Franz Pühringer

Franz Pühringer (born December 27, 1906 in Pernegg an der Mur , † August 30, 1977 in Gramastetten ) was an Austrian cultural journalist , poet and playwright . From 1934 to 1972 he ran the first Linz artist puppet shows.

Live and act

Franz Pühringer was born as the eldest son of a teacher couple in Pernegg in Styria and grew up in St. Stefan ob Leoben . After attending secondary school in Bruck an der Mur and the higher federal college for mechanical engineering in Linz (from 1920) he became a freelance writer in Berlin after dropping out of school , where he stayed until 1926. His first works were significantly influenced by Expressionism . In 1928 he organized the first readings in Linz and worked for literary and cultural-political magazines, a. a. des Simplicissimus , The Cross Section , Berliner Tageblatt and the Weltbühne . A stay in Paris followed . In 1930 it came u. a. on his initiative to found a literary cabaret called Thermopylae , but it only lasted for a short time. In 1936 he was one of the co-founders of the Grazer Schloßbergbühne .

Linz artist puppet shows

In 1934 he founded a hand puppet theater called the First Linz Artist Puppet Shows, with an opening performance in the dining room of the Hotel Zu den Drei Mohren on the Linz promenade, which was also well received by the press . After the hall at the Drei Mohren in Linz was no longer available, the puppet theater moved to the Urania hall, the festival hall of the K. k. State Realschule Linz (today Bundesrealgymnasium Fadingerstraße), which could only be used for a few months. As a result, Franz Pühringer moved to the elementary and secondary schools in Upper Austria with a touring stage ; the last tour took place in the winter of 1939/40 on the mediation of Linus Kefer .

After marriage and the Wehrmacht , he became even more involved with puppet theater and when the city was considering taking over his puppet shows, he put his thoughts, experiences and ideas in a plan for a large puppet theater. At the end of 1940, the construction of the new Linz puppet shows began in an adjoining hall of the Redoutensaal and the theater started on February 1, 1941. A year later, the game had to be stopped due to the war. The puppet theater was used as a traveling stage for various feedings. In a bomb attack in February 1945, the hall, stage and a large part of the fund were destroyed.

Shortly after the war, Pühringer resumed his plans to expand the Linz puppet theater into a large and leading Austrian marionette theater, set up an ambitious literary repertoire and designed stick and thread puppets. The ensemble now included trained actors and singers (including Veit Relin , Lisl Schmidt , Hubert Mann and Fritz Bramböck ), who also took part in performances of the Städtische Kammerspiele, which he founded but closed after two years, and performed works by Pühringer there. At the Linz State Theater, Alfred Stögmüller staged pieces by young writers with an amateur play group , as well as Franz Pühringer, Karl Wiesinger , Kurt Klinger and Oskar Zemme .

The Linz puppet shows created colorful children's afternoons in the town hall festival hall and were briefly called the Linz fairy tale theater. Fanny Newald made a special contribution to the stage sets of the following years .

The town hall festival hall remained the venue from 1946 to 1969. However, there was no longer any question of the plans to expand the hand puppet stage into a puppet theater. Rather, Pühringer acquired sets and props and took the players under contract in order to ensure adequate social security as long as they did not have a main job.

In 1964, Pühringer's activities with the Linz puppet plays became the focus of an exhibition in the New Gallery of the City of Linz, the Wolfgang Gurlitt Museum .

When the town hall hall was no longer available in 1968, the puppet theater moved to the Linz basement theater and three seasons later the Linz puppet theater gave its last performance.

He was married to Traude Maria Seidelmann, who manages his estate. The Linz sculptor and painter Thomas Pühringer (* 1941) is a son of Pühringer.

Literary work

From 1947 Pühringer appeared first with poems, then also with dramas, which were performed on the stage of the Kammerspiele by actors and singers who participated in the puppet theater. Founder Prize, State Prize and 1st Prize in an Upper Austrian playwright competition brought the hoped-for recognition and performances soon followed on other Austrian and foreign theaters. Pühringer was a PEN member.

Works

Dramas

• Büchner's Leonce and Lena for four , performed in Linz (1945)
• Mozart on the trip to Prague , performed in Linz (1946)
• Mr. Tatarin's Bride (1946)
• A German Midsummer Night's Dream , performed in the Redoutensaal (1950)
• The King of Torelore , performed at the Landestheater Linz (1951)
• Patricia Elzabal (1951)
• Abdel Hradschek and his wife (1953)
• Abel Hradscheck , performed at the Hamburger Schauspielhaus (1954) and in Linz (1955)
• Antonio Meulener , performed at the Akademietheater Vienna (1954) and in Oberhausen (1955)
• Flageolet , performed in Hamm (1958) and in Linz (1959/60)

Poems

• Face (1930)
• dream tropical flight (1932)
• The meadow fortress (1947)
• Paradise (1949)
• Last scent of the garden early (1963)
• At the sources of the tributaries (1964)

Novella

• The snake skin or the adder shirt (1959)

Repertoire of the Linz puppet shows

Pühringer has prepared fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm , Ludwig Bechstein , Wilhelm Hauff , Hans Christian Andersen , Robert Louis Stevenson , from Thousand and One Nights and other sources for the performance as puppet shows .

