Previous relationships

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Data
Title: Previous relationships
Genus: Posse with vocals in one act
Original language: German
Author: Johann Nestroy
Literary source: A melancholy house servant or old acquaintances of Emilie Pohl (?)
Music: Anton M. Storch
Publishing year: 1862
Premiere: January 7, 1862
Place of premiere: Theater on Franz-Josefs-Kai
Place and time of the action: a big city
people
  • Herr von Scheitermann , timber merchant
  • Josephine , his wife
  • Anton Muffl , house servant
  • Peppi Amsel , cook

Earlier relationships are a farce with singing in an act by Johann Nestroy . The premiere took place on January 7, 1862 in Karl Treumann's Theater on Franz-Josefs-Kai .

content

Since his marriage to Josephine, who comes from a family of professors, Mr. Scheitermann has tried to hide his simple background from her. The dizziness threatens to be exposed when her previous servants are fired, Scheitermann's house servant for stealing cigars and Josephine's maid because she caught her husband stroking her cheek:

“How women always judge by appearances! Willenlose gesture unintentional service Both, accidental crossing of the gesture line through the via's room schus [s] elnde service Bothe cheek, because one does not equal an intention d'rinn want to search. " (1 st   Scene)

Peppi, who was already a cook for Josephine's father and had seen Josephine's many love affairs there, applies as a new maid. Josephine hires her and immediately complains that her husband is rich, but a bit stupid, which Peppi immediately assesses positively:

"Rich and stupid ?! - You're a lucky fellow! " (4 th   Scene)

It gets even worse when the run-down Anton Muffl, of all people, for whom the current landlord was once a house servant, applies for this position. In addition, he had an affair with her during Peppi's theater time. Moufflon immediately puts pressure on Scheitermann with his knowledge of his low past and begins to shamelessly blackmail him ( "O, I want to be a terrible house servant for you." ) Peppi believes that a misunderstood conversation between the two men will expose Scheitermann's accomplice in a robbery. Moufl, in turn, believes that Peppi is now Scheitermann's wife, only after a violent controversy between all four participants clear up the errors, which Scheitermann sees as the main thing. Moufflon finds the correct final word:

"No, the principal fields 'is, (referring to the audience) that otherwise Nobody those previous relationships' us resents." (18 th   Scene)

Factory history

Nestroy's late works, the two one-act plays Earlier Relationships and Chief Evening Wind , had their premieres at the Treumann Theater shortly afterwards (7 January and 1 February 1862), so it can be assumed that they were by and large before the end of 1861 were finished. In a letter to Karl Treumann from the end of August 1861, Nestroy wrote about his preoccupation with Chief Abendwind and asked at the same time whether Treumann knew of another piece that was useful for editing.

As a template for this, his penultimate piece before his death - the last was Chief Abendwind - Nestroy probably used the Schwank A melancholy house servant or old acquaintances , premiered in Berlin on July 30, 1861, by the Berlin writer Emilie Pohl (* 1824 in Königsberg ; † 1901 in Bad Ems ). At least that was what the contemporary Viennese theater newspaper Der Zwischenakt said . The humorist of Moritz Gottlieb Saphir , however, suspected a French vaudeville as a source. In 1989, Jürgen Hein described both assumptions as uncertain, but in 1996 Peter Branscombe assumed that Pohl's work could definitely have been the source, especially because Emile (sic!) Pohl is also given as a model on the theater bill.

In the role of Peppi, Nestroy once again brought one of his favorite subjects to the stage, the ironic settlement with the theater, especially with the dire payment behavior of the directors. This was already the case in Der Zettelträger Papp (1827), The Quodlibet Different Centuries (1843), Two Eternal Jews and None (1846), Theatrical Stories (1854) and other of his works. This is how Peppi argues at her performance monologue:

“What did I get out of it? Paying fees was not customary in these directorates, and because of me they could not deviate from this basic principle. " (Third scene)

Muffles also ironically ironizes the theater actors whom he once met in the person of Peppi:

"[...] she imagined a lot more than was really on - how it is with the small theaters, with the big ones it is different!" (Fifth scene)

Nestroy played the house servant Moufflon, Alois Grois played Herr Scheitermann, Anna Grobecker played Josephine, Therese Braunecker-Schäfer played Peppi. According to a still existing playlist, both Former Conditions and Chief Abendwind were performed together in the Treumann Theater on just one evening (on February 4, 1862) . The piece in between was the singspiel Hochzeit bei Laternenschein by Karl Treumann, with melodies by Jacques Offenbach .

An original manuscript of Nestroy estate (no. XXIX) with censorship Notes of the author has been handed down, as is also personal role book Muffls, the Nestroy wrote for himself, with some oversights, a censorship manuscript with some notes ( 10. 4. 1881 Theater in der Josefstadt , April 21, 1881 Pilsen , May 5, 1881 Reichenberg ) is also preserved.

Of the original manuscripts of the music, only one score with Entrè Lied N 1 (Peppi) & Entrè Lied N 2 (Moufl) , title Earlier conditions Posse by j. Nestroy received music from A: M: Storch mp Kapellmeister at the KK pr [ivile] g [ierten] Carl Theater .

The piece is still one of the most performed of Nestroy's dramatic oeuvre today.

Contemporary receptions

Contemporary critics praised both the play and Nestroy's extraordinary acting performance, although there were relatively few newspaper reports about it.

