The monkey and the groom
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| Title: | The monkey and the groom |
| Genus: | Posse with singing in three acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Johann Nestroy |
| Music: | Kapellmeister Georg Ott |
| Publishing year: | 1836 |
| Premiere: | July 23, 1836 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater an der Wien |
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The monkey and the bridegroom is a farce with singing in three acts by Johann Nestroy . The play was written in 1836 and was premiered on July 23 of this year in the Theater an der Wien .
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Because Wilhelm shows a few magic tricks, the simple-minded relatives of his beloved Berta mistake him for a sorcerer. Flachkopf also wants to marry off his daughter to his childhood friend Mondkalb. He disguises himself as a monkey - to impress the animal-loving Berta. His servant Hecht says:
- “You have long hands, you have a gauntlet, in a word, only the tailcoat is what matters to you, otherwise you would be all adorable.” (First act, fifteenth scene)
At the same time, a real monkey has escaped from a menagerie and is roaming around Flachkopf's house and garden. Mondkalb, who also considers Wilhelm to be a sorcerer, is threatened by him with eternal enchantment in a monkey if he speaks even one word. Now the disguised and the real monkey are constantly mistaken for one another and Flachkopf often beats the wrong one so that Berta would be happy.
- "Come here, you obstinate beast, I'll learn you to play the melancholy, you should come to life for me!" (First act, twenty-third scene)
Mamok steals a valuable collar, Tigerzahn catches the moon calf and brings him back to the menagerie, Flachkopf has Wilhelm arrested as a sorcerer. Immerzorn and Flachkopf believe they recognize the enchanted moon calf in Mamok and want to have Wilhelm burned. Only through the appearance of Tigerzahn and his attractions is the confusion cleared up and the two lovers can find each other. Pike is also relieved:
- "I'm just glad that Your Grace are no cattle." (Third act, fourteenth scene)
Attractions on the suburban stages
In the 19th century in particular , people celebrated great triumphs in the Viennese suburban theaters, especially in the Theater an der Wien and in the Leopoldstädter Theater . Until the late 1860s, this was an everyday performance practice, which served as a welcome change, especially during the holidays and guest performances of the well-known folk actors . It also made it much easier for the management to put together the program, as it was easy to hire lecturers, improvisers, rural singers, music virtuosos, magicians, gymnasts, animal performers, tamers with real animals, circus people, dancers and performers of "living images" ( tableaux vivants ) were. Revenue increased when one-act plays were added to these performances or they were presented in a theatrical setting.
Director Carl Carl in particular supplemented knight and historical dramas with the help of entire equestrian and trainer troops and thus created “spectacle plays” - popularly known as “horse comedies”. An example is Nestroy's work Moppels Abentheuer (1837), in which not only two famous English gymnasts, but also a living giraffe appeared.
Helmut Ahrens mentions that in the summer of 1836 the repertoire of the Theater an der Wien had been emphatically changed by Carl - acrobats, jugglers, horse riders moved into the suburban theater, the circus sold the comedy.
Factory history
This work by Nestroy was a work commissioned by his director Carl, which was intended to give the then famous artist and monkey actor Eduard Klischnigg - appearing for the first time in Vienna - the opportunity to present himself in his prime role in a gorilla costume . The actual play was therefore of little importance, since the focus of the performances was on the brilliant gymnast Klischnigg. Nevertheless, Nestroy's piece had a lot more quality than some of its predecessors and imitators, because the author succeeded in integrating the character of the monkey into the plot and creating tension, especially with the scenes of confusion.
Johann Nestroy played the servant Hecht, Wenzel Scholz the landlord Mondkalb, Franz Gämmerler played Wilhelm von Föhrenthal, Friedrich Hopp played the court keeper Immerzorn, Ignaz Stahl played Herr von Flachkopf, Eduard Klischnigg played the monkey Mamok. The piece was performed 49 times in a row.
The first performance was attended by the King of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand II with his wife Maria Christina of Savoy , Archduke Franz Karl of Austria with his wife Sophie Friederike of Bavaria (the parents of the later Emperor Franz Joseph I ) and Archduchess Maria Klementine .
With Klischnigg's resignation from the stage, the great success of the “monkey comedies” ended, as despite some attempts there was no equivalent successor. Nevertheless, Nestroy's posse was still very popular, even without talented ape artists, so according to a report in the Wiener Theaterzeitung on December 12, 1858, the play in the Vienna Thalia Theater was the greatest success of that year. In 1903 an edited version was played in Bressanone under the title Der Schwarzkünstler in front of an ecclesiastical audience as a biting satire on Charles Darwin, who was then hated by the clergy .