In 1952 he published Franz Graf von Poccis Punch and Judy pieces in new versions under the title Franz Pocci, Der Münchner Kinder-Raimund , a dozen of his most beautiful magical tales and funniest Punch and Judy games (self-published)

• Franz Pühringer: Things are only through light, poems, edited from the estate of the poet, narrator and playwright, 1st edition, Aspach, 2000, 88 pp.

Cultural journalism

Pühringer wrote occasional texts for Upper Austrian cultural publications, including:

• Thermopylai , literary cabaret under the title "Thermopylae" founded in Linz in 1930, in: Yearbook of the City of Linz, born in 1950, Linz 1951, online (PDF) in the OoeGeschichte.at forum.
• 25 years of Linz puppet shows, memories, in: Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, No. 31, Linz 1959.
• Rudolf Steinbüchler , in: Series of publications on the biographical lexicon of Upper Austria of the Institute for Regional Studies of Upper Austria, Linz 1960.
• Karl Emmerich Baumgärtel , A Linz poet and bohemian, seen by his contemporaries , in: Kunstjahrbuch der Stadt Linz 1961, Linz 1961, pp. 78 to 84.
• Why puppet theater? , Autobiographical essay, in: Upper Austria, Landscape, Culture, Economy, Tourism, Sport, Linz 1963, pp. 19 to 25.
• With Herbert Lange (author): Fanny Newald 70. On January 10, 1963 , in: Oberösterreichischer Kulturbericht, Linz, 1963, volume 1, and Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 1963, No. 7.
• Data about a puppet theater , in: Linz aktiv, Heft 8, Linz 1963, S. 3 to 6.
• Fanny Newald 70. On January 10, 1963 , in: Oberösterreichischer Kulturbericht, Linz, 1963, volume 1, and Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 1963, No. 7.
• Franz Hönig . On the poet's 70th birthday , in: Oberösterreichischer Kulturbericht, Linz 1963.
• Thermopylae. Austria's first literary cabaret was in Linz , in: Linz aktiv, Heft 12, Linz 1964, pp. 33 to 36.
• 30 years of Linz puppet shows , exhibition catalog for the exhibition in the New Gallery of the City of Linz , Wolfgang Gurlitt Museum , September 17 to October 11, 1964, Linz 1964.
• The puppet theater and its repertoire. Thirty years of Linz puppet games , in: Mühlviertler Heimatblätter , Linz 1964, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
• Fanny Newald and her work during this time , in: Upper Austria, Landscape, Culture, Economy, Tourism, Sport, Linz 1967, pp. 18 to 23.
• The Linz Puppet Shows (1934 to 1972) , in: Upper Austrian Culture Report, Linz 1973.

Awards

• Adalbert Stifter Prize of the Province of Upper Austria (1950/51)
• State Prize for Literature (1951)
• Dramatist Prize of the Province of Upper Austria (1953)
• Awarded the title of Professor hc (1959)

literature

• Hubert Razinger : The Tragweiner Faust. For the first performance of the work in Franz Pühringer's puppet theater in Linz's town hall on April 2, 1949. In: Oberösterreichische Heimatblätter . Linz 1949, pp. 141 to 144, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
• OK: Franz Pühringer, man and poet. In: Mühlviertler Bote. No. 126, Linz 1951.
• Herbert Lange : The current poet portrait - Franz Pühringer. In: Upper Austrian news. No. 224, Linz 1955.
• Gertrud Fussenegger : In memoriam Franz Pühringer. In: Upper Austrian culture report. Born 31, Linz 1977.
• Gertrud Fussenegger, Franz Josef Heinrich , Rudolf Weilhartner , Karl Kleinschmidt : In memoriam Franz Pühringer. Thoughts and interpretations. In: Upper Austria, cultural magazine. Linz 1978, pp. 2-8.
• Traude Maria Seidelmann : Franz Pühringer's Linz puppet shows. Catalog for the exhibition October to December 1982. In: Small exhibitions of the archive of the city of Linz. Linz 1982.
• Traude Maria Seidelmann: The Linz puppet shows by Franz Pühringer. In: Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz 1981. Linz 1982, online (PDF; 5.1 MB) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.
• Franz Pühringer, Traude Maria Seidelmann (Hrsg.): The Linz puppet shows. About the passion to play puppet theater. Steyr 1985, 103 pp.
• Martina Sega: The edited and stirred up dramatic work of Franz Pühringer. Diploma thesis at the University of Vienna, 1994.
• Wilhelm Bortenschlager : Drama and playwright of Upper Austria. Wels 1986, pp. 159-165.
• Beatrix Müller Kampel: Fontane dramatizes, Franz Pühringer's Abel Hradscheck and his wife. In: Fontane leaves. 48, 1989, pp. 60-68.
• Franz Pühringer. In: Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.): German biographical encyclopedia (DBE), Volume 8, Berlin 2007.
• Franz Pühringer. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann , Walter de Gruyter (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . Volume 9 (Os to Roq), Berlin 2010.

Web links

• Franz Pühringer , in: Estates in Austria, Personal Lexicon of the Austrian National Library
• Franz Pühringer, biography of Heide Stockinger, in: Website of the Stifterhaus, Linz ( Memento from June 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Seidelmann 1982, p. 178, section “Data on the person and work of Franz Pühringer”.