Thirty years from the life of a rag

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Data
Title: Thirty years from the life of a rag
Original title: Thirty years from the life of a rag
The libertine radical cure or: The thirty years of exile
Exile from the magic realm or Thirty years from the life of a rag
Genus: Local magic game with dance, singing and tableaux in 2 acts (and 5 departments)
Original language: German
Author: Johann Nestroy
Literary source: "Thirty years from the life of a player" by Johann Wenzel Lembert
Music: Adolf Müller senior and Franz Roser
Publishing year: 1828
Premiere: December 20, 1828
Place of premiere: Country Theater Graz
Place and time of the action: The 1st section takes place in the spirit realm; the 2nd division in a large town and at the nearby country house of Frau von Brettnagel in 1736; the 3rd department in the inn of a provincial town; the 4th department in the hotel "Zum golden Adler" and in the apartment of Longinus, in a capital city; the 5th section in a market square in the previous capital; the last scene takes place again in the magic realm
people

(only the main characters are listed)
1st department:

  • Simplicius Pumpf , a rich magician, owner of several magical dominions
  • Longinus , his son
  • Nocturnus a learned magician, former tutor of Longinus
  • Bisgurnia , a fairy, widow of a powerful magician
  • Urania , her daughter

2nd department:

  • Frau von Brettnagel , a rich widow
  • Longinus , her nephew, 24 years old
  • Herr von Eisenkopf , Banquieur
  • Albertine , his daughter, 20 years old
  • Heinrich Pfiff , Frau von Brettnagel's valet, 28 years old
  • Lisette , Albertina's maid, 19 years old
  • Adolf Wallner , accountant at Eisenkopf, 27 years old
  • Speer , inspector of Frau von Brettnagel's country house
  • Gertrud , his wife, 26 years old
  • Nocturnus , a stranger

3rd department:

  • Faster , innkeeper
  • Nocturnus (as acting director)
  • Longinus , 34 years old

4th department:

  • Longinus , 44 years old
  • Heinrich Pfiff , owner of the hotel "Zum golden Adler", 48 years old
  • Lisette , his wife, 39 years old
  • Mr. von Pflastertritt , a Stutzer, 28 years old
  • Adolf Wallner , banker, 47 years old
  • Albertine , his wife, 40 years old
  • Therese , their daughter, 18 years old
  • Madame Speer , widow, 46 years old

5th department:

  • Longinus , 54 years old
  • Madame Speer , widow, 56 years old
  • Mr. von Pflastertritt , 38 years old
  • Gustav , his pupil

Thirty Years from the Life of a Rag is a local magic game with dance, singing and tableaux in 2 acts by the actor Johann Nestroy . The play was written in 1828 and was premiered on December 20th of that year as Des Wüstlings Radikalkur or: The Thirty Years of Exile at the regional theater in Graz .

The first Viennese performance took place in August 1829 in the Theater in der Josefstadt and then, taking into account director Carl Carl's suggestions for editing, on April 27, 1832 in the Theater an der Wien under the title The Banishment from the Magic Realm or Thirty Years from the Life of a Rag .

content

  • 1. Department (Prelude: The Exile):

Longinus comes back from a 5-year journey through all the magical countries as a big do-it-all to his father Pumpf, who is seriously disappointed about it. Actually, he should marry Urania, but she refuses to him. Nocturnus banished him to the human world for 30 years, where he had to live as a rascal, which he welcomed enthusiastically.

  • 2nd department (the intoxication):

At the request of his aunt, who considers him to be a paragon of virtue, Longinus is to take Albertine, the banker's daughter, as his wife. But since he turns out to be a real scoundrel, she and her father reject the plan. Albertine marries the solid and capable Adolf instead of Longinus, Longinus, with the help of Heinrich, steals a considerable sum from his aunt and flees to London.

  • 3rd department (the tavern):

Ten years later, all the money is junked and Longinus is a crazy actor, who doesn't really try to get involved, but prefers to live from scrounging. He must continue to remain in the human world at Nocturnus' command.

  • 4th Department (Theft):

Heinrich, who cheated out a large part of the stolen sum from Longinus in London, has become a hotel owner. Adolf and Albertine stayed with him together with Therese. Longinus is a wage servant in the hotel, but is thrown out for laziness. He wants to save himself from imminent arrest for his debts by stealing from Adolf, but is caught and arrested. Nocturnus makes it clear to him that because of his way of life he is not allowed to enter the spirit world for another ten years.

