The old man with the young woman
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| Title: | The old man with the young woman |
| Genus: | Folk piece with singing |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Johann Nestroy |
| Music: | Michael Hebenstreit (planned) |
| Publishing year: | 1849 |
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The old man with the young woman is a folk piece with singing in four acts by Johann Nestroy . The piece was written in 1849, after the crushed revolution of 1848/49, and was never performed. Nestroy shied away from the controversy with the censors and kept the play under lock and key until his death in 1862.
A revised version of the piece by Vinzenz Chiavacci and Ludwig Ganghofer under the title The Refugee had its first performance in 1890.
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Two storylines run side by side, connected only by the character of the landowner Kern:
On the one hand, he helps the revolutionary Anton, who fled from prison, with the help of the farmer Holler, to hide from the henchmen until the hoped-for amnesty is waived from the throne. Anton and his wife Theres have to emigrate to Australia, but Kern will remain a loyal friend there too.
- "And a loyal friend nebstbey not verwerffen is who joins your hike, the will beautify the sight of your happiness the rest of life." (IV. Act, 31 st Scene)
On the other hand, Kern is betrayed by his wife Regine, who is 40 years his junior, (almost) with the young Baron Rehfeld. Kern avenges himself by publicly insulting the baron, which the baron has to take, and for a year by being kind to his desperate wife. In the end, he agreed to the divorce she wanted, but left the possibility open that she, meanwhile deeply remorseful, could follow him to Australia after a year. He takes the blame:
- "I know it, but that's me just right: the world is to me for everything, even my account for an old sinner, just do not hold for an old donkey." (IV Act, 31. Ste Scene)
The comically sneaky figure of the servant Gabriel is the second (loosely) connection between the two narrative strands: He is in love with the young Theres, Regine's maid, and therefore tries to make her husband Anton disappear in the dungeon as far as possible.
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Nestroy had once again used a French drama as a model. Was originally La ferme de Bondy, ou: les deux réfractaires (The farm of Bondy, or: the two deserters) by Ferdinand Vallon de Villeneuve, Michel Masson and Jules Joseph Gabriel for it, it was actually La femme du Réfractaire (The wife of Deserters) from the collection of short stories Daniel le Lapidaire, ou Les Contes de l'Atelier (Daniel the stone cutter, or workshop tales), Paris 1832–33, by Michel Masson, published under his pseudonym Michel Raymond. Another story from this collection was used by Nestroy in 1846 for The Insignificant .
Nestroy very likely had not read the story in the original, but in the German translation by Lauritz Kruse (1778–1840) from 1833, unfortunately this translation is lost. Masson's novella was even used in parts with the dialogues; Changes include the removal of the narrator Daniel and the omission of the final chapter in which Philippe (with Nestroy Anton) goes to war for his threatened fatherland, which he had refused to Napoleon's wars of conquest. The time and action were transferred from Napoleonic France to post-revolutionary Austria , and Masson's deserter became a persecuted revolutionary. Otherwise, Nestroy has kept the course of action with the two narrative strands - on the one hand the fate of the persecuted, on the other hand the problem of the old man and young woman - quite precisely.
About the French word réfractaire : It means the refractory, the unruly, clearly understood politically as a deserter from the Grande Armée during the Napoleonic period . Nestroy did not use the word stubborn in his play, as it was also very politically charged in Austria, for example Alfred I. zu Windisch-Graetz, during the Vienna October Uprising in 1848, called the rebellious Viennese he besieged as stubborn and threatened with execution .
Factory history
The work, which had already been written down, was not published by Nestroy, who apparently found it impossible to obtain approval from the censorship authority for it, during his lifetime. He originally called it a " farce ", then a "folk piece with singing". The piece was created under the impression of the repression caused by the reaction that had regained its strength after the unsuccessful revolution and shows the prevailing situations and secret wishes of the citizens for this time. Compassion for the sacrifices of time and insight into changes as they become necessary are guided by Nestroy's humanity and wisdom. Withdrawn aggression, resignation and melancholy show the attitude of the aging poet. The original concept of the piece was titled "20 and 60" by him .
