Prince Friedrich von Homburg or the Battle of Fehrbellin

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Peter Simonischek as Elector and August Diehl as Homburg, Salzburg Festival 2012, coproduction with the Vienna Burgtheater
Data
Title: Prince Friedrich of Homburg
Original language: German
Author: Heinrich von Kleist
Publishing year: 1821
Premiere: 1821
Place of premiere: Vienna
people
  • Friedrich Wilhelm ; Elector of Brandenburg
  • The Electress
  • Princess Natalie of Orange ; his niece, chief of a dragoon regiment
  • Field Marshal Dörfling
  • Prince Friedrich Arthur von Homburg ; General of the cavalry
  • Colonel Kottwitz ; from the regiment of the Princess of Orange
  • Hennings ; Colonel of the infantry
  • Count Truchß ; Colonel of the infantry
  • Count Hohenzollern ; from the Elector's suite
  • Rittmeister von der Golz
  • Count Georg von Sparren ; Rittmeister
  • Stranz ; Rittmeister
  • Siegfried von Mörner ; Rittmeister
  • Count Reuss ; Rittmeister
  • A constable
  • Officers, corporals and horsemen. Court cavaliers. Court ladies. Pages. Heiducken. Servants. People of all ages and genders.

Prince Friedrich von Homburg is a drama written by Heinrich von Kleist in 1809/1810 , which could only be premiered in Vienna after the author's death in 1821. A performance during her lifetime failed because Princess Marianne von Prussia , born in Hessen-Homburg (who presented the work with a dedication to Kleist), saw the family honor as offended.

action

The Prince of Homburg, a young Prussian cavalry general in the army of the Great Elector , is exhausted after a long campaign. He sleepwalked and tied a laurel wreath. Several nobles notice this, whereupon the Great Elector plays a game with the Prince that ends with the Prince declaring his love for the Elector's niece, Princess Natalie, and taking one of her gloves.

Awakened from his dream, the prince wonders about the glove in his hand. When the tasks and instructions are given during the discussion of the next battle in the war council, the appearance of the princess, who turns out to be the owner of the mysterious glove, confuses and distracts him to such an extent that he overhears the role assigned to him in the battle: the Namely, orders not to attack the enemy in the coming battle without express orders. Contrary to this instruction and the advice of his officers, the prince gives the order for his regiment to attack the enemy. A clear victory in the battle of Fehrbellin is achieved.

For the elector, however, discipline is paramount, and without the intervention of the prince the whole war could have been won, which was the original plan. So regardless of the victory, he has the prince arrested for insubordination , tried and sentenced to death. At first, the seriousness of the situation is not clear to him. It was only the news that the elector had actually signed his death sentence and the sight of the grave intended for him that made him think. In the famous and controversial "fear of death" scene, the prince pleads for bare life, ready to give up everything that is dear to him. When the elector learns of the prince's reaction, he again reacts “confused”. It is said that he has the greatest respect for his feelings. Instead of simply pardoning him, however, he sets a condition. If the prince could consider the sentence to be unjust, he would be pardoned. This question brings the prince to purification. He overcomes his fear of death and is ready to “glorify” the law “through a free death”. However, it is controversial whether he considers the sentence to be appropriate. It also remains unclear whether the elector staged the entire tribunal only as an educational measure. After Natalie Homburg frantically hands over the electoral letter and tries to persuade the prince to accept the pardon in writing, the prince reacts critically to its content and disobeyingly wants to reread it.

The elector succeeds, so to speak, in disciplining Homburg in formal terms, since he now knew how to respond to the electoral letter.

The prince finally understands how to obey the order of the elector because he now knows what he "should" and understands the principle of hierarchy.

Because Prince Friedrich von Homburg now understands that what is allowed to the elector is not allowed to him for a long time. As a result, the prince admits his guilt and recognizes the electoral verdict as just.

In the meantime, Natalie has ordered the regiment led by Colonel Kottwitz back, without a legitimate order, in order to obtain support for Homburg's pardon. In view of the general pressure that is being exerted on him, the elector is ready to hear his officers. While Kottwitz is of the opinion that the victory that counts on the battlefield is ultimately what counts, so the prince cannot be blamed for anything, Count Hohenzollern sees the guilt even with the elector, who confused the prince with his previous joke and is therefore responsible for the prince's insubordination . When the elector finally asks his officers whether they want to continue to entrust themselves to the prince's leadership, this is generally answered in the affirmative.

The prince, however, does not learn of his pardon, but is led outside with his eyes blindfolded. Believing his execution is imminent, he waits for the fatal bullet. Instead, however, a laurel wreath is placed on him by the Elector's niece. The prince faints, but is awakened by the thunder of cannons. When asked whether everything was just a dream, Kottwitz replied: "A dream, what else?"

Historical background

In his “Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la maison de Brandebourg”, Frederick the Great describes in 1751 how the Prince of Hesse-Homburg attacked arbitrarily and prematurely in the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675 - and thereby won the battle. However, this legend contradicts the historical reports. Kleist nevertheless used it as a source and developed the material freely. He converted the prince's action “without express orders” into action “against” the order.

At the time the drama was written, however, there were other prominent cases of insubordination in Prussian war history that could have served Kleist as inspiration for his last drama:

The weakness and passivity of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. towards Napoleon, who continued to expand his power, troubled many at the time. In view of the threat to their own existence from the French, a wave of patriotism set in, which Kleist was unable to avoid. The young Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia attacked the enemy on his own initiative in the Battle of Saalfeld in 1806 . His attack was unsuccessful and resulted in defeat; Louis Ferdinand fell in this battle. However, many praised his courage and personal commitment to the fatherland. In 1809, under the direction of Major Ferdinand von Schill, there were arbitrary military actions against the French oppressors by the Prussian Freikorps. He found many followers and supporters among those who were disappointed in the low resistance of the king.

That a fight is instigated contrary to orders but won can already be found in Livius VIII, 6-8: Consul Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus condemns his son to death because he had harmed the res publica and has him executed.

reception

This last drama by Kleist, like his other works, met with resistance not only from contemporaries. For a long time, the fear of death scene was considered unrepresentable and was initially always cut out by the director. The prince's sleepwalking and the elector's plaisantry were also criticized, because these were stylistic devices of comedy that violated the rules of conduct of tragic aristocratic figures. By the First World War, however, it was then possible to turn aristocrats into comedy characters (for example the ox in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Der Rosenkavalier ).

Heinrich Heine praised the piece as “written by the genius of poetry itself, as it were”, for de la Motte Fouqué it was “the most divine poem that Kleist had ever written”. Friedrich Hebbel remarked that the depiction of the fear of death in the drama achieves a purification of the protagonist which in other works only occurs through death itself. Otto von Bismarck still considered the prince “a weak pipe - with his fear of death”.

In Kleist's time, the work was no longer performed and only an abridged version was premiered in Vienna in 1821 under the title “The Battle of Fehrbellin”. At the protest of Archduke Karl, however, it was canceled after four performances. It was shown for the first time in Berlin in 1828, again shortened. After the third performance, however, the king issued another ban. After the play was misused in the Third Reich, it was reluctant to return to the German stage.

Text analysis

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Form and structure

Prince Friedrich von Homburg takes the form of a closed drama . The three Aristotelian units , i.e. the units of place (palaces and gardens of Fehrbellin and Berlin, prison of Fehrbellin), time (two days) and action (order not obeyed, punishment, pardon, no subplot) are given. The division of the files follows the regular drama :

  • Exposure : Presentation of the people; Presentation of the conflict (the prince's self-consciousness in his dream world, which he loves.)
  • Increasing action: escalation of the conflict (false report of death; violation of order)
  • Climax, peripetia : the prince's fear of death, admission of guilt
  • Retarding moment in the falling plot: Delay of the conflict (conditional pardon of the prince by the elector)
  • Turning point: Letter from the Elector
  • Solution / conclusion: pardon / celebration of the prince.

The structure of the piece is symmetrical, there are numerous parallels between the opening and closing scenes, which both take place in the garden, and the mood is identical. In the end, however, the dreamlike beginning is replaced by reality.

Language and style

The language of the drama is pathetic and rich in images. Dynamics are built up through insertions and interruptions, tension is created through the stylistic devices of Stichomythie and Antilabe , as well as through the dramatic means of pondoscopy (wall exhibition). The tonal offset of the five- lever trochaes and dactyls makes the mood of the figures clear at important points: “Am I dreaming? Am I awake? Am i alive Am I in my senses? ”In other passages Kleist deviates from the blank verse without stylistic intent , and gives the lines six or seven accentuations so as not to break up the content of the conversation. The length of the hypotax also often reaches six or more verses. Line skips and exclamations that do not fit into the meter (“Goal you are, stupid!”) Illustrate the confused state of the characters.

Symbols and motifs

Some of the central motifs of the drama are: the castle, which stands for glamor, power and fame and exudes an aura of the fairytale and the unearthly; the garden, which symbolizes the rational art of design, and the laurel wreath , which stands for fame and power. The presentation of the laurel wreath at the end symbolizes that the Prince of Homburg has changed and has now earned the fame that goes with the surroundings of the garden.

