The ancestress
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| Title: | The ancestress |
| Genus: | Fateful drama |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Franz Grillparzer |
| Publishing year: | 1817 |
| Premiere: | January 31, 1817 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater an der Wien , Vienna |
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The ancestor is a drama by Franz Grillparzer published in 1817 . The author used a South Bohemian legend as a template under the title Pramáti (The Ancestor ), which refers to the Borotín Castle in Okres Tábor (South Bohemia).
content
The old Count Zdenko von Borotin is talking to his only daughter. He is very concerned that Berta is the only descendant of the Borotin tribe. He tells her that, according to an old legend, the ancestor of the house was forcibly married at a young age, but still did not give up her love for another man. When her husband discovered this, he killed the ancestor blind with anger with a dagger. The legend goes on to say that the ancestress must walk until the last branch of the Borotin tribe disappears. The count also complained that his wife died early and that his only son drowned at the age of three. While he tells his only daughter Berta that she should look for a worthy husband, he suspects that she has already found him. She confirms his suspicions because she is in love with Jaromir von Eschen, who once saved her life. However, Jaromir fears that the Count of Borotin will reward him for his deed with gold or other treasures, but not with his only daughter. But the old count doesn't want to stand in the way of his daughter's happiness. The count takes a short nap. When he wakes up, he thinks Berta is sitting next to him. But when he takes a closer look, he notices that it is not Berta, but the ancestress. He calls out to Berta in horror, because at first he suspects her to have dressed up. But when the castellan Günter confirms that Berta only came when the count called her, he thinks that it was just a very realistic dream.
When Jaromir rushes breathlessly into the hall, Günther asks him what he is looking for here. He reports that he was pursued by robbers who wreak havoc in the nearby forest. The count gets to know him and offers him to spend the night at the castle.
The following night, too, Jaromir rushed into the hall in shock. Besides being afraid, he thinks he has seen ghosts and the like. A little rested, he approaches Berta's room and thinks Berta is coming out the door towards him. But it is not Berta, but the ancestress. Berta comes out of her room and asks Jaromir what happened. He just points, very frightened, to a corner into which the ancestress has gone. But Berta can't see anything. Finally the count comes into the hall, Jaromir tries to explain what he has seen. The count advises Jaromir to flee while this is still possible, but Jaromir decides to stand by the count's side. Suddenly there was a knock at the gate, the count greeted the captain in a friendly manner and asked him what he was looking for here, so late in the evening. The captain says they are on the hunt for the robbers. Later, when everyone is gone, Berta sits in front of Jaromir's room door, lost in thought. Her longing for him becomes so great that she goes into his room. But Jaromir is gone and the window is open.
The next morning Berta asks Jaromir where he was last night. At first he tries to deny his absence, but then he turns out to be a wanted robber chief. Berta is frightened at first, but then lets him persuade her to flee with him. Jaromir has to leave immediately, because soon the soldiers would search the whole castle for him. Before he leaves, he asks Berta for a weapon. Since Berta doesn't want to give him a weapon, Jaromir simply takes a dagger from the wall despite Berta's warning that it was the dagger with which the ancestor was stabbed.
Berta and Günther are surprised by the sad news that the count was seriously injured while hunting for the robbers. When the seriously wounded Count is brought into the hall, it turns out that he was critically injured by Jaromir. When the old count is dying, the captain brings a robber named Boleslav to him who has something important to say. Boleslav says that 20 years ago he kidnapped a three-year-old boy from the count's castle, the count's son, who was believed to have drowned. Boleslav raised him like his own son. The count realizes that Jaromir is his son who seriously injured him with the dagger of the ancestress, and he realizes that the legend of the ancestress has come true. Desperate over the death of her father and the loss of her lover, who is her brother, Berta commits suicide. Jaromir, who is still in hiding after the fight with the count, is found by Boleslav and informed that he is the count's son. In his desperation, he finally finds Berta dead in the castle's burial chamber, where the ancestress meets him. Jaromir first confuses her with Berta, then he sinks lifelessly next to Berta, and the ancestor covers both of them with the death blanket.
reception
Grillparzer's first work was received controversially. The premiere took place in 1817 in the Theater an der Wien . Some of the daily newspapers found the Christian idea of fate presented in it, while others thought the play was endangering the faith.
An original version of the work from 1816 was premiered in Lucerne in February 1964 . After that, the piece disappeared almost completely from the repertoire. In April 2013, Burgtheater director Matthias Hartmann attempted a reinterpretation of the work, which was met with partly skepticism and partly enthusiasm: “The performance has great visual and musical qualities, including wit. She can't cope with the severity of what is being negotiated here, although the actors are trying. "
To the place of the action
The castle Borotín, one under today monument standing ruins , was built in the 14th century. Heinrich (Jindřich) von Borotín zu Landstein and his wife Berta, the main character of the legend, are considered to be the founders . The forecast for was her for her infidelity and nymphomania cursed: After her death, she should in the castle Borotín as long naked deal until the family tribe of Borotín to country rock had become extinct. The last member of this family line, Nikolas (in the legend he figures under the Czech name "Jaromír") from Borotín zu Landstein, was mistakenly slain in 1460 near the castle. With that the curse died.
When Franz Grillparzer visited the baroque castle Meschitz near Tábor in 1816 , he heard the legend of the Baroness Antonia von Stillfried and used it later.
Film adaptations
- 1910: The ancestress ; Director: Jakob Fleck ( Viennese art film )
- 1919: The ancestor ; Direction: Jakob Fleck, Luise Fleck (Viennese art film), with Liane Haid , Max Neufeld
- 1971: The ancestor (TV); Directed by Peer Raben , with Rudolf Lenz , Margit Carstensen , Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Irm Hermann , Ulli Lommel , Kurt Raab , Hans Hirschmüller , Ingrid Caven
Individual evidence
- ↑ Barbara Peitsch: Harry Potter in Grillparzers Universum , Die Presse , April 15, 2013
literature
- W. Paulsen: The ancestor. To Grillparzer's early drama. Tubingen 1962.
- Gero von Wilpert : The German ghost story. Motif, form, development (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 406). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-40601-2 , pp. 238-247.