The families Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim
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| Title: | The families Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim |
| Original title: | The families Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim or The World Doom Day |
| Genus: | Magic game in two acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Johann Nestroy |
| Literary source: | The still water from Carl Weisflog |
| Music: | Adolf Müller senior |
| Publishing year: | 1834 |
| Premiere: | November 5, 1834 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater an der Wien |
| Place and time of the action: | The action takes place first in the fairy kingdom, then in the town of Kieselfeld, twenty years after the first part "Lumpazivagabundus" |
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The families Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim or The World Doom Day is a magic play written by Johann Nestroy of the old Viennese folk theater . It was premiered on November 5, 1834 in Vienna as a "benefit performance" for Marie Weiler , the author's partner. The piece is the continuation of Nestroy's The Evil Spirit Lumpazivagabundus (1833).
content
Jukundus, the son of Hilaris and Brillantine, is a reckless young man whom Stellaris wants the fairy Konstanze to heal. She refuses, because she has long been engaged to Lumpazivagabundus, because folly and vice are much more permanent than love. Stellaris pronounces the verdict: If the children of the three journeyman journeys, Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim, have become as dissolute as their fathers once were, then Lumpazivagabundus has triumphed; but if they become good people, then he has to forego Jukundus and his relationship with Konstanze, who again has to serve virtue. Lumpazivagabundus is very happy with it:
- "I have to let go of the condition, and I can do it very easily, because the fact that these children are not worth much, I parry that without looking what someone wants." (First act, third scene)
Leim has become a haughty privateer , his Peppi a gossip-addicted, vain woman; Hobelmann is affected because his family is so rich; Zwirn, meanwhile a widower, has resumed his wandering life and has sunk even deeper; Knieriem has remained a drunkard and bullies his helpless wife. Zwirn's daughter Therese, who is involuntarily sponsored by Leim, is treated like a servant; her own two children, Friedrich and Sophie, cannot help her, although Friedrich is in love with Therese - the arrogant planer especially railed against this “ mesalliance ”. When the surgeon asked Stiefel to be his wife, the Leim couple immediately agreed to get the girl out of the house. Friedrich and Sophie are supposed to marry Mathilde and Karl, the children of Stoppelbach, whose “noble” family, however, is totally in debt and wants to reorganize itself through these marriages. On the question of the dowry, Stoppelbach announces:
- “My son is getting nothing for now that I am not quite ranked with my money; my daughter, on the other hand, will not receive any trousseau for the time being until I have completely sorted out my financial circumstances. " (Act 1, scene fortieth)
Zwirn becomes an assistant to the quack Paracelsus and soon begins to cure himself. So he persuades Hobelmann because of his Podagra that only a "still" spring water fetched from a virgin at night can cure him. Knieriem drinks in the tavern and claims that the end of the world is imminent, which his drinking buddies believe. His good son Gottfried, who is a carpenter journeyman at Leim and loves Sophie, supports his mother as best he can.
Since Therese does not want to take Stiefel as a husband, she is chased away. Stoppelbach writes to a friend how much he intends to use the glue, Karl and Mathilde have the servant Stephan bring love letters to their amours in the city, but he gives them to Gottfried. Since the promised end of the world is not coming, Knieriem is thoroughly beaten in the inn. Despite a terrible storm during the night, Therese fetches the spring water for Hobelmann's healing. Meanwhile, Leim has received the traitorous letters from Gottfried and throws the parasites out. Purified through Therese's sacrifice and the true love of his children, Leim is now in agreement with the right connections. This fulfills Stellaris' condition and Lumpazivagabundus has to leave defeated. Only Knieriem is disappointed:
- "The comet wasn't on time, I look like a fool,
- Maybe he's sleepy and sleeps a thousand years.
- I am angry at astronomy,
- And that's just because I was beaten up. " (Second act, final song)
Factory history
One of Nestroy's sources for the love story between Therese and Friedrich was the novella Dasstille Wasser from Carl Weisflog's collection of novels, Phantasiestücke und Historien (Volume X, 1828). Nestroy turned the evil stepmother of the original into the gossip-addicted woman Peppi Leim, the demonic shopkeeper Habakuk into the comical surgeon Stiefel, the Muschel family became the intriguers who went bankrupt in the popular play of the time and wanted to rehabilitate themselves through a wedding. Nestroy left out the romance of the novella, instead expanding the exposure of the Stoppelbach family drastically and effectively on the stage. While Weisflog assumed the healing power of "still water" was known, Nestroy's piece Paracelsus - which he only included briefly - and his assistant Zwirn had to be incorporated with a lengthy explanation.
