Songs from the gutter
Lieder aus dem Rinnstein is the title of a German-language collection of songs and poems that was published in three separate volumes in 1903, 1904 and 1906 by Hans Ostwald . A selected volume was published in 1920.
Origin of the title
On December 18, 1901, at the unveiling of the statues in Siegesallee , Kaiser Wilhelm II spoke in a speech on the subject of "The true art" that it would descend into the gutter if it made the misery even more hideous than it already was :
- An art that defies the laws and barriers marked by MIR is no longer art, it is factory work, is trade, and art must never become that [...] If now art, as it is often happening now, nothing more does, than make the misery even more hideous, as it already is, then she sins against the German people. […] And if the Kulthur is to fulfill its task fully, then it must have penetrated into the lower strata of the people. It can only do that if art offers its hand to raise it instead of descending into the gutter.
Hans Ostwald took this saying as an opportunity to publish his collection of texts under the title Songs from the gutter .
content
The text collection of the songs from the gutter begins with the time of the peasant wars. This is followed by poems by Schiller , Goethe , Heine , by well-known authors such as Frank Wedekind , Karl Henckell , Peter Hille and others. But also texts by (then less well-known) young talents (Hans Ostwald) such as Else Lasker-Schüler : “… I was born in 1876 in Elberfeld. My book ' Styx ' (poems) was published in 1902 by Axel Juncker, Berlin… ” and Erich Mühsam . His first published poem Amanda can also be found in it. It reads about him: “… 1902–1903 editor of the“ Armen Teufel ”in Friedrichshagen. Lives in Wilmersdorf now… A book has not yet been published. ” Other authors who are less well-known today were Margarete Beutler , Ada Christen and Martin Drescher.
The “songs from the gutter” include far more than just dirnenlieder (named after Hans Ostwald's book Das Berliner Dirnentum , Leipzig 1905–1907). There are also love songs, songs from need and from the lower social classes and fringe groups , morities , in the broadest sense naturalism , expressionism and ostracism .
For a long time the work was almost forgotten because the cabaret artists wanted to deal with more topical problems. During the time of National Socialism , cabaret and cabaret only offered the cheapest entertainment. The critical writers , lyricists and cabaret copywriters had been chased away, and artists and cultural workers should only support the National Socialist regime uncritically.
The work is not only a contemporary document in favor of the lower social classes and fringe groups (Hans Ostwald) at the turn of the century and a publication of the poetry of then little-known contemporaries. It is probably also a protest against the disregard and even ostracism of this type of poetry from earlier times and against the derogatory designation "Rinnstein" by Kaiser Wilhelm II. At all times there was and still is today "lower social classes", social hardship and Marginalized groups. In this respect, his work can still be considered current.
Importance and publication
The collection of songs from the gutter was significant for the creation of an independent social German chanson in which the outcasts of society spoke up with their mostly anonymous songs. Here language layers were made fruitful for the lyric that were previously not represented in the folk song collections .
literature
- Hans Ostwald (Ed.): Songs from the gutter . Karl Henckell, Leipzig 1903.
- Hans Ostwald (Ed.): Songs from the gutter , second volume. Karl Henckell, Leipzig 1904.
- Hans Ostwald (Ed.): Songs from the gutter , third volume. Harmonie, publishing house for literature a. Art, Berlin 1906.
- Hans Ostwald (ed.): Songs from the gutter , new edition. Rösl, Munich 1920.
- Leo Heller : From Pennen and Kaschemmen, songs from the north of Berlin . Delta-Verlag, Berlin 1921.
- Wolfgang Rothe (Ed.): German city poetry from naturalism to the present . Reclam, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-15-009448-8 .
- Walter Schmähling (Hrsg.): The German literature in text and representation: Naturalism . Reclam, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-15-009645-6 .
- The true art: Wilhelm II. In: Ernst Johann (Ed.): Addresses, sermons and toasts by Wilhelm II. , Drv, Munich 1966, p. 101 f.
swell
- ^ Walter Schmähling (Ed.): The German literature in text and presentation: Naturalism
