The quodlibet of different centuries

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Data
Title: The quodlibet of different centuries
Original title: The quodlibet of different centuries
plus prelude
The dramatic carpenter
Genus: Quodlibet in 3 sections with foreplay
Original language: German
Author: Johann Nestroy
Publishing year: 1843
Premiere: May 12, 1843
Place of premiere: Theater an der Wien
Place and time of the action: Prelude: The stage presents a poorly furnished room in the weaver's house, a central door, a side door on the left, a staircase in the background on the right that leads to the attic
people

In the prelude "The Dramatic Carpenter"

  • Schiffl , a weaver
  • Susanne , his wife
  • Laurel tribe , hero player of a provincial theater
  • Puff , comedian at a provincial theater
  • Dürr , a poet

In the "Quodlibet in Gothic style with Chinese emblems"

  • Steffel, Hanns , valet
  • a knight
  • Johanna d'Arc
  • Don juan
  • Johann Herzig , a servant from Vienna
  • Panpau , mandarin
  • Sao , merchant
  • Peki , his daughter
  • a herald
  • Philip II , King of Spain
  • Duke of Alba
  • Count von Lerma , chief of the bodyguard
  • Duke of Medina Sidonia , Admiral
  • Käsperle , a squire
  • Altoum , fabulous emperor of China
  • Turandot , his daughter
  • Zelima , a slave of the Turandot
  • Zin-tsung, Tschao, Hiau-Toung, Oa-Ung , all doctors
  • Don Carlos , Infante of Spain

Mandarins, Chinese, knights

The Quodlibet of Different Centuries and Prelude The Dramatic Zimmerherrn is a Quodlibet of various alienated classical scenes with a prelude in an act specially written by Johann Nestroy . Only the first part of the Quodlibet has survived : Quodlibet in Gothic style with Chinese emblems ; the text of the two remaining parts can no longer be found. The premiere on May 12, 1843 was a "benefit performance" for the poet.

Nestroy himself described this work in a subtitle as a scene and person mess made of several pieces. In 3 sections, plus a prelude in 1 act: The dramatic carpenter . It does not contain any music or song numbers.

For the preludes written by Nestroy see the article The dramatic Quodlibets by Johann Nestroy .

content

The foreplay The dramatic carpenters

Laurel tribe and pouf share a room at Weber Schiffl, where they study their roles, laurel tribe that of Dunois from Schiller's " The Maiden of Orleans " , Pouf that of Lorenz from Nestroy's " The fateful Faschingsnacht " . The alternating recitation of the text creates a strange dialogue. The housewife Susanne does not appreciate Puff, but he pays the rent, in contrast to Laurel tribe, for whom she always refrains from urging him to pay out of sympathy.

Puff: “Of course. I pay my interest. "
Laurel tribe: “And the housewife gives it to me; it's the same."
Puff: "Yes, in dirty form."

Susanne's husband Schiffl shows the opposite attitude towards his tenants. The offended laurel tribe never wants to be on stage with a comedian again. That is why Schiffl asks the poet Dürr to put together a "Quodlibet from old things for the local theater" for 30  guilders , where at the end "the serious hero comes together with the fun-makers" .

1st division: Quodlibet in Gothic style with Chinese emblems

At the iron hammer, Steffel and Hanns throw the knight, who, despite their warnings, approaches smoking a pipe, into the furnace. Johanna d'Arc rejects the loving Don Juan and swears never to marry. In Madrid, Alba interrogates Käsperle, who claims to have flown through the air on a “garbage collector” and landed in the castle. Käsperle introduces himself to Philipp as Marquis von Posa. A herald brings Philip the news that his son Carlos has fallen in love with Princess Turandot and that he now has to solve three riddles, otherwise his head will be cut off. Philipp sends Käsperle to help, Turandot poses three puzzles that leave Carlos at a loss, but Käsperle can easily solve them:

“Why not at all, but that's true, for a Spaniard it's a task that borders on impossibility. For a Viennese it's child's play. "

The texts or contents of the 2nd and 3rd divisions, the Quodlibets in Rococo style as well as in the modern style , have not survived, there is only a list of people (see section "Web Links").

Factory history

Under time pressure - just ten days after a performance of love stories and marriage matters - Johann Nestroy wrote down the Quodlibet and prelude in just a few days in early May 1843, using already existing parodies. As always with Quodlibets, the only reason was to bring out the actors' ability to perform and transform in popular and well-known scenes and roles. This was clearly addressed by Nestroy in the prelude, where he was once again able to show his joy in the “theater in the theater”. At that time, however, the genre of the quodlibet had already outlived itself somewhat, so that - apart from the charity performance with large income for the poet - public interest was weak; the work was therefore removed from the program after just four performances. Only the prelude was used again in August of the same year for the Quodlibet Alles zum Lachen compiled by Alois Grois .

