. His awareness of this technique is nonetheless well illustrated when a trembling coward adorned with a huge boar skin and a golden shield attempts to pose as a popular hero {Krone, II, p. 317). No matter how beautiful a costume may be in form and color, or how comical in appearance, if it has not an underlying Tightness of characterization it will count for nothing in the theater. The emotions and attitudes of the characters must be externalized in their clothing. In this respect, a most effective costume is worn by Wolf (Verschwender, II, p. 422). Behold this decrepit old miser, his goutridden bones wrapped in a thick fur coat, as he rests upon his cane. In the midst of his blossoming rose garden he stands in the warmth of the noonday sun as he shudders from the cold. Raimund has perceived the inner nature of this man and expressed it powerfully. Not only the gout but also avarice has twisted his body, and the breath that chills him is the selfishness and utter loneliness of his own soul. Costumes may be worn in many ways, but above all they must be kept interesting. This is accomplished when development in a character shines through the type of clothing he wears. Raimund devoted as careful attention to a simple transformation as he did to more extravagant ones, making each symbolic of an inner condition. Consider the following examples. When the servant Valentin has decided to become a carpenter, he at once appears dressed in a leather apron carrying the tools of his trade (Verschwender, II, p. 410). When Quecksilber suddenly becomes rich, he loses his common sense and his good taste. This is indicated by his new costume (Barometermacher, I, p. 17). In contrast to his plain appearance in earlier scenes, he now dresses as a young dandy. Boasting of his wealth and wordly experience, he struts about on the stage wearing a three-cornered hat embroidered with diamonds, a gold-colored evening coat, a silver vest, and blue pantaloons. Behind the elabo-

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rateness of Raimund's costumes there is always meaning. For him, clothing became a medium of communication. He attached great importance to the costuming of his allegorical figures, not merely for the sake of spectacle but with the intent of humanizing otherwise colorless abstractions. Less significant characters of the world of spirits and minor allegorical beings wear the typical costumes of the Folk Theater. They are ideal gekleidet, meaning in most cases that they are garbed in black and white, a conventional costume for supernatural beings. Raimund's unusual costumes are the more meaningful when they contrast with conventional ones. In several instances his allegorical figures do not wear the same costume for the entire play. Hate makes his first appearance as he sails onto the stage aboard a red cloud. There can be no doubt that he is the dreaded allegorical creature whose presence causes strife and dissension. A proud and awesome being, he approaches in his long red toga embroidered with gold. Having established the character of hate as a supernatural being, Raimund proceeded to humanize him, and several scenes later he reappears dressed simply in a modern black suit and a hat made of feathers. Only his red hair and beard remind the audience that he is in fact the same character. A variation of the same principle occurs when an allegorical personage is first introduced as a human, engaged in a characteristically human occupation. In this manner the audience first witnesses the Spirit King of the Alps as he stalks mountain goats while dressed in a grey hunter's uniform. Only after he has been observed as a 'flesh and blood' character does he appear as a supernatural monarch complete with an emerald crown, white tunic and a wide blue Grecian robe (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 155). For the purposes of analysis it has been necessary to consider the various aspects of Raimund's technique of costuming separately. In his most remembered scenes they formed a single organic unity with the setting. Raimund's conception of his characters in costume was a poetic one. When Alzinde (Moisasur, II, p. 19) appears as a beggar in humble garments, the radiance and the nobility of her spirit shine through them. When the beggar grieves upon the marble stairs of Flottwell's castle, Raimund carefully indicates his inner nature by mentioning that his clothes are worn and frayed but not

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shabby (Verschwender, II, p. 374). When poetic vision, psychological insight, and sly humor emphasize a simple but metaphysical idea, one encounters the best which Raimund had to offer. Not without cause have the scenes depicting Youth and Age received praise from a wide range of critics. A consideration of the costuming in these scenes provides insight into the essence of Raimund's dramatic style. Nowhere does he present contrasts more effective and complete than here. Announced by the servant Lorenz, Youth dismounts from a wagon filled with flowers and drawn by two black ponies. As she dances blithely onto the stage preceded by six youths and six girls, even the texture and the material of her costume as well as its color and ornamentation are calculated to enhance the idea that the bloom of Youth is being created before one's very eyes. In satin and cashmere and a hat adorned with roses, she calls out gaily to the reluctant farmer Wurzel, who must learn that youth itself is the beginning of death. In the following scene, in which Age appears, a marvellous contrast of costuming and scene is achieved. Shattering the panes of glass, Age flies through the window on a rickety old wagon pulled by two grey nags and filled with withered straw partially covered with snow. Whereas rejoicing youths and maidens in white gowns decked with roses had sported over the stage a moment before, here only a shriveled driver, a sleeping pug, and an owl accompany Age, who wears a fur night cap and a threadbare house coat. One cannot fail to notice how the manner of entrance, the vehicle, the costuming and the description of the characters create the impression of a bold antithesis enhanced by color, form, and texture of scenic materials. Here the stage directions possess the suggestive power of poetry. Whether, as Kataan has maintained, 3 this is the most poetic stage direction in the history of world literature is debatable, but if this be the case it is due in no small measure to original costuming in the service of a metaphysical idea. Every detail contributes to the antithesis of Age and Youth. Raimund's scenes take the terror out of transitoriness but not its mystery, for the grotesque and the beautiful are transmuted into a poetry that cannot be fully understood by analysis alone. Closely associated with the costumes are a wide range of stage • Oskar Kataan, Gesetz im Wandel (Vienna, 1932), p. 183.

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properties adding to the dramatic quality of Raimund's plays. The Folk Theater was dedicated to the principle of the filled stage; the audience must at all times witness action, often spectacular in nature and frequently rendered more impressive by props. While some directly enhance the costuming, indicating the profession or status of a character, as for example the stone-crusher who carries a hammer (Moisasur, II, p. 31), others stress the special nature of a situation : when a character inherits magical gifts, he dons a black sash adorned with magic signs and carries a wand and a horn, the symbols of his new power (Barometermacher, I, p. 9). More significant are stage properties which highlight a character's thoughts and emotions or symbolize his attitude toward the world. Persons burdened by toil or trouble, for example, illustrate this quite literally, because they carry a heavy bundle of wood, an ash tub, a sack of apples, or weighty personal effects. The furniture in a room may become alive with meaning, emphasizing the mental habits of its occupants, as in the case of Rappelkopf, who is first seen beside a massive oldfashioned table (Alpenkönig, II, p. 114). One cannot help noticing that he, like the table, is unyielding and formidable. The properties contribute to the humor of the plays. A favorite technique of Raimund is to have a character appear on the stage burdened with items completely unsuited to the situation in which he finds himself. Thus Florian (Diamant, I, p. 123f.), preparing for a trip, staggers under the weight of several huge parcels, two umbrellas, a boot-jack and a coffee-grinder. His lack of common sense is well illustrated. Properties contribute also to the comedy of incongruous appearance. An evil spirit who turns humans into animals is first observed placidly carrying a watering can and a basket of fruit (Diamant, I, p. 127). The incongruous prop may form a part of the action as in the case of a servant who maintains that his master is ill and will see no one, whereupon another servant betrays the falseness of this remark by serving the master a breakfast of roast goose, pastry, and wine (Mädchen, I, p. 190). It is to Raimund's credit that his humorous props are inevitably backed up by a dramatic revelation of character, and the relationship between characters is made clearer. In a farcical scene, Florian appears carrying a large basket of clothing (Diamant, I, p. 109), and in a quarrel with

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his bride he causes the entire stage to become scattered with laundry. Eventually, when a reconciliation is achieved, they gather up the clothing and replace it in the basket. Not only is such a scene amusing, but it illustrates through props how the harmony between characters is disrupted and restored. Raimund's stage is continually alive with sound, color, and motion. This impression is increased by the inclusion of animals which enhance the dramatic quality of the plays. Horsedrawn cloud chariots suddenly appear, emphasizing the rapidity with which events transpire. Animals contribute to the mood of the scenes: a yowling cat (Mädchen, I, p. 227) and a mournful black dog (Alpenkönig, II, p. 127) add to the eeriness of important happenings. An emotional state may be suggested: a character overcome by anger smashes a window of his house, and a spitz inside, seized by a frenzy of barking, heightens the impression of a person as uncontrollable in his passions as a wild dog (Moisasur, II, p. 36). In order that scenes should not become overly serious, Raimund included farm animals: Wurzel, transformed into an old man, remarks with pathetic humor that the oxen are weeping for him (Mädchen, I, p. 232), and Rappelkopf, alone in the dark woods and frightened by strange noises, is suddenly confronted with a stray steer (Alpenkönig, II, p. 147). Besides beasts of burden and household pets, the poet employed animals because of their frightening appearance, such as the lion and the wild boar; and, of course, his plays are not complete without the dragons and monsters of the fairy tale. The very air above the heads of the characters is made dramatic by the inclusion of native and exotic birds such as the goldfinch, wood grouse, owl, raven, eagle, and parrot. Birds are employed not merely for the sake of appearance; they transport the characters through the air, as in the case of Quecksilber who visits his beloved astride a large rooster (Barometermacher, I, p. 49), or the letter carrier of the world of fairies who delivers messages atop a goldfinch (Mädchen, I, p. 211). The difficulty of executing such scenes is apparent. In one instance the wings of an eagle cover nearly half the entire length of the stage (Mädchen, I, p. 241). A Raimund play is unthinkable without lavish displays of flowers woven into thrones, wound about the columns of buildings, carried

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by children, or used as part of the costumes. Even a volcano, after its eruption, pours forth blossoms (Diamant, I, p. 164). Waving palms, like trees containing magic figs and golden fruits, are common and contribute to the color and brilliance of the stage; they are further enhanced through inscriptions which name the place of action, indicate the importance of a new event, or illustrate a moral truth. Raimund augmented this familiar device of the Baroque Theater with comic verses (Mädchen, I, p. 238), or he made it part of the action when the rejection of a marriage offer is spelled out on an amusing inscription and floated down onto the stage via a parachute (Diamant, I, p. 160). One finds even the commonest stage properties used in dramatic ways to heighten the spectacle, add to the humor, and especially to portray with three-dimensional vividness the thoughts and feelings of the characters.

Architecture and Lighting If the architectural settings were removed from Raimund's plays, they would lose immeasurably in dramatic atmosphere. Whether one thinks of Schônau, Belvédère, or Schônbrunn, Vienna is one of the great centers of Baroque art in Europe, and inevitably so rich a tradition left its impressions upon Raimund's theater. The poet introduced into his plays the soaring palaces, lavish temples, spacious halls, imposing monuments, marble columns, and stairways of the Baroque. He intended to represent on the stage all the splendor and ornateness of these edifices, and his stage directions indicate the extent of his imagination when he specified Ein kolossaler Palast, ein herrlicher Tempel, eine wunderbare Feenhalle. His plays reflect the Baroque tendency to view life in terms of antithesis through the architectural contrast between gaunt ruins and magnificent castles. Baroque are the statues of Virtue, Fortune, Apollo, and the Sphinx which embellish his stage. Essential to one scene are stone nymphs of life size resting upon urns (Phantasie, I, p. 333). The architecture and sculpture further enhance the plays, because they underscore the dramatic action : massive gates suddenly spring open, indicating the presence of a supernatural being (Phantasie, I, p. 355); when the

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terms of a wager are fulfilled, a spell is broken and vigorously illustrated, because statues come alive and dance about the stage (Diamant, I, p. 168). To the Baroque heroic spectacle Raimund added animation and charm. Ingenious lighting devices heighten the dramatic quality of Raimund's plays. Although his works were first performed many years before the invention of electricity, when the principal source of illumination in the theater consisted of candles and the petroleum lamp, it was possible with these to achieve unusual results. His plays abound in spectacular lighting, including that of the thunderbolt, the flaming tree, as well as the fiery lake, the sacrificial fire, and burning cities. Although his characters bear weird lanterns and torches of bluish flames, and the stage is bathed on occasion with red, green, and violet hues, Raimund did not rely entirely upon exotic lighting; he portrayed as well the drama of the sunrise, the sunset, and the moon as it ascends the sky. With the practical eye of a theater technician he set forth in his stage directions precisely where a shift or intensification of illumination is required. The lighting for important scenes is often stressed by the adjectives gut, grell, hell, beleuchtet. In Baroque visions he emphasized in his scenes the contrasts between gloom and radiant light by darkening the earth and magically illuminating the world beyond. More important, the lighting constantly accompanies and punctuates the action: a bolt of lightning snaps the chains that bind poetic imagination (Phantasie, I, p. 376), a magic torch transforms squalor into opulence {Krone, II, p. 245), the sky changes color when supernatural creatures pursue mortals (Diamant, I, p. 129). Lighting may also enhance the characterization: Evil is anticipated by brilliant flashes of red light issuing from the clouds (Moisasur, II, p. 10); the approach of Age causes a brightly lit hall to darken (Madchen,I, p. 227). Although the main line of Raimund's technique of stage lighting was directed toward the perfection of traditional devices, examples like the foregoing suggest his originality.

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The Actor and the Stage

Raimund was as concerned with the actors and how they should appear on the stage as he was with any aspect of the setting. A great number of his stage directions deal with dramatic gestures which demand an exacting degree of agility and co-ordination if they are to be performed properly. Whether the motion involves running back and forth across the stage, leaping up and down, or alternately throttling another character and releasing him, it must be performed with rapidity The tireless vigor and the type of action required of the characters remind one of a stage intended for puppets rather than humans. Frequently the actor must fall suddenly at the feet of a Spirit King or an allegorical figure, and then leap lightly again to a standing position. When characters become angry, their entire bodies express emotional conflict. They tremble with rage, stamp their feet, chase their antagonists with uplifted chairs, rend their clothes, or tear limbs from trees. As if electrified, they bound backwards when surprised. They brandish and sometimes use pistols, rifles, daggers, whips, and sabers. Of greater significance are motions and gestures above the level of the melodramatic which reveal the characteristic art of the poet. The impression of a widened scene is enhanced by characters who look out of windows, point to objects in the distance, or gaze upward at the heavens. They emphasize the reality of their presence by pointing toward each other, to important objects on the stage, or to themselves. Thus, the allegorical figure Hate pounds his chest, exclaiming: "Kennst du den Hass?" (Diamant, I, p. 261). Conventional gestures like the bow, the curtsy, and the embrace add realism and humor when performed by characters of the Spirit World or the allegorical figures. A fatherly but flirtatious monarch of the Spirit World assembles the Four Seasons before his throne for a serious discussion but cannot resist pinching the cheek of the attractive Springtime (Diamant, I, p. 104). In a like manner, when Hate approaches Satisfaction his entire body expresses the sudden and radical change which befalls him, and he blows kisses to her (Mädchen, I, p. 247). The familiar and often amusing gestures of Raimund's allegories at once distinguish them from those of earlier writers.

