Franz Grillparzer’s dramatic works as a result of the search for pure Viennese courtly drama Cover Image

TWÓRCZOŚĆ DRAMATYCZNA FRANZA GRILLPARZERA JAKO REZULTAT ZMAGAŃ O CZYSTOŚĆ WIEDEŃSKIEGO DRAMATU DWORSKIEGO
Franz Grillparzer’s dramatic works as a result of the search for pure Viennese courtly drama

Author(s): Maciej Ganczar
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature
Published by: Uniwersytet Jana Długosza w Częstochowie
Keywords: Baroque; Enlightenment; Viennese folk comedy; courtly drama; historical drama; pre-March events

Summary/Abstract: The present article is devoted to the long way the Viennese drama had to come until the time of creation of the works by Franz Grillparzer, the most outstanding playwright of the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. These do not only implement the critics’ long-term aspirations to purify Viennese court drama, but also a veiled commentary on major historic events of which the writer is a witness. On this way, however, the drama had to undergo numerous trials, such as the conflict between comedy writers, Philipp Hafner, Christian Gottlob Klemm, and Gottfried Prehauser, an actor, whose works were preserved in the theatre (later called Casperltheater) established by Karl von Marinelli, a burlesque writer, and Joseph von Sonnenfels, a censor and saste administration reformer who strongly advocated purity of the abovementioned drama. Sonnenfels’ goals were later pursued by Tobias von Gebler, who wrote dramas in the spirit of Enlightenment, and by Cornelius Hermann von Ayrenhoff, writing along the lines of French aesthetics recommended by Gottsched. The same route was marked with the efforts of Christian Gottlob and his brother Johann Gottlieb Stephanie, authors of comedies and dramas devoted to army matters, and with the works by Emanuel Schikaneder. But it was only Grillparzer who achieved pure form in his dramas and with his works made it possible for Austrian literature to enter the European literary canon.

  • Issue Year: XII/2016
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 19-32
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish