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Agnes Bernauer: Ein deutsches Trauerspiel in fünf Aufzügen
Friedrich Agnes Bernauer. Ein deutsches Trauerspiel in fünf Aufzügen Wien (K. Ueberreuter) 1855. Uraufführung am 25.3.1852 in München. Vollständige Neuausgabe mit einer Biographie des Autors. Herausgegeben von Karl-Maria Guth. Berlin 2015. Textgrundlage ist die Friedrich Werke. Herausgegeben von Gerhard Fricke, Werner