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Through the grouping of his characters on the stage the poet well conveyed the emotional relationship between them. More than merely pictorial composition, Raimund's grouping represents a sort of dramatic geometry, outlining the patterns established by the relations of the characters. When a quarrel between husband and wife ensues, their four children are marched from the room. Their reconciliation is emphasized by the return of the children (Verschwender, II, p. 444ff.). More significant are gestures like the following, which reveal a philosophy of life: the kiss or the embrace of betrayal to signify that truth and beauty are inevitably victimized by a corrupt world; the careless attitude with which a character throws money about the stage to suggest the crude belief that everything can be had for a price; dialogue between persons who do not look at each other to convey a sense of isolation and frustration. Raimund's special interest in the gesture is further indicated by his many stage directions which include pantomime. Such gestures emphasize the dramatic quality of the plays, because they reduce drama to its one essential ingredient: action. The best Raimund pantomimes make apparent a mental attitude such as fear, joy, sorrow, or anger. Even the confused imaginings of a Hanswurst are well illustrated. When Simplicius overhears that the brow of his friend the poet is the throne of wisdom, he accepts the remark as literal truth and pantomimes the manner in which wisdom sits upon the throne {Krone, II, p. 256). Raimund also utilized motionlessness upon the stage to stress the significance of an event. Characters grow rigid with fear, rage, or determination. Rappelkopf, for example, completes his denunciation of the folly of the world by rejecting it utterly and then bracing himself firmly in a chair to illustrate his attitude (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 137). The contrast between the petrified state and effortless motion makes clearer the hate of a married couple for each other. When the wife, during a bitter argument, crosses a boundary that turns her to stone, the husband rejoices in his new freedom and he leaps back and forth across the stage vigorously (Moisasur, II, p. 45). As was the custom in the Folk Theater, Raimund ended many of his acts with a tableau in which he created for the audience a

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stage picture. Directions like schönes Bild, malerisches Bild, imposante Gruppe indicate his concern with this aspect of the theater and his desire to invest the fleeting dramatic moment with the permanence of pictorial art. Raimund emphasized physical contrasts in the appearance of his characters. Instead of persons of average size, he selected dwarves or Amazons for an army, because they are of greater dramatic interest and contribute to the humor. A character of normal dimensions seizes one of the tiniest soldiers to defend himself, and the audience is presented with the amusing spectacle of an adult being protected by an infant (Barometermacher, I, p. 28). The poet employed contrasts between the slender and the obese, the young and the old, the beautiful and the ugly, in order to render his plays more impressive. One of the humorous aspects of the scene between Wurzel and Age is that individuals as incongruous as a young, vigorous farmer and a tottering, old man are to become bosom friends. Another incongruity concerns the contrast between a character's actual appearance and the manner in which he is regarded by others: a disagreeable servant is described as amiable (Mädchen, I, p. 191), and a harmless gardener is addressed as a murderer (.Alpenkönig, II, p. 124). In addition to such contrasts, the poet arranged for his characters to enter the stage in unexpected ways: a Spirit King enters a room through a mirror (Alpenkönig, II, p. 141), and a maker of barometers emerges from the ruins of an exotic island (Barometermacher, I, p. 5). In each case the manner of entering the stage expresses symbolically the basic nature of the character and demonstrates Raimund's belief that no detail of the actor's appearance or the background in which he moves is insignificant.

NESTROY'S STAGE

Stage and Scene Whoever wishes to compare the stagecraft of Raimund with that of Nestroy is immediately faced with two problems. First, one must justify the value of discussing the interrelation of their techniques,

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since Raimund's stage, as the previous chapter has attempted to demonstrate, was the instrument for expressing a poetic vision animated by humor that represents the highest achievement in the Folk Theater. Would a further discussion of stage technique be repetitious or simply a means for highlighting the weaknesses of later writers, even one of Nestroy's importance? Secondly, one must contend with the conventional estimate of Nestroy's attitude toward the stage. Otto Rommel makes only brief mention of it in his 357page, appreciative monograph. He remarks: "Gar keine Rolle spielt bei Nestroy — das verdient hervorgehoben zu werden — die Ausstattung. Modernes Kostüm, einfachste Szenerie, das ist der ganze Aufwand... Die Possen Nestroys [wirken] auschliesslich mit geistigen Mitteln." 4 Especially since this statement was published (1930), literary historians have generally perpetuated the idea that Nestroy remained uninterested in the relationship between the spoken word and the means for enlivening it within the theater. The purpose of this chapter will be to demonstrate that although his uses of the stage differ somewhat from Raimund's, they reveal an interest in the practical theater that contributes effectively to his technique of playwriting as a whole. Several observations lead one to doubt that Nestroy's theater was in any sense theaterfremd. In the first place, he wrote his plays specifically for an audience that wanted to witness folklike characters and popular entertainment. It will be recalled that when Raimund added elements of classical tragedy to his plays he forfeited the sympathy of his audience. In a like manner Nestroy could be thought-provoking, witty, satiric, and unconventional, but only within the limitations of the Austrian Folk Theater, which is characterized at all levels by concreteness of expression. He could enrich the tradition by adding disciplined, consequential thinking, but he could not ignore it. As is well known, Nestroy began his writing career when the magic play, which usually requires a great variety of visual devices, was much in vogue. His first dozen plays were Zauberstücke in which carefully worked-out directions of two and three pages are not uncommon. The attention he devoted to stage devices in his 4

NSW, XV, p. 259f.

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early works represents an affirmation rather than a rejection of tradition, nor could this have been otherwise, when one considers the theater for which he wrote. Most of his plays were destined to be performed at the Theater an der Wien, which was in a state of financial ruin, when Carl took over as director in 1825. The latter found it imperative to continue, at first with even more lavish spectacle plays than previously had been written, 6 and in order to tempt audiences into the theater he soon came to rely largely upon the inspiration of Nestroy. Eventually (after 1835) Carl found it expedient to reduce drastically costs of staging his plays in order to avoid the fate of his predecessor, and literally overnight Nestroy was required to produce works featuring plain, inexpensive scenery. Fortunately, Nestroy's intuitive sense of the dramatic enabled him to write works for widely varying stage settings, ranging from the extravagant to the frugal. A consideration of his scenes, as will be demonstrated, suggests skillful adaptation and a direct concern for background appropriate to his characters. When it became necessary to utilize grandiose scenes in which miraculous events occur, Nestroy was able to create startling transformations that rivaled those of his predecessors. One discovers in the early works magic forests, pirate ships, and castles that float in the air. The tableau is utilized to stress the meaning of important moments and elaborate lighting is employed for exotic effect or to underline the action. What makes these spectacles different from those of Raimund's concerns the relationship of the spoken word to the stage scene. Whereas in Raimund's works all aspects of his technique contribute to the impressiveness of the Bühnenbild, Nestroy more frequently employed the exotic scene for the purpose of contrasting it with the unpoetic sentiments of his characters. Viewed against a romantic background, man appears more common-place than ever. Familiar romantic settings involving the knightly tournament, vehmic court, moonlit forest, or eerie underground cavern are utilized to satirize earthy artisans who, unmoved by their special environments, pursue materialistic interests. Thus, a sleeping beauty locked in a mysterious vault beneath a castle calls •

NSW, XV, p. 47.

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to mind the world of the fairy tale (Der konfuse Zauberer, I, p. 230), but Nestroy introduced negligent servants, a niggardly magician, and the allegory of stubbornness to produce a witty incongruity between scene and character. Since the relationship of the characters to their environment is primarily a rational one, the role of the landscape in Nestroy's plays is sharply limited. Even when it is important to the action one finds, at most, laconic directions like waldiger Hintergrund, romantische Gebirgsgegend, gigantische Felsengegend. The wide view of fields, forests, and mountains in Raimund's works is exchanged for the quiet park and garden. Expressed in such backgrounds is not man's romantic yearning for the infinite but a humorous portrayal of his refined insistence of well-ordered pleasures and comfort. It would be erroneous to conclude that Nestroy was solely an urban writer, although the milieu for many of his plays is listed as grosse Stadt, Provinzstadt, Hauptstadt. Quite often the setting is a village inn, country estate, farm, or mill; nonetheless, the characters are so involved in their own problems that they scarcely notice the natural world about them. Nestroy's plays reveal a greater representation of folk life than Raimund's. Early works like Lumpazivagabundus (I, p. 15) depict villagers frolicking and drinking at the local inn. Gradually one is introduced to the shops of the baker (Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, XIII, p. 263), the milliner (Gegen Torheit, VI, p. 493), apothecary (Gewürzkrämerkleeblatt, XII, p. 445), violin maker (Eisenbahnheiraten, XII, p. 111), and book dealer (Mein Freund, VII, p. 280). The increasing technological development of the nineteenth century is reflected when the action occurs in a leather factory (Nur Ruhe!, XII, p. 79), or a foundry (Schützling, VII, p. 179). As early as 1844 Nestroy included in Eisenbahnheiraten a crowded railroad station complete with bells clanging and porters calling out the names of hotels to the arriving passengers. Simultaneously, he retained an interest in gay folk events where peasants attend a carnival or sell their wares at a fair (Martha, IV, p. 99). Another setting depicts a wagoner being initiated into a guild (Juden). In each case these situations are conceived with sympathetic seriousness, and one senses that their author looked ahead to the development of his

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nation, without forgetting to record customs and habits of a vanishing era. An additional type of scene, naturalistic in its crassness, concerns the surroundings of poets, actors, and artists who, as failures in their professions, lead a wretched existence. Verbannung (I, p. 60) provides a typical example. The room of the impoverished Longinus is described as "aüsserst ärmliches Zimmer. Ein Tisch, ein Strohsessel und ein schlechtes Bett sind die ganze Einrichtung." It will be recalled that Raimund also represented abject poverty when he depicted a charcoal-burner's family (Alpenkönig, II, p. 127). The differences between the two situations as regards characterization enhanced by the background are striking. Christian Glühwurm's family clings touchingly to its home, and expresses sorrow at having to leave. Miserable though these people are, the natural setting, music, humor, the love affair of the daughter, and the perseverance of the mother lighten the sadness of life in their humble cottage. The scene contributes to an indefiniable mingling of joy and grief that is characteristic of Raimund. Nestroy, however, does not show the relationship of person to thing. The dialogue is a serious discussion of how Longinus is going to pay his bills, and the disenchantment of a young rake's existence is suggested with a few stark but simple lines. Such a contrast indicates that not the scene itself but the manner in which the dramatist shows character in terms of it is significant for understanding differences in technique. The physical stage contributes in a few of Nestroy's plays to the exposing of humorous incongruities. Considered separately, the dialogues of the poor and the rich family in Zu ebener Erde are mainly serious and appropriate to the action. However, by utilizing the two-level stage in order to cross the dialogues so that one becomes a parody of the other, a unique effect is achieved. Moreover, the audience witnesses two levels of action without the necessity of shifting scenery. In Haus der Temperamente, the two-level stage is divided into four sections, each representing one of the four humors. Each character reacts to identical situations in terms of his extreme temperament, and the furnishings of each of their rooms are designed to emphasize the temperament of its inhabitants. Thus brilliant red

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wallpaper indicates the choleric personality, sky-blue the sanguine, yellow the phlegmatic, and gray the melancholy. Such a technique was of course not new to the Folk Theater, but Nestroy made it seem so by causing the audience to follow four levels of action at once without confusion, and he demonstrated effectively through stage and scene the absurdities of each temperament. It is clear that such a device would not have enhanced Raimund's theater, because the latter sought to blend levels of emotion into a single impression, and not, as in the case of Nestroy, to link them and produce hilarity through a series of witty associations.

Costume and Stage Properties In Nestroy's plays there are few lavish costumes. This is surprising, for a love of color and display in the Folk Theater ordinarily made special clothing an important concern. One should not at once conclude that Nestroy was uninterested in such matters, for as an actor he was keenly aware of the ways in which costumes can be dramatically useful. Many times he speculated on the incongruous relationship between man's clothed exterior and his inner being.6 Yet the typical costumes employed in Raimund's theater would have been inappropriate for Nestroy, not merely because he lacked an aesthetic interest in beautiful clothing but because he felt that costuming, be it ever so poetically conceived, is in the final analysis a distortion of truth; for in the real world people cannot be adequately judged on the basis of their appearance alone. As one of his characters expresses it, clothes ceased to be a reliable indication of their wearer's tastes and temperament with the passing of the Middle Ages: "1st einem einer begegnet in ein'n schlichten Lederwams, so war's ein biederer Rittersmann — war einer schwarz mit rote Puffen, so war's ein Bösewicht — war einer ganz des Teufels, so hat er noch extra a Hahnfedern getrag'n ... da war's leicht gemacht, aber heutzutag!" (Kampl, VIT, p. 506f.). By applying the axiom that clothes, in fact, do not make the man, Nestroy dramatized an idea completely new to the Folk Theater. His attitude toward costuming •

Liebesgeschichten und Heiratssachen: XI, 385; Schützling: VII, 114.