In general, Kleist often uses metaphors from nature, which he exaggerates and thus raises above reality (e.g. "shine of the thousandfold sun"). His comparisons come from the world of ancient, oriental and Christian culture and history (e.g. "forehead of Zeus "). Mixing the two areas often demonstrates the turmoil in his characters' feelings.

Leitmotifs of the drama are the terms dream, feeling, sensation, heart, sun and gold, which have an emotional effect and stand for the dreamed-of splendor and fame. In contrast, the dust symbolizes nothingness, destruction and annihilation.

Musical arrangements

literature

  • Heinrich von Kleist: [Prince Friedrich von Homburg or] The Battle of Fehrbellin. Reimer, Berlin 1821. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive ).
  • Wilhelm Amann: Heinrich von Kleist, Prince Friedrich von Homburg. Text, commentary and materials. Oldenbourg text edition, Oldenbourg Schulbuchverlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-637-01536-4 .
  • Renate Just : Right and grace in Heinrich von Kleist's play "Prince Friedrich von Homburg". Wallstein, Göttingen 1993.
  • Stefanie Tieste : Heinrich von Kleist. His works. Kleist Archive Sembdner, Heilbronn 2009. (Heilbronner Kleist materials for school and teaching, Volume 2. Ed. Günther Emig ), ISBN 978-3-940494-15-3
  • Günther Emig and Volker Kern (eds.): Kleist's "Prince Friedrich von Homburg" at the Meininger Hoftheater. Kleist Archive Sembdner, Heilbronn 2011. ( Kleist at the theater. Volume 3). ISBN 978-3-940494-46-7 .
  • Sybil Wagener : Kleist for those in a hurry . Construction Verlag, Berlin 2003. ISBN 3-7466-1997-1 .
  • Franz-Josef Deiters : "I closed the bill with the world!" The execution of the heroic in "Prince Friedrich von Homburg". In: Ders .: The de-worldization of the stage. On the mediology of the theater of the classical episteme . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-503-16517-9 , pp. 218-239.
  • Wolf Kittler : The birth of the partisan from the spirit of poetry. Heinrich von Kleist and the Army of the Wars of Liberation . Rombach Verlag, Freiburg i. Br. 1987.
  • Klaus Peter : For a different Prussia. Romanticism and politics in Kleist's “Prince Friedrich von Homburg”. In: Ders .: Icarus in Prussia. Heinrich von Kleist's dream of a better world . Verlag Carl Winter, Heidelberg 2007, pp. 1-29.
  • Wolf Dieter Hellberg (ed.): Heinrich von Kleist: Prince Friedrich von Homburg. Reclam XL. Text and context. Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart 2015.
  • Georg Geismann: A Midsummer Night's Dream of Eternal Peace. Interpretation and paraphrases of Heinrich von Kleist's “Prince Friedrich von Homburg”. In: Der Staat , 17 (1978) 205–232 ( PDF file )

Reading key

  • Manfred Eisenbeis: Heinrich von Kleist: Prince Friedrich von Homburg. Reading key . Reclam, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-15-015428-1 .
  • Karl-Heinz Hahnengreß: Heinrich von Kleist, Prince Friedrich von Homburg. Klett learning training for reading aids, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-12-923056-5 .
  • Dirk Jürgens: Text analysis and interpretation of Heinrich von Kleist: Prince Friedrich von Homburg , King's explanations and materials (Bd. 451),: C. Bange Verlag, Hollfeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-8044-1957-5 .
  • Roland Kroemer, Christa Melli: Heinrich von Kleist: Prince Friedrich von Homburg in the series EinFach Deutsch . Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-14-022456-7 .
  • Wolf Dieter Hellberg: Prince Friedrich von Homburg. Reading key XL. Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart 2017. ISBN 978-31501-5-4 625.

Radio plays

  • SÜFRAG 1925: Prince Friedrich von Homburg, director: Gerd Fricke
  • SWR / MDR 2006: Prince Friedrich von Homburg, adaptation and direction: Leonhard Koppelmann

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liv. VIII, 6-8; Latin: Wikisource , German: www.literaturknoten.de .
  2. ^ V. 66; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  3. ↑ V. 401; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  4. ↑ V. 765; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  5. ↑ V. 1713; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  6. ↑ V. 1832; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  7. ^ V. 158; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  8. ↑ V. 902; Simply German Prince Friedrich von Homburg
  9. ↑ "One pour, one stream of speech and sound": Heinrich Marschner's music to Kleist's "Prince Friedrich von Homburg"