The journalists

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Data
Title: The journalists
Genus: Comedy
Original language: German
Author: Gustav Freytag
Publishing year: 1854
Premiere: December 8, 1852
Place of premiere: Wroclaw
Place and time of the action: "The capital of a province."
people
  • Colonel a. D. Berg
  • Ida , his daughter
  • Adelheid Runeck
  • Send , landlord
  • Professor Oldendorf , editor of the newspaper "Union"
  • Konrad Bolz , editor of the newspaper "Union"
  • Bellmaus , employee of the newspaper "Union"
  • Kämpe , employee of the newspaper "Union"
  • Körner , employee of the newspaper "Union"
  • Printer Henning , owner of the newspaper "Union"
  • Müller , factotum of the newspaper "Union"
  • Blumenberg , editor of the newspaper "Coriolan"
  • Schmock , employee of the newspaper "Coriolan"
  • Piepenbrink , wine merchant and election man
  • Lotte , his wife
  • Berta , her daughter
  • Kleinmichel , citizen and elector
  • Fritz , his son
  • Counselor Schwarz
  • A strange singer
  • Korb , clerk from the Good Adelheid
  • Karl , servant of the colonel
  • A waiter
  • Resource guests, deputations of the citizenry

Die Journalisten is a comedy in four acts by Gustav Freytag . The first performance took place in 1852, the first print in 1854.

content

first act

First Scene

Various people come and go in the house of the retired Obersten Berg. On the one hand there is Professor Oldendorf, editor of the newspaper “Union” and candidate of a party in the upcoming chamber elections. He and Ida, the colonel's daughter, would like to get married, but the colonel has personal reservations about Oldendorf.

In addition, editors of the competing newspaper, the “Coriolan”, frequent the house. With their help, the landowner Senden wants to drive a wedge between the colonel and the "Union" or Oldendorf. They anonymously had an article printed by the colonel, which they themselves know is boring and the content is vulnerable. Your calculation works: The article is sharply criticized in Oldendorf's "Union", which annoys the colonel.

Finally Adelheid von Runeck also arrives at the house. She has left her estate in the village of Rosenau in view of the upcoming winter and would like to inquire about her childhood friend Konrad Bolz, who has meanwhile also become editor of the “Union” and is supposed to lead an erratic life.

Second scene

Oldendorf has the editorial staff of the “Union” forbid any further slicing of the anonymous articles by the colonel in the “Coriolan”. Meanwhile, editor Bolz learns of Adelheid's arrival. He is also told that the landowner Senden is trying to gain her affection.

Second act

First Scene

The colonel is asked by Senden to be a candidate for his party. He is the tip of the scales that will help them to victory. The colonel agrees, so he will be Oldendorf's direct opponent in the upcoming election.

Second scene

Many guests have gathered for the evening reception at which the Colonel's candidacy is to be solemnly announced. Among them is Schmock, an employee of the "Coriolan". However, it is roughly sent away by its editor, Blumenberg. When he meets Bolz, he asks whether he could offer him a job at the competitor's paper, the “Union”, and when Bolz is surprised, Schmock says: “Why are you worried about that? I learned to write in all directions at the Blumenberg. I wrote left and right again. I can write in any direction. ”(The designation Schmock for an opportunistic scribe can also be traced back to this figure .)

While Senden and his people bet on the popularity of the colonel, who is supposed to give a speech that evening, Bolz and Kämpe sit down near the wine merchant Piepenbrink, who has come with his family. Piepenbrink is considered an influential elector who can influence a handful of other electors. Bolz and Kämpe praise the wines of the wine merchant, who is very pleased and brings the two to his table. Piepenbrink is already booked for the Send party, but Bolz tells him how Oldendorf once saved his life. When Senden sees that Bolz is approaching Piepenbrink, he wants to intervene. However, this backfires. Piepenbrink takes his new acquaintance under protection and is angry about Sendens behavior.

Third act

The choice is narrowly in favor of Oldendorf. The decisive factor were the votes that came from the wine merchant Piepenbrink and the electors he influenced. The colonel is the bitter loser, a marriage between Oldendorf and Ida now seems to have become completely impossible.

Meanwhile, Adelheid is trying to find a good solution to the conflict. Bellmaus comes towards her. He was told by the drunken Schmock about the plot that Senden had forged together with the "Coriolan" against Oldendorf in order to make it impossible for the colonel.

Meanwhile, messages from citizens arrived at the Colonel thanking him for his services. The colonel suspects that this is mainly a mockery of his electoral defeat and is difficult to convince of the opposite.

Fourth act

First Scene

In an interview with Adelheid, the Colonel confirms once again that a marriage between Ida and Oldendorf is out of the question. In addition to the electoral defeat, this has to do with the fact that the colonel has problems with Oldendorf's life as a journalist: “May he be a deputy, maybe he fits in better than me; that he is a newspaper writer that divides us. "

Adelheid makes sure that the colonel hears their conversation with Schmock, who reports once more about the plot of broadcasting.

Second scene

Oldendorf's victory is celebrated in the editorial office of the “Union”. Meanwhile, the new number of the "Coriolan" arrives, which says that the "Union" has changed hands for 30,000 thalers. There is a little confusion about the identity of the buyer. At first it is assumed that the people around the "Coriolan" bought the sheet in order to bring a competitor to their own political line. In the end, however, it becomes clear that Adelheid bought the paper, and not only that, she bequeathed it to Konrad Bolz, who will now determine the fate of the “Union”. Then Konrad immediately makes her a marriage proposal, which she also accepts. When the Colonel storms in and asks who he has in front of him, she answers with the last words of the play: "The bride of a journalist!"

Oldendorf had willingly resigned his editorial work during the confusion about the new ownership structure, which is the prerequisite for the reconciliation with the colonel and the finally possible connection with Ida.

expenditure

literature

  • Philipp Böttcher: Gustav Freytag - Constellations of Realism , Berlin / New York: De Gruyter 2018. ISBN 978-3-11-053930-1 .

filming

Radio plays