The bad boys at school
| Data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The bad boys at school |
| Original title: | Magister Wampl and his students |
| Genus: | Burlesque with singing in 1 act |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Johann Nestroy |
| Literary source: | Le Maître d'école by Lockroy and Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois |
| Music: |
Michael Hebenstreit , Carl Binder |
| Publishing year: | 1847 |
| Premiere: | December 10, 1847 |
| Place of premiere: | Carltheater |
| Place and time of the action: | The action takes place in the baron's castle in Wampl's school and lasts from morning until noon |
| people | |
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The bad boys at school is a burlesque with singing in 1 act by Johann Nestroy . The first performance with the abbreviated title Die schlimmen Buben took place on December 10, 1847 in the Vienna Carltheater , together with two other one-act plays for the opening ceremony of the new building. Half of the income went to the basic poor house of the communities Leopoldstadt and Jägerzeile .
content
At the castle of Baron von Wolkenfeld, in his school for the servants of the estate, run by the old schoolmaster Wampl, exams are to take place. Wampl's assistant Franz cannot prevail against the cheeky Willibald:
- "You are not real but only a qua school assistant, a qua substitute, qua Supplens, in a word, they are purely just qua-qua, and in a school that is probably already been the longest school." (4 th Scene)
The schoolmaster is disturbed by his daughter Nettchen's relationship with Franz and he is disturbed by the threatened closure of the school. When a visit from the baron is announced, who this time wants to take the exam in person at the end of the school year, he worries even more:
- “Gutsherr Landrath exam, it's madness - my students are not equipped to take exams. Who will help me, who will advise me - Franz! where the devil is Franz! Overseer, where are you ?! " (18 th Scene)
Franz wants to help him, but in return he wants to get Nettchen's hand and Wampl doesn't know any other way out than to agree. Franz, who prepared the list of questions, distributed slips of paper with the correct answers to the students. However, unnoticed by Franz, the students exchange their notes with each other. When the baron begins the exam, the answers are correct, but the questions are wrong.
- Cloud field: "Which planets in our solar system are bigger than our earth?"
- Stanislaus: "Carinthia, Krain, Gorizia, Salzburg and the Windic March." (24 th Scene)
However, the baron turns out to be completely deaf and doesn't even notice the nonsense of the answers. Therefore, all students receive their bonuses, Wampl is retired on full pay and Franz gets a full teaching position in the city - and his Nettchen. Wolkenfeld congratulates him on this:
- “A wedding too? congratulate! You get the best prizes from this school. The merits of his crown. " (24 th Scene)
interpretation
While the adults in this play are carriers of worries and concerns and embody an old order and discipline, the students - despite all their ignorance - are the actual carriers of humor . They turn out to be by no means as stupid as assumed, only the knowledge of the students does not come from the textbook, but is taken from life (this is particularly evident in the couplets ).
Factory history
For the rebuilt and newly opened Leopoldstädter Theater , now called the Carltheater by director Carl Carl , the latter asked his resident poet Nestroy for a farce in a file for the opening festival program . Nestroy chose the Vaudeville en un Acte Le Maître d'école by Joseph-Philippe Simon, called Lockroy (1803-1891), and Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois (1806-1870) as a model. This vaudeville was premiered on March 20, 1841 at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris , the role of schoolmaster Legras was played by the then famous comedian Pierre Levassor (born January 25, 1808 in Fontainebleau , † January 1, 1870 in Paris).
The main motive of the burlesque, the public examination with prizes, goes back to the French school system, where such exams were common. In the original, the adjoint du maitre (assistant to the teacher) wants his stupid son to shine and has therefore invited the conseille du département (a rank in the administration) to take an exam. The pupils are drawn much more colorlessly than in Nestroy's, the school assistant went from a pubescent adolescent to a good youth. Nestroy kept the rest of the plot pretty much the same, but changed the roles.
Johann Nestroy played the pupil Willibald, Wenzel Scholz (from 1849 also Alois Grois ) the Magister Wampl, Alois Grois (at the first performances) the landowner Wolkenfeld, Friedrich Hopp the director of Important, Franz Gämmerler the Magister Stamm (which did not appear in the preliminary work) . The roles of the other students were cast more realistically with an actress (Dlle. Rohrbeck in a trouser role as Peter Petersil), a girl (Anna Freisinger as Stanislaus) and a few boys. The music was by Michael Hebenstreit and Carl Binder .
This farce continued to be played after the opening of the Carltheater, despite the interruption caused by the revolutionary years of 1848/49 , more frequently from 1850 on, 16 times in 1860 alone. During a guest performance by the English dancer Lydia Thompson at the Carltheater in June 1855, the Bad Boys were seen as a supporting program at all performances, but the reviews of the play were not very flattering, and Nestroy's management (Carl died in 1854, Nestroy his successor) was badly disheveled :
- "All in all, the setbacks that the Carltheater made under Nestroy's direction from month to month are not only very noticeable, but progressive in a way, [...]"