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may be termed critical, but it is boldly different, since he renounced tradition and permitted his unconventional characters to express their natures through the very plainness of their attire. Not only descriptions of ordinary dress but those of shabby or ragged clothing are particularly frequent, and while some indicate merely an impoverished individual, others stress through the austerity of tattered garments that the audience is encountering an exceptional personality, whose Bohemian protest against conformity is expressed in his raw unconcern for the condition of his clothes. Such persons are Ludwig (Herrn Sohne) and Knieriem (Lumpazivagabmdus). One recognizes the theatrical expression of a familiar theme in literature that neither the rich nor the middle classes exhibit the greatest daring and imagination but the social outcast. Nestroy stressed this idea in frequent remarks like the following: "Wie viele ganze Kerls gehen mit zerrissene Rock herum!" (Talisman, X, p. 411). In contrast to Raimund's works, one finds no special interest in foreign or folk costumes. Artisans are described as einfach gekleidet or handwerksmassig gekleidet. Seldom is the garb of a non-Austrian mentioned. The traveling Englishmen in Nachtwandler, for example, are attired in plain black suits. The appearance of natives, however, is occasionally pictured with great exactness. When Longinus, near the end of a wanton career, loses his job as a hotel servant, his appearance reflects his deranged condition and the strange mixture of elegance and poverty that characterize him. As tastefully as possible he wears cast-off clothes which are carefully described in terms of color, fabric, and texture (Verbannung, I, p. 56). Still wishing to play the role of a gay gentleman, he flourishes a long white pipe and heedlessly throws away his last copper, but he seems a grotesque figure, for his face reflects tribulation and his bald head suggests that he is no longer the young dandy he so ardently desires to be. One cannot possibly find such a person poetic. He is not malerisch zerlumpt as Raimund's figures often are, but this does not matter; Nestroy depicted him with merciless clarity, and his clothes bespeak the truth about his chaotic existence. Effective costuming, of course, must vivify not only characterization but scene, dialogue, and action as well. Where this is the

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case, the playwright's use of clothing in the theater is dramatic whether he employs a beggar's rags or kingly raiment. Costumes contribute to the comic action and are a source of humorous selfbetrayal. Frequently characters disguise themselves but overlook one important detail so that they are easily detected, as in the case of Geldsack, who is discovered and thrown into a dungeon because he forgets to fasten both sides of a false beard (Zauberreise, I, p. 372). In Zu ebener Erde (VI, p. 126) a knave's ingenious disguise brings him a thrashing when he is mistaken for the wrong person. Despite his six-foot frame, Nestroy, in appropriate costume, was noted for his ability to impersonate women, children, and even infants comically. In Hochzeitstag (I, p. 211), dressed as a two-yearold-child, he amusingly demonstrated the folly of those who believe babies lead more pleasant lives than adults. In other instances the incongruity of a situation is made especially impressive through costuming. The shallow sentiments of a widow are exposed when she appears shortly after the funeral of her husband "in Halbtrauer äusserst elegant gekleidet" (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 157). The inability of Magister Bakulus to educate young men is amusingly represented, for his charges appear decked-out in little boy's sailor suits (Sesseltrager, II, p. 323). Occasionally, Nestroy's characters refer directly to their attire and add humor to the dialogue through witty associations. Titus Feuerfuchs, reluctant to exchange a gardener's uniform for a new suit, relates the aging of his clothes to the growing of a plant: O, der Anzug hat nur zuviel Gärtnerartiges, er ist übersät mit Fleck', er is aufgangen bei die Ellbogen und an verschiedenen Orten; weil ich nie ein Paraplü trag', wird er auch häufig begossen, und wie er noch in der Blüte war, hab' ich ihn oft wie eine Pflanze versetzt. (Talisman, X, p. 411). Costumes provide an opportunity for the dramatist to ask satiric questions. A naive servant admits all guests in waistcoats to a wedding, because how, he asks, could anyone wearing a waistcoat be a thief? (Verbannung, I, p. 36). Costumes may intensify puns, as in the case of a character dressed as the devil, who remarks during a storm: "Höllisches Wetter" {Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 287). The foregoing examples could be multiplied, but they are sufficient to indicate that Nestroy was especially concerned with costuming that afforded him

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a chance to create wit ranging from its harmless to the more invective forms. Nestroy's parodies would be less effective if it were not for the absurd, incongruous clothing worn by the characters. In this respect, clothes can be particularly utilized to gain a dramatic advantage, because the literal nature of parody invites the use of devices that appeal strikingly to the senses. Though Raimund referred to his early magic plays in subtitles as parodistic, the costumes are calculated to harmonize with the scenic background. Nestroy, however, added to his first Zauberstück directions that stress the protagonist's discrepant nature through his attire. Thus when Longinus returns to the world of spirits after a visit to earth, he wears a black coat with white buttons, signifying a supernatural being, but otherwise he is dressed in the most modern Austrian manner (Verbannung, I, p. 11). By presenting characters in mixed garments Nestroy contributed to their confused appearance. He devised others to parody popular romantic figures — the lover, the highwayman, the poet — as well as prosaic types like the landlord and the watchman. The exaggerations of political extremists like Ultra are revealed by their clothing before they ever begin to advance a program of ideas: "Er [Ultra] ist phantastisch mit siebenfarbigen Bändern geschmückt und trägt phantastische Fahnen statt Federn auf dem Hut, in der Linken eine grosse siebenfarbige Fahne ..." (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 183). Costuming augments the travesty when, for example, Tannhäuser dons a tattered nightcap as death approaches (Tannhäuser, IV, p. 238). Frequent are caricatured costumes. Thus exceptionally modern or out-of-style clothing is favored and the directions karikiert, lächerlich überladen, sehr altmodisch, übertrieben modern are common. Because it illustrates the full power of Nestroy's comic imagination with respect to stage devices, an additional technique deserves mention here — the dramatizing of a humorous idea through magical clothing. Characters of course can be victimized not only through their speech but also by their attire. This becomes especially apparent when a costume because of its special qualities controls the behavior of its wearer, causing him to act in a manner that contrasts sharply with his usual habits. Such is the case when Reim-

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boderl, so timid he cries when it rains, becomes a raging fiend after trying on the devil's coat, but abruptly his placid nature returns, when the heat from the hellish garment forces him to remove it CRobert der Teuxel, III, p. 31 Iff.). A hilarious incongruity is thus achieved, for man becomes the chameleonic servant of his clothes. Such an innovation is dynamic, since it not only contributes to the action but precipitates it, and determines character in an amusing fashion. Whereas Raimund often employed elaborate costuming to indicate transformations of status or character, Nestroy's methods were less complex, though not less effective. Since he conceived of the personality as essentially unchanging, he did not require costuming to reflect character development. He did, however, utilize it to stress his doubt of man's capacity to change his inner nature. A miller, a charcoal-burner, and a sedan-chair-carrier are dressed in white, black, and red (Sesseltrager). In a series of adventures the vicissitudes of fortune successively make of these simple artisans: capitalists, romantic lovers, and artists. Yet their basic absurdity never changes and on the rise and fall of each new wave of fortune they remain, despite striking changes of environment, the same bungling trio as before. Nestroy shows this by dressing each character in the exact color he had previously worn, even when after death they appear as shades, thus underscoring with economic effectiveness their static personalities. Changes in status, on the other hand, are often stressed through humorous associations. Titus Feuerfuchs (Talisman) rises to fortune by becoming the lover of a series of widows, each more influential than her predecessor. In every case he is required to wear the deceased husband's clothing, which testifies to his new station, the stereotyped essence of his romances, and his unchanging materialistic mentality. Despite its inherent simplicity, characterization of this order is imaginative and highly purposeful. Nestroy's stage props are chiefly important as devices contributing directly to the humor of the plays. Moreover, they reveal his interest in perpetuating the amusing concreteness that is a traditional part of the Folk Theater. In keeping with his tendency to simplify the stage without diminishing its importance, he ingen-

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iously employed props to animate plot, dialogue, and characterization. At the level of farcical action, a flour barrel contributes directly to the plot development when a suitor tries to visit his beloved by hiding therein, after ordering it sent to her home (Eulenspiegel). Its unwieldy size, the rumbling sound produced when rolled, the fact that it ultimately becomes a trap rather than a place of refuge, make the barrel a source of hilarity. Despite his sophistication, Nestroy knew the value of such basic devices to enhance comic action. The stage prop is employed to vivify and add humor to the dialogue. The materials needed to act out folk expressions are utilized right on the stage. For example, the popular saying Jemandem ein Licht aufstecken is dramatized by having one character actually light a candle on the head of another (Der konfuse Zauberer, I, p. 291). Not only folk expressions but puns and witty remarks achieve new meaning when uttered in connection with appropriate props. A young bride insists that her husband should arrange a ball in her honor, and he does so by bouncing toward her the ball he played with as a child, remarking, "Hier hast du einen Ball" (Zauberreise, I, p. 365). Similar plays on words are frequent. A drunken poet who awakens beside a heap of golden coins assures the audience that he has been dreaming of gold and fortune, Gold und Ruhm, which he pronounces, Gold und Rum, emphasizing the pun by placing two rum flasks to his breast. Nestroy's application of concrete devices thus intensifies the value of the jesting remark in the theater. Further character revelation is achieved through props. A bridegroom's materialistic attitude toward his bride becomes clear when he casually adds her to his belongings: she is lifted onto a large box containing his possessions and carried away (Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 41). Or, as in the case of the miserly Edelstein who displays a large picture of himself giving money to a beggar (Die Anverwandten, V, p. 16f.), props may stress a character's hypocritical nature. Characters burdened with weighty packages or other awkward items are introduced for comic effect. Thus a hen-pecked husand must walk behind his wife carrying her umbrella and two lap dogs (Lorbeerbaum, III, p. 393). When personal effects are inappropriate to the situation in which they are employed, amusing incongruities

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result. Often these are symbolic of bourgeois comfort and appear in a context where one would expect a willingness to live with frugality. Hence, crusaders set out for the Holy Land with soft cushions (Zauberreise, I, p. 404), anarchists bring along their housekeys and nightcaps to the revolution (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 133). Moreover, the breakdown of a familiar, predictable world, so much a part of comedy, is discernible when chairs collapse, magic wands fail to function, and important documents are illegibly written. Nestroy made much use of such devices. Stage props used for parodistic purposes include the whiskey flask which a character hangs about his neck or the enema syringe employed as a mock pistol, and they suggest that the coarse humor of the Hanswurst, which Raimund sought to avoid, was not overlooked by Nestroy. For comic effect, the size of familiar objects like scissors, spoons, and walking sticks, as well as wearing apparel, is often vastly exaggerated. In this manner, a maiden who knits a giant green stocking emphasizes her yearning in the lines, "Die Sehnsucht und die Strümpfe, sie stopfen sich so sehr" (Tannhäuser, IV, p. 229). One should not dismiss such techniques as unimportant merely because they are theatrical rather than intellectual. Although a few animals like the bear, dog, tiger, ape, and horse are introduced into the plays, they do not seriously rival the color and spectacle of Raimund's animal and bird world, for their use is primarily intended to trigger the witty remark or the parodistic event, as for example when Lohengrin appears on stage, not seated in a chariot drawn by swans but crouched in a wagon pulled by a lamb (Lohengrin, IV, p. 247). In all of Nestroy's plays a bird descends from the skies only once, and the event is not a poetic one, for a vulture swoops down to attack a sheep (Lohengrin, IV, p. 276). In keeping with his reserved treatment of nature, Nestroy never relied upon a non-human world for dramatic inspiration.

The Actor and the Stage One cannot adequately conceive the total effect of Nestroy's theater without considering the actor and his relation to the carefully pre-

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pared setting about him. Dramatic movement can bespeak the comic meaning of a play as eloquently as word or background. Nestroy was, of course, aware of this and animated his words with gesticulations that testify to his special variety of wit and originality. While Raimund's plays suggest the smooth precision of the ballet, Nestroy's stage directions, which are not less exacting, emphasize motion, betraying the dissonant contradiction between pretense and reality. How, then, did Nestroy achieve this? First of all, he designed his plays to reflect not only his mentality but his physical being as well. A major reason for the nearly complete disappearance of his works from the stage during the thirty years immediately after his death is the inability of the audiences to imagine anyone but Nestroy himself in the role of the protagonist, for the impression which he created as the most fascinating animator of his own works was unique. Contemporary accounts record the remarkable degree to which his plays came alive through the almost demoniac manner in which he behaved on the stage. A tall, lithe man with shaggy brows and luminous brown eyes, he was able to pop up and down like a Jack-in-the-box. With equal facility, he could assume the most awkward pose or move with the agility of an acrobat. An impressive but not a handsome man, he used his body to punctuate dramatically the pithy observations in his dialogues or to demonstrate a contrast between the meaning of word and gesture. An acute contemporary of Nestroy writes in this respect: Aber beinah beredeter noch als sein Dialekt war sein stummes Spiel, mit welchem er alle Voraussetzungen des Zensors durchkreuzte. Durch ein Aufzucken der Stirne und der Augenbrauen, verbunden mit einem Niederzucken der Oberlippe und des Kinns — ein Mienenspiel, dass sich nicht schildern lässt-gab er seiner Rolle einen Zusatz von allerhand Gedankenstrichen, aus welchen sich noch ganz anderes heraushören Hess, als was wirklich gesprochen wurde ..

Nestroy utilized the gesture to render censorship restrictions powerless, since they could be enforced only in terms of 'what' he said, and not 'how' he said it. Within the Folk Theater, since the earliest ' Konstantin Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaisertums (Vienna, 1869); article by Meynert, XX, p. 222.