From the non-listed Posse Genius, Schuster and Marqueur has Nestroy the tavern scene (I. Act, 12 th Scene) and pitch Bergers slivovitz Song (I. Act, 13 th Scene) almost text the same for the tavern scene (Act 1, 20 to 23rd scene) and Knieriem's Slibowitz song (1st act, 19th scene) of this piece. The phlegmatic king of fate Fatum has its counterpart in the fairy past from the magic farce The Magic Journey into the Age of Knights .
Johann Nestroy again played Knieriem, Wenzel Scholz played Zwirn, Ignaz Stahl played Herr von Hobelmann, Friedrich Hopp played Paracelsus, Eleonore Condorussi played Madame Leim, Marie Weiler played Sophie.
An original manuscript has been preserved, the original score by Adolf Müller in the music collection, the theater manuscript of the Carltheater in the manuscript collection of the Austrian National Library .
Karl Kraus has included the Entree des Knieriem ( "Herr Wirt, ein 'clean Slibowitz" ) in the program of his lectures. It is printed in the collection Lyrik der Deutschen .
Contemporary criticism
The contemporary assessments varied, ranging from cautiously praising to quite derogatory, but the actors, especially Nestroy and Scholz, received a lot of praise.
In the Nestroy always weighed Viennese theater newspaper by Adolf Bäuerle on November 8, 1834 (Vol. 27, No. 223, p. 893):
- “Mr. Nestroy was lucky to have solved the difficult task of delivering the continuation of a farce that was recorded with unusually fortunate success. [...] The invention and composition of this work is a bit loose and even in the two main characters of the shoemaker and the tailor it lacks the sharp coloration that marks the first part, but there is no lack of funny ideas and situations [...] "
The review in the Viennese magazine for art, literature, theater and fashion on November 11th (No. 135, p. 1080) was much more unfriendly :
- “The invention of the fable is neither happy nor new and the contrast of the sentimental love scenes with the burlesque strokes of Zwirn and Knieriems neither provides a pleasing picture, nor is there any noticeable consequence in the implementation of the characters or the plot; the episodes are worn out and several are indeed disgusting. "
In this review, too, the praise for Nestroy and Scholz was very high, the other actors were at least mentioned positively.
Franz Wiest, Nestroy's opponent, wrote a contradicting review in the collector of November 22nd (No. 140, p. 562), he criticized the fact that Zwirn and Knieriem were by no means portrayed with irony, but rather simply without a deeper meaning:
- “The brilliant, I would like to say, pecuniary-rich success, which Lumpacivagabundus enjoyed as a drastic abnormality of the day in the Theater an der Wien, prompted the author of the earlier comic bagatelle to rely on the loose but grateful, in situations comic basis of the three comic Characters 'thread, knee strap and glue' to build up a new colorful house of cards of good humor and so-called amusement. "
Nonetheless, Wiest concluded that the play pleased and brought a full house.
Later interpretations
Otto Rommel classifies this work in the group of those magic pieces "in which spirits guide and help intervene in people's lives, so that the ghost scenes only form a framework for the scenes from real life" (quote). The spirit being is pushed back further and further in this group of reforms . You can recognize this in The Magic Journey into the Age of Knights (1832), The Feenball (1833), The Evil Spirit Lumpacivagabundus (1833), Müller, Kohlenbrenner and Armchair Carrier (1834), The Equality of the Years (1834) - sometimes as Nestroy's first “magic-free “Work designates - and finally the families Zwirn, Knieriem and Leim .
Franz H. Mautner calls the piece one of the weaker works by Nestroy, but emphasizes at the same time that in this realistic magic game with Knieriem "one of the most creative and probably most unforgettable characters in his oeuvre" (quote) appears. He particularly emphasizes the pub scene, in which Knieriem and the three drinkers expect in vain the end of the world due to the comet prophesied for the strike 10 o'clock - Knieriem's leitmotif already in the Lumpazivagabundus . In this scene, “the dramatic-rhythmic power of the spoken word merges with tension and wit to form a moving tableau full of great gestures and humorous memorability” (quote).
Helmut Ahrens assumes that after the defeats with The Magician Sulfurelectrimagneticophosphoratus and Müller, Kohlenbrenner and Armchair Carrier and the weak success of The Equality of the Years , Nestroy chose a background for the new piece that seemed promising to him, namely the continuation of the acclaimed Lumpazivagabundus . Nestroy is looking for the audience's favor, but by no means just wants to "present a game full of heart and pain, happiness and delight" (quote) in order to ingratiate themselves. Nevertheless, the reaction of the audience and critics would have been friendly to gracious if the latter had also clearly addressed some weaknesses.
Friedrich Walla notes that the work would have been judged visibly below its value by contemporary critics. You have to see success or failure in relation to other pieces of the time. Pieces by other authors had on average not much more than five performances between 1832 and 1835, and Nestroy achieved multiple successes with this work alone. The rather abrupt discontinuation of the play after January 5, 1835 for around one and a half years was ordered by the emperor to the police for alleged immorality. On April 7, 1835, however, the censor, a Mr. Vogel, handed over to the police chief Count Josef von Sedlnitzky a justification that the morality of the play had taken over the task,
- "[...] to draw attention to the disadvantageous and pernicious consequences of an unregulated way of life and to warn against it [...]"
Siegfried Diehl points out that in this piece Nestroy’s “fundamental dramaturgy of desperation” is particularly evident. The three protagonists are outwardly integrated into everyday Biedermeier life, but in reality they are more unhappy than before in Lumpazivagabundu's work . This manifests itself clearly in Knieriem's complaint:
- "I wish the comet hadn't stopped 'twenty years ago', so everything would have an end." (Second act, fifteenth scene)
The fate so powerful in the old magical comedies, personified here as fate, only proves itself more than in this new age
- "An uncle who has fallen asleep, an ignorant, lazy, complacent monster who is very surprised at the respect he receives from all sides when it is only asleep."
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 .
- Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Historical-critical complete edition, second volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1924.
- Siegfried Diehl: Johann Nestroys pessimistic antics. In: Franz H. Mautner: Johann Nepomuk Nestroy Comedies. Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1979, 2nd edition 1995, Insel Taschenbuch No. 1742.
- Franz H. Mautner (Ed.): Johann Nestroys Komödien. Edition in 6 volumes, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1979, 2nd edition 1981, 6th volume.
- Otto Rommel: Nestroy's works , selection in two parts, Golden Classics Library, German publishing house Bong & Co., Berlin / Leipzig / Vienna / Stuttgart 1908.
- Friedrich Walla (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 8 / I. In: Jürgen Hein / Johann Hüttner / Walter Obermaier / W. Edgar Yates : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition. Deuticke, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-216-30256-3 ; Pp. 1-92, 113-330.
Web links
- Factory data on www.nestroy.at/nestroy-stuecke/26_familien (accessed on July 7, 2014)
- Table of contents on www.nestroy.at/nestroy-stuecke/26_familien/27inh. (accessed on July 7, 2014)
Individual evidence
- ↑ stellaris = Latin. belonging to the stars
- ↑ Fatum = Latin. fate
- ↑ Fortuna = Roman goddess of luck
- ↑ hilaris = Latin. cheerful, happy
- ↑ brillare = italy. shine
- ↑ iucundus, jucundus = Latin. popular, amiable, happy [1]
- ↑ constantia = Latin. the durability
- ↑ Lumpazivagabundus = composed of Lumpazi (rascal, rascal) and vagabond (tramp)
- ↑ Natzl = diminutive of Ignaz
- ↑ named Schlendrian on the theater bill , whether the name goes back to Nestroy is not certain
- ↑ Paracelsus = Renaissance physician, name of Nestroy from the non-listed Carnival Posse The fairy ball over
- ↑ Chirurgus = at that time a non-academically trained surgeon or field surgeon
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 90.
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 139.
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 191.
- ^ Table of contents in Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 684-686.
- ↑ Facsimile of the theater slip in Friedrich Walla: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 8 / I. P. 375.
- ↑ Title recording in www.digital.wienbibliothek.at
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 675.
- ↑ Christian Wagenknecht : Lyrik der Deutschen, selected for his lectures by Karl Kraus , edition text + kritik, Munich 1990, ISBN 978-3-88377-379-7 , page 112.
- ^ Friedrich Walla: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 8 / I. Pp. 185-190. (for the entire chapter on contemporary criticism )
- ^ Otto Rommel: Nestroys works. S. XXVI, XXX.
- ^ Franz H. Mautner: Johann Nestroys Komedien. Pp. 306-307.
- ↑ Helmut Ahrens: I am not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Pp. 150-152.
- ^ Friedrich Walla: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 8 / I. Pp. 191-194.
- ^ Diehl / Mautner: Johann Nepomuk Nestroy Komödien. P. 13.