  • 5th Department (The Punishment):

Longinus has become a street sweeper and mockery of the street boys. Purified, he recognizes his failed path in life. In the last scene he returns to his father in the spirit realm and is now allowed to marry Urania.

Pumpf: Are you still a rascal now?
Longinus: No, Papa, and few would be if they knew how far you can get if you've been a scoundrel for 30 years. (Actus 2, 5th division, Scena 32)

The Viennese version of the play "The Banishment from the Magic Realm " has the same storyline with (almost) the same people, apart from the tightening of the text and the reintroduction of some of the extempores that were deleted by the Graz censorship.

Factory history

Nestroy's source was the maudlin and pathetic melodrama Trente ans, ou la vie d'un joueur (Thirty Years, or the Life of a Player) by Victor Henri Joseph Brahain Ducange (1783-1833), which was written in 1827 and performed on March 18, 1828 at the theater at which Vienna was performed, in an arrangement by Johann Wenzel Lembert (actually Wenzel Tremler) under the title Thirty Years from the Life of a Player. Dramatic painting in 3 departments . The original is a desolate effect drama that Nestroy only gave the framework he edited.

Almost seven months after the first performance of this work in Graz on May 23, 1828, with Nestroy playing the innkeeper, his comic magic piece, often referred to as a parody, appeared on the stage of the country theater on December 20, 1828. It was repeated six times, on December 21, 24 and 28, 1828, as well as January 5 and 12 and February 4, 1829. Here, however, the title was Des Wüstlings Radikalkur or: The Thirty Years of Exile from the beginning . This change was presumably ordered by the censorship, to which a passage in the piece gives a hint:

Pumpf: As a scoundrel?
Nocturnus: Yes, in Standard German I should have said Wüstling, but since we already talk locally, I say - he comes back as a rascal. (Actus 1, 1st division, Scena 2)

This work is Nestroy's first full-length play. The artificially “conjured up” ending in the last scene with the supposed improvement of Longinus, however, seems rather constructed, since the whole content of the piece contradicts it in a rather cynical way.

The first Viennese performance on April 22, 1829 in the Theater in der Josefstadt had the same text but the original title Thirty Years from the Life of a Rag . Since the Graz music was apparently not available, one reviewer complained about the "thoroughly worn songs". The role of Heinrich was given by the theater director at the time, Matthäus Fischer, Nestroy played here on an engagement, but then went to Lemberg in what was then Austrian Galicia .

In the Theater an der Wien the play in 1832 did not have the new title The Banishment from the Enchanted Realm from the beginning , but, as the theater bill showed, only from the performance on June 15, 1832. The play was relatively long, namely until 1857, played over and over again. The original Lemberts was also included in his program by director Carl, so that in 1832 both pieces could be seen at the same time. In the Lembert factory, Carl gave the player Georg von Behlen, who became Longinus' rag in the Nestroy piece.

The Vienna theater newspaper Adolf Bäuerles wrote on December 15, 1831 as an advance notice:

“At the Theater an der Wien, the two highly effective plays 'Thirty Years from the Life of a Player' and 'Thirty Years from the Life of a Rag', the latter by Nestroy, will be part of the repertoire. Ref. Saw Mr. Nestroy in this parody several years ago and cannot deny him the recognition of his, to the point of shock, true and natural game. "

After the performance, the same newspaper wrote on May 2, 1832:

"[...] we consider the piece to be one of the best products that Mr. Nestroy has made known to us so far."

Johann Nestroy played the role of Longinus in all performances in Vienna and Graz.

Explanations

In Viennese , Pumpf means a simple-minded, easy-going person; Bisgurn , also Bissgurn, is a vicious , argumentative woman, a Xanthippe ( gurn presumably from Middle High German Gurre = mare, see also under " mare bite ").

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Walla: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 1. pp. 177-178.
  2. ↑ Manuscript in the theater collection of the Austrian National Library (fragment CTh15; complete CTh16)
  3. ^ Table of contents in Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 646-648.
  4. ^ Friedrich Walla: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 1. p. 117.
  5. ↑ Helmut Ahrens: I am not auctioning myself off to the laurel. P. 81.
  6. ^ A b Friedrich Walla: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 1. pp. 428-430.
  7. ↑ Peter Wehle : Do you speak Viennese? From Adaxl to Zwutschkerl. Verlag Carl Ueberreuther, Vienna / Heidelberg 1980, ISBN 3-8000-3165-5 ; P. 102.