King Ottokar's luck and end
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| Title: | King Ottokar's luck and end |
| Genus: | Tragedy |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Franz Grillparzer |
| Publishing year: | 1825 |
| Premiere: | February 19, 1825 |
| Place of premiere: | Burgtheater , Vienna |
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King Ottokar's Glück und Ende is a tragedy in five acts by Franz Grillparzer .
Creation, substance, publication
Grillparzer originally wanted to write a drama about Napoleon . However, since he feared a rejection of the piece by the censors, he chose the Bohemian King Ottokar II Přemysl (1232–1278) instead , to whom he ascribed similar traits. He was probably influenced by the dramas about Rudolf von Habsburg and King Ottokar and the Spanish baroque drama .
The drama was finally written in 1823, but publication was delayed due to censorship problems caused by Josef Schreyvogel . The play was initially banned because of "unfavorable memories of Napoléon's second marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria and unfavorable portrayal of Bohemia ". One day, Empress Karoline Charlotte Auguste commissioned the poet Matthäus von Collin , who was the educator of the Duke of Reichstadt , to inquire about an interesting manuscript in the Hofburgtheaterdirectories. There he learned that a piece of Grillparzer had been with the censorship authorities for two years, where it had apparently been relocated or had been made to disappear. Collin intervened with the censorship - and the play was found and handed over to him on the spot. He read it to the Empress, who was very astonished that this, in their opinion, extremely patriotic work was so misunderstood by the censors and got the Emperor cleared for a performance, which took place on February 19, 1825 in the Vienna Burgtheater . The Metternich censorship also had the effect that Grillparzer's request for the position of director of the Vienna court library was rejected.
action
The plot of the tragedy begins in 1261 with the separation of Ottokar from his wife Margarethe. The reason given for the separation is that Margarethe can no longer have children and therefore no heirs, and that she is related to Ottokar in the fourth line. Margarethe renounces the countries that Ottokar brought to her marriage. Ottokar had previously seduced the Bohemian noblewoman Berta, which her family had approved in the expectation that Ottokar would marry her after Margarete's divorce. However, Ottokar marries Kunigunde, the granddaughter of the Hungarian king Béla , who thus becomes the new queen, thereby incurring the hostility of Berta's family. Berta goes mad. At the same time he does not notice the existing tensions between his Bohemian and his Styrian subjects, which means that he does not see through an intrigue of the Bohemian nobleman Zawisch against the Styrian nobleman Seyfried von Merenberg and his family.
Several crowns are offered to King Ottokar, including the imperial crown. When Kunigunde unexpectedly arrives at his court, however, a scene that is very embarrassing for Margarete, who is still present, occurs, in which Ottokar is rather brusque towards her. When he also forbids the aristocrats present, whom Margarete has expressly asked for assistance, from escorting his former wife out of the hall, it is the present Count Rudolf von Habsburg who is the only one who shows moral courage and yet dares to leave the hall to guide. This incident ultimately costs Ottokar the imperial crown, as those present inform the Bishop of Mainz about what Rudolf will be elected as the new emperor. As a result, the states of Austria and Styria fall back into the possession of the emperor, since Ottokar had separated from Margarete.
Ottokar cannot come to terms with this loss, which also means damage to his reputation. A conflict arises, but then the Chancellor Ottokars can persuade him to talk to the newly elected emperor: Ottokar is ready to recognize Rudolf's election as emperor in this debate, but he does not want to forego ownership of the countries. During this encounter, however, Ottokar had to realize that his former allies from Styria are now on the emperor's side. That is why Ottokar has to put aside his demands and be satisfied with accepting the regions of Bohemia and Moravia kneeling from the emperor as a fief . Rudolf accommodates Ottokar's sense of honor in that he is ready to accept the fiefdom in his tent behind closed doors. Zawisch, however, who has long been one of Ottokar's enemies and has already begun to seduce his second wife, cuts the tent cords during the ceremony. The tent collapses, everyone present sees Ottokar kneeling in front of Rudolf. When the imperial herald wants to pick up the prisoners who are to be released according to the contract, Ottokar releases all but one: Merenberg, Seyfried's father, is stamped a traitor because of the letter to the bishop . Due to a chain of unfortunate circumstances, he dies a little later.
