The walk to the pond

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The walk to the pond is a dramatic poem in five acts by Arthur Schnitzler , which was premiered on February 14, 1931 in the Burgtheater in Vienna. The author personally selected the actors - including Albert Heine , Ferdinand Onno and Else Wohlgemuth . The text, completed in 1923, was published by S. Fischer in Berlin at the beginning of 1926.

time and place

The play takes place around 1750 in the castle of Baron Albrecht von Mayenau, a few hours' walk from the residence of a fictional principality.

content

The arrival of an old friend, the poet Sylvester Thorn, is expected in the baron's castle. Leonilda, the 19-year-old daughter of the baron, enthuses: "He lives in me." Years have passed and a man who has meanwhile grown older is coming, the baron tries to dampen his daughter's enthusiasm.

Konrad von Ursenbeck, sent by the Marshal, his father, appears and delivers a letter to the Chancellor. The baron rejects the title. He hasn't been a member of the government for a long time. Young Konrad is pleased to note that Leonilda has meanwhile grown into a pretty young lady. The newcomer, a neighbor of von Mayenaus, remembers the children's games with the young girl. Now he is defending the national border. And Konrad remains with it - the baron is the right man in the orphaned chancellor post. The baron, formerly a peace chancellor, goes to court with Konrad. The newcomer also belongs to those who seek armed conflict with the neighbor. In the above letter it says that the marshal wants to get ahead of the enemy and strike. Hot spur Konrad agrees with his father.

Sylvester, having escaped a pogrom , rides along. He started a new home. His wife Alberta is expecting a child there. Nevertheless, the grizzled poet courted young Leonilda. More than that, Sylvester asked the baron for the hand of his daughter Leonilda. The baron squirms, but does not reject the old friend's request. We ask for time to think about it, and Sylvester should first wait for the birth of his child at home. Sylvester rides.

Konrad, also ridden away, then returns as the ruler's messenger. In the letter that he brings, the baron is reappointed Chancellor "with unlimited authority". Of course Konrad is interested in Leonilda. The beautiful takes a bath. The young warrior penetrates to the pond, this mermaid pond, sees the dearest, most beautiful mermaid Leonilda rise naked from the water and sleeps with her at the nearby Mayenau Castle. Leonilda falls in love with Konrad.

The baron, back from the ruler, meets the thirsty warrior and gives him news. As the new chancellor, the baron dismissed Konrad's father as marshal and initiated peace with the well-defended neighbor. Konrad, furious, wants to join the troops. The baron holds the fighter back and is relieved when he learns about the beautiful new couple who have found each other.

Sylvester rides into the courtyard to get Leonilda. Sylvester's wife died with the child in childbirth. He no longer receives his blessing from the baron. New Year's Eve doesn't give up. He wants to woo Leonilda. But he is rejected by the beautiful. She regrets him. New Year's Eve goes into the cool pond, leaves this world "with the ultimate dignity" after he has blamed himself for the death of his own. There he rests. "Because no wave brings what ever sank in the depths of the pond ... ever ... again."

Initially, the lovers do not need the priest's blessing, which the baron wishes for his children. The peace initiated by the baron did not materialize. The guns speak. When Konrad goes into the field, Leonilda speaks:

He goes free. I am left free.
How and - if we can find each other again
Only the God before whom we are married knows.

The young woman means her pagan god from the pond.

The baron, who had failed, gives back his new office.

Quote

  • On the problem of saying goodbye: "Who would know beforehand whether he will come back?"

title

The pond describes a "shimmering green giant eye" that "stares up at the sky from the lap of the earth", a mythical place that Anselma, the baron's unmarried sister, thinks she "only dreamed of". This body of water is real after all, because Leonilda goes there sometimes, apparently wanting to "seek advice from her God". So it's probably a pagan, apparently enchanted pond. "Evil spirits play their games there at night" and "Mermaids float".

Summa vitae

In this late work, Schnitzler is not concerned with historicity . Rather, writing and life experiences are celebrated.

  • Creation

Schnitzler may have thought of Voltaire's " If there were no God, one would have to invent him " when he put the creator Andreas Ungnad, secretary of the Freiherr, on the boards. Compared to the poet Sylvester Andreas claims that the world of the pond on stage was completely created by him. Even Andreas created himself. To make matters worse, the secretary claims he even created God. When Andreas repeats the thoughts in front of the baron, the landlord no longer wants to hear such foolishness from the mouth of "mad disgrace".

Konrad does not accept the baron, his future father-in-law: "As long as he stands in front of me, I always feel like a young man, a boy. But - now he is gone, I know I am a man - and he is gray and old. " And adds: "The world is poisoned by old man's breath!"

reception

  • The premiere was a success with both audiences and critics. Nevertheless, the piece was removed from the program after just two months. Albert Heine, who also directed, said that the pond was in Austria.
  • Scheible complains that Leonilda's eponymous walk to the pond was insufficiently incorporated into the dramatic events - the author actually always had an aversion to the metaphysical.
  • Perlmann speaks of a reading drama in which the present largely recedes in favor of the past. Although the play comes in historical costume, the author addresses the fall of the Danube monarchy. The solipsism and machismo Sylvester THAT CONDITION almost ridiculous. Schnitzler appears in this dramatic late work as his own epigone .
  • Perlmann names three further works (Francoise Derré 1966, Harold D. Dickerson 1971, Walter Glogauer 1984).

literature

source
  • Arthur Schnitzler: The walk to the pond. Dramatic poetry in five acts. S. Fischer Verlag Berlin 1926. 164 pages, first edition
Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nickl, H. Schnitzler, p. 372, entry from 1931
  2. ↑ Farese, p. 327, 9. to 16. Zvo
  3. ↑ Scheible, p. 115, 3. Zvo
  4. ↑ Farese, p. 273 above
  5. ↑ Source, p. 9 below
  6. ^ Source, p.160, 11. Zvo
  7. ↑ Source, p. 147, 7th Zvu
  8. ↑ Source, p.82, 2. Zvo
  9. ↑ Source, p. 80, 14th to 18th Zvo
  10. ↑ Farese, p. 328, 15. Zvo, 17. Zvu and p. 329, 14. Zvo
  11. ↑ Scheible, p. 115 above
  12. ^ Perlmann, p. 85, 4th Zvu to p. 87, 1st Zvu
  13. ↑ Perlmann, p. 88 below