Italian night
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| Title: | Italian night |
| Genus: | Volksstück [in seven pictures] |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Ödön from Horváth |
| Publishing year: | 1931 |
| Premiere: | March 20, 1931 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater am Schiffbauerdamm , Berlin |
| Place and time of the action: | South German small town, 1930 -? |
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Italian Night is a folk play in seven pictures by Ödön von Horváth , which premiered with great success on March 20, 1931 with Fritz Kampers and Berta Drews in the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm Berlin under the direction of Francesco von Mendelssohn . On July 4, 1931, Oskar Sima brought his depoliticized version to the stage in Vienna. Then the comedy was not given again until 1967 in Konstanz .
time and place
The play takes place in 1930 in a small town in southern Germany. Krischke reports on the events underlying the comedy in Murnau in Upper Bavaria . According to this, Horváth's “republicans” are the Social Democrats , or more precisely the left as a whole, who are splintering instead of fighting against the right . Martin is a Marxist .
content
- 1
Members and the board of the republican protection association sit in their local pub on Sunday morning and reproach the enterprising landlord Josef Lehninger: at the same time as the republican Italian night announced the following evening, the local fascist group is allowed to have a German day in the pub.
- 2
The upright republicans whose goal is socialism are introduced by Horváth. Karl, a musician in a concert café, instinctively, befriends the apolitical Leni.
- 3
The young worker Martin imagines that he is the more intelligent and more effective than his comrades. He sends his girlfriend Anna on the political line . Anna is supposed to hook up with a fascist and thus scout out the enemy.
- 4th
Anna's rendezvous with the fascist takes place towards the end of dusk in the municipal facilities in front of the monument to the former country father. Martin's young comrades smear the memorial with red paint. Meanwhile, the fascist doesn't reveal much about his fellow fighters, but attacks Anna.
- 5
The republican city councilor Alfons Ammetsberger, the main organizer of the Italian night, proves to be a philistine during this colorful evening, who exposes his wife Adele in public. Martin and his young comrades watched the elaborately rehearsed performances of the republican amateur artists during the Italian night, mute and sullen. When the young class fighters call for small-caliber armament against the militant fascists, a scandal breaks out. Ammetsberger excludes Martin and his comrades from the Italian night.
- 6th
Martin describes himself as the official local guide to a comrade from Magdeburg who has traveled and, by virtue of his office, chases the strangers away. Martin renounces Karl because he fought the class war with Leni - contrary to previous agreements - on the dance floor. Anna comes back from her fascist with a telltale mark on her neck from the dark park and meets an angry Martin. Anna reports that the fascists want to storm the Italian evening. Martin can cope with the impending storm, but not the "attack" of the fascist on his girlfriend Anna. Karl can't put up with Martin's rejection, but Leni comforts him. With their money they want to set up a grocery store.
- 7th
After the scandal mentioned above, the Italian night was over. Only Ammetsberger and his older comrades held the position on principle until the police hour. Then the landlord comes with the bad news: the small heap of Republicans in the restaurant are surrounded by the fascists and will immediately take a beating for the desecration of the monument in the park. Ammetsberger wants to get away. His wife Adele, in turn, exposes his cowardice, but remains the woman brutally oppressed by the husband. The situation of the surrounded is hopeless. The old comrades are to blame for their own situation. Why did they throw out their young, strong comrades too ? Even so, they prefer to be beaten rather than cowardly . Martin's hasty expulsion is to be reversed. He and his strong followers are not so bad after all; in any case the young men are defenseless. Ammetsberger no longer understands his own comrades and wants to withdraw from political life . A major comes with two fascists and forces the red city councilor Ammetsberger to make a written statement: He is a very common bastard . Adele stands up for her husband briskly and drives the newcomers to flight. When it became clear that the fascists had given way to Martin and his comrades, Ammetsberger immediately got the upper hand again.
Quote
Commit obligations .
Self-testimony
The author of his play: It goes against the mass of politicians .
reception
- Invited guests, including the Nazis Hinkel and Bronnen , applauded the Berlin premiere.
