The girl from the suburbs

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Data
Title: The girl from the suburbs
Original title: The girl from the suburbs or honest lasts the longest
Genus: Farce with singing in 3 acts
Original language: German
Author: Johann Nestroy
Literary source: La Jolie Fille du Faubourg by Paul de Kock and Charles Varin
Music: Adolf Müller senior
Publishing year: 1841
Premiere: November 24, 1841
Place of premiere: Theater an der Wien
Place and time of the action: The action takes place in the first beyden Acten in a big city, at 3 th   act in codger's country home
people
  • Kauz , a speculator
  • Frau von Erbsenstein, grain trader's widow, his niece
  • Herr von Gigl , her bridegroom, distantly related to Kauz
  • Schnoferl , corner agent
  • Nannett , Frau von Psenstein's maid
  • Knöpfl , a Pfaidler, widower
  • Madam Storch , his sister, widow
  • Peppi , Knöpfl's daughter
  • Rosalie, Sabine , seamstresses, bases of Knöpfl's deceased wife
  • Thecla , an embroiderer
  • Dominik , servant of Mr. Owl
  • a shopkeeper
  • a notary
  • Guests, shopkeepers, clerks, cleaning women

The girl from the suburbs or honestly lasts longest is a farce with singing in 3 acts by Johann Nestroy . The premiere took place on November 24, 1841 in the Theater an der Wien as a benefit performance for the actor Franz Gämmerler .

content

Herr von Gigl, the wife of Erbsenstein, whom he once adored and no longer wants to marry because he has fallen in love with Thecla, asks Schnoferl for help. But he also wants to clear up the theft, which allegedly robbed Kauz of his entire fortune. His manager, Mr. Stimmer, was suspected and has since disappeared without a trace, but Schnoferl believes in Stimmer's innocence. When he talks about a certain Mr. Käfer who seems to know more, Kauz immediately distracts:

"Is a bad person, these beetles are to get involved in anything, not even him investigate!" (I. Act, 7 th Scene)

Just as Gigl complains that Thecla has moved to an unknown address, an embroiderer arrives, it is Thecla of all people. Gigl begs her to give him her address, but she escapes. Gigl confesses his love for Thecla to Frau von Erbsenstein and collapses from excitement. Since the guests invited to the engagement are arriving right now, Ms. von Erbsenstein quickly faints to avoid the shame.

Schnoferl: “Freylich! Freylich! Legn S 'you just down, they are already there! " (I. Act 20 ste Scene)

Schnoferl asks the seamstresses at Madame Storch, who are not inexperienced in love affairs, to give Gigl other ideas. Madame Storch complains that she is being followed by an elderly man - it is owl! Schnoferl casually mentions that Mr. Käfer has just arrived and that he wants to see him tomorrow morning. The new neighbor, who lives withdrawn, also comes and Gigl recognizes his Thecla. Suddenly Frau von Erbsenstein steps in and reveals that Thecla is the daughter of the thief who has gone through, Stimmer, who allegedly stole from Kauz. Thecla collapses.

Schnoferl: "Generic voice, give a sound you!" (Act II, 20. Ste Scene)

Kauz, who has invited all the sewing girls to his country house, comes directly from that Herr Käfer, from whom he bought a letter and forced him to leave immediately. You play blind man's cow, the girls hide Kauz's skirt and his wallet falls out. This wallet goes to Schnoferl via Sabine, Rosalie, Peppi and Gigl. In it, he discovers the letter that proves Stimmer's innocence because Kauz had "robbed" himself with the help of Käfer ( "Look, Herr von Kauz!" ). In order to spare Frau von Erbsenstein, however, Schnoferl cheats that Kauz only misplaced the money back then and just found it again. For this he forces Kauz to give him ample compensation for Thecla and her father. Ms. von Erbsenstein, however, extends her hand to Schnoferl, as he had always dreamed of:

"I have one, I think you pleasant reward by the hand - the hand itself, if you want to s'" (III Act 20. Ste Scene)

Factory history

Nestroy's role model was the Comedie-Vaudeville La Jolie Fille du Faubourg (The beautiful girl from the suburbs) by Charles Varin and Paul de Kock (based on the novel by this author) that on July 13, 1840 at the Théâtre du Vaudeville of Paris premiered .