The pessimism of the game often suppresses the existing humor, which is why there are often quite melancholy disputes. The realization that some fighters will be executed and others honored with medals, depending on which side of the barricades they were on - often only by chance - leaves the poet both resigned and sad through the mouth of the landowner Kern to the hunted Anton say:
- “After revolutions there can be no real punishment. According to the law, so many hundreds of thousands deserve to die - of course, you can't; So one is just shot to life imprisonment, the other eing'sperrt to fifteen years, the Six weeks on, there is another get a medal -. and the reason's have done all the Nehmliche " (I. Act, 15 th Scene)
The title is probably an allusion to a mocking verse in Grillparzer's play A Faithful Servant of His Lord (1830):
- "Old man / the young woman / is he clever / doesn't take it exactly!"
Nestroy had planned the role of brick-burner Kern for himself, the servant Gabriel for Wenzel Scholz , Anton for Franz Gämmerler , the farmer Holler for Alois Grois , the official Schippl for Friedrich Hopp .
A manuscript in Nestroy's hand exists as an undated fair copy, the title already The old man with the young woman. Posse with singing in four acts by J. Nestroy , on the back of the title page there is the list of people with suggested casts. It lacks the monologue after Entreelied I. Act, 5 th scene and monologue and song in IV. Act, 12 th scene that had not worked out according to recent research by Nestroy. A facility as a director's book by someone else's hand can also be identified. The manuscript was acquired by the National Library in 1927 and newly bound.
A manuscript of Nestroy in several parts of draft and first version has also been preserved. Since the title page is missing, it can no longer be determined whether the piece was still called 20 and 60 or already The old man with the young woman . Here, too, the two songs mentioned above and the monologue are missing.
Further preliminary work and text excerpts are also available.
A reference to Hebenstreit as a composer is only given by a note written by him in the score on hell fear on the back: "follows insert from Old Man, song in Eb: with vide" . Which song was meant can no longer be determined.
The preview of the work did not take place until July 14, 1947 at the Städtische Bühnen Graz during the Grazer Festwochen under the title The old man with the young woman, or will he forgive her? instead of. A censorship manuscript in English to the British occupying power was entitled The old man with the young wife, or Will he forgive her? A viennese moral picture with music in four acts by Johann Nestroy . The actual premiere of Nestroy's play in Vienna was on May 14, 1948 in the Theater in der Josefstadt . A ticket for this performance has been preserved. The second production of the original was in 1976 at the same theater with Erik Frey (Kern) and Ernst Waldbrunn (Gabriel).
Theories at the time of origin
In the Austrian Courier - that was the name of Adolf Bäuerle's Viennese theater newspaper at the time - the following was reported on September 4, 1849 (No. 211, p. 844) in the theater news section :
- "In the middle of September a new play by Nestroy will be staged in the Carltheater , titled is the same: 'The old man and his young wife'."
On September 30, 1849, the same gazette announced (No. 234, p. 936):
- "Nestroy's new piece, which is already completely set up and only needs rehearsals, should be performed in the course of November."
These are the only contemporary references to the time the work was created, so it must have been created entirely or for the most part before this date. The second newspaper note, though not very likely , may have related to Hell's Fear , which premiered on November 17th.
A note in the list of persons mentioned above that an actor named Boy was entrusted with the role of the bailiff Spitz, who was engaged by director Carl from 1847 to April 15, 1848 and from that time worked as a director in Magdeburg, suggests that Nestroy could at least have been busy with the preparatory work for 20 and 60 as early as 1848 .
Speculations in various magazines at the first performance in 1890 of the piece revised by Vinzenz Chiavacci and Ludwig Ganghofer under the title The Refugee , Nestroy's original would have been "demonstrably" written in July and August 1849, lack precisely this evidence.