- Ernst Heilborn calls the piece a beer gulp .
- Herbert Ihering praises the comedy, but notes a flattening of existing social contrasts.
- Felix Hollaender is dissatisfied. It is not enough to show that the political world is a fool's shack .
- Arthur Eloesser certifies Horváth talent.
- Small congregation war : Kerr laughs at the "Italian Night", the best time fun this run , sick .
- Hildebrandt discusses the final movement of the comedy: The republic can sleep peacefully! with reference to the innocence of the Republicans and quotes the comment of the Völkischer Beobachter on the "Italian Night": Will the Ödön still be surprised!
- Women are excluded from political life , says Führich.
- The revolutionary Martin turns out to be a political philistine when he ... can't even stand another German dialect .
- Horst Jarka does not accept the happy ending .
- Kiesel calls the play a plea for a left anti-fascist united front .
filming
In 1965 Michael Kehlmann filmed the play for television (with Oskar Sima as Ammetsberger City Councilor, Jane Tilden as his wife Adele, Hans Clarin as Karl, Herta Staal as Leni, Walter Kohut as Martin, Hertha Martin as Anna and Kurt Horwitz as Major).
manuscript
The manuscript of the drama is kept in the literature archive of the Austrian National Library and can be viewed there.
Web links
- "Italian Night" , entry 1965 in The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
- Photo: Ödön von Horváth in 1931
literature
source
- Ödön von Horváth: Dramas. Pp. 81-136. Publishing house Volk und Welt. Berlin 1969 (License: Thomas Sessler-Verlag GmbH, Munich). 384 pages
Secondary literature
- Dieter Hildebrandt : Ödön von Horváth . Reinbek bei Hamburg 1975. Reprint: May 1989. 145 pages, ISBN 3-499-50231-3
- Traugott Krischke: Ödön von Horváth. Child of his time . Pp. 96-105. Munich 1980. Reprint: Berlin 1998. 336 pages, ISBN 3-548-26525-1
- Angelika Führich: The feminine awakening in the drama of the Weimar Republic. Brecht - Fleißer - Horváth - Gmeyner. Pp. 72-83. Heidelberg 1992. Dissertation Uni Pennsylvania Pa. 1989. 118 pages, ISBN 3-533-04494-7
- Kurt Bartsch : Ödön von Horváth . Pp. 72-78. Stuttgart 2000. 195 pages, ISBN 3-476-10326-9
- German literary history. Volume 9. Ingo Leiß and Hermann Stadler: Weimar Republic 1918-1933 . Pp. 308-314. Munich, February 2003. 415 pages, ISBN 3-423-03349-5
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . Pp. 292-293. Stuttgart 2004. 698 pages, ISBN 3-520-83704-8
- Helmuth Kiesel : History of German-Language Literature 1918 to 1933 . CH Beck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-70799-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hildebrandt p. 102
- ↑ a b Krischke p. 102
- ↑ Bartsch p. 72
- ↑ Hildebrandt, p. 128
- ↑ Bartsch p. 73
- ↑ Horváth p. 22
- ↑ Krischke pp. 96-102
- ↑ Kiesel dates the incident in Murnau on February 1, 1931 on p. 967 middle.
- ↑ Leiß and Stadler p. 313
- ↑ a b Horváth p. 95
- ↑ Horváth p. 98
- ↑ Horváth p. 96
- ↑ Horváth p. 131
- ↑ Horváth p. 135
- ↑ Krischke p. 105
- ↑ a b c Krischke p. 103
- ↑ Kiesel, p. 968 middle
- ↑ pebbles. P. 968, 17th line from the bottom
- ↑ Hildebrandt p. 65
- ↑ Krischke p. 104
- ↑ Hildebrandt p. 66
- ↑ Horváth p. 136
- ↑ Führich p. 72
- ↑ Bartsch p. 77
- ↑ Kiesel, p. 968, 10th line from the top
- ↑ Kiesel, p. 968, line 14 from the top
- ↑ IMDb