Queen Kunigunde, who has since started a love affair with Zawisch, rejects Ottokar. She asks him to regain his honor. Until then, she will deny him his marital rights. This rejection and the humiliations he suffered move Ottokar to tear up the contract he had concluded with Rudolf as emperor. He has a new army raised. Meanwhile, Queen Kunigunde and Zawisch seek refuge with the emperor. During the war, Ottokar learns that his former wife Margarethe, who had stood up for him with Rudolf after the divorce, died on another trip to see him. She had planned to stand up for Ottokar again with the Kaiser. At her deathbed, Ottokar realizes that this divorce was a serious mistake and regrets his bad deeds. A little later there was the battle on the Marchfeld , and Emperor Rudolf gave the order that no one should take Ottokar's life - except in self-defense. When Seyfried von Merenberg meets Ottokar during the battle, he wants to avenge his father's death and calls on him to fight, in which Ottokar is killed. Emperor Rudolf enfeoffed his two sons with Austria and Styria while still on the battlefield.
Talk to Austria
A well-known and often quoted passage from the drama is a speech in the third act (verses 1672–1704 or 324–356) that the Styrian rhyming chronicler Ottokar von Hornek (or Horneck) , a historically documented figure, gives for Rudolf's help to win for Austria. His rhyming chronicle is a contemporary source that was often used for the Ottokar representation in historical research of the 19th century. The Styrian rhyming chronicler only has this single appearance in the piece. In his speech, the country of Austria is praised, which is quite logical in the context of the scene in the drama. However, the speech is often viewed in isolation and interpreted as (uncritical) praise for Austria . It begins with the words " It is a good country ". This passage is one of those literary citations that were compulsory reading in Austrian schools for decades and whose knowledge was required by memorization. The speech lists alleged differences between the Austrian and German mentality from the time the drama was written:
It is possible that
there are people in Saxony and near the Rhine who read more books;
Only what is
needed and what pleases God, The clear view, the open, correct mind,
The Austrian steps before everyone,
thinks his part and lets the others speak! "
This speech thus forms a counterpart to King Ottokar's speech in Act 1 (verses 468–505), in which the latter compares the Bohemians with the Germans and thus justifies the settlement of Germans in the Prague suburbs.
The historical Ottokar von Hornek (documented between 1265 and 1319/1321) is now referred to in literature as Ottokar from the Gaal (actually Otacher ouz der Geul , occasionally Ottokar von Steiermark ). The name Hornek or Horneck goes back to the historiographer Wolfgang Lazius (16th century) and is considered incorrect. Ottokar from the Gaal came from the noble family of the Lords of Strettweg. He was a Styrian poet and historian and is documented in the service of the Styrian Liechtensteiners, whose prominent representative was Ulrich von Liechtenstein . According to documents, Ottokar from the Gaal lived in Styria from 1304. He also took part in military campaigns and was a traveling diplomat of his time. He wrote the first comprehensive historical work about Austria in German, the so-called Styrian Reimchronik with almost 100,000 verses, which describes the period between 1246 and 1309, the history of the Holy Roman Empire , the national history of Austria and Styria, by referring to historical and poetic Sources.
The figure of Ottokar von Hornek was portrayed by Raoul Aslan at the performance of the Grillparzer drama on the occasion of the reopening of the Vienna Burgtheater in 1955 . It was his last role. In the heavily edited version by Martin Kušej (2005), the role was taken over by Wolfgang Gasser , who also played it several times until his death. Udo Samel also played the role a few times as a substitute . When the play was performed at the Volkstheater in 2000 , it was played by Heinz Petters .
Important productions
The play was often performed in German-speaking countries after 1825, and it was particularly often on the Burgtheater's program ; there were twelve productions up to 2005.
In 1940 it was staged at the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna by the artistic director Walter Bruno Iltz , Gustav Manker designed the set, Eduard Wandrey and Wilhelm Klitsch as well as OW Fischer (Rosenberg) and Dorothea Neff (Margarethe von Austria) played. On February 16, 1940, the security service of the Reichsführer SS reported a pro-Austrian incident that occurred while the play was being performed:
"In the song of praise for Austria that Ottokar von Horneck speaks to Rudolf von Habsburg, there was ostentatious applause at the point where the difference between Imperial German and Austrian intellectual life is drawn."
