The knowledge worm
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| Title: | The knowledge worm |
| Genus: | comedy |
| Original language: | German , dialogues: Bavarian |
| Author: | Ludwig Anzengruber |
| Music: | Adolf Müller senior |
| Publishing year: | 1874 |
| Premiere: | September 19, 1874 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater an der Wien |
| Place and time of the action: | Austria , around 1874 |
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The G'wissenswurm is a farmer's comedy with singing in three acts by Ludwig Anzengruber from 1874.
action
Half a year ago the rich farmer Grillhofer had a stroke, and he now feels close to death. For this reason he is also plagued by the "knowledge worm" because of a mysterious sin committed 25 years ago. His brother-in-law Dusterer reproaches him for this sin and advises him, as a token of his repentance, to forego all possessions, to move to the city and to have masses read for the salvation of his soul. He could give the court to him, his poor brother-in-law.
This gradually reveals the kind of Grillhofer's old sin: Although married, he had a child with the maid Magdalen and then left her. He thinks her dead, especially since Dusterer tells him that in a dream he saw her languishing in hell from which only the penitential nature of her seducer could save her. Grillhofer is ready to accept his brother-in-law's suggestion.
Then Horlacher-Lies appears on his farm and boldly asserts inheritance claims on behalf of her mother, since, her mother said, she was related to Grillhofer. Shortly afterwards, Grillhofer found out from the driver Leonhardt that Magdalen was alive and where she was. Meanwhile, the servant Wastl befriends the Horlacher-Lies more and more.
Together with Dusterer, Grillhofer drives to farmer Poltner. His wife is the once abandoned Magdalen, now a farmer and mother of twelve children. However, she knows nothing about the fate of the child from Grillhofer, since she gave the daughter away immediately after the birth.
Then Grillhofer plagues the knowledge worm again. Then he is visited again by Horlacher-Lies, who hands him a letter. This was written by Liesl's foster mother and revealed that Horlacher-Lies was Grillhofer's daughter. Since Liesl is full of joie de vivre and also meets with Wastl, the farmer's courage to face is also returning. Dusterer, the legacy sneak, is thrown out of the house.
additional
Even while writing it, Peter Rosegger admired the text and speculated that the author had served three times for seven years as a farmhand for an Upper Bavarian farmer. Anzengruber's play enjoyed great success from the start and became his most-performed comedy. It was made into a film by Franz Seitz senior in 1936 under the title Die Jugendsünde . In 1962 a television play with Fritz Straßner as Grillhofer and Christa Berndl as Horlacher Lies appeared under the original title .
expenditure
- The knowledge worm. Künast, Vienna 1874 (first edition; digitized and full text in the German text archive ).