The decameron of the misunderstood
The decameron of the misunderstood is a satirical work by Julius Stinde , the first edition of which was published without naming the author in 1881 with portraits and illustrations by G. Koch by the Berliner Verlag Freund & Jeckel with a volume of VIII and 163 pages. Another edition with the same equipment and scope was published in 1884.
description
In order to finally do something promising, a less successful group of actors decides to write their own decameron based on the example of the “Decameron of the Burgtheater”. The individual members of the troupe, soubrette and first intriguer, comedian, mother actress and others write down their life stories. The sequence of these actor biographies is interrupted by a report on the rehearsals and performances of the troupe in the provincial town "K.", to which it is stated in a comment by the composer that it could possibly be "Kyritz an der Knatter" . For performance come Friedrich Schiller's "The Robbers" , but in a the demands of small-town audiences and the ways of the Force customized version. Fire and sword eaters, a trapeze acrobat and a bear enliven the classic piece. The critic of the local newspaper is very praiseworthy and has only to complain that the actor who played Franz Moor wore a simple black suit without a white collar instead of a tailcoat. In a second interlude, the scuffles among those involved are described: everyone wants their biography as high up in the book as possible. In addition, a new play is accepted by the director, written by a textile goods seller with a penchant for the theater. To the horror of the author, the piece is trimmed according to the needs of the place and the troupe. When the texts for the “Dekamerone” are together, the printer demands a cost advance. The money can only be raised through a collection campaign in the town and through special anniversary events. But when the gagetag began, the director and the cash register disappeared.
The book is spiced with many allusions to contemporary theater conditions and processes that can only be understood by experts today. As a hasty parody of today's theater conditions, the book can also be read in parts.
The birthdays of “our great poets and composers” are celebrated, “. . . the piece was of course not that important. . . "
“It was enough to put up the plaster bust of the celebrated person and speak a prologue. That was enough to reflect feelings of homage and gratitude. Afterwards the audience wanted to have a good time. For the last celebration of Schiller's birthdays we gave 'Die Kohlenschulzen' the evening before and a prologue and 'Parisian Life' on the day itself. - We celebrated the day of Goethe's death with the 'Rosadominos' and Lessing got the 'Fourchambaults', which were unanimously declared as a morally uplifting piece, while even the Drepplers said they had never had to portray such a mean character. . . We celebrated Klopstocken with the "Lady of the Camellias" . . . "
Instead of an imprint, the back of the title page offers the following information:
- Printed by Metzger & Wittig in Leipzig.
- Paper by Ferdinand Flinsch in Berlin.
- Drawings by G. Koch in Berlin.
- Zinc etching by E. Gaillard in Berlin.
- Zinc, from Silesian smelters.
- Printing ink from C. Hostmann in Celle.
- Ink by William Rosenberg in Berlin.
- Feathers from Rügenwalde in Pomerania from geese specially bred for this purpose.
The dedication in the edition of 1887 reads: "Dedicated to his publisher Carl Freund in memory of the first meeting on March 16, 1878 in high esteem and friendship by the author."
expenditure
After the editions of 1881 and 1884, the book was reissued in 1887 with illustrations by Oscar Wagner, here Stinde is also named as the author:
- The traveling troop or the decameron of the misunderstood. Parodic theater sketches by Julius Stinde. Illustrated by Oscar Wagner. Berlin, 1887, published by Freund & Jeckel. (Carl Freund.)
Emergence
We are very well informed about the creation of the work and about Stinde's negotiations with the publisher from the correspondence we have received. It is kept in the Schleswig-Holstein State Library in Kiel and can be found in an edition with the title. "Always smooth and honest, that is my business maxim". Two serious theater Dakamerones served as inspiration and role models:
- The Hamburg theater decameron. Edited by Adolf Philipp and Julius Baron. Hamburg: Rademacher 1881. (2nd edition expanded with a history of the Thalia Theater, also 1881)
- Dekamerone from the Burgtheater. With 25 portraits. Vienna: Hartleben 1880. (Second and third edition also 1880)
echo
The topic has been satirically treated several times in the press, for example by Gustav Kadelburg , who in the Berliner Tageblatt of February 27, 1882 in an article entitled "A Decameron Proposal" offers a scheme for an actor's biography in which the or the All you have to do is enter your name, location and dates to make a respectable Dekamerone contribution. In the German Monday Gazette of August 8, 1881, B. Glogau describes the following script as the “third theater decameron”: Before the Coulissen original sheets of celebrities in German theater. Edited by Josef Lewinsky. Hofmann, Berlin: 1881. The Kladderadatsch calendar from 1881 contains a New Theater Dakamerone on pp. 65–71 with illustrations by Wilhelm Scholz .
Web links
Website for Stindes The Decameron of the Misunderstood with further information ( Memento from June 6th 2011 in the web archive archive.today )
Individual evidence
- ^ The decameron of the misunderstood , Berlin 1887, page 127.
- ↑ Always smooth and honest, that is my business maxim. Julius Stinde's letters to publishers, editors and editors. Collected, commented on and edited by Ulrich Goerdten . Bargfeld: Luttertaler handshake 1993. ISBN 3-928779-08-7