Later interpretations
The national liberal historian Heinrich Friedjung (1851–1920) compared the play with Freiheit in Krähwinkel and stated that Nestroy had mocked the cause of progress in the latter, but in the first he was entirely on their side. He sees a " prince's mirror " in the old man :
- "[...] at the end the poet gives amnesty and clearly demands this same forgetting and forgiveness from those in power."
Otto Rommel calls the work a wise final word on revolution and reaction:
- "[...] never is more humane about guilt and atonement in politics, d. H. been judged on movements and their effects or repercussions. "
Hebenstreit, who elsewhere describes the work as “Nestroy's political testament” , notes that Nestroy originally called the play a farce - perhaps out of modesty - although character image, character painting, drama, life image or moral image would have been more appropriate. An example of this modesty is a handwritten album sheet by the poet:
- "To the poet of the novella, / I write the little passage,
- I never write a big one, / I am only a poet of the farce. "
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 .
- Urs Helmensdorfer (Ed.): Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. In: Jürgen Hein , Johann Hüttner , Walter Obermaier , W. Edgar Yates : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition. Franz Deuticke Verlagsgesellschaft, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-216-30291-1 .
- Franz H. Mautner (Hrsg.): Johann Nestroys Komödien. Edition in 6 volumes, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1979, 2nd edition 1981, 6th volume. OCLC 7871586 .
Web links
- Table of contents and list of people on nestroy.at
Individual evidence
- ↑ stalk = allusion to the inedible remainder of cabbage or salad; The butcher's son in Kampl also bears this name
- ↑ The clerk was the lowest clerk at the time, a job that often occurs at Nestroy
- ↑ Nickler = allusion to Nikl, a dirty name for a short, fat person; in the form of Nigl for a malicious little child ( Bosnigl ); Franz Seraph Huegel: The Viennese dialect. Lexicon of the Viennese vernacular. A. Hartleben Publishing House, 1873.
- ↑ bailiff = higher administrative official, court-appointed lawyer
- ^ Postmaster = head of the post office where horses were changed
- ↑ Wachter = community servant with police function
- ↑ a b Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. P. 83.
- ↑ Facsimile of the work in Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. Pp. 486-572.
- ^ Table of contents in Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. Pp. 105-138; Facsimile of Chapters VI, VII and VIII on pp. 456–485.
- ↑ Michel Raymond (Michel Masson): Daniel the stone cutter or workshop tales ; Translated into German by Lauritz Kruse, 3 vols., Kollmann, Leipzig 1833.
- ^ Mautner: Johann Nestroys Komödien. Volume 6, p. 305.
- ↑ Ahrens: I'm not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Pp. 326-327.
- ↑ Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. P. 24.
- ↑ a b Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. P. 403.
- ↑ Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. P. 385.
- ↑ Manuscript collection of the Austrian National Library , signature Ser.n. 4396; in the library catalog dated to 1849 without explanation.
- ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall , shelf marks IN 33.391, 94.317, 94.318, 104.599.
- ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall, shelf marks IN 33.390, 33.392, 33.393, 33.394, 94.319, 94.320, 94.420 / 21.
- ↑ Music collection of the Austrian National Library, signature sm 8495, back page 14.
- ↑ The old man with the young woman, or will he forgive her? Viennese moral picture with singing in 4 acts by Johann Nestroy
- ↑ Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. Pp. 174-188; Facsimile of the playlist on p. 454.
- ↑ Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. P. 94.
- ↑ Helmensdorfer: Johann Nestroy, pieces 27 / I. P. 147.
- ^ Heinrich Friedjung: Austria from 1848 to 1860. Stuttgart / Berlin 1912, Volume II, p. 385.
- ↑ Otto Rommel: Collected Works, Johann Nestroy. Volume I, Schroll, 1962, p. 136.