Griseldis (stalk)
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| Title: | Griseldis |
| Genus: | Dramatic poem |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Friedrich Halm |
| Literary source: | Boccaccio's Decamerone u. a. |
| Publishing year: | 1837 |
| Premiere: | December 30, 1835 |
| Place of premiere: | Burgtheater , Vienna |
| Place and time of the action: | England at the time of King Arthur |
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Griseldis is the first published drama by the Austrian poet Friedrich Halm . In it he uses the well-known Griseldis material , which appears for the first time in the 10th novella of the 10th day of Boccaccio's Decamerone and which was later often taken up and processed in literary terms. Griseldis (in Boccaccio: Griselda) is a woman from a simple family who is married by a prince. In order to put her loyalty to the test, her husband subjects her to inhumanly severe tests, which she survives with patience and steadfastness. Halm relocates the plot to England in the surroundings of the legendary King Arthur , but deviates greatly from the traditional material in one detail: While the patience and loyalty of the unconditionally devoted wife Griseldis is traditionally in the foreground, Halms Griseldis leaves her cruel husband on End for good after learning that all of her sufferings were but willful trials imposed by her husband.
Structure and language
The five-act drama is predominantly written in blank verse (rhyming five-part iambic verse), like most of Halm's other dramas. Occasionally, especially in the fifth act, an end rhyme is added to emphasize key scenes.
content
1st act
King Arthur's Castle at Carduel
At a festival at the court of King Arthur, Percival appears for the first time after a three-year absence, a rough nature boy in buffalo skin who has nothing more in common with the knight of the grail than his name. In the meantime he has married the charcoal burner daughter Griseldis and raves about the beauty and virtue of his wife in front of the noble ladies around Queen Ginevra, while at the same time expressing his disgust for what he sees as a corrupt courtly life. Ginevra and the ladies-in-waiting tease him because of the simple origin of his wife. There is a scandal when Percival insults Ginevra. Arthur, who approaches quickly, can barely prevent a duel between Percival and Ginevra's protector Lancelot. Percival demands that the Queen must kneel before his wife Griseldis by law. Artus offers Percival to undo this new insult by revoking it. Percival proudly refuses. As a way out of the messy situation, Ginevra suggests that Griseldis should take three tests of her virtue: Percival should first take away her only young son and then cast her out, helpless, poor and naked . She must put up with both of these without contradiction, and thirdly, if she still loves Percival as before, Ginevra will kneel before her. Percival immediately agrees to the cruel game and does not doubt for a moment that his wife will pass the tests.
2nd act
Percivals Pendennys Castle
Griseldis waits impatiently for the messenger Ronald, whom she sent to bring about a reconciliation with her old father, the charcoal burner Cedric. He is angry with his daughter because she allowed Percival to expel him from his castle for lack of respect, and because she was not with her at the hour of her mother's death, but rather took care of her sick husband. The messenger brings the news that Cedric is still not ready for any reconciliation. Percival appears with Gawin and Tristan, whose job it is to monitor Percival in the planned fraud. Gawin and Tristan try one last time to dissuade Percival from his plan. However, he is determined to expose Griseldis to the tests. He now demands from Griseldis that they send their child to the Arthurian court so that it can be raised there away from her. Allegedly Arthur wants it that way, in order to take the stigma of the low birth from a charcoal burner from the child. Griseldis defends himself at first, but when her Percival tells that Eight and Spell is his lot if he doesn't hand over the boy, she gives in. Percival triumphs over his comrades because the first test has been passed. Gawin fetches the child.
3rd act
Pendennys Castle
In a monologue, Percival soothes his remorse about Griseldis: After all, a man also checks his warhorse and his weapons, why not his wife too? Tristan tells Percival the deep suffering he plunged his wife into and again asks him to end the game and thus Griseldis' suffering by apologizing to Ginevra. But Percival's honor precludes this path. Percival only goes over to the second rehearsal and expels Griseldis from the castle in front of the assembled servants, allegedly again on the orders of Arthur, because the latter demands that Percival marry a woman of his own worth. Obediently, Griseldis leaves the castle in the same simple clothes in which she once entered. Ginevra appears with her entourage to inquire about the status of the rehearsals. When she learns that Griseldis has given her child away and left the castle, she demands the third test: Griseldis must prove that she still loves Percival as before, despite everything. Tristan and Oriane advise urgently to finally end the wrong game. However, Percival has already gone too far and now cannot stop.
4th act
Mountain forest
Griseldis seeks refuge with her father, the blind charcoal burner Cedric, who has learned from a messenger how things are with his daughter. Yet he dismissed her with scornful words, since she did not need to look after her poor old parents when she was still a noble lady. Griseldis defends himself but is not heard. Percival appears and pretends to have been cast out by Arthur. Griseldis, who still thinks that her husband is innocent and that all her sufferings are imposed upon her at Arthur's instigation, remains loyal to her husband and hides him in a cave. Ginevra appears with her entourage and demands that Griseldis extradite Percival, but she remains steadfast, even when she is threatened with killing her father if she does not reveal Percival's hiding place. This testimony to Griseldis' loyalty to Percival is enough for Ginevra, who finally declares herself defeated in front of her ladies.
5th act
Pendennys Castle
At Pendennys Castle, servants prepare the feast for the resumption of Griseldis, but Lancelot leaves the castle because he has met Ginevra's real face. Arthur, Ginevra and entourage appear and reveal Griseldis the plot, which in their eyes was just a carnival joke . Percival asks her forgiveness and Ginevra, who lost the bet, kneels before Griseldis as agreed. But Griseldis' capacity to suffer is exhausted by the realization that her own husband has betrayed her love in such a way and made it the object of a wager. She leaves Percival with her father and child. Percival wants to get in her way, but Arthur rejects him and lets Griseldis go.
Emergence
Halm worked on the Griseldis material from November 1833 to July 1834 in close contact with his friend and teacher Michael Leopold Enk von der Burg . In order to take into account the romanticism of knights valued by the zeitgeist, he moved the plot to the Arthurian court . He also made Griseldis the victim of a wager between her husband Percival and Queen Ginevra, creating an entirely new ending. On December 30, 1835, Griseldis had its world premiere at the Vienna Burgtheater . The poet appeared for the first time under the pseudonym Friedrich Halm .
effect
After a friendly reception of the world premiere, the play was soon cheered, thanks to the acting performance of Halms friend Julie Rettich , who played the title role in the subsequent performances. From the first performance to November 27, 1864, the piece was repeated 83 times at the Vienna Hofbühne alone. Griseldis quickly reached other German and foreign theaters and was translated into many languages. Halm became famous for this piece.
In the 20th century, as Halms' fame faded, so too did his Griseldis .
After Halms Griseldis , the libretto for the three-act opera Percival and Griseldis with the text by Carl Heinrich Herzel and the music by Karl Schnabel (1809-1881), which was premiered in 1851 in Breslau .
literature
- Friedrich Halms selected works in four volumes. Edited and with introductions by Anton Schlossar . Second volume. Leipzig undated (1904)
- Elisabeth Frenzel : Substances of world literature. A lexicon of longitudinal sections of the history of poetry (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 300). 4th, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-520-30004-4 .
Web links
- Full text by Halms Griseldis
- Text book of the opera Percival and Griseldis by Herzel and Schnabel