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days of the Hanswurst, the gesture was exploited with a freedom not accorded to the written word. To that freedom, as we shall see, Nestroy added a new and aggressive meaning. It is especially significant that the playwright devised patterns of motion to emphasize the absurd and the erratic in man. Often the actors make their appearances in a manner anticipating the comic dialogue which follows. Characters walk backward onto the stage, emerge from chimneys, or are chased by irate fathers of the eligible daughters and by bill collectors. In Zauberreise (I, p. 347) the world of the Middle Ages is conjured up with clever humor when a bolt of lightning strikes a bookcase and a pageant of knights, squires, and bailiffs come forth like the proverbial genie from his bottle. The polished dialogue of Nestroy's plays makes them akin to the drawing room comedy, but countless gestures and mannerisms reveal his indebtedness to the Hanswurst. Not renunciation of the clownish and the bizarre, but its reinforcement with sophisticated wit constitute a chief style element of our dramatist. Whether the characters move woodenly about the stage like puppets or stagger drunkenly, they suggest how far man can remove himself from grace and naturalness. At a wedding, Longinus, fortified with alcohol, stumbles into the draperies, tearing them from the wall (Verbannung). Persons who pride themselves on their lightfootedness are incredibly clumsy. The equestrian in Der konfuse Zauberer, who never fails to remind others of his elegant appearance, is forever tripping over chairs and stepping on people's feet. Since each motion fits into a larger pattern, the meaning of which is to display man's contradictory nature, even the smallest gesture is significant. Repeatedly Nestroy emphasized the idea that the world walks on two left feet. In what might be called the comedy of erroneous motion, characters rush forward to embrace the wrong person, magicians arise from the pit instead of descending from the heavens; other individuals handle tools and equipment with an unpractical hand. Characters perform tasks simultaneously which normally can be carried out only individually. Hence a doctor takes the pulse of two patients at the same time (Kampl, VII, p. 385). On occasion one gesture contrasts amusingly with another. The confused condi-

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tion of an overworked medieval father becomes apparent when he is forced to rock a cradle while cleaning his suit of armor (Genius, XII, p. 478). In other instances a gesture is comic when it is performed by a group. Thus the three companions in Lumpazivagabundus fall over from surprise upon learning that they have won the lottery. Mirth-provoking are the many situations in which servants imitate their masters, pupils mimic their teachers, or children repeat the exaggerated gestures of their parents. Feats that border on the gymnastic are not uncommon. One character, after admitting he has made an error, grasps himself around the neck and delivers himself up to his accuser (Eisenbahnheiraten, XII, p. 202). When the folk play and the Posse flourished, the juggler and the acrobat were much in demand also, and few are the plays of Nestroy which avoid their clownish motions. Indeed, the particular success of Ajfe may be attributed to Eduard Klischnigg (1833-1877), the famous contortionist, whose skill enabled him to play the role of a chimpanzee with hilarious plausibility. The closing scene of Moppel calls for acrobats who perform a series of gay tricks to conclude the action of the play. In such a way Nestroy gave expression to his belief that life does not merely seem like a circus; at times it becomes one literally. While some gestures underscore the action, others portray temperament. In Haus der Temperamente each of the four fathers displays his extreme response to new developments through a typical gesture ranging from the carefree dance of Froh to the complacent pipe-smoking of Schlaf. Since emotion in Nestroy's works often means merely the stereotype response of the individual to his environment, even the gesture indicating betrayal has a different value than in the plays of Raimund, though one finds enough hypocrites who 'bow and scrape'. Discrepancies, however, are evoked to show comic contrasts between real and supposed situations. Discrepancy between gesture and character, for example, may show how conceited mannerisms belie modest words.8 Gesture and appearance are contrasted when old or fat people step about lightly like children or when important personages behave like schoolboys. In Verbanntmg (I, p. 23ff.) the barbarous manners of a bridegroom clash 8

Sesseltrager, II, p. 359; Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 42.

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humorously with the formal politeness with which he is presented to his bride. The mechanical suddenness with which characters punctuate a change in attitude is also enhanced by the gesture. Unpremeditated clownish mannerisms on the one hand are matched on the other by Nestroy's brilliant use of the gesture as a mask. Thus bitter rivals embrace during a quarrel when they are recognized by acquaintances (Der alte Mann, V, p. 488). Here the embrace of enemies becomes mocking lip-service to the hollowness of convention. Whereas rapid shifts of behavior in Raimund's characters disclose the comic discord of their souls, Nestroy's works show the adroitness with which people manipulate the many masks required in the game of social conformity. Nestroy employed the gesture to emphasize dramatically the play on words. A father pulls his protesting son into the schoolroom, remarking: "So lass dich nicht so Ziehen, Pursche!" Whereupon the schoolmaster applauds the boy's behavior, as he quips: "O, es ist immer gut, wenn Kinder sich ziehen lassen, es kommen nur zu viele ungezogene hierher" (Die schlimmen Buben, XIII, p. 209). In another use of word and gesture, the audience is reminded of an individual's special nature, when he reacts violently to a particular word, even one uttered in a harmless context: a discussion about the weather causes an agent of the devil to quake with fear, because he hears the word Himmel, and a comic cause-and-effect relationship is set in motion (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 271). Though Nestroy's wit can be appreciated without visualizing it on the stage, his words attain a special vividness when underscored by the gesture. The meaning of a gesture may transcend the limits of a scene by reflecting a dramatic conflict between the individual and his environment that is valid for the entire play. Such is the case when Titus Feuerfuchs (Talisman) rises from poverty to riches, for the audience is never permitted to forget that he is an impostor who owes his success in a prejudiced world to the color of his wig. Each time a curious person seeks to remove the wig, Feuerfuchs backs away with explosive suddenness, illustrating perfectly the precariousness of a life based on deception. Equally effective scenes are animated by the parodistic gesture. A central conflict in the Baroque drama, for example, concerns the

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struggle of angels and devils for the possession of man's soul. In Robert der Teuxel (III, p. 326) the struggle becomes a hilarious tugof-war, with a milkmaid representing the forces of virtue. Whenever Nestroy wrote, he kept in mind the practical theater and the necessity for transforming thought into motion, in order to spell out on the stage his critical questioning, as well as his robust acceptance of a paradoxical world.

CONCLUSION

Raimund and Nestroy inherited the wide multilevel stage of the Baroque tradition and adapted it, each in his own special way, for use in the Folk Theater. Raimund created strikingly original scenery ranging from the idyllic to the spectacular. All the living surfaces of his stage reflect his belief that man, the plaything of forces too powerful for him to control, is a curious blend of tragic sorrow and absurdity, and a harmony is achieved among costumes, properties, architecture, and lighting, as well as between gestures and pantomimes of the actors that is highly convincing. In every aspect Raimund's stage seems to me a singularly successful blend of poetic imagination, humorous devices, and psychological insight. After a brief apprenticeship at designing spectacular settings, Nestroy simplified them greatly, responding in part to economic pressures, but changing his technique more especially because his concept of the stage differed fundamentally from Raimund's. He concentrated on the familiar scenes of bourgeois activity and amusement, introducing protagonists in plain and even threadbare suits. Though he depicted in not a few scenes the customs of the people, with more aroused interest than did Raimund, for him the stage was not the means of transforming a poetic vision into reality, but for reflecting with satiric wit man's caricatured image. Accordingly, scene, costume, and prop dramatically underscore the hilarious discrepancies of life. The hypocrite, the fanatic, and the simpleton are the more effectively portrayed, because their clothes, props, and gestures betray them by suggesting strongly their confusions, exaggerations, and incongruities. More important, each element of the

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stage highlights the wit and humor of the dialogue, which cannot be separated from its theatrical context without destroying the finely interwoven fabric that joins scene and word to form a single powerful impression.

6 MUSIC AND CHOREOGRAPHY

RAIMUND'S MUSIC AND CHOREOGRAPHY

His Relation to Music and His Composers Raimund was not only an actor, a poet, and a stage director, he was, to a degree, a composer as well. Very little is known of his early musical training, nor does his brief Selbstbiographie provide any information concerning it. Unlike Nestroy, he did not possess a fine singing voice, but substituted an instinctive sense for the dramatically expedient that contributed greatly to the success of his songs. Even as a youth he was a violinist of considerable skill, and his first acclaimed appearance as an actor was enhanced by his musical ability. Bäuerle's Theaterzeitimg (1815, Nr. 34) praises Raimund's acting in Die Musikanten am Hohenmarkt (Gleich) and comments upon his clever violin playing. An old lithograph in the possession of Dr. Fritz Brukner 1 shows Raimund as the violinist fiddling to the animals in Adler, Fisch und Bär, a popular comedy. So significant are the musical aspects of his works that the editors of the standard critical edition (Vienna, 1924) have devoted an entire volume to reproducing the scores. Two main difficulties exist in discussing the value of the music in the plays. In the first place, the role of music in the Folk Theater has not as yet been examined in detail by any critic. Even Otto Rommel's AWVTh (1952), while acknowledging the importance of the musical element, does not investigate it in detail. Second, there is the difficulty of deciding which innovations stem from Raimund and which are from the 1 RSfV.Vl, p. 18.

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composers who worked with him. One thing is certain; a careful analysis of the stage directions, the melodies that with certainty may be ascribed to Raimund, and a brief consideration of the composers who supplied the accompanying instrumental music can lead to a greater appreciation of the aesthetic significance of the works as a whole. All but two of Raimund's plays were first performed at the Leopoldstädter Theater; in each case the theater conductor, according to custom, provided the music. Wenzel Müller (1767-1835) did the composing for Barometermacher (1823), Phantasie (1828), and Alpenkönig (1828). Although he preferred parody and the Bänkelsängerweise, his style was simple, direct, and close to the folk song. In a career at the Leopoldstädter Theater that spanned nearly half a century he was forced to produce at a prodigious rate — the instrumentation for over 250 plays! Needless to say, much of his work can be classified as Gebrauchsmusik; yet such songs as "Wer niemals einen Rausch gehabt" and "ich bin der Schneider Kakadu" have become an imperishable part of the folk-song tradition. Josef Drechsler (1782-1852), the son of a Bohemian schoolmaster, wrote the music for three of the plays: Diamant (1824), Mädchen (1826), and Krone (1829). A composer of greater range and versatility than the uncomplex Müller, he introduced a more operatic style, richer harmony and melody, and created balance between folk and more artistic music. He wrote twenty-five Singspiele, nine magic plays, an opera, and a musical setting to Goethe's Claudine von Villa Bella, which suggests his range of interests and his special appreciation of the problems of the writer and composer. The conductor of the Theater an der Wien, Philipp Jakob Riotte (1776-1856), wrote the scores for Moisasurs Zauberfluch (1827). His more serious operatic style is well suited to the theme of the play, but he lacked the naive simplicity of either Müller or Drechsler. Considering Raimund's four composers, one must conclude that Riotte, who began his career in Vienna at the age of thirty-five, was least akin to the Viennese temperament. Konradin Kreutzer (1792-1849), conductor at the Josefstädter Theater, was the most original and creative artist of Raimund's four composers. The author of Libussa, an opera first performed at the

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Karntnertor Theater, his genius was essentially lyrical and folk-like. He fashioned the music for the Verschwender (1833) and invested this work with what critics have considered a representative Austrian folk quality.2 A more artistic balance in the Folk Theater than the drama of Raimund and the instrumentation of Kreutzer would be difficult to imagine. Raimund produced many of the melodies for his plays. In his autobiography he refers to the instances in which he created the music while writing the texts of his songs. A reproduction of the "Aschenlied", reprinted in the sixth volume of the critical works, serves as an example.3 Testimony in his letters indicates his active role with respect to the writing of the musical arrangements. In a letter to Toni Wagner (1823), he speaks of conferring with Wenzel Miiller and singing to him from memory the music for Barometermacher* and a letter of September 15, 1824 contains a reference to a new quodlibet he composed for Diamant.5 In 1826 he writes of completing a new aria for Madchen and then mentions a meeting between himself and Josef Drechsler that suggests Raimund's influence upon the latter or at least the close cooperation between the two.6 The balance between Raimund's musical and dramatic creative powers accounts for the harmonious blending of text and melody in his works. Attempts by later composers such as Adolph Miiller senior to alter the original music have led inevitably to less successful performances, not necessarily because the new music was inferior, but because it was not created in the same spirit as the original.

Dramatic Uses of Vocal Music The most obvious contribution of Raimund to the musical effectiveness of his plays concerns the Lied or song, and the aria, which differs from the former chiefly in that the melody is more elaborate. 8

RSW, VI, p. » /JSfP, VI, p. ' RSW, IV, p. 6 RSW, IV, p. • RS W, IV, p.

28. 18. 103; exact date unknown. 148. 264; exact date unknown.

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At least five Raimund melodies are still sung in German-speaking countries today by persons who often scarcely realize, if at all, that they are in fact borrowing from a dramatic whole. The songs referred to are "Bruderlein fein", "Das Aschenlied", "So leb denn wohl du stilles Haus", "Lass brausen im Becher den perlenden Wein", and "Das Hobellied".7 Still fresh and original after one hundred and thirty years, the songs themselves suggest a strong reason for inquiring further into the manner in which the music relates to the dramatic compositions for which it was intended. If the songs may be enjoyed merely as delightful bits of melody, it seems reasonable to assume that their appreciation in context would be the more rewarding. The aria or song represents a pause in the action; it is an opportunity for a character to emphasize an important idea or to describe in greater detail how he is reacting to the situations in which he finds himself, or it may make clearer his motivation for future action. The importance which Raimund attached to the song is in keeping with the tradition of the Folk Theater. An important new character inevitably introduces himself through an introductory song or Auftrittslied. At the simplest level he may describe his comic appearance or the absurdity of the predicament in which he finds himself. Usually he refers as well to his profession, praising the lot of the harpist, carpenter, or tailor. Characterization is also achieved when the actors sing about their wishes. In a particularly effective Lied, Rosa, the peppery chambermaid of Rappelkopf, is oppressed by the domination of her master and vexed by the teasing of her beau. In an amusing interlude she sings of her wish to escape subjugation by becoming a soldier and going off to the wars (Alpenkonig, II, p. 144f.). A common function of the Lied in comedy is to deride, to point out discrepancies in the nature of man or in the social order. Rather than seeking to evoke a fatalistic attitude in the listener, it strives to be thought-provoking and to encourage action that would change the situations described. Only rarely do Raimund's songs express dissatisfaction with the habits or amusements of man, as in the case '

Madchen, I, p. 224ff., 252f.; Alpenkonig, II, p. 135SF.; Verschwender, II, p.

374f.,434f.

