Tragedy's Endurance: Performances of Greek Tragedies and Cultural Identity in Germany since 1800 (Classical Presences)

This volume sets out a novel approach to theatre historiography, presenting the history of performances of Greek tragedies in Germany since 1800 as the history of the evolving cultural identity of the educated middle class throughout that period. Philhellenism and theatromania took hold in this milieu amidst attempts to banish the heavily French-influenced German court culture of the mid-eighteenth century, and by 1800 performances of Greek tragedies had effectively become the German answer to the French Revolution. Tragedy's subsequent endurance on the German stage is mapped here through the responses of performances to particular political, social, and cultural milestones, from the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolution of 1848 to the Third Reich, the new political movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification. Images of ancient Greece which were prevalent in the productions of these different eras are examined closely: the Nazi's proclamation of a racial kinship between the Greeks and the Germans; the politicization of performances of Greek tragedies since the 1960s and 1970s, emblematized by Marcuse's notion of a cultural revolution; the protest choruses of the GDR and the subsequent new genre of choric theatre in unified Germany. By examining these images and performances in relation to their respective socio-cultural contexts, the volume sheds light on how, in a constantly changing political and cultural climate, performances of Greek tragedies helped affirm, destabilize, re-stabilize, and transform the cultural identity of the educated middle class over a volatile two hundred year period. Cover 1 Tragedy’s Endurance: Performances of Greek Tragedies and Cultural Identity in Germany since 1800 4 Copyright 5 Acknowledgements 6 Contents 10 List of Illustrations 12 Prologue 22 Introduction: Philhellenism and Theatromania 28 1: Only with Beauty Man Shall Play: Goethe ́s Production of Ion in Weimar (1802) 40 2: After the Institutionalization of Bildung: The Potsdam Antigone of 1841 66 3: Wagner ́s Gesamtkunstwerk and Nietzsche ́s Vision of Ancient Greek Theatre 90 4: A Culture in Crisis: Max Reinhardt ́s Productions of Greek Tragedies (1903-1919) 112 Sophocles ́/Hofmannsthal ́s Electra: Greek maenad or modern hysteric? 117 Greek tragedies in the circus: Max Reinhardt ́s Theatre of the Five Thousand 128 The occupation of the space by the masses 134 The creation and impact of atmosphere 136 Dynamic and energetic movements through the space 142 Theatre for the Republic: From Reinhardt to Jessner 147 5: Hailing a Racial Kinship: Performances of Greek Tragedies during the Third Reich 164 Resurrecting ancient Greece in Nazi Germany: The Oresteia as part of the Olympic Games in 1936 169 Ancient tragedies in times of war: The case of Antigone 187 6: Of Guilt and Archetypes: Post-War Productions of Greek Tragedies in the 1940s and 1950s 204 Oedipus and the question of collective guilt 208 Brecht ́s Antigone as a model for epic theatre 215 In search of the `universal human ́: Gustav Rudolf Sellner ́s productions of Greek tragedies in the 1950s 224 7: Inventing New Forms of Political Theatre 242 Linking Greek with other `naive ́ cultures: Benno Besson ́s Oedipus Tyrant 249 Lehrstücke on the imminent disintegration of the state 258 Topicalizing the tragedies of ancient Greece: Hans Neuenfels ́ Medea (1976) and Christoph Nel ́s Antigone (1978) in Frankfurt 269 Medea and women ́s emancipation 270 Antigone in an entertainment and consumer culture 277 8: On the Origins of Theatre and its Link to the Past: The Schaubühne ́s Antiquity Projects of 1974 and 1980 290 Antiquity Project I: Peter Stein ́s Exercises for Actors and Klaus Michael Grüber ́s The Bacchae 290 Antiquity Project II: Peter Stein ́s Oresteia: Reflections on the historical process 315 9: Choric Theatre: Between Tragic Experience and Participatory Democracy 334 The re-birth of tragedy out of the chorus 336 Choric protests and a peaceful revolution 348 Towards the utopia of a participatory democracy 353 Epilogue: The Return of Dionysus: From Festive Performance to Global Spectacle 368 Bibliography 386 I. Greek tragedies 386 II. Other works cited 387 III. Reviews and programme notes cited 402 IV. Online references 411 V. Films 411 Index 412 This volume sets out a novel approach to theatre historiography, presenting the history of performances of Greek tragedies in Germany since 1800 as the history of the evolving cultural identity of the educated middle class throughout that period. Philhellenism and theatromania took hold in this milieu amidst attempts to banish the heavily French-influenced German court culture of the mid-eighteenth century, and by 1800 their fusion in performances of Greek tragedies served as the German answer to the French Revolution. Tragedy's subsequent endurance on the German stage is mapped here through the responses of performances to particular political, social, and cultural milestones, from the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolution of 1848 to the Third Reich, the new political movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification. Images of ancient Greece which were prevalent in the productions of these different eras are examined closely: the Nazi's proclamation of a racial kinship between the Greeks and the Germans; the politicization of performances of Greek tragedies since the 1960s and 1970s, emblematized by Marcuse's notion of a cultural revolution; the protest choruses of the GDR and the new genre of choric theatre in the 1980s and 1990s. By examining these images and performances in relation to their respective socio-cultural contexts, the volume sheds light on how, in a constantly changing political and cultural climate, performances of Greek tragedies helped affirm, destabilize, re-stabilize, and transform the cultural identity of the educated middle class over a volatile two hundred year period. This volume explores performances of Greek tragedies in Germany since 1800 as responses to particular political, social and cultural milestones, shedding light on how, in a constantly changing political and cultural climate, they influenced the evolving cultural identity of the educated middle class over that period