The golden fleece
The Golden Fleece (original spelling: The golden fleece ) is a drama in three parts ( Trilogy ) by Franz Grillparzer from 1819 (specifically September 29, 1818 - January 27 1820).
This work is the most extensive by Grillparzer, based on the ancient Argonaut epic by Apollonios of Rhodes and Medea by Euripides . The premiere took place on March 26 and 27, 1821 in Vienna.
1st part - The host
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| Original title: | The host |
| Genus: | Tragedy in an elevator |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Franz Grillparzer |
| Publishing year: | 1821 |
| Premiere: | 1821 |
| Place of premiere: | Burgtheater , Vienna |
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The Greek ruler's son Phryxus has to flee from his homeland at the underhand actions of his stepmother, cheated of his inheritance and without a home or claim to the throne. On his escape, an unknown god appears to him in Delphi , who hands over the golden fleece to him with the words "Take victory and vengeance!"
Phryxus arrives in Colchis , inhabited by barbarians , where he wants to build a new existence. In Colchis he discovers a statue of the god who appeared to him in Greece, it is Perronto, the god of the barbarians living there and their king Aietes , but Phryxus sees him as a dangerous stranger and sneakily murders him and his companions by unknowingly killing his daughter Medea uses as a tool. This recognizes the death of Phryxus that the cowardly and greedy robbery on hospitality now bearing down on the mat. Driven by gloomy visions, at the end of the first part she “escapes” from the society of barbarians and her father Aietes.
Part 2 - The Argonauts
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| Original title: | The Argonauts |
| Genus: | Tragedy in four acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Franz Grillparzer |
| Publishing year: | 1821 |
| Premiere: | 1821 |
| Place of premiere: | Burgtheater , Vienna |
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Jason , son of the late King Aeson , demands the throne he deserves from his uncle Pelias . He cunningly asks him to get the golden fleece from Colchis before handing over the office, since he himself is too old to avenge Phryxus. Jason arrives at Colchis on the ship Argo , followed by the Argonauts , including his close friend Milo.
Aietes and his son Absyrtus go to Medea in an abandoned tower, where they live with their virgins as a retinue. He persuades her to help him drive away the strangers again. Medea reluctantly agrees and meets Jason three times in the course of the plot, fighting against her love for this stranger, but her love is greater than her will to loyalty to Colchis. She protects Jason from the barbarians and turns against her family by bringing the golden fleece to the enemy and accepting that Jason takes her as his wife.
At the end of the second part, Medea is cast out by her family, Absyrtus takes his own life, and Jason sails with the golden fleece, as well as Medea and her nurse Gora, back to Greece to take over his heir to the throne.
Part 3 - Medea
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| Original title: | Medea |
| Genus: | Tragedy in five acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Franz Grillparzer |
| Publishing year: | 1821 |
| Premiere: | 1821 |
| Place of premiere: | Burgtheater , Vienna |
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The third and last part of the trilogy The Golden Fleece tells of the return of the Argonaut leader Jason with his wife Medea, their two children and the nurse to Corinth to King Creon , where he asks for a hospitable reception. There Jason meets his former lover, the king's daughter Creusa , who cares so warmly for Jason's two children that Medea becomes jealous, and she also feels like an outsider in Greece . Finally, Kreon wants to send Medea away again, but keep Jason and the children with him. Medea is eventually evicted. She instructs the wet nurse to kill Kreusas and, because of her inner turmoil, murders her two children with her own hands. Afterwards, at the end of the drama, Medea brings the golden fleece to the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi.
Performances
In 2004 the drama was performed at the Vienna Burgtheater and nominated for four Nestroy theater prizes, Birgit Minichmayr and Stephan Kimmig were able to win two of them for performance and direction.
Medea premiered on May 5, 2007 at the Schauspiel Leipzig (director: Robert Schuster ). In this production, all three parts of the Golden Fleece were performed.
In March 2016, all three parts of the Golden Fleece were performed as an educational project in Oberwil / BL (Switzerland) . 20 students, two actors, the Zurich Baroque Orchestra and the band Vertex played all three parts in Grillparzer's original text with the setting and under the direction and musical direction of Nikolaus Matthes.
