Trail of the dark angel

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Trace of the Dark Angel is a drama by Hans Henny Jahnn published in 1952 , for which the composer Yngve Jan Trede wrote the incidental music.

Emergence

Jahnn wrote the piece in 1948 and 1949. It was based on an earlier fragment called "Jonathan" and the initially intended title was "David and Jonathan". However, Jahnn feared that the audience might misunderstand it as a glorification of Jewish history and changed the title to Trace of the Dark Angel . The work could not appear until the end of 1952; it was printed with Jahnn's contribution and a grant from the Mainz Academy of Science in a limited edition of 550 copies signed by Jahnn and Trede with a cover picture by Edwin Scharff .

expenditure

  • Ugrino Verlag, Hamburg and Weismann Verlag, Munich 1952
  • (Theater edition), Suhrkamp Verlag
  • In: Works and Diaries . Volume 5. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1974
  • In: Works. Volume 7. Dramas II. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 978-3-455-03837-8

Topic and premiere

The Jewish kings Saul and David are at the center of the play . If the Bible reports on David's friendship with Saul's son Jonathan , Jahnn adds the jealousy of the aging King Saul to this friendship to the plot. Jonathan's love is at the center of a plot involving betrayal and intrigue. For Jahnn, David is "the son of an angel". The piece has a strong autobiographical reference. "Jahnn transferred his feelings for Yngve to both Jonathan and King Saul." His grief over the age difference between him and Yngve can be seen in the character of Saul, who wants to adopt David.

It was not until December 6, 1969, that the premiere took place under the direction of Horst Gnekow at the Städtische Bühnen in Münster. The production received scathing reviews. The Bonner General-Anzeiger wrote of "pastoral Scream Theater, meaningless gestures, unintended humor and hollow verbiage" in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said Friedrich Sieburg it was highly questionable whether the piece "can ever convince on stage" and the Rheinische Post spoke of a bumbling, for long stretches only embarrassing-comically touching staging of the trail of the dark angel "cleaned up" for the premiere .

The play is one of the author's least frequently performed dramas. The text is not very widespread, as it was only published in Jahnn's complete editions and in 1952 in the large-format edition with the music score Tredes in 550 copies.

literature

  • Thomas Freeman: Hans Henny Jahnn. A biography . 1st ed., Hoffmann u. Campe, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-455-08608-X .
  • Yngve Jan Trede: Comments on the music . In: Program for the premiere. Munster 1969.
  • Elsbeth Wolffheim : Hans Henny Jahnn Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989, ISBN 3-499-50432-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Freeman: Hans Henny Jahnn. A biography . 1986, p. 516
  2. ↑ Thomas Freeman: Chapter trace of the dark angel . In: Hans Henny Jahnn. A Biography , page 517
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Stauch-v. Quitzow: Wrong move with Hans Henny Jahnn . In: Bonner General-Anzeiger from December 19, 1969
  4. ^ Friedrich Sieburg (under his abbreviation: S.-F.): Warenhaus plus Oberammergau. "Trace of the Dark Angel" premiered . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1969)
  5. ↑ Reinhard Kill: Danaer present for Jahnn. Artistic director Horst Gneckow staged “Trace of the Dark Angel” in Münster . In: Rheinische Post (1969)