A detailed report could be read in the already mentioned magazine Zwischen-Akt of January 8, 1862 (5th year, No. 8):

“If the honorable author does not deserve the credit for having invented the material of his one-act comedy: 'Former Relationships' himself, he knew new laurels for the rich wreath through an excellent localization of this comedy, which he provided with ample wit and humor to add. In short, the audience honored the poet Nestroy in the same, almost demonstrative way, as the actor, whose 'grouch' has to be called an achievement that no other artist can ever achieve. "

The morning post of the same day (12th year, No. 7) named Nestroy's first submission in a public publication:

"[...] the graceful farce 'Earlier conditions' ('a melancholy house servant' by Pohl) [...]"

The entertainment paper Hans-Jörgel von Gumpoldskirchen was full of praise for the one-act play:

“The event of the week was Nestroy's new posse Frühere Zeiten, which reminded us completely of the earlier circumstances of the Viennese people bosom, - there is fun and wit in abundance, there the sparkling dialogue, the wealth of thought tears the listener to loud bravo, to resounding laughter there. "

Also in the Humorist (January 11, No. 2), in the Ost-Deutsche-Post (January 12, year 14, No. 11), in reviews and reports on theater, music and the visual arts (January 12, 2015) , Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 28-29), and other papers, the reception was consistently very positive.

Later interpretations

Otto Forst de Battaglia criticized in 1932 that this piece was “an intrinsically harmless little thing of his own creation” ; later literary historians differ significantly from this and other earlier opinions.

Helmut Ahrens assumes that the more than warm reception of the work by the audience was not just about the play itself, but rather about the "Nestroy monument, the legend, the man who made theater history" (quote), as he said of his contemporaries was seen before he died. The newspaper reviews also reflected this attitude.

Franz H. Mautner also mentions Emilie Pohl's Schwank, which, however, can no longer be identified. He describes the play as "Nestroy concentrated in the smallest of spaces with the most harmless and silly appearance." Against the background of economically and socially unstable conditions, this ethical-satirical social criticism combines sarcastic remarks about the commercialized theater, about the unpredictable fate, parvenutism , class arrogance and especially about deception and self-deception.

Hans Weigel thinks that it "belongs in the first row of his masterpieces" .

Kurt Kahl states, “that the last roles that [Nestroy] writes for himself simulate a phlegm through which the satire shimmers through with unbroken luminosity. […] Hardly anyone realizes that the dubiousness of social existence is demonstrated here, that being and appearance are held against each other in a magnificent parable. "

Even Rio Preisner finds the social content indicative of this, because "with the exception of Josephine, the professor's daughter, all figures embody the social and moral uncertainty of liberal society in the second half of the 19th century."

Film adaptations

text

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 ; P. 343.
  • Peter Branscombe (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38. In: Jürgen Hein / Johann Hüttner / Walter Obermaier / W. Edgar Yates : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, historical-critical edition. Deuticke, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-216-30239-3 ; Pp. 1-36, 83-146.
  • Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Historical-critical complete edition, fourteenth volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1930.
  • Franz H. Mautner (Ed.): Johann Nestroys Komödien. Edition in 6 volumes, Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1979, 2nd edition 1981, 6th volume. OCLC 7871586 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ means Vienna
  2. ↑ Scheitermann = on the one hand derived from (wood) log; on the other hand, an oxymoron , since the protagonist did not fail, but rose socially
  3. ↑ Moufflon, grouch = morose, dismissive person
  4. ^ Peppi = short form of Josephine, Josefa
  5. ^ Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38. p. 7.
  6. ^ Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38. p. 12.
  7. ^ Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38, p. 36.
  8. ^ Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38, p. 87.
  9. ^ Text in Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38. pp. 92-111.
  10. ↑ so mentioned in Otto Rommel: Nestroys Werke. Selection in two parts, Golden Classics Library, German publishing house Bong & Co., Berlin / Leipzig / Vienna / Stuttgart 1908; S. LXXXV.
  11. ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 527.
  12. ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. P. 533.
  13. ^ Facsimile of the theater ticket in Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38, p. 197.
  14. ↑ Manuscript collection of the Vienna library in the town hall , call number IN 135.818
  15. ↑ Manuscript collection in the Vienna City Hall, call number IN 70.685.
  16. ↑ Manuscript collection of the Vienna library in the town hall, signature IN 142.411 (Ib 149.362).
  17. ↑ Music collection of the Vienna Library in the City Hall, call number MH 366.
  18. ^ Branscombe: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 38. pp. 112-119.
  19. ↑ Otto Forst de Battaglia: Johann Nestroy, appraiser of people, magician of the word. Leipzig 1932, p. 80.
  20. ↑ Helmut Ahrens: I am not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Pp. 387-388.
  21. ^ Franz H. Mautner: Johann Nestroys Komedien. Pp. 305-306.
  22. ^ Hans Weigel: Nestroy , Velber near Hanover 1967; P. 62 f.
  23. ^ Kurt Kahl: Johann Nestroy or Der Wienerische Shakespeare . Molden, Vienna 1970, p. 311.
  24. ^ Rio Preisner: Johann Nepomuk Nestroy. The creator of the tragic posse , Munich 1968, pp. 173–175.
  25. ↑ ORF III on Friday: “Such a theater” three times with plays from the Wiener Kammerspiele and the theater in der Josefstadt. July 23, 2020, accessed July 25, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Everything Waltz / Former Conditions / The Imaginary Sick. In: ORF.at . July 23, 2020, accessed July 25, 2020 .