The eleven executioners

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Depiction of the eleven executioners on a poster

The Elf Scharfrichter was the first political cabaret in Germany and one of the first German cabarets at all.

history

Since 1897 Otto Julius Bierbaum had addressed a literary-artistic cabaret with his novel Stilpe , the establishment of such a cabaret was discussed in Munich . Especially in Munich, in the vicinity of the magazine Simplicissimus and the "Academic-Dramatic Association", people wanted such a new theater. A great role model was the Cabaret Le Chat Noir in Paris . In addition, the section of the “Goethebund for the Protection of Free Art and Science”, founded in February 1900, turned decisively against the new Lex Heinze , which was understood as a threat to artistic freedom.

The initiators, among whom Otto Falckenberg particularly distinguished himself , sold shares to Munich patrons in order to secure the financing of the stage. The theater was opened at Türkenstrasse 28 in the redesigned Paukboden in the rear building of the restaurant “Zum Goldenen Hirschen” with a premiere on April 13, 1901. At the entrance to the auditorium, which had 100 seats, there was a skull with a wig with an ax stuck. Bruno Paul drew the infamous poster in 1903.

Frank Wedekind was one of the eleven executioners from 1901 to 1902 and sang his self-composed songs to the guitar. Selected “songs and poems” from this period have been published under the title Greife bravely after sin .

Three times a week the executioners performed a monthly changing program. Leo Greiner wrote an executioner ballad for which Hans Richard Weinhöppel composed a march. With this executioner march , the stage program began or ended very often. Initially the only female member of the executioner Marya Delvard also became their star by performing chansons that were still unfamiliar in Germany at the time. In addition, satirical one-act plays were performed. Because of political-satirical allusions, conflicts arose again and again with the censorship authorities. From December 9th to 12th, 1903, a guest performance took place in the Hotel Savoy in Vienna . In the autumn of 1904 the cabaret, which suffered from constant financial problems, was dissolved due to considerable debts.

Performances

  • Among other things, the first act of Frank Wedekind's drama Erdgeist and the shortened version of The Empress of Newfoundland were performed in the Cabaret of the Elf Executioners .
  • One-time world premiere of Unter sich by Hermann Bahr on November 6, 1903.

The executioners (with their executioner names)

  1. Otto Falckenberg , alias Peter Luft
  2. Marc Henry , aka Balthasar Starr
  3. Leo Greiner , alias Dionysius death
  4. Willy Rath , alias Willibaldus Rost, was replaced by
  5. Max Langheinrich , alias Max Knax
  6. Wilhelm Hüsgen , alias Till Blut
  7. Victor Frisch , alias Gottfried Still
  8. Willy Oertel , aka Serapion grave
  9. Ernst Neumann-Neander , alias Kaspar Beil
  10. Hans Richard Weinhöppel , alias Hannes Ruch
  11. Robert Kothe , alias Frigidus Strang

In order not to have to change the number in the name of the cabaret, other participants were generally run as hangmen .

Executioners

See also

literature

  • Evelin Förster: The woman in the dark: authors and composers of cabaret and entertainment from 1901–1935 . Edition Braus, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86228-057-5 .
  • Otto J. Bierbaum: Stilpe. A novel from a frog's perspective . Verlag Die Blechschachtel, Karlsruhe 2003, ISBN 3-936631-02-6 .
  • Manfred Brauneck , Gérard Schneilin (Ed.): Theater Lexicon 1. Terms and epochs, stages and ensembles . rowohlt's encyclopedia, fifth fully revised new edition August 2007, ISBN 978-3-499-55673-9 .
  • Wolfgang Victor Ruttkowski: The literary chanson in Germany. Second edition. Igel Verlag, Hamburg 2013 (1966), ISBN 978-3-86815-576-1 , pp. 57-67 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  • Judith Kemp: "A tiny picture of big life". On the cultural history of Munich's first cabaret “Die Elf Scharfrichter” (1901–1904) . Allitera Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-86906-921-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ –ik: "The eleven executioners". Österreichische Volks-Zeitung , 49 (1903) # 339, 5 (December 10, 1903).