Although Nestroy was seriously ill in the fall of 1841 and was only allowed to leave the apartment in October, he worked hard on the new piece. Although the plot is similar to the vaudeville, Nestroy has adapted it to the down-to-earth form of the Viennese farce. The poet himself ironized the game, which was continued over and over again through unbelievable coincidences, when he let Schnoferl say:

"Ah, I'll tell that chance must be a b'soffener driver - as the Leut 'z'sammführt,' s is strong" (II. Act 15 th Scene)

Johann Nestroy played Schnoferl, director Carl Carl the speculator Kauz, Alois Grois the Pfaidler Knöpfel, the beneficiary Franz Gämmerler the clerk, Nestroy's niece (the daughter of his sister Maria Franziska [1803–1866], who was also acting), who was on the theater bill as Dlle . Nestroy was announced the Thecla, his partner Marie Weiler the seamstress Rosalie, Eleonore Condorussi the seamstress Sabine.

An incomplete original manuscript by Nestroy with the title Das Mädl. [Addition by another hand: from the suburb ] Farce with singing in 3 acts is preserved. Two slurs are missing, and Knöpfl is still missing, which Nestroy had only added shortly before the premiere in order to create a role for his colleague Alois Grois; and the Quodlibet between Schnoferl and Rosalie "Singing man can in countless ways" (II. Act 11 th  Act) is still missing. This duet, which was very popular at the time, was - as it apparently often happened - performed in costume by Nestroy and Marie Weiler at a musical and declamatory evening on June 20, 1844 , according to a report in the Wiener Theaterzeitung .

The fragment of a handwritten translation of the original by Nestroy has also been preserved. The original score by Adolf Müller contains all couplets, the final chorus and the above-mentioned quodlibet, but without the complete texts.

Contemporary reception

The girl from the suburbs was one of Nestroy's greatest successes with audiences and had 81 performances by 1862.

In the Viennese theater newspaper by Adolf Bäuerle , Nestroy always well-disposed, from November 26, 1841 (No. 283, p. 1238) it said:

“The reception of this novelty was enthusiastic on the part of the audience. Mr. Nestroy had the pleasure of not having sown a grain of the countless bon mots, word games, joke rockets, satirical flares on sterile ground. "

The collector reported on November 27th about the great expectations that the new piece had aroused, but was not very friendly, especially about the fact that the poet had - once again - used a weak French work as a model:

“Assuming the case that the piece really had not Mr Nestroy, but Mr X or Y or Z as the author, then one would probably have reasoned differently about its weaknesses. […] Indeed, it is sad! Doesn't such a beautiful, large, wonderful city like Vienna, with its lively folk life and bustle, offer a thousand and a thousand materials for an original local farce? Why doesn't Mr Nestroy look for these materials? "

The criticism of the Wiener Zeitschrift was more understanding , also on November 27th, where the positive reaction of the public was ultimately seen as the decisive criterion. Moritz Gottlieb Saphir reviewed his Der Humorist with a lengthy, mocking elaborate that was less concerned with the piece than with Saphir's infallibility. The Wanderer (November 26th) gave unreserved praise; The criticism of the Morgenblätter , which described the use of a “French template” as “un-German” - a criticism that Nestroy would hear again and again was almost nationally German .

Later interpretation

Otto Rommel writes that Nestroy retained the plot despite the apparent improbability of the original. His suburban girls - the seamstresses - no longer had anything to do with the Parisian grisettes , but also nothing to do with the “sweet girls” of his later works. The elegant Parisian world is rewritten by him into honest Viennese citizenship. The successful implementation of the elegant, cosmopolitan lawyer Eugen Durozel in the agent Schnoferl, i.e. the witty, fine and noble character with self-sacrificing resignation in a traditional figure of the old Viennese folk theater , the “factotum”, the mediator, mostly as a sign of his insignificant social position with a diminutive name - Schnoferl - marked. These people walk through the piece, know everything, take care of everything, just as Kampl was later . The caustic in Nestroy's joke is alleviated by kindness of heart.

In Fritz Brukner and Otto Rommel changing the frivolous Parisian milieu is also emphasized in the Vienna suburb scenery. When the grisettes flutter happily through life in Vaudeville, Nestroy's seamstresses are drawn more realistically, the little malice of the Parisian women now acquired a certain viciousness. In contrast, the poet succeeded much better in transforming the other roles of the lovable but smooth elegance of the original into crisp Viennese types.

Franz H. Mautner states that Nestroy made completely different characters out of the pale types of the original, and turned the smooth, monotonous language into a word-conscious dialogue. He writes about Schnoferl: “Poor in appearance, shy and unsuccessful with women, but inwardly superior to all the questionable figures in spirit, wit and goodness, he is one of the most endearing roles of Nestroy.” (Quote) The joke is no longer quite so dazzling, like in the talisman , but the form of dialogue has grown, which the audience has enthusiastically appreciated.