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of Valentin, who finds hunting an absurd pastime (Verschwender, II, p. 364ff.). Raimund's most poignant songs express the tragicomic view that the world cannot be improved; the only hope of man is to resign himself with whatever humor and equanimity he can muster. Die Erd' — es kömmt darauf heraus, Ist nur im Grund ein Narrenhaus. Und wie ich nach und nach gewahr', So bin ich selbst ein grosser Narr. CAlpenkönig, II, p. 188). An otherwise typical device of musical comedy, the drinking song, is employed only rarely. Musensohn, a parasite, praises the brimming cup of wine as a symbol of friendship, but he does this while betraying his unsuspecting benefactor (Mädchen, I, p. 219f.). The impression created is thus far more serious than in the usual drinking song. Raimund's melodies are, of course, more than a convenient vehicle for his despairing view of man's role in the universe. It is especially worth noting here that music offers an excellent opportunity to contrast surface gaiety with deeper emotions, to make the audience feel the blending of joys and sorrows. Certainly a most striking feature of Raimund's characters is that music becomes the natural means of expressing the curious interweaving of their rejoicings and disappointments. Wurzel is stirred to effusive happiness by the presence of Youth (Mädchen, I, p. 222ff.). As he recalls his carefree early life, he dances about the stage, but the blitheness of his song does not permit one to forget its serious theme of the tragedy of man's ephemeral state. When Valentin, after the confusions and disappointments of thirty years, eventually learns to love life and not fear death, he expresses his wisdom in song and the sobriety of his theme is balanced by a lightness of expression; thoughts of death are couched in an amusing metaphor in which the impartiality of fate is likened to a carpenter planing a board (Verschwender, II, p. 435). Raimund's use of the chorus, an art form adopted by the Folk Theater from the Baroque Opera, indicates his ability to gain from it the maximum dramatic effect. The beginning of every play except Barometermacher is accompanied by the chorus, as are many of the

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acts and numerous scene transformations. Its function is not to join in the action in any way, but rather as in the classical Greek theater it becomes a sounding board upon which the emotions of the main characters re-echo or gain in intensity. The Raimund choruses offer praise and warnings; they become angry, resigned, grief-stricken, exultant; they criticize or show fear. It is not surprising that the chorus is so important when one considers that the characters themselves respond easily to such appeals. Whatever may be demonstrated about the humorous nature of these characters, the chorus itself remains serious at all times. Its members are not individualized nor costumed in any special way; they include poets, servants, sailors, citizens, hunters, and members of the spirit world. Raimund accentuated their representative quality in order to stress the validity of his message. The falseness of the world, for example, is emphasized when they sing out a warning that a crowd of neighbors entering a house contains enemies of the protagonist. (Diamant, I, p. 118). On occasion the chorus identifies itself with the interests of the characters by joining in a duet (Phantasie, I, p. 379f.), or by singing the refrain line of a tune. Such is the case when the charcoalburner's family, forced by poverty to vacate their home, issues forth singing, "Nun leb wohl du stilles Haus", and the chorus supplies the answering refrain lines (Alpenkdnig, II, p. 135). It also enhances the vividness of the action, because the manner of singing and the emotional reaction of the group help to establish the frame of reference through which the audience is to view the following events. In the Folk Theater, where transitions are many and rapid, it is essential that they be well motivated and smoothly executed. Music aids in a large measure in accomplishing this. When it is not feasible for the action to occur literally, the chorus may form an appropriate substitute, as in the case of singing hunters, who convey the idea that a hunt is actually in progress (Verschwender, II, p. 363f.). Such techniques indicate that Raimund's choruses were not merely decorative, but purposeful and dramatically alive. Many duets are woven into the structure of the plays. Their purpose is usually to provide a moment of lightness and gaiety before the main action continues. The comical servant pair is most likely to sing the duet. Some express the fanciful wishes of young couples

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in love (Barometermacher, I, p. 45ff.), or the naive pleasures of the unsophisticated. Florian looks forward with pride to the time when his wife will lead him home from the tavern after he has gotten drunk (Diamant, I, p. 122). Another humorous motif concerns the references to professions. When a tailor courts the daughter of a nobleman, he does his best to conceal his identity. The comedy of this musical piece is enhanced by the gradual exposure of his true being {Krone, II, p. 265ff.). The sorrow of Wurzel at growing old is mingled with sly amusement, because he is forced to affirm his new condition by singing a duet with Youth (Mädchen, I, p. 224ff.). Other duets, such as the one between Hans and Mirzel, two stone cutters (Moisasur, II, p. 3If.), praise the simple joys of existence. Although including a fanciful description of a life in riches with even the turners wearing lavish uniforms, they conclude happily: Fröhliches Herz kennt keinen Schmerz Tauscht mit Königen nicht. It is clear that the duets do not have the important functions of the solos and the group songs, but rather reveal the private affairs of the couples, particularly their relations to each other and the flights of imagination which they would realize together. Besides the duet one encounters the quintet and the sextet, accompanied by choral singing to provide special musical effects {Alpenkönig, II, p. 135). Seven of Raimund's eight works end in song. Two plays end with solos, two with choruses; two endings are solos accompanied by choruses, and one, Diamant, alternates between the duet and the choral responses. While the intent of these songs is obviously didactic, virtue inculcated through melody is at least more bearable for most audiences than if declaimed. It might be argued that a play concerned with soliciting the good favor of the audience in a closing song is superficial. In adopting this conventional motif, Raimund wisely recognized, as did Goethe in his "Vorspiel auf dem Theater", 8 the problem of the practical theater director who when staging an unusual work must often bow to tradition to keep the audience in good spirits, and if that audience •

Goethes Werke (Weimar, 1887), XIV, p. 7ff.

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leaves the theater with a tune on its lips, so much the better. It will not necessarily detract from the poet's deeper message. Raimund's plays contain also musical forms that are neither the exclusive property of the opera nor the drama, such as the recitative, a species of musical recitation in which the words are delivered in a manner resembling declamation. The recitative frequently is the transition from the spoken word to the aria. When Quecksilber first meets Zoraida, he overcomes his surprise in a recitative before describing his adventures in an aria (Baromeiermacher, I, p. 17ff.). The melodrama, usually a few brief lines, is declaimed like the recitative, to the accompaniment of music, and is employed to emphasize the spectacular nature of the action. Introduced into the theater by Rousseau, it was no longer as popular in Raimund's age. In his earlier plays it appears in several instances and adds to the dramatic tension, when two characters struggle for a dagger {Baromeiermacher, I, p. 49f.) or undertake a perilous journey (Diamant, I, p. 129). In the later plays it is used to evoke atmosphere, as during a sorrowful farewell (Verschwender, II, p. 369). Raimund employed each of these forms to the maximum advantage, adding through vocal music to the dramatic impressiveness of his plays.

Dramatic Uses of Instrumental Music The dramatic function of instrumental music in Raimund's plays can be related to four principal interests: to enhance the background, aid in characterization, provoke humor, or call attention to special types of stage action. These uses of music represent an important contribution to the total dramatic technique and deserve individual consideration. Music adds to the background by evoking an appropriate atmosphere which may range from the sounds of a battle (Baromeiermacher, I, p. 27ff.) to the eeriness of a Gothic cathedral as the moon shines upon it (Verschwender, II, p. 413). The orchestra represents the howling of the wind, the intensity of a storm or an earthquake (Diamant, I, p. 164). In each case, as the scenes unfold, they are made more vivid through the suggestive power of music.

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Most of the acts and important scenes are introduced by the orchestra, as in Alpenkonig, which begins with an overture to suggest the romantic beauty of the setting. The success of spectacular scene changes depends in a large measure upon selecting music which makes the transition credible, as is the case during the rapid shift from an exotic island of poetry to a beer hall (Phantasie, I, p. 343). Orchestral accompaniment may enhance the impression of a widened stage, especially valuable in outdoor scenes. Raimund's plays contain directions for music emanating from the heavens and under the earth, as well as from distant points in the landscape, to sustain the impression of an echo. When music issues from unexpected points on the stage the element of surprise adds to one's enjoyment. Several of Raimund's characters appear as accomplished musicians and perform for the audience during the course of the action, directly blending drama and music. One notes characters who play the French horn, the violin, viola, violoncello, the flute, and the harp. It is only necessary to recall Papageno, the bird-catcher in Mozart's Die Zauberflote (1791), and the importance of his musical instrument in the action to realize that Raimund was continuing a long-standing tradition of the Folk Theater. Instrumental music to announce the approach of a new character is common (especially for the figures of the spirit world), for groups of characters, or to indicate any unexpected intrusion. Of course, not all the action in the Folk Theater is precisely motivated, since one of its prime conventions is that the unexpected must happen often. The emotions of the individual characters are reflected in the music, and moods ranging from gloom to exuberance are carefully dramatized. Adjectives in the stage directions describing the music such as leise, klagend, zitternd, leidenschaftlich, and so forth, are common. The triumph of a character who escapes the wiles of the supernatural (Diamant, I, p. 129), the sadness of another condemned to live in misery (Moisasur, II, p. 38), and the pathos of a third who suffers in an unfortunate love affair (Verschwender, II, p. 372) show Raimund's tendency to seek harmonies that dramatize the rejoicings and grievings of the soul. Numerous critics have found in the plays a distinctly operatic

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quality, and rightly so. Although Raimund does not entirely observe the necessary convention of the opera, that the audience is beholding a race of beings who express themselves primarily in song, his works do represent a genre in which the characters are sustained by an atmosphere of melody, which includes even the music of the spheres {Krone, II, p. 270), and the main characters resort with equal facility to musical expression or the spoken word. One is thus brought closer to an unreal but delightful world of harmonies woven into everyday reality. As in the opera, characters frequently march onto the stage, achieving a pageant of mood and color supported by a unifying musical theme, whether one thinks of the solemn procession of the inhabitants of the Island of Truth (Diamant, I, p. 143), the exotic Indian maidens of the Diamond Realm (Moisasur, II, p. 8), or the inexorable march of the sturdy Greek warriors who bear their trembling and protesting hero, Simplicissimus, upon their shields (Krone, II, p. 305). Here, as in the opera, the music assists in transforming the drama of physical action into an artistic message. Raimund further animated his plays by including many humorous uses of music such as the quodlibet in which familiar melodies or texts from operas are joined together to produce musical nonsense. On occasion, he parodied the original texts to please the audience. In Phantasie, for example, the popular aria from Weber's Freischütz, "Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen, zog ich leichten Sinns dahin" becomes, as sung by Phantasy, grieving at the loss of her wings, "Durch den Äther, durch die Lüfte Schwebt' ich leichten Flugs dahin" (Phantasie, I, p. 376). As Raimund sought increasingly to develop the serious elements in his plays, the quodlibet became less important, and Phantasie marks his last use of it. Here Phantasy herself regards it with low esteem as she laments: "Entsetzlich! Entsetzlich!/Wenn Phantasie so weit es bringt,/Dass sie ein Quodlibet gar singt" (Phantasie, I, p. 376). The struggle between the Italian and the German opera in Vienna is amusingly reflected in the plays. Quecksilber sings of his worldly advantures by utilizing the melody of the first aria from Rossini's Barber of Sevilla (Barometermacher, I, p. 17). A magic tree in an enchanted garden sings alternately from the works of Rossini and

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Mozart (Diamant, I, p. 128). Phantasy, who often speaks in the German Knittelvers, rejoices singing a Rossini melody (Phantasie, I, p. 341). By including popular melodies and arias in his works, Raimund made the supernatural characters and their interests more convincing. There is certainly nothing invective about his musical humor, nor does it contain subtleties, but it is good-natured and mirth-provoking. When three adventurers land on a forbidding island, their approach is announced by the folk song "Es reiten drei Schneider zum Tore hinaus" (Diamant, I, p. 145). Such devices, when employed at well chosen intervals, add to the richness of composition as well as to the general merriment. As in the Singspiel, music may accompany the stage action, whether it be familiar, startling, or comic. When Quecksilber arrives in the bedroom of his beloved, he is amazed to find her snoring loudly, and the sound is represented in musical form (Barometermacher, I, p. 49). Such an element may at first seem trivial, but it reveals an attitude of the Folk Theater writers that music may represent not only the highest aspirations of the human soul but the mundane nature of man as well, and it demonstrates further that in Vienna even a loud snore, if it occurs in a work of art, deserves a full orchestral accompaniment. The emotional impoverishment of the inhabitants of the Island of Truth is well illustrated: they cannot afford the luxury of becoming angry when made the victims of a practical joke. This is depicted by a violent crash of music, instantly followed by a piano conclusion, as they file meekly from the stage (Diamant, I, p. 160f.). On other occasions the ruffle of drums, the flourish of trumpets, or the crash of cymbals emphasize unusual happenings, although the sounds of everyday activities, such as the construction of a building or the arrival and departure of a small coach, as well as the portrayal of familiar animal sounds like the lowing of oxen and the bleating of goats, are also included. No sphere of activity represented in the plays is excluded from the animation afforded by music.

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The Dance Not the least of the arts woven into Raimund's Gesamtkunstwerk is that of choreography. His eight plays contain sixteen dances which represent considerably more than mere theatrical display. It should be born in mind that his plays are, in essence, fairy-tale dramas. When the dance is added to this genre, dramatic effect may be significantly heightened. Dancing might be described as the words of the body, and in its highest form it becomes a kind of mute poetry. In a dance the mechanical, prosaic nature of moving about may be transformed into something else, for the skilled dancer appears nearly to defy the laws of gravity as he glides, hovers, and flits about the stage. Most of the dances in Raimund's plays are executed by groups, although not one of them could be described as volkstümlich or folklike, nor do any of them represent social dances, Gesellschaftstänze, for which the Age of Restoration was renowned. They are not calculated to be representative of Viennese life; on the contrary, one finds the dances of Greece, Spain, and India. The performers are dressed as fairies, nymphs, slaves, and supernatural spirits. Raimund intended his dances to demonstrate the predominant emotional quality of a scene and even to represent beauty itself. His knowledge of the possibilities inherent in the form is evident in adjectives like reizend, gross, anmutig to describe a dance. Only a single dance is called grotesque, but it relates perfectly to the scenic background. Six fiery spirits emerge from the crater of a volcano in a frightening fashion and cavort about its edge (Diamant, I, p. 164). Raimund attempted to relate his dances to the action of the plays wherever feasible. In Krone (II, p. 319) a dance of beautiful maidens occurs naturally enough during a beauty contest, and during a Spanish dance in Verschwender (II, p. 399) children bear onto the stage a costly vase which the protagonist, moments before, has senselessly bestowed upon an unscrupulous servant. The dance is also employed during a crisis in the action. When Wurzel suddenly grows old, the allegorical figure of Youth arrives to take leave of him forever (Mädchen, I, p. 222). Dancing onto the stage attended by her blithe court of boys and maidens, she represents the irresist-

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ible fleetingness of time. The character of Youth and the crisis in Wurzel's life are thus represented powerfully. The ethereal, flowing quality of Raimund's plays is effectively contributed to by the most graceful of the muses, Terpsichore.