In later performances from 1857 onwards, both the actor and the director Nestroy once again received undivided applause, and Willibald became one of his star roles. After Nestroy's death, this farce disappeared from the stage for a long time, as apparently no actor was allowed to dare to take on his Willibald role. Today the piece is played again with pleasure on the German-speaking stages.
Preserved manuscripts
A handwritten manuscript by Nestroy, consisting of the text in pencil and also handwritten corrections (preliminary censorship) in ink and pencil, with title page, paginated 1-20, was still available to Rommel and has been lost since 1929.
Also preserved are four individual sheets in Nestroy's handwriting as a careful fair copy of a censorship-related revision (they had apparently been attached to the first manuscript earlier), a handwritten scenario with the title Magister Wampl and his students in a sheet, torn but carefully sewn together again, as well as some drafts and study sheets for the couplets .
There is also a score, a song number in Hebenreit's handwriting, the rest with personal corrections.
Contemporary reception
Lockroy's work was apparently unknown to the newspaper critics in Vienna, as there was not a single comparison of Nestroy's play with the original. The play was more or less positively received, even if the general great admiration for director Carl's new theater building made it a bit in the second row.
The Nestroy-friendly Viennese theater newspaper wrote by Adolf Bäuerle on December 13, 1847 (year 40, no. 297, p. 1186 f.):
- “It can only be called a comical series of scenes in a rural school, but which Nestroy has endowed with such an abundance of drastic coups and striking jokes that incessant laughter shakes the house. You can hardly think of anything more posh or funny than Nestroy as a schoolboy among a crowd of little boys who were excellently rehearsed [...] "
In the Viennese magazine for art, literature, theater and fashion , also on December 13th, it said:
- “The lower school system is satirized in a funny way and a real hail of satirical ideas knows how to win the poor subject a higher interest. […] Only the circular paths of the plot run into each other several times in this piece and a new edition of the same joke greatly weakened participation. "
The other theater critics expressed themselves similarly.
The humorist of Moritz Gottlieb Saphir , director Carl and his house poet Nestroy rather ill-disposed, also wrote on that day (born 11, No. 297, f p 1,182th.) A highly detailed report on the theater construction and the opening ceremonies - even The complete text of Carl's speech and a dedication poem by August Lewald to him were printed - then only dealt with the three opening pieces in a short paragraph:
- “After this actual opening was over, three pieces, seen here for the first time, were performed, the choice of which was expressly intended only to designate those genres that are mainly intended to form the repertoire of the theater. […] It is not the purpose of these lines to give a cumbersome report on the presentation. More to come. " (This did not happen, however)
Later interpretations
Otto Rommel classifies the piece as a rather insignificant one in Nestroy's oeuvre. He calls it "pictures from a stately private school in Vormärz in a sharply satirical lighting" (quote). The couplets of Willibald that appear in it are, however, quite ingenious attacks on the educational system.
- "As usual, Nestroy transformed the French vaudeville into a 'farce with singing' by removing the many little songs, choirs, duets, trios and the like and this time also made an appreciable effort to replace the French milieu with the down-to-earth."
Mautner notes that this farce constantly alternates between harmless stage-effective fun on the one hand and witty joke on the other. He, too, emphasizes Nestroy's satirical picture of the school system that was corrupt before March, an allusion that was doubly effective in 1847 - when the revolution was already in the air. Thanks to the timeless situation comedy and the witty dialogues, the work is still one of Nestroy's most played antics.
Helmut Ahrens points out that this piece had less of an effect through the humorous text, but more through Nestroy's acting interpretation of the student Willibald. As before as Natzi in Eulenspiegel or Schabernack über Schabernack (1835), he parodied the boy in children's trousers solely through his long, lean figure, with fat Scholz at his side as the contrasting teacher figure Wampl. Ahrens suspects that thanks to this stage team, the work would have been unduly celebrated by critics and the public.
Rio Preisner also puts the criticism of the public school system at the center of his assessment:
- "Of course Nestroy could not allow himself a direct criticism of the corrupt school system and was forced by the censorship to portray Wampl's school as a private enterprise of a lord of the castle that had been doomed from the start."