Helmut Ahrens sees Nestroy's play as a mixture of a criminal plot and a love story, without taking either of the two threads very seriously. The Parisian metropolitan people would become citizens of the suburbs, caretakers, brush makers, bread sitters, which would lose some of the Parisian charm and light-heartedness. The figure of Schnoferl, which he equips with superior kindness of heart, is delicious.

Ernst Fischer deals with Nestroy's translation work and, comparing it with the French model, finds that Nestroy

"[...] turns the gray raw material into a work of art through dialogue, language, word, through scarcity here, enrichment there on a bagatelle that performs the miracle of the mango tree."

text

literature

  • Helmut Ahrens: I'm not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Johann Nestroy, his life. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-7973-0389-0 .
  • Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Historical-critical complete edition, eleventh volume, published by Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1928.
  • Franz H. Mautner (Ed.): Johann Nestroys Komödien. Edition in 6 volumes, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1979, 2nd edition 1981, fourth volume.
  • Otto Rommel: Nestroys Works. Selection in two parts, Golden Classics Library, German publishing house Bong & Co., Berlin / Leipzig / Vienna / Stuttgart 1908.
  • Otto Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Collected Works. Historical-critical complete edition, third volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1948–1949, new edition 1962; Pp. 509-600, 714-716, 730-733.
  • W. Edgar Yates (Ed.): Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. In: Jürgen Hein , Johann Hüttner , Walter Obermaier , W. Edgar Yates: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition. Franz Deuticke Verlagsgesellschaft, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-216-30342-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vorstadt = outside the then walled inner city , today the area between the Vienna Ringstrasse and the Gürtel
  2. ↑ means Vienna
  3. ↑ Speculant = someone who engages in insecure business for the sake of high profits (Pomponnier in the original is banquier , Nestroy uses instead the expression that is always negatively charged)
  4. ↑ Gigl, Gidl = derived from Aegidius ; Resonance with gigezn = stutter, stammer; the term Gigerl for fashion plate, Stutzer, did not come up until 1880; the of is to be understood in the bourgeois circles in Vienna at this time merely as a polite formality and not as a title of nobility
  5. ↑ Schnoferl = derived from sniffing 1) talking through the nose, nibbling, 2) sniffing the dog, or feeling around for a person who sticks his nose everywhere; meaning 2 is meant here
  6. ↑ Winkelagent = Austrian for small brokers or sales representatives; also someone who writes unauthorized documents, see corner lawyer (Nestroy could not use this word for reasons of censorship)
  7. ↑ Pfaidler = Viennese for a small laundry dealer
  8. ↑ Seamstresses, seamstresses = seamstresses
  9. ↑ Commis = business assistant
  10. ^ Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. P. 21.
  11. ^ Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. P. 37.
  12. ↑ “ The matchmakers founded sewing and knitting schools or acquired the authority to trade in women's cleaning in order to drive young girls who have barely outgrown their infancy or young, inexperienced wives into the clutches of disdainful voluptuary. “Josef Wardrobe: The historical, administrative and hygienic relationship of prostitution in Vienna , Volume 1: The history of prostitution in Vienna , self-published, Vienna 1886, p. 251.
  13. ^ Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. P. 68.
  14. ^ Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. P. 96.
  15. ↑ Facsimile of the original in Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. Pp. 321-351.
  16. ↑ z'sammführung = ambiguous here: drive down and bring together
  17. ^ Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. P. 61.
  18. ↑ Dem . or Dlle . is the abbreviation for Demoiselle (= Fräulein), the name used to describe the unmarried women of an ensemble; the married actresses were titled Mad. (Madame)
  19. ↑ Facsimile of the playlist in Yates: Johann Nestroy, pieces 17 / II. P. 319.
  20. ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall , call number IN 33.337.
  21. ^ Otto Rommel: Nestroys works. Part 2, p. 357.
  22. ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall, call number IN 33.338; Text of the translation in Yates: Johann Nestroy, Pieces 17 / II. Pp. 116-148.
  23. ^ Music collection of the Vienna Library in the City Hall, call number MH 773.
  24. ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 517-531. (for the whole Contemporary Reception section )
  25. ^ Otto Rommel: Nestroys works. Part 1, pp. 155-157.
  26. ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 489-490.
  27. ^ Franz H. Mautner: Johann Nestroys Komedien. P. 317.
  28. ↑ Brotsitzerin = breadlady
  29. ↑ Helmut Ahrens: I am not auctioning myself off to the laurel. P. 233.
  30. ↑ Indian fakirs can grow a small mango tree from a mango seed in seconds; in fact, this “miracle” is achieved by a twig that is hidden in the nut and folded up into small pieces
  31. ↑ Ernst Fischer: From Grillparzer to Kafka. Six essays [1962]. Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, Frankfurt / Main 1975, pp. 190–194.