NESTROY'S MUSIC AND CHOREOGRAPHY His Musical

Background

If as an orphaned youth selling sweets during the intermissions at the Leopoldstädter Theater Raimund envisioned the theater as a magical world in which the possibility for a more noble and beautiful existence presented itself, Nestroy's approach to it was governed by the desire to realize a career ambition, that of becoming an opera singer. As a twenty-one-year-old law student, he first appeared at the Kärntertor Theater in the role of Sarastro, the virtuous ruler in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte, and was an instant success, receiving a two-year contract at a time (1822) when Europe's most brilliant artists were vying for the honor of performing there. Considering that he was an accomplished pianist at thirteen, and blessed in manhood with a bass voice of exceptional range and quality, one can understand his desire for a career in music. His early roles included Fernando (Beethoven's Fidelio), Kaspar (Weber's Freischütz), as well as leading roles from the works of Mozart and Rossini. Despite his early success, Nestroy did not seek to have his contract renewed at the Kärntnertor Theater, for he had discovered that his voice did not carry sufficiently for a large hall, and during the next two years, until the year 1825, he continued his musical career at the smaller Deutsches Theater in Amsterdam. Again Nestroy made a wise and necessary adjustment to the limitations of his talent, for he now seriously doubted the durability of his voice for a lifetime career in the opera, and he began to concentrate upon the role of the protagonist in the folk play, for which his voice seemed ideally suited. As early as the year 1830 his singing roles were reduced to seven, as against 220 speaking ones.9 Never» AWVTh, p. 938.

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theless, Nestroy's early experiences as a musician and opera singer were to influence his idea of the relation of drama to music for many years to come. Despite his extensive musical training and professional experience, Nestroy appears never to have written his own musical compositions. He appreciated the value of music as it contributes to the dramatic, but as a writer of comedies and not as a composer. In contrast to Raimund's music, none of the melodies in Nestroy's works have remained popular among the Viennese, nor have they become folk songs, which does not necessarily detract from their value within their proper dramatic context. The best of the Lieder possess a charm of their own and rhythms that make them the ideal accompaniment for Nestroy's sharp-witted observations. Most of the musical scores are preserved in the Vienna State Library, but not all of the composers are known; usually they were the music directors at the Theater an der Wien, like Michael Hebenstreit, who wrote the scores for seven of the plays, and Karl Binder, who supplied the music for eight of the later works, including Tannhäuser. By far, the composer who was most actively involved in creating the musical settings for Nestroy's plays was Adolf Müller senior (1801-1886), a Hungarian actor who, like Nestroy, had made his debut at the Kärntnertor Theater and was engaged by Carl as his chief composer at the Theater an der Wien in 1828, where he remained until 1848, serving the theater during Nestroy's most productive years. Neglected in recent musical histories, he was in his time an important figure, composing over 640 works during a career extending from the advent of Raimund's art to the last of the Viennese folk dramatists, Ludwig Anzengruber, for whom Müller also arranged dramatic music. Müller composed the music for thirty-nine of Nestroy's plays, including nearly all of the best-known works, like Talisman, Einen Jux, Lumpazivagabundus, and Zu ebener Erde. The most that can be argued against his style is the tendency to routine, understandable in an artist constantly pressed to produce new works; at their best, his melodies have an inventive playfulness and freshness. One critic has described his music in the following terms: "Musik ... deren Fülle anmutiger Einfälle trotz ihrer Melodik die Möglichkeit ebenso

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scharf gedanklicher und anschaulicher Charakteristik bot wie Geste und Sprache." 10 Judging by the negative criticism directed against later composers such as C. F. Stenzel11 who wrote the music for Propheten, Nestroy was fortunate during much of his career in having the services of the able, if not always brilliant, Müller. Nestroy's sister Franziska also possessed musical talent; she achieved a successful career as an opera singer, appearing in Vienna, Brünn, Pest, and Lemberg. It is interesting to note that her husband attributed the termination of their brief and unhappy marriage to her insatiable interest in music and the theater. 12 Marie Weiler, Nestroy's second wife, was also a well-known, though not exceptional, singer, for whom he created numerous roles, like Laura in Lumpazivagabundus, Therese in Nachtwandler, and Flora Baumscheer in Talisman. Unfortunately, the relationship of Nestroy to his composers and to the musical geniuses of his age is not precisely known. The single, slender volume of his letters sheds no light upon this aspect of his life. It would be interesting to know about his attitude toward Franz Schubert's lyrics (whose delicate beauty seems the antithesis of Nestroyan art), especially since, as Brukner indicates, 13 Nestroy was personally acquainted with the composer. In the absence of further significant background sources, I shall be concerned in the remainder of this chapter with Nestroy's dramatic uses of music within the plays themselves.

Dramatic Uses of Vocal and Instrumental

Music

It would be easy, and boring, to discuss at length the conventional musical elements of Nestroy's plays. In one sense, however, a few of these techniques are worth listing briefly, because they indicate that with respect to musical devices, as in so many other regards, Nestroy owed a considerable debt to the traditions of the Folk 10

» "

18

Franz Mautner, Johann Nestroy und seine Kunst, p. 38. NSW.Xm, p. 714; VIII, p. 437. NSW, XV, p. 9. Fritz Brukner, Nestroys Gesammelte Briefe (Vienna, 1938), p. 20.

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Theater. One finds duets, trios, and choruses that combine humor and melody, adding to the gaiety of the plays. The yodeler, absent from the works of Raimund yet otherwise a common figure in the Folk Theater, contributes to the musical amusement of several scenes. One should not, however, be led astray by surface joviality; just beneath it one discovers an intention that unites Nestroy's use of musical forms. Whereas Raimund stressed music as the means of blending emotions in poetic scenes, Nestroy's goal was not aesthetic harmony. One of his aphoristic thoughts describes perfectly his strongest impression of music. He writes: Die Musik ist eine unbescheidene, aufdringliche Kunst. Vor anderen Künsten kann man doch, wenn man es wünscht, Ruhe haben. Man kann Bilder umkehren, dass sie nach der Wand hinstarren, man kann sich vor Leuten, die einem Gedichte vorlesen wollen, verleugnen lassen, aber die Musik dringt durch Mauern und Balken.14

It would be a thoughtless exaggeration to imagine that Nestroy had particular music in mind, such as the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Yet the playwright, like the great composer, regarded music as an unrivaled, elemental force to proclaim the artist's message, though Nestroy thought that the message would travel faster and farther on the unburdened wings of comedy than in any other way. His most direct application of this idea is observable in the couplet. Nestroy's special interest in the couplet, which in Vienna is a comical or ironic song in rhymed verses that do not always follow a strict pattern, becomes clear when one realizes that never during his long career did he design a comic play without one. In all, 223 (written between 1827 and 1862) may with certainty be ascribed to him. So seriously did he regard these couplets that usually he permitted only the protagonist to sing them. Though in most cases designated as Lieder, they bear little resemblance to Raimund's songs. Only in one important respect is a similarity apparent; through the song each dramatist depicted his special attitude toward the world in highly concentrated form. Their methods for achieving this differ widely, and their differences are characteristic ones. 14

NSW, XV, p. 688.

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Even in Nestroy's earliest Auftrittslieder one finds a critical observance of the human scene that is lacking in Raimund's works. These Lieder, traditionally eulogies of the protagonist's profession, become the instrument through which he preserves a fiction of the Folk Theater, while satirically viewing the irrationalities of the world. A barber sings not of his trade but the foibles of his customers (Haus der Temperamente, X, p. 18), and a sedan-chair-carrier provides small insight into his work-day, dwelling instead upon the fat and arrogant personages who engage his services (Sesseltrager, II, p. 285f.). One may trace a similar pattern in the Bekenntnislieder, or songs in which the main character describes to the audience his appearance, habits, and problems. In no sense are these to be thought of as musical confessions, for the self-description, often as brief as a single line or two, is merely the starting point for skeptical conjectures about the ways of the world. Simplicius, proud that he is handsome, wealthy, and eligible, is prouder still of his shrewd awareness of the manner in which marriage-eager girls feign virtuous behavior in order to trap a husband (Zauberreise, I, p. 340f.). In song Simplicius combines the earthy appetites of the Hanswurst with an uncommon delight in his powers of cognition to a degree hitherto unknown in the Folk Theater. In a like manner, Willibald stresses in his songs not his own troubles, but the corrupt practices in the school he attends (Die schlimmen Buben, XIII, p. 202f.), and Schnoferl illuminates the paradoxes of married life (Mädel aus der Vorstadt, XI, p. 10f.). Other couplets expose a basic absurdity in man's habits and amusements, when for example Johann condemns the exaggerations of whist players (Zu ebener Erde, VI, p. 79ff.). Unlike Raimund's Valentin, who sings about the foolish behavior of hunters (Verschwender, II, p. 364ff.), Johann does not end on a conciliatory note, but finishes his song more convinced than ever that playing whist is a great waste of time. Not the least rewarding aspect of Nestroy's couplets is that they inevitably set forth a challenging point of view. More significant are the couplets which transcend the sheerly satiric, making of Hanswurst a crude yet perceptive philosopher when Nebel sings with ironic wisdom about the cruelty of fate and the injustice of fortune:

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Der Fiaker peitscht d'Ross', doch lasst s' leiden keine Not, Das Schicksal peitscht d'Menschen und nimmt ihnen s' Brot. (Liebesgeschichten, XI, p. 417). To suggest such an idea is to express a Promethean paradox, but to announce it in song is a greater one. The couplet about superstition in Höllenangst (V, p. 379ff.) is a mighty argument for the existence of the devil, whether people in their short-sightedness choose to believe it or not. Federl's couplet about the mind's triumph over the material world would convince more people than a philosophical treatise, because it is alive with wit and melody (Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 246f.). And what is one to think when Nestroy's sense for the paradoxical is extended to the stars? (Lumpazivagabundus, II, p. 69ff.). At any rate, since the tune is created in the mind of a witty alcoholic, the audience is guaranteed a provocative result. Often satiric, sometimes philosophic, but never dull, Nestroy's couplets are without a peer in the Folk Theater. Goethe's statement that the true master thrives on limitation surely applies to Nestroy, because for a lifetime he exploited in his couplets with a fine sense of variety the single idea that the antithetical nature of existence is a jest about which one could laugh till the crack of doom. Nestroy believed that man seeking to know the truth becomes a sailor adrift on an ocean of paradox; he might just as well sing about the impossible state of the world, as he notes the discrepancies between pretence and reality, expectation and actuality. The style of the couplets is marked by extreme rationality of construction. Though the number of lines for each stanza may vary from four to sixteen or more, the technique for developing them is nearly always the same. An argument is presented and proved by example; whereas the monologue may be a consideration of several ideas, the couplet depends for its success on specific references that underscore a single main idea. The examples, more than mere statements of fact, are juxtapositions of opposites designed to expose by contrast what 'seems' and what 'is' true about man and society. The effect of presenting material in such a manner emphasizes the impression of surprise while revealing the incongruous. O n occasion, the couplet is developed through comparisons. A

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series of witty associations describes how the life of urban man and that of a brick are similar. Der lehmgeformte Ziegel hat Viel Ähnlich's mit d'Herr'n in der Stadt; Jung sind s' lahmlacket — mit die Jahr' Werden s' trocken, später hart sogar; In der Jugend blass, erdfarb wie der Tod, Später werd'n s' vom Trinken ziegelrot. (Der alte Mann, V, p. 434ff.).

Such songs, though they contain serious ideas, are like riddles solved by comic imagination, and dramatically emphasized in melody. In every couplet the musical accompaniment is designed to stress dynamically the idea presented, for Nestroy (as a perusal of the original manuscripts has revealed) underlined each word he wished to have emphasized before submitting the couplet to his composer. 16 Moreover, the refrain lines were always written before the body of the couplet, 18 indicating that Nestroy thought that the single line strikingly phrased and musically animated was of supreme importance. Many of these refrains became instantly popular with the Viennese, such as "Das ist wohl nur Chimäre, aber mich Unterh a l t e s " (Papiere des Teufels, XI, p. 246ff.), and "Lasst's mich aus mit der Welt. Es is nix ohne Geld" (Eisenbahnheiraten, XII, p. 163fF.). One need only imagine how impossible it would be to appreciate apart from its context a single line of Raimund's "Hobellied" or "So leb denn wohl du stilles Haus" to understand this essential difference between the dramatist of wit and the one of artistic synthesis. A major difference between the Lied of Raimund and the couplet of Nestroy concerns its relation to the scene. In the case of Raimund, the songs fit naturally into the dramatic action and are highly appropriate to scene and characterization. Those unacquainted with Raimund's Valentin Holzwurm can sing the "Hobellied" and understand Valentin's life and feelings, visualizing at the same time the wise old carpenter in his workshop. Such is not the case for Nestroy's Lieder. They are at best loosely tied into the plot and do not especially enhance characterization. The independent character of the 111

"

NGS, VI, p. 599. NGS, p. 596.

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couplets is further indicated in the fact that Nestroy usually wrote his songs last after the play was otherwise complete. Rather like the parabasis of the ancient Greek comedy, the couplets exist parallel to, rather than woven into, the fabric of the play. This, of course, does not diminish their significance. Often the contrary is true, for with great eagerness the audiences at new plays waited for the songs which more than once rescued an otherwise dull act. For Raimund the chorus was an essential feature of every play; for Nestroy this is the case in less than half of his works, meaning, with the exception of Einen Jux (1842) and Judith (1849), those written before 1840. Aside from obvious uses of the chorus — introducing and closing the acts, contributing to the smooth transition from one change of setting to another, and accentuating the moral of the play at its conclusion — Nestroy, like Raimund, valued it as the 'ideal audience', which manifests an exceptional degree of concern for the fate of the protagonist. While the plays are admittedly the product of a keenly rational mind, a vein of feeling runs through them that is especially noticeable in the choruses when they express fear, bewilderment, joy, and surprise, or offer hope, bestow praise, or issue warning. The chorus occasionally joins in a duet with the chief characters, though not to underscore serious dramatic moments, as in Raimund's works. The tone of such songs is usually light: Leicht and the chorus, for example, praise punch as their favorite drink (Lorbeerbaum, II, p. 354). More often than not, Nestroy's choruses ridicule the main characters. As Reimboderl attempts to play his harp, the chorus shouts invectives at him: Die G'schicht is dumm, doch hor'n wir zu, Sing fort, du dummer Kerl, du! (.Robert der Teuxel, II, p. 273). Not satisfied with merely expressing their feelings verbally, the choruses sometimes grow more aggressive. They promptly beat up the protagonist upon learning he has deceived them (Weltuntergangstag, II, p. 185), find him for the police when he hides (Lorbeerbaum, III, p. 364), and when the object of their interest is a pretty girl, they embrace her passionately (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 276).