Otto Forst de Battaglia sees an even deeper parallel that directly questions the entire essence of the empire:
- “Whether the political allusions were also understood? Baron Wolkenfeld, the deaf school patron, will, like the sick emperor [ed. Franz I. ] , groomed by his intendant Important- Metternich . The distribution of prizes to the bad boys symbolizes the Austrian chaos; and the system can hardly be better characterized than by chance, which, in play and in reality, alone is capable of triumphing over the next most powerful element, protection. "
Hans Weigel describes what, in his opinion, is excellent, but not seen in this way by all, of this one-act play in Nestroy's work:
- "The world around us and posterity were amused by THE BAD BOYS IN THE SCHOOL, have always liked to see the one-act play and performed it again and again, perhaps unconsciously felt its 'ideological' depth, but still not properly perceived and appreciated it today."
text
- Text, table of contents and list of people in nestroy.at (PDF, 203kb).
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, thirteenth volume, published by Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1929; 193-258, 627-645.
- Franz H. Mautner (Ed.): Johann Nestroys Komödien. Fifth volume. Edition in 6 volumes, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1979, 2nd edition 1981.
- 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 25 / I. In: Jürgen Hein / Johann Hüttner / Walter Obermaier / W. Edgar Yates : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition . Zsolnay, Vienna 2000; Pp. 1-48, 111-411.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nestroy himself described the work as burlesque on the original title page , apparently to dispel censorship concerns (after Friedrich Walla)
- ↑ The title of nobility was omitted from the performance for reasons of censorship
- ↑ descriptive name, indicating the high position and the distance to reality
- ^ District administrator = in the Habsburg (crown) countries member of the governor's college
- ↑ Originally Stern, changed to Sternau for reasons of censorship
- ↑ Wirtschaftsrat, Wirtschafts-Intendant = administrator of the economic affairs of a property; see Intendant # story
- ↑ because of Wenzel Scholz's waist size Nestroy chose consciously speaking name; of Wampe = belly
- ↑ here in the sense of schoolmaster at the place, in this school
- ↑ Speaking name: Schnabl = loud person; Idiom how one's beak grew (Franz Seraph Hügel: Der Wiener Dialekt. Lexikon der Wiener Volkssprache. Verlag A. Hartleben, 1873)
- ↑ here in the sense of housekeeper, housekeeper
- ↑ Austrian for parsley
- ↑ Pichler = from Viennese picheln for drinking
- ↑ here in the sense of estate inspector
- ↑ ironically Ries = giant, for the smallest pupil in the school
- ^ Stubbornness by Roderich Benedix , The miller of Marly by Louis Schneider
- ↑ qua, quasi = Latin for as it were, so to speak
- ↑ In an imperial handwriting from 1804 it read: ... to facilitate the teaching of the teacher in old age by adding a school assistant. (Hilda Laible: Upbringing, school, education in the plays of Johann Nestroy . Dissertation, Vienna 1948)
- ↑ Supplens, Supplent = Latin for substitute teacher
- ^ Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. P. 12.
- ^ Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. P. 34.
- ^ Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. P. 43.
- ↑ the students were rewarded for their achievements with prizes (here they are books)
- ^ Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. P. 47.
- ^ Table of contents in Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. Pp. 130-134; French text pp. 139–178.
- ↑ this was intended in a version as the successor to Wampl; Excerpt from a scene in Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. Pp. 282-283.
- ↑ Dlle. or Dem. is the abbreviation for Demoiselle (= Fräulein), the name used to describe the unmarried women of an ensemble; the married actresses were titled Mad. (Madame)
- ↑ Facsimile of the theater ticket in Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. P. 586.
- ↑ Monthly for Theater and Music , June 1855, Volume 1, p. 332 f.
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 642, note ***.
- ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall , Otto Kallir Collection (1894–1978) [1] .
- ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall, call number IN 136.992, 161.201, 161.202 (two sheets)
- ↑ this version is chosen today as the text basis despite the existing gaps (list of persons, place and time indications, stage design), since it is the oldest tangible original version by Nestroy; see Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. Pp. 124-128.
- ↑ Manuscript collection of the Vienna library in the town hall, call number IN 33.362, 33.350, 94.399, 94.400.
- ↑ Music collection of the Vienna library in the town hall, signature MH 3621 / c.
- ^ Walla: Johann Nestroy. Pieces 25 / I. P. 47. (for the entire chapter on contemporary reception )
- ↑ Article in: Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode , December 13, 1847, p. 990 f. (Online at ANNO ).
- ^ Rommel: Nestroys Works. S. LXXI-LXXII.
- ^ Mautner: Johann Nestroys Komödien. P. 277.
- ↑ Ahrens: I'm not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Pp. 285-286.
- ^ Rio Preisner: Johann Nepomuk Nestroy. The creator of the tragic farce. Munich 1968, p. 105.
- ↑ Otto Forst de Battaglia: Johann Nestroy, appraiser of people, magician of the word. Leipzig 1932, p. 80.
- ↑ Hans Weigel: Nestroy , German dramatist of the world theater 6827, Velber near Hannover 1972, p. 48.