Comedy of words

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The Comedy of Words includes the one-act play “Hour of Knowledge” , “Big Scene” and “The Bacchus Festival” by Arthur Schnitzler . The texts of the three pieces, written in 1913 and 1914, were published in 1915 by S. Fischer in Berlin in one volume. The cycle was premiered on October 12, 1915 in the Burgtheater and at the same time in the Hoftheater Darmstadt and the Neues Theater Frankfurt am Main.

Hour of knowledge

The only daughter Bettina leaves the house after their marriage - reason for the parents to finally throw truths at each other.

Klara Eckold had already committed her marriage ten years ago. The husband, Dr. Karl Eckold, had probably noticed, but kept silent in the child's interest. Sneering and full of hate, he blurts out his view of the lying coexistence. Clare counteracts this as much as possible, tries in vain to save the marriage and finally leaves her husband.

Quotes
  • "One can even commit crimes out of kindness."
  • "At most, good people can do small things."
  • "You lie to others, sometimes to yourself, too, but in your deepest being you always remain who you were."
  • "There's a piece of a fool in each of us."

Great scene

Sophie ran away from her husband, the celebrated court actor Konrad Herbot, because he cheated on her with Daisy. Because the wife is gone, the star can no longer play properly. At the instigation of the theater director Falk, Sophie returns to her husband. Sophie tells Falk: "It can never be happiness again."

The deceived bridegroom Daisys arrives and confronts Herbot. The actor serves the groom with a porridge of truth and lies. Sophie overhears in the next room and is disgusted. She has returned to such a man! You dread this actor. She hates him and wants to leave that evening. Herbot is supposed to play Hamlet that evening. His condition: he will only appear after Sophie has taken a seat in her box. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sits among the spectators. Income of 6,500 marks is at stake. Sophie, pressed by Falk, gives in for the second time.

The Bacchus Festival

Agnes Staufner loves the chemist Dr. Guido Wernig. The future couple is waiting to meet the writer Felix Staufner. This is the husband of the amorous Agnes. Guido and Agnes hold hands tightly and encourage each other: They want to belong to each other forever and ever, want to start the journey together - away from the unloved Felix.

In the course of the dialogue, the shrewd viewer had doubts about the success of the intended journey of the “couple”. On the one hand, Agnes talks about her husband, the successful author, who is most likely cheating on her, but whom she adores. On the other hand, the loner Guido, an indecisive character, is probably incapable of the intended parforcer ride.

That's exactly how it happens. The writer arrives after an absence of several weeks, suspects the intention of the “couple” and talks incessantly about his new play “Das Bacchusfest”, which he wrote in the summer. Guido always starts with his fundamental explanation, but he just doesn't get a chance. Agnes, only so determined to resist marital resistance, suddenly becomes a slave to Felix. Guido only appears politely. Felix is ​​so superior to both of them in the conduct of the conversation that Guido finally lets the writer send him on his own journey without contradiction and Agnes hates the husband, but wants to go on with it.

Schnitzler lets Felix explain: "The Bacchus festival was a peculiar custom among the ancient Greeks." Bacchus festivals , however, were celebrated in ancient Rome. Precursors were the Greek Dionysus festivals .

reception

  • After the Vienna premiere, Schnitzler noted in his diary: "... people didn't really know whether they liked it."
  • Brandes on December 4, 1915 to Schnitzler: "The tragic and the objectionable are mixed according to your habit."
  • Perlmann counts “Hour of Recognition” among Schnitzler's analytical one-act acts and points to the phenomenon of rather incomplete information that is characteristic of the author. As a result, the analysis gets stuck along the way. Perlmann refers “The Bacchus Festival” to the category “Art and Life” and highlights a remarkable event: In the play Anna turns to her husband again without words.
  • Sprengel summarizes the three pieces briefly: All of them reports from the "Ehehölle".
  • Under the heading “The unstoppable decline of the patriarchy”, Le Rider also discusses the play “Hour of Recognition”: Karl Eckold “botched” his marriage with baseless jealousy.
  • On May 15, 1923 - on his 61st birthday - Schnitzler attended a performance of the Great Scene in the Royal Theater in Copenhagen . After the performance, the audience paid homage to the author with long applause.

Film adaptations

Radio plays

In: Radio plays ( Memento from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Entries 82 to 84

Entries 31 to 34

  • "Big scene". First broadcast on February 20, 1946. ORF Studio Vienna.
  • "Big scene". First broadcast on January 3, 1947. With Albert Bassermann as Konrad Herbot.
  • "Big scene". First broadcast on April 25, 1947. Director: Hans Dolf . ORF-Studio Styria.
  • "Big scene". First broadcast on February 6, 1972. Directed by Fritz Zecha . ORF. With Otto David as Konrad Herbot, Herta Heger as Sophie and Hannes Schütz as Director Falk.

Entries 16 and 17

  • "The Bacchus Festival". First broadcast on June 1, 1952. Director: Herbert Spalke . ORF-Studio Styria .
  • "The Bacchus Festival". First broadcast on April 30, 1977. Director: Klaus Gmeiner. ORF-Studio Salzburg and SFB . With Helmuth Lohner as Felix Staufner, Aglaja Schmid as Agnes Staufner and Michael Heltau as Dr. Guido Wernig.

literature

source
  • Arthur Schnitzler: Comedy of Words. Three one-act plays. P. 477 to 583 in Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.): Arthur Schnitzler: Reigen. The one-act. With an afterword by Hermann Korte . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1961 (edition 2000). 602 pages, ISBN 3-10-073557-9
First edition
  • Arthur Schnitzler: Comedy of Words. Three one-act plays. S. Fischer Berlin 1915. Linen head gold cut. 193 pages
Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source, p. 600, last entry
  2. ↑ Nickl, H. Schnitzler, p. 371, entry from 1915
  3. ↑ Source, p. 491, 15. Zvu
  4. ↑ Source, p. 491, 11. Zvu
  5. ↑ Source, p. 492, 4. Zvo
  6. ↑ Source, p. 507, 15. Zvu
  7. ↑ Source, p. 580, 5. Zvo
  8. ↑ quoted in Farese, p. 173, 2nd Zvu
  9. ↑ quoted in Farese, p. 178, 13. Zvo
  10. ↑ Perlmann, p. 47 above
  11. ↑ Perlmann, p. 52, 20. Zvo
  12. ↑ Sprengel, p 500/501
  13. ↑ Sprengel, p. 501, 13. Zvu
  14. ↑ Le Rider, p. 109, 16. Zvu to p. 110 middle
  15. ↑ Farese, p. 245, middle