Cenodoxus
Cenodoxus - The Doctor of Paris (Neo-Latin; Cenodoxus, 1635, J. Meichel) is a tragedy written by Jakob Bidermann . The baroque »drama, written between 1600 and 1602, is about the life of Cenodoxus, the“ Doctor of Paris ”, who is admired by his friends, colleagues and servants for his way of life and his erudition, but who condemns his overconfidence and vanity before a heavenly court . be "the work is one of the sources of inspiration of Goethe for his Faust .
Sketch of the plot
It is a baroque drama based on the legend of St. Bruno, who, like his contemporaries, adored the famous doctor Cenodoxus, until after his death it became public what vices he pursued during his lifetime. "The learned and famous doctor who lives in Paris is in danger of falling into the vice of Cenodoxia or Superbia," that is, he is in danger of succumbing to the same temptation as Lucifer once did . The dispute over the soul of Cenodoxus between heaven and hell becomes the core motif. The devil tries to seduce him, while the angels try to save him by warning. Cenodoxus succumbs to seduction and in the end he is condemned for it by Jesus Christ.
On the first level of action, there is a comedy tradition of Plautus and Terence . There is a superficial plot about a parasite who is betrayed by the servants of Cenodoxus. Although these scenes are entertaining, they do not have a necessary function for the course of the plot. However, they contribute to the characterization of Cenodoxus: He loves flatterers and can therefore be described as self-absorbed. The second level of action, on the other hand, is determined by tragedy. This manifests itself in a fight for Cenodoxus' soul and illustrates the contrast between comic reality and divine truth. All three attempts by the Guardian Angel to warn Cenodoxus fail in vain.
background
The counter-Reformation intentions of the poet come in extremely handy as “the material for this play, the legend of St. Bruno of Cologne. Bruno decided to repent and contemplate in 1082 when he witnessed how, at three soul masses for a famous teacher from Paris, his corpse was erected and self-accusingly submitted to the judgment of the divine judgment, while his students had just praised him blessed. " Bidermann adds the name Cenodoxus and the vice of lust for glory derived from the word cendoxia to this legend . In the play, Bruno is a student of the scholar from Paris and, like his friends, witnesses what is happening. This is sufficient as an occasion "to retreat to seclusion according to the historical model and to found the Order of Carthusians."
content
Little by little, the audience reveals themselves to »self-love, lust for fame, overestimation of themselves, hypocrisy, arrogance and blasphemy. Self-love, philautia and railroading are the personified driving forces of Cenodoxus and it is precisely these that ultimately succumb to Morbus, the illness, and Mors , to death. «Cenodoxus is a world-famous doctor who lives in Paris. He has a servant who is called "Dama der Laggey (that is: the boy)". He is often haunted by "Mariscus, a parasite who flatters him". Gleißnerei, a hellish fury, wants to seduce the doctor into evil. Cenodoxus is so taken with himself by self-love that he despises others. When Mariscus learns that he has been ripped off by Dama, he gets angry. Dama says that he is so mad because of a dog bite that the doctor sends him to the madhouse. Cenodoxus himself is protected by his guardian angel Cenodoxophylax. The former sends the Conoscentia, the conscience, to lead the doctor back on the right path. In the meantime, Mariscus, who has returned, is being asked by two students how this came about. Cenodoxus finds notes with warnings from his Guardian Angel, which makes him thoughtful. "All hellish figures seem to tear themselves around the doctor, but the conscience Conscienta and the guardian angel Cenodoxophylax are just as powerless against the main devil and other devils as the archangel Michael" and other angels too.
Cenodoxus already knows that he is well received by the noble people, but he also wants to know how his popularity is with the poorer people. He asks a broom-maker for his opinion about him, but the answer is that they don't know him. Meanwhile, the Guardian Angel complains that his efforts are in vain. He then appears to Cenodoxus in a dream and orders a devil to scare him additionally, although the latter would destroy his own work. Then Mariscus is driven away by the doctor's servants with a wild bear. "Cenodoxus is still haunted by Panurgus, the main devil and his diabolical choir." When two students want to see the doctor, Dama storms out of the house and says that his master is in mortal danger. Some time later, the sick, obsessed doctor is visited by his friends. "The angel choir and Cenodoxophylax complain that Cenodoxus can no longer be helped." Angels and devils quarrel over the soul of the dying doctor. Various doctors come to him, but can only determine death.
A divine judgment should decide who should receive the soul. When one tries to sing about the corpse of the doctor, she stands up and screams the first time: “I am accused of a just judgment”, that is, that she has been accused in God's judgment and falls down again on it. Christ accuses the doctor of blasphemy, whereupon the dead man sits up again on the second day and cries: “I am judged by a just judgment”. Cenodoxus' soul is ultimately condemned to eternal torment. The corpse then stands up for the third time and says that it has been damned (“I am damned by a just judgment”). Cenodoxus' soul is laughed at by the devils and torn into the depths of hell. »Christ as the presiding judge, Peter, Paul and other apostles as auxiliary judges, and the Archangel Michael impose the judgment of eternal damnation on him. The main devil Panurgus comments heartlessly and coldly on the vicious deeds of Cenodoxus, while he enumerates them in detail and then immediately turns to his next case. «Bruno, a friend of Cenodoxus, leaves the university after this harrowing experience, goes into solitude and starts up the Carthusian Order with six fellow students . After these events he casts off all vanity and sinful qualities in this world.
With this drama Bidermann wants to show the failure of the professor with the Greek name Cenodoxus , which translated means "vain and empty glory". The hypocrisy, the pursuit of vainglory and the accused in the drama pride , not the confident attitude of the humanists.
shape
Right from the start, the viewer knows everything that indicates an analytical concept. This serves to make the drama easier to understand and the viewer to grasp his intention more quickly. Almost without exception, Jakob Bidemann's works are written in Latin. When German later developed into a literary language, it was precisely this that obstructed the reception of Bidermann's poems. Therefore, Cenodoxus, his most influential work, is still better known in the contemporary translation than in the Latin original.
interpretation
Bidermann probably wrote this work around 1600 when he had reached the height of his literary work. The first performance of the piece took place on July 2, 1602 in Augsburg. The fact that he was a member of the Jesuit order has a special effect on his works. In this work, Bidermann tries to appeal to the people and to warn people against evil influences and a sinful life. The end of the work is intended to show what happens to a person when he sins.
This work is a Jesuit drama .
Modern version
Dieter Forte created a modern version of the Cenodoxus , which was premiered in 1972 at the Salzburg Festival , directed by Werner Düggelin and set by Jean Tinguely .
expenditure
- Jakob Bidermann: Cenodoxus. German translation by Joachim Meichel (1635) edited by Rolf Tarot. (= Reclams Universal Library , No. 8958). Reclam, Stuttgart 1986 [Bibiliographically supplemented edition; first 1965], ISBN 978-3-15- 008958-3.
literature
- Helmut Gier (Ed.): Jakob Bidermann and his Cenodoxus . The most important playwright from the Jesuit order and his most successful play . Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1729-5 .
- Jakob Bidermann: Cenodoxus. In: Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Hrsg.): Kindlers Literatur Lexikon . 3rd, completely revised edition. 18 vols. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-04000-8 , vol. 2, pp. 551-552. [Biogram, article on Cenodoxus by Bernhard Setzwein].
- Hans Pörnbacher: Jacob Biedermann: Cenodoxus, The Doctor of Pariss. Article in: Interpretations of women from the Baroque to the Enlightenment . Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-017512-7 , pp. 7-36.
Web links
- Further information on Cenodoxus ( Memento from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Cenodoxus (Ed. St. Schaller)