In a letter dated May 1, 1843, Nestroy asked his colleague Wenzel Scholz to write a “speech of thanks for a Quodlibet that I am putting together” , which was planned as a dialogue:

"You really wanted us to both, you and I, each only ever say one word [...]"

The work lives through the juxtaposition of hero players and comedians. In the performances, the Weber Schiffl (in the prelude ), the Jeanne d'Arc, the Käsperle (both in the Gothic style ), the Guardia boss Ferdinand (in the Rococo style ) and the Bajazzo Zögerl (in the modern Style ); Wenzel Scholz played the servant Johann Herzig (in the Gothic style ), the servant Anastasius (in the Rococo style ) and the stocking maker Leopold Würfel (in the modern style ); Alois Grois was the comedian Puff (in the prelude ), the Kaiser Altoum (in the Gothic style ), the Stadtmusikus Müller (in the Rococo style ) and the tightrope walker Mortaletto (in the modern style ).

Only one manuscript from Nestroy's own hand with the end of the 6th scene of the prelude has survived. The page numbering "12" suggests that the rest of the text was on the missing pages. There is also a handwritten draft by Nestroy for the list of people and notes on the foreplay and the Quodlibet.

Contemporary reception

Although Nestroy had noted on the theater bill that the Quodlibet had been deranged (compiled) solely for benefit performances , it was not well received by contemporary critics.

In the Sunday papers of May 14, 1834 (p. 461) one could read:

"The day before yesterday, Mr. Nestroy brought a 'Quodlibet of different centuries, together with a new prelude', of such a bleak, mean and so very fun and joke-free nature, as we would never have expected Mr. Nestroy."

The humorist of Moritz Gottlieb Saphir , who washostile to Nestroy,wrote on May 15 (p. 390):

“To profane the most ideal works of the most ideal German poet, Schiller's tragedies, in such a mean way, to put his sublime creations in such low disguise, to drag his heavenly language into the feces as it is the case here - we think not a strict enough expression to properly designate such a procedure. "

In the collector of May 15 (p. 310 f.) The verdict was somewhat milder:

“It is obvious that even the richest man cannot always give, that the most lush hallway cannot always be green, and that even the most fertile mind cannot always create something new and successful. [...] But the desire to create something original in this genre through a new division, of which no one can account, has spoiled the whole pie. "

In the Viennese audience of May 19 (p. 635 f.) Nestroy was described as the “last swaying pillar of our local farce” who should have “more respect for himself and the audience” .

literature

  • Jürgen Hein (Ed.): Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 . In: Jürgen Hein, Johann Hüttner : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition. Jugend und Volk, Vienna / Munich 1988, ISBN 3-224-16901-X , pp. 85–109, 235–259.

Web links

  • Table of contents and list of persons of the prelude and the Quodlibets in Gothic style with Chinese emblems , list of persons of the Quodlibets in Rococo style as well as in modern style at nestroy.at/nestroy-stuecke/48

Individual evidence

  1. Käsperle , figure Karl Friedrich Hensler's (1759-1825) Volksstück The Teufelsmühle Wienerberg (1799); Nestroy played Käsperle in Brno in 1825
  2. Quodlibet = compilation of popular scenes and characters from familiar pieces
  3. dirty here in the Viennese sense: Schmutzian = miser; Peter Wehle : Do you speak Viennese? Verlag Carl Ueberreuther, Vienna / Heidelberg 1980, ISBN 3-8000-3165-5 , p. 246.
  4. ^ Jürgen Hein: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 , p. 90.
  5. Nestroy's connection between Joan of Arc and Don Juan is probably influenced by Christian Dietrich Grabbes (1801–1836) Don Juan and Faust (1828/29); Nestroy played the leporello in an arrangement by director Carl Carl in 1838
  6. Müllnerlöwe = in Hensler 's Teufelsmühle a table is transformed into a Müllneresel, here this is parodistically exaggerated by Nestroy
  7. ^ Jürgen Hein: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 , p. 109.
  8. ^ Jürgen Hein: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 , p. 236.
  9. Facsimile of the theater slip in Jürgen Hein: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 , p. 274.
  10. ^ City Guardia = former city police force
  11. Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall , call number IN 94.368 / b.
  12. Manuscript collection of the Vienna library in the town hall, call number IN 94.368 / a.
  13. Manuscript collection of the Vienna library in the town hall, call number IN 162.924.
  14. Facsimiles to all manuscripts in Jürgen Hein: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 , pp. 271-273.
  15. ^ Jürgen Hein: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 19 , pp. 240-245.