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The bacchanalian preferences of such choruses suggest the current of rough farce beneath Nestroy's surface urbanity and reveal his inseparable tie with the Hanswurst. One should not conclude that Nestroy regarded his choruses as infallible. After the revolution in Krähwinkel, the citizens are disillusioned and in a chorus they march past like tattered alley cats lamenting their wounds (Freiheit in Krähwinkel, V, p. 181). In Lohengrin (IV, p. 259), a chorus of drunken knights attempts to prove its sobriety in song. After 1840, Nestroy apparently felt a change in technique would be beneficial, but not because his choruses had become unpopular, for the transition took place immediately after the appearance of Talisman, one of his most eminently successful works. It is more likely that he found less and less need for choruses in plays featuring sober, reflective protagonists like Schnoferl {Mädel aus der Vorstadt), Gottlieb Herb {Schützling), Kern {Der alte Mann) and Kampl {Kampl), for in such company a speculative chorus would seem an exaggeration, and a farcical one inappropriate to the problems which unfold. It is not surprising that Nestroy was attracted to the possibilities in music for parody and satire. On occasion he carefully imitated a well-known composer's style, such as Rossini's, except that the music is sung in a ridiculously high key or much too fast {Zauberreise, I, p. 389). In other instances melodies are sung in comical situations, when, for example, a chorus of girls pines for love while eating ice cream, as they sing the lines: Wir essen Gefrornes, Das G'frorne ist kalt, Doch heiss sind die Herzen, Wir sind noch nicht alt. Die Liebe ist rot und die Unschuld ist weiss, Es Glühen oft beide, hier sind sie von Eis. (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 291). The quodlibet is used effectively to parody the fashionable though superficial Ritterdramen. The sad story of three knights who are disappointed in love is sung to music, producing a comic contrast emphasizing their essentially unromantic natures. These courtly lovers ride their steeds until daybreak, whereupon the orchestra

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plays the familiar song of the nightwatchman, "Alle meine Herrn, lasst's eng sagen [s/c]"; the hot sun dries out their throats and the audience hears Wenzel Müller's "Wer niemals einen Rausch gehabt" ; in a melancholy mood they arrive at a magnificent castle to the strains of "O du lieber Augustin, 's Geld is hin" (Nagerl und Handschuh, II, p. 141 ff.). It is unnecessary to pursue this technique further to understand that beyond merely adding gay melodies to his plays Nestroy was also concerned with musically dramatizing the absurdities of sentimental literature. Nestroy certainly had no quarrel with brilliant composers like Mozart, Weber, and Strauss (senior).17 Where their melodies appear in his works, they afford amusing characterization: a gossipy spinster expresses her rage by imitating the highly dramatic aria from the Zauberflöte, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" (Tritsch-Tratsch, IX, p. 31); a messenger boy notes in melody his resemblance to Papageno (Zettelträger, IX, p. 14); and a servant girl, like the youths who guide Tamino, rejoices at the prospect of leading a heavenly existence on earth, though she proclaims not the Golden Age but her opportunity to marry a wealthy suitor (Sesseltrager, II, p. 308). It should be noted that Nestroy, who never parodied a Raimund play, also refrained from making even a single melody of the latter the subject of his wit. Other writers were less charitable. In 1827, Karl Meisl seized upon the serious aspects of Raimund's Moisasur and transformed them into an invective farce which he called Moisasurs Hexenspruch oder Die Zerstörung des Kaffeetempels. Nestroy, however, without detracting from the merits of the great composers, enriched his works with their songs while exposing the comic discrepancies of his characters. A survey of the instrumental music indicates that Nestroy was aware of its individual uses to augment action, character, and dia17

An exception is to be found in Tannhäuser, which makes light of Wagner's Zukunftsmusik, or music designed to animate the Gesamtkunstwerk. Nestroy comically blended old folk songs with the 'futuristic' Wagnerian music, shifted 4/4 time to waltz time, and substituted inappropriate instruments (Shepherds play not the flute, but the bassoon!). Nonetheless, Wagner, who witnessed this parody at the Carl Theater, was greatly amused by it, and Nestroy's work as is often true of parodies, caused a greater interest in the original. A second play, Lohengrin, is a parody of the text, not the music, of Wagner's opera.

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logue, as Raimund had been, and it would be repetitious to enumerate these uses again. This is not to say that Nestroy sought to achieve precisely the same effects. On the contrary, his intent was not so much to make music serve the creation of a Gesamtkunstwerk as to cause it to underscore the wit of his dialogues and the idiosyncrasies of his characters. While the stage directions for all of the plays provide for 'appropriate instrumentation', Nestroy's greatest interest in it is concentrated in the period up to the writing of Talisman (1840). Judging by the observations of critics,18 the musical background of the plays was quite uneven in quality; sometimes pleasantly inventive, and on occasion dully routine. It would seem that precisely the routine techniques of instrumentation caused Nestroy to regard them increasingly as a mere convention which became less important as the reflective element in his couplets and monologues increased.

The Dance

The significance of the dance in the works of Nestroy is much greater than previous critics have generally imagined. Not only did he employ a considerable variety of dances in his plays, but also one notes a gradual increase in their value for his dramatic technique. This does not imply, as in the case of Raimund, that he was primarily concerned with transforming motion on the stage into beauty. Yet whoever argues that Nestroy's pleasures were only those of the mind would find it difficult to account for the multitude of dances in his plays. Some suggest a frank homage to sensuality, for his stage directions often stress that the dancers are voluptuous maidens. Nestroy's earliest interest in the dance, however, relates to the magic play, in which dancers add a romantically frightening background to the action. Witches atop broomsticks fly onto the stage and perform a ghastly dance (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 99). In a thunderstorm goblins fill the entire stage as they leap about while swinging lanterns (Hochzeitstag, I, p. 142f.). Furies with black veils 18

Compare such widely differing estimations of the orchestral music in Nestroy's plays as NSW, VIII, p. 438 and NSW, IV., p 393.

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and bearing torches cavort in a magic hall (Genius, I, p. 492). Although they satisfied a desire of the audience to witness the weirdly supernatural, these grotesque spectacles are by no means inextricably joined to the main action. His initial uses of the dance indicate that he considered it worthy of expressing a serious mood in his plays, but it would have been strange indeed if a writer of Nestroy's comic inventiveness had for long neglected the humorous side of the dance. He achieved amusing effects by permitting the supernatural creatures to execute popular Viennese dances — the waltz, cotillion, gallopade, and the Deutschen. Moreover, one is amused that mortals gaily join the sprites and witches, waltzing about with them at the conclusion of the play (Feenball, I, p. 602). The technique is an obvious one, yet it is a first step toward a unity lacking in plays where the dancers exist only in a world remote from that where the central action occurs. A further advance toward making the dance functional concerns its influence upon the main characters. When the protagonist is undecided about which course of action to follow, Furies dressed as seductive Viennese waitresses dance and persuade him to serve the devil (Robert der Teuxel, III, p. 318f.). In Nagerl und Handschuh (in, p. 144ff.) a competitive dance forms a central part of the action, for it determines which of three sisters will marry the protagonist. How well they can dance becomes an important consideration in depicting chief characters, especially those in the parodies. Not otherwise an exceptional actor when measured against Nestroy or Scholz, Carl, the director of the Theater an der Wien, specialized in roles permitting him to display choreographic skill to which numerous critics have testified.19 His roles included parodistic ones like that of Staberl in Kobold, a parody of Perrot's Der Kobold, a popular magic ballet written in 1838. Appearing as Staberl transformed against his will into the daughter of an enchantress, he is devoid of feminine grace; as he dances, he manages to fall into a puddle, spit into his hands, and drink from a watering can (Kobold, II, p. 596f.). Kobold (II, p. 603) also features a parody of Folletterl's ethereal dance upon the water, a high point of the original; in the parody, however, the dance is performed to the accompaniment of "

NSW, II, p. 763.

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a beer-house waltz and Folletterl exclaims with simple-minded delight, "Wie ich gern auf die Wellen tanz'! Das ist halt meine Freud'! Und ich krieg' gar keine Nässe in meine Koboldschub'!" Though Nestroy parodied more widely known dances, such as that of the nymphs in the Venusberg (Tannhäuser, IV, p. 203), Kobold is nevertheless of particular significance because it concerns the direct involvement of the dance in the action and characterization, and is not limited to a single dramatic moment but extends over several scenes. Nestroy's interest in the dances of magic and parody did not lead him to insist upon them. As for non-Austrian dances, Moppel (IX, p. 394) contains one performed by New Zealand warriors who leap about the stage brandishing their weapons as they bear their chief on a shield, but it represents a distinct novelty in Nestroy's technique; unlike Raimund, he avoided the dances of exotic lands, prefering to emphasize the more familiar Ländler, Schuhplattler, quadrille, and polka. In Kerkermeister (III, p. 56) to the beating of drums the peasants frolic at a wedding, and the protagonist joins in the merriment. In other situations the common people dance in taverns, at carnivals, and church festivals. Martha (IV, p. 100) includes the celebration at a fair where servant girls hired for the harvest first enjoy a day of dancing before beginning their toil. Nestroy's interest in the colorful native tradition ran parallel to his concern for the dance as a means to achieve individualized characterization. While the dance may be employed as an expression of the carefree, sanguine temperament — one thinks in this respect of Zwirn {Lumpazivagabundus), Froh (Haus der Temperamente), and Konfusius (Der konfuse Zauberer) — equally significant portrayal is achieved in the depiction of individuals who, despite all encouragement, refuse to dance, or do so badly. A favorite device of Nestroy is to expose the materialistic suitor who describes himself as a handsome and clever man-of-the-world, yet behaves like a dolt when invited to dance (Mein Freund, VII, p. 355). A wood-chopper at a carnival (Faschingsnacht, IV, p. 5Iff.) stubbornly refuses to dance and his objections form a satiric picture of Viennese amusement-seekers who dedicate themselves to Terpsichore. With an artist's sharpsightedness, he surveys the revelers, noting the man

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with a modest salary whose wife's lust for pleasure is driving him to financial ruin, the older wife seeking to attract a beardless youth while her unconcerned husband stuffs himself with roast, and the daughter charmed by the seductive words of a barber's apprentice masquerading as a nobleman. The crude Hanswurst may invade the ballroom of the rich and the sophisticated, as in the case of Blasius Rohr, an ill-mannered clerk whose behavior contrasts farcically with that of his correct though heartless hosts {Glück, Missbrauch und Rückkehr). Dancing among overly refined persons, the Hanswurst grows completely uninhibited and beats up one of the guests (Sulph, II, p. 214ff.). Beyond expressing comical contrasts in behavior through the dance, Nestroy often made it the background for a central moment of recognition. A wealthy speculator learns that he has lost his fortune while his guests merrily perform a cotillion (Zu ebener Erde, VI, p. 94ff.). During a waltz, another character concludes that his life could not possibly be more meaningless (Zauberreise, I, p. 325). Happy artisans join in a quadrille as an orphaned heiress without a partner realizes for the first time that her guardians have praised her beauty only because they are sycophants of the worst sort (Kampl, VII, p. 500). By replacing the dance that merely affords a spectacle with social dances in which dramatic revelations of character occur, Nestroy made this form of expression a significant part of his dramatic technique.

CONCLUSION

Raimund was a skilled violinist and a writer of music who worked in close cooperation with the composers who designed the instrumental accompaniment of his plays. Nestroy, a pianist and an opera singer during his early career, wrote none of the music for his works. The degree of influence which Raimund and Nestroy exerted on their composers is not precisely known, but in the case of the former, judging by his own testimony and, more significant, the organic fusion of drama and song in his works, it appears to have been considerable, especially in terms of the arias and songs, several of

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which are still popular. The basis for Nestroy's music was not the lyrical melody but the satiric couplet arbitrarily added to the plot like the parabasis of ancient comedy and dynamically emphasized through the invictive wit of the refrain lines. The plays of both writers contain a rich variety of vocal and instrumental music, such as the introductory song, the chorus, duet, quintet, the recitative, melodrama, and closing song, though for Nestroy the musical element diminished sharply after 1840 as the reflective nature of his monologues and couplets increased. While the inclusion of music is a common feature in the Folk Theater, where at times the distinction between comedy and Singspiel becomes unclear, neither writer relied on it for mere ostentatious display; both recognized that the audiences wanted to be entertained and not simply instructed in virtue. The settings in Raimund's plays are underscored by the music; the characters become more understandable and sharply defined, important action is stressed, and the humor animated. Nestroy utilized the deliberately unpretentious music of his couplets and choruses to satirize the sentimental and the incongruous in man and literature. Nonetheless, except for his parody of Wagner's Zukunftsmusik, he appears to have deeply admired the great composers, nor did he choose to parody Raimund's melodies; perhaps this was because the latter's folklike song does not lend itself to parody. While Raimund's dances are more exotic and spectacular than his music, they too relate directly to the structure of the plays in terms of mood, characterization, and action. The music and the dance imbue his plays with an animation that extends from the commonplace to the sublime and forms a unity that is rare, if not unique, in the Folk Theater. In the case of Nestroy, not only the magic dance but the folk dance, the dance as parody, and the social dance are woven into the plays with ever-increasing skill. Within this context the protagonist reaches unusual moments of insight about himself and the world; yet Nestroy's uses of the dance as an art form did not prevent him from including the skeptical non-dancer who knows that every carnival is a sham where the cleverest imposter is king. Nestroy's critical evaluation of life and art led him to utilize music and choreography to underscore the folly of the world.