In 2018 the play was performed at the Innsbruck State Theater.
Others
In 1958, Medeagasse in Vienna- Favoriten (10th district) was named with reference to the trilogy of drama.
literature
- Tim Albrecht: Trusting Barbarians?: Franz Grillparzer's The Golden Fleece and the Challenge to the Mythography of Empire. In: Maria Boletsi, Christian Moser (Ed.): Barbarism revisited. New Perspectives on an Old Concept. Brill-Rodopi, Leiden / Boston 2015, pp. 203–220.
- Jean-Louis Bandet: Mythology and Marriage Drama in The Golden Fleece. In: Études Germaniques. Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872). Volume 47, No. 2, April-June 1992, pp. 191-200.
- Jeanine Charue-Ferrucci: La notion de barbarie dans la trilogie de Grillparzer La Toison d'Or (The golden fleece). In: Pierre Labaye (ed.): L'Allemagne des Lumières à la Modernité. Mélanges offerts à Jean-Louis Bandet. Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes 1997, pp. 133-143.
- Viviane Koua: Médée figure contemporaine de l'interculturalité. University thesis. Université de Limoges, 2006.
- Éric Leroy du Cardonnoy: Médée et les métamorphoses de l'hôte chez Franz Grillparzer. In: Boris Czerny, Anne-Marie Gresser (eds.): L'Hôte étranger, stratégies de l'hospitalité. Presses Universitaires de Caen, Caen 2010, pp. 31-40.
- La trilogie de la Toison d'or de Franz Grillparzer: la tradition revisitée. In: Corona Schmiele, Éric Leroy du Cardonnoy (ed.): Passages à l'acte: interprétation, traduction, (ré-) écriture. Éditions Indigo & Côté femmes, Paris 2010, pp. 132–148.
- Lu Mingjun: Madness of Medea. A study of Grillparzer's trilogy The Golden Fleece and Hans Henny Jahnn's drama Medea. Mattes, Heidelberg 2013.
- Chenxi Tang: The Tragedy of Civilization. International law and the aesthetics of the tragic in the 19th century. In: Gustav Frank, Madleen Podewski (Hrsg.): Wissenskulturen des Vormärz. (= Vormärz Research Yearbook. 17th year). Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2011, pp. 87-136.
- Bertrand Westphal: De l'hospitalité en Colchide. The golden fleece de Franz Grillparzer. In: Alain Montandon (ed.): L'hospitalité au théâtre. Presses universitaires Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand 2003, pp. 47-59.
- Katja Wimmer: Médée à Delphes. La fin de la trilogy La Toison d'Or de Franz Grillparzer. In: Jacques Darmaun (Ed.): Cahiers d'Études Germaniques. n ° 39, 2000, pp. 119-127.
- "According to women's fervor, the love of men does not measure / He who knows love and life, man and woman!" Sapho et la trilogie de La Toison d'Or de Franz Grillparzer. In: Karl-Heinz Götze, Ingrid Haag (Ed.): À propos d'amour. Les discours sur l'amour de Werther à Effi Briest. (= Cahiers d'Études Germaniques. N ° 45). 2003, pp. 199-207.
- Markus Winkler: From Iphigenia to Medea: On the semantics of the barbaric in Racine, Goethe and Grillparzer. In: Volker C. Dörr, Helmut J. Schneider (Hrsg.): The German tragedy. New readings of a genre in a European context. Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2006, pp. 17–37.
- From Iphigenia to Medea: the semantics and dramaturgy of the barbaric in Goethe and Grillparzer. (= Studies on German Literature History. Volume 133). Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009.
Web links
- Grillparzer website
- The golden fleece in Project Gutenberg ( currently not usually available for users from Germany )
Individual evidence
- ↑ The golden fleece. Paunima Productions, accessed December 27, 2017 .
- ^ Tyrolean State Theater and Symphony Orchestra Innsbruck: The golden fleece. Retrieved January 5, 2019 .