After the Vienna Burgtheater , which was destroyed in World War II , was reopened on October 14, 1955 , a festive performance of the drama followed. The main roles were played by Ewald Balser (Ottokar) and Attila Hörbiger (Rudolf). This festival performance sparked many discussions because many would have preferred to see Goethe's Egmont on stage. Ultimately, the supporters of the Grillparzerstück prevailed in the nationalistically heated discussion, because it was perceived as "Austrian" and therefore more appropriate. The newspaper "Neues Österreich" wrote about the public dispute about the performance:
“There is such a thing as an Austrian obligation. And therefore once again with all emphasis: We expect the director of the Austrian National Theater ... to take this unique opportunity and to reflect on this ideological obligation (to Grillparzer). "
The German "Spiegel" in turn reported on the heated situation:
“All supporters of the Austrian nation who no longer want to hear from the 'German' national theater are grouped around the 'New Austria'. The communist culture pope Dr. Matejka seconded. "
In 1976 there was a new production to mark the 200th anniversary of the Burgtheater: Gerhard Klingenberg staged Grillparzer's play in the set by Josef Svoboda and with music by George Gruntz , who was based on motifs by Ludwig van Beethoven . Heinz Reincke played Ottokar and Walter Reyer played Rudolf von Habsburg, Attila Hörbiger played Ottokar von Hornek.
In 1991 Wolfgang Engel staged the play for Grillparzer's 200th birthday. This time Franz Morak played Ottokar and Peter Fitz played Rudolf. This time Walter Reyer played Ottokar von Hornek.
A completely new interpretation by Martin Kušej was shown at the 2005 Salzburg Festival . The same production was performed again on October 15, 2005 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reopening in the Vienna Burgtheater. In this production, Tobias Moretti (King Ottokar), Michael Maertens (Rudolf von Habsburg), Elisabeth Orth (Margarethe), Karl Merkatz (Benesch von Diedicz), Nicholas Ofczarek (Zawisch), Bibiana Beglau (Kunigunde von Massovien) and Daniel Jesch ( Seyfried) the main roles. In Kušej's interpretation of the piece, two men of power face each other. The production was recorded in 2006 by ORF under the direction of Peter Schönhofer .
See also
Secondary literature
- Claudio Magris: Danube, biography of a river. 1991 (first edition), ISBN 3-423-11471-1 ; Chapter 2, Section 12: Grillparzer and Napoleon (The section is short, but Grillparzer is mentioned frequently in the book.)
- Albert Meier: Art is something different from nature. Franz Grillparzer's King Ottokar between poetry and history. In: Yearbook of the Grillparzer Society. 3rd episode, Volume 27 (2018), pp. 285-297.
Web links
- King Ottokar's luck and end in Project Gutenberg ( currently not usually available for users from Germany )
- The full text of the drama
- Theater review by Stefan Reisinger
Individual evidence
- ↑ Friedrich Weissensteiner : Women on the Habsburg throne - the Austrian empresses . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1998 and paperback edition Piper, Munich 2001, Kaiserin Karoline Auguste, pp. 87-88.
- ↑ If the verses are counted continuously throughout the drama, e.g. B. in the edition: Franz Grillparzer: Grillparzers Werke. Edited by Rudolf Franz. Critically reviewed and explained edition in five volumes. Volume 3. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig undated [1903], DNB 560524269 , pp. 346-347.
- ↑ If the verses are counted separately in each act, e.g. B. in the edition: Franz Grillparzer: King Ottokars Glück und Ende. Tragedy in five acts. School edition with introduction and notes, together with a card from Dr. Adolf Lichtenheld. JG Cotta, Stuttgart / Berlin 1903, pp. 137-138.
- ^ Franz Grillparzer: King Ottokar's luck and end. Tragedy in five acts. School edition with introduction and notes, together with a card from Dr. Adolf Lichtenheld. JG Cotta, Stuttgart / Berlin 1903, p. 137, verses 346–354, the same text as Project Gutenberg .
- ^ Franz Grillparzer: King Ottokar's luck and end. Tragedy in five acts. School edition with introduction and notes, together with a card from Dr. Adolf Lichtenheld. JG Cotta, Stuttgart / Berlin 1903, p. 209, note 162.
- ↑ Entry on Ottokar from der Gaal in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- ↑ http://www.alt-hietzinger.at/archiv/lösungen/raoulaslan.shtml
- ↑ cf. König Ottokar , EmmyWerner.AT, accessed on September 2, 2019
- ↑ Der Spiegel of March 7, 1966 - VIOLA NEVER LEARNS ANYONE MORE, From the SD reports on Austria from 1939 to 1940
- ↑ Der Spiegel of March 9, 1955 - Der Reichsdeutsche Goethe
- ↑ Der Spiegel of March 9, 1955 - Der Reichsdeutsche Goethe