7 SUMMATION

Although their works are derived from the same tradition, the differences in the dramatic art of Raimund and Nestroy are so considerable that it would be difficult to make a final judgment on their plays here. Yet one can plead that future critics adopt a sane approach to both writers, which means that each be judged in terms of his dramatic totality, not as a literary phenomenon but as an astute practitioner of the theater. No doubt it would have been better for all concerned if the initial comparison between Raimund and Nestroy had never been drawn. Despite the disservice that journalists and not a few critics have done to Raimund, poets like Grillparzer and Hugo von Hofmannsthal have displayed a perceptive appreciation of his art. For Nestroy the opposite is true; scholars, especially during the last three-and-a-half decades, have risen to his defense, but no creative writer except Karl Kraus has acclaimed him. While limited views of Nestroy that stress his language, choreographical technique, or characterization one-sidedly have somewhat distorted the significance of his art, such methods applied to Raimund have caused even greater confusion. Raimund's poetry and Nestroy's wit are of the theater; they must be experienced there to be fully appreciated. Though not all critics support it, a typical trend in recent criticism considers Raimund Nietzschean, and Nestroy nihilistic. While both writers saw the problematic nature of man more clearly than their contemporaries, one cannot explain the thousands of performances of their works on such grounds alone. If Nestroy was the Mephistopheles of the theater, as some critics insist, at least he was a 'devil' with an extraordinary sense of humor that ranged from the mildest

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pun to a philosophical, skeptical wit that perceived contradictions in the divine plan. Neither the one extreme nor the other provides the most representative view of his technique. The great middle range of his wit is neither innocuous nor terrifying, but it does hilariously explode bourgeois complacency. As a result of the preceding one-sided views of Raimund and Nestroy, it was inevitable that important areas of their art should be neglected. Such specialization has caused increased distortion through the failure of critics to take into account the history of the Folk Theater before Raimund and Nestroy, and in particular the metamorphosis of Hanswurst upon a Baroque stage. What distinguishes the art of Raimund from that of every other writer in the Folk Theater is his unique synthesis of romantic atmosphere on a Baroque stage, utilizing the Gesamtkunstwerk principle. One may search from Stranitzky to Bauerle, but nowhere will one find neartragic and comic elements so subtly blended as in Raimund's works. In the Baroque age the tragic and the comic had a philosophical reason for existing within the structure of a single play. During the Enlightenment that reason had ceased to exist. Raimund deserves credit for revitalizing the Baroque techniques, and humanizing them as had never been done before in the Folk Theater. Nestroy did not subordinate the elements of the Gesamtkunstwerk to concentrate on writing dialogues, monologues, and ironic songs, as is so often asserted; rather, he used all aspects of the theater to emphasize these elements. A final brief appraisal of the individual aspects of each writer's technique suggests that Raimund's plots are unusual in the Folk Theater because their main outline is not based on whimsy; it forms a memorable dramatic story. Nestroy's plot technique has been too sharply criticized. Though he borrowed from foreign sources, writers in the Folk Theater had been doing precisely that since Strnaitzky translated the Ollapotrida in 1712. Instead of merely extemporizing, Nestroy added brilliantly original dialogue. Raimund's Hanswursts are poeticized and individualized comic personalities with tragic depths, whereas many of Nestroy's possess a razor-sharp intellect as none before them had. Though not a few of his protagonists seem naive, they are in reality instrumental in exposing the naivete about

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them. As regards language Raimund and Nestroy stand alone in the Folk Theater. The vivid imagery of Raimund enhances his stage technique, while Nestroy's language becomes like a myriad of tripwires over which unsuspecting characters stumble, revealing their eccentricities. Nowhere else in the Folk Theater does one find costuming so purposeful, nor the Austrian landscape so convincingly brought before the audience, as in Raimund's staging. His stage blurs the divisions between dream and reality, though sometimes the dream is idyllic and at others it has the urgency of a nightmare. Nestroy did not destroy the tradition of the Baroque stage, for Prehauser and Kurz had already rejected it long before. Moreover, Nestroy portrayed realistic scenes of Viennese life, and in this sense he is more volkstümlich than Raimund. In very different ways, both make excellent use of music to point a contrast or underscore a mood or a thought. The choreography of both writers is an indispensible feature of their art and reveals Raimund as romantically exotic, Nestroy as closer to the native tradition. In view of the unique contributions of Raimund and Nestroy to the Viennese Folk Theater, one may ask why their works have not achieved greater fame than has generally been accorded to them. May one hope for a Raimund-Nestroy renaissance of international scope? While this writer would welcome a more widespread understanding of Raimund and Nestroy, it is to be doubted that more than a modest revival can be achieved. Modern audiences no longer have the relationship to a Baroque stage that characterized the age of Raimund and Nestroy. This difficulty increases in countries without even a Baroque tradition of art and architecture. Moreover, none of the great composers who lived in Vienna wrote musical scores for Raimund or Nestroy. Many are familiar with Beethoven's "Die Weihe des Hauses", but few are aware that he wrote it for Karl Meisl's thoroughly conventional play of the same name (1822). Paradoxically, musical genius often has animated the works of a mediocre poet. While the dramatic language of both writers is understandable to any German-speaking audience, modern performances omit local references and expressions, causing some of the original flavor to be lost. As regards translations, it is as nearly impossible to transpose

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the Herzlichkeit of Raimund into another language as to make clear the full meaning of Der liebe Gott. Thornton Wilder's The Merchant of Yonkers (an adaptation of Einen Jux) differs vastly from the original. It is a new interpretation of an old theme, rather than an attempt to faithfully transplant Nestroyan art, for Wilder was obviously aware of the folly of seeking to render Nestroy's verbal inventiveness into English. A further problem concerns the difficulty of locating suitable actors for the plays. This is not an easy task, because in Raimund comic and tragic elements were delicately balanced. Like the young man in Kleist's "Marionettentheater" who tried to imitate the graceful pose of a statue, it is doubtful that later actors have equalled the original. Though they have nearly always been able to make clear the comic or the tragic elements, it would seem that their creator carried with him to the grave the ultimate secret of blending both. Finally, the multitude of critics have disassociated Raimund and Nestroy from their dramatic totality and stressed an arbitrary relationship between them. With reference to the last problem, this writer hopes that the preceding analysis may be regarded as a small contribution toward an impartial trend in Raimund and Nestroy criticism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY*

I. Primary Works of Raimund, Nestroy, and Their Predecessors Fürst, Rudolph, Raimunds Vorgänger (Berlin, 1907). Helbig, Gerhard, Das Wiener Volkstheater in seinen schönsten Stücken (Bremen, 1960). Nestroy, Johann, Gesammelte Werke Nestroys, edited by Ganghofer and Chiavacci (Stuttgart, 1891). —, Nestroys Werke, edited by Otto Rommel (Vienna, 1908). —, Johann Nestroy, Sämtliche Werke, Historisch kritische Gesamtausgabe, edited by Otto Rommel (Vienna, 1924-1930). —, Gesammelte Briefe, edited by Fritz Brukner (Vienna, 1938). —, Johann Nestroy, Gesammelte Werke (Vienna, 1948-1949). —, Johann Nestroy, Ausgewählte Werke, edited by Hans Weigel (Gütersloh, 1961). —, Johann Nestroy Werke, edited by Oscar Maurus Fontana (Munich, 1962). Raimund, Ferdinand, Raimund sämmtliche Werke edited by Carl Glossy and August Sauer edition (Vienna, 1811). —, Raimund sämmtliche Werke, edited by Johann N. Vogl (Vienna, 1837). —, Ferdinand Raimunds sämtliche Werke in drei Teilen, edited by Eduard Castle (Leipzig, 1908). —, Raimunds Werke in drei Teilen, edited by Rudolph Fürst (Leipzig, 1908). —, Ferdinand Raimunds Liebesbriefe (Vienna, 1914). —, Sämtliche Werke, Historisch-kritische Säkularausgabe, edited by Fritz Brukner and Eduard Castle (Vienna, 1924-1934). —, Ferdinand Raimund, Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind, edited by Gustav Pichler (Vienna, 1951). —, Ferdinand Raimund, Dramatische Werke in zwei Bänden, edited by Gustav Pichler (Vienna, 1960). —, Ferdinand Raimund, Sämtliche Werke, edited by Friedrich Schreyvogel (Munich, 1960). —, Ferdinand Raimund Gesammelte Werke, edited by Otto Rommel (Gütersloh, 1962). Rommel, Otto, Deutsche Literatur, Sammlung literarischer Kunst und Kultur*

Only works actually of use in this study are listed in the following pages.

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denkmäler in Entwicklungsreihen, Reihe Barock, Barock-tradition im oesterreichisch-bayrischen Volkstheater, vols. I-VIII (Leipzig, 1936). II. Primary

Works of Others

Writer

Bergson, Henri, Le rire (Paris, 1900). Freud, Sigmund, Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten (Vienna, 1921). Gottsched, J. C., Critische Dichtkunst (Leipzig, 1951). Grillparzer, Franz, Sämtliche Werke, edited by Sauer-Bachmann (Vienna, 1909-1946). Hebbel, Friedrich, Sämtliche Werke (Berlin, 1904). Hofmannsthal, Hugo von, Gesammelte Werke, Prosa III (Vienna, 1952), p. 471-478. Lachmann, Karl, Gotthold Ephraim Lessings Sämmtliche Schriften (Leipzig, 1954). Schiller, Friedrich von, Werke in zwei Bänden, edited by Knaur (Munich, 1953). Schwarzenberg, Friedrich Fürst, Wanderbuch eines verabschiedeten Lanzenknechtes (Vienna, 1844-1848). Tieck, Ludwig, Ludwig Tiecks Schriften (Berlin, 1828). Vischer, Friedrich Theodor, Kritische Waffengänge, edited by Robert Vischer (Leipzig, 1914). Wagner, Richard, Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen, edited by Wolfgang Golther (Leipzig, 1913). III. Secondary

Works

Alewyn, Richard, "Der Geist des Barocktheaters", Festgabe für Fritz Strich zum 70. Geburtstag (Bern, 1952), pp. 15-38. Bab, Julius, Der Mensch auf der Bühne, Eine Dramaturgie für Schauspieler (Berlin, 1910). Barraclough, Clifford, "Nestroy, the Political Satirist", Monatshefte, LH (1960), pp. 253-257. Bartels, Adolf, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur (Leipzig, 1905). Battaglia de, Forst Otto, Johann Nestroy, Abschätzer der Menschen und Magier des Wortes (Leipzig, 1932). —, "Johann Nestroy", Begegnung, Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geistesleben, VII (Cologne, 1952), pp. 323-325. Bauer, Carl, "Ferdinand Raimund als Volksdramatiker", Literarische Studien über Grillparzer, Halm, Raimund, Stifter (Hildesheim, 1940), pp. 63-86. Bauer, Anton, 150 Jahre Theater an der Wien (Vienna, 1952). Beutler, Ernst, "Raimunds Alpenkönig", Essays um Goethe, I (Zürich, 1947), pp. 425-437. Bietak, Wilhelm, Das Lebensgefühl des Biedermeier in der oesterreichischen Dichtung (Vienna, 1931). Blume, Friedrich, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 9 vols. (Kassel, 1957). Boerner, Wilhelm, Ferdinand Raimund (Leipzig, 1905).

238

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INDEX

Ambesser, Axel von, 40 Amsterdam, 27 Anzengruber, Ludwig, 25, 218 Bäuerle, Adolf, 21, 52, 205 Berlichingen, Götz von, 49 Bernadon, 46 Besserungsstück, 63 Binder, Karl, 217 Brukner, Fritz, 205 Burgtheater, 35 Chiavacci and Ganghofer, 26, 27 Commedia dell-arte, 44 Costenoble, Karl, 19, 22, 24 Cysarz, Herbert, 37ff. 'deus ex machina', 62f. Dickens, Charles, 72 Drechsler, Josef, 206f. Eloesser, Arthur, 39 Ennöckl, Katharina, 24 Erdmann, Walter, 18, 36, 40 Eulenspiegel, Till, 31

Gottsched, 46, 48 Grillparzer, Franz, 23, 26, 44, 164 'Hanswurst', 41ff., 45ff„ 50, 200, 225, 230 Hasenhut, Anton, 51 f. 'Haupt-und-Staatsaktionen, 43f. Hebbel, Friedrich, 22f. Hebenstreit, Michael, 218 Hofmannsthal, Hugo von, 32, 93 Hogarth, 107f. Jeitteles, Ignaz, 22 Jesuit drama, 43 Josefstädter Theater, 49, 170, 206 Kärtnertor Theater, 42, 46, 48, 207, 217f. Klischnigg, Eduard, 201 Kraus, Karl, 29f. Kurz, Josef Felix von, 45f. Leopoldstädter Theater, 18, 49, 55, 170, 206, 217 Luther, Martin, 42

Fastnachtspiele, 42 'Faust', 28 Francke, Kuno, 30 Franz II, 47 Fuhrmann, Carl, 30

Mann, Thomas, 38 Meisl, Karl, 52ff., 226 Molière, 21, 25, 47f. Müller, Adolph, 207, 218f. Müller, Wenzel, 206f., 226

'Gesamtkunstwerk', 31, 34, 147, 216, 226f., 233 Gleich, Josef, 52, 55 Goethe, 21, 28, 48, 165, 206, 211, 222

Nadler, Josef, 34, 46 Necker, Moritz, 26 Nietzsche, 39

INDEX

Olles, H., 38 Prehauser, Gottfried, 45 Pichler, Gustav, 40 Reuenthal, Neidhard von, 41 Riotte, Philipp Jakob, 206 Rommel, Otto, 19, 27, 30, 32, 34, 39f„ 188, 205 Rousseau, 212 Sauer, August, 25, 31 Scherer, Wilhelm, 25f. Schlögl, Friedrich, 17, 26, 77f. Schiller, 21, 165 'Schuldramen', 31 Schwarzenburg, Friedrich Fürst, 23 Schwind, Moritz von, 176 Shakespeare, 21, 23, 25, 36 Stranitzky, Josef Anton, 43f.

243

Thadädl, 51 Theater an der Wien, 26, 49f., 170, 189, 206, 218 Theresa, Maria, 47 Vischner, Friedrich Theodor, 22 Vogl, J. N., 25 Wagner, Richard, 28, 164, 226 Wagner, Toni, 28, 207 Weber, Carl Maria von, 214 Weiler, Marie, 219 Werner, R. M., 26 Wilder, Thornton, 235 Wolzogen, Ernst von, 28 'Zauberflöte', 50, 213, 217, 226 Zauberspiele, 37