Neither an original nor a theater manuscript has survived. The text is based on the first printed Nestroy complete edition by Ludwig Ganghofer and Vinzenz Chiavacci ( Nestroys Collected Works , Bonz Verlag, Stuttgart 1890). The (incomplete) original score by Kapellmeister Georg Ott is kept in the Vienna Library in the City Hall . It consists of the protective cover, the title page, the song Hecht (1st act, 7th scene: "The first rice 'in my' life, ..." ), the duet Hecht / Genofeva (2nd act, 8th scene: " A species of apes, for example, I know ... " ) and the quodlibet of the two (3rd act, 3rd scene: " Genofeva, avoiding you ... " ).
Contemporary receptions
The contemporary critics, in line with the public's taste, were much more concerned with Klischnigg's art of representation than with Nestroy’s play.
In the Wiener Theater Zeitung of Adolf Bäuerle the reviewer wrote Heinrich Adami immediately after the performance:
- “In and of itself, the farce has probably no value and must neither be compared with what Nestroy has done so far, nor judged by the same standards, but for an occasional piece it may at least be regarded as a work that has not failed, and the requirements an audience ready for entertainment. […] The monkey actor Mr. Klischnigg, who has been praised to us in numerous reports from abroad and has now also appeared in Vienna for the first time, turned out to be an extraordinary phenomenon. [...] His agility, the flexibility and flexibility of his limbs are astonishing and surpass everything that has been seen in Vienna so far. "
The collector noted on July 30, after a lawsuit, that this type of entertainment had conquered the German theaters from Paris:
- “If you don't take the trouble to sacrifice an evening yourself, you would find it almost impossible what you would like to say about the idea of Klischnigg. This speed, this agility, this shuttlecock-like légèreté are incomprehensible to the human eye. […] The farce itself belongs to the class of the better products of Mr. Nestroy. The solution to the knot is not ineffective, the monkey metamorphosis is extremely funny and good, spiced with pleasant situations. "
On August 1, 1836, the Viennese magazine said that this piece was a successful "occasional streak":
- “Mr. Nestroy pulled himself out of the affair as a skilful man and wrote a very amusing farce that perfectly suits its purpose, without sinking into a mere canvas in which merely the arts of the visiting monkey are woven as refreshing designs. […] Of course, the actors primarily praise the 'first mimic of the theaters in Paris and London'. "
In all of the reviews, in addition to Mr. Klischnigg, the audience-effective performance of the other actors was described.
Later interpretations
With Helmut Ahrens it is found that it did not speak for the good taste of the suburban audience when it cheered Klischniggs monkey tricks, for Nestroy's next work, An Apartment is for Rent in the City (1837), but not at all warming up could. The harmless monkey comedy was better received than a play that held up the mirror all too clearly.
Otto Rommel calls the piece a “real farce falsified by no moralizing or teaching” , which even carries the main motif of the harlequinade - father wants to marry daughter to an unloved old man - into the artistic comedy.
text
- Text on nestroy-werke.at/index (accessed on September 29, 2014)
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 in fifteen volumes, ninth volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna 1927, pp. 185–266, 575–590.
- Otto Rommel: Nestroys Works. Selection in two parts, Golden Classics Library, German publishing house Bong & Co., Berlin / Leipzig / Vienna / Stuttgart 1908.
Web links
- Contents and list of people in nestroy-stuecke / 32_affe (accessed on September 29, 2014)
- Eduard Klischnigg; with contemporary scenes from The Monkey and the Groom in the Austrian Biographical Lexicon (accessed September 29, 2014)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mamok = corruption of the French phrase je m'en moque , I don't care
- ↑ gagerlbeinig = outdated Viennese expression for twisted, crooked feet (after Franz Seraph Hügel: Der Wiener Dialekt , Vienna 1873)
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 206.
- ↑ obstinate = obstinate, stubborn; see wikt: obstinat
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 216.
- ↑ Although the witch trials had been removed from the criminal codes of the late 18th century, but was still in the 1863 general church paper of a witch burning in Banat reported
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 266.
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 575-581. (for the whole chapter depicting people on the suburban stages )
- ↑ a b Helmut Ahrens: I will not sell myself to the laurel. P. 191.
- ↑ a b Otto Rommel: Nestroys works. S. XLVII-XLIX.
- ^ Vienna library in the town hall Internal ID no. LQH0258315
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 581-586. (for the whole chapter Contemporary Receptions )
- ↑ légèreté = French for lightness
- ↑ Canvas = grid-like linen fabric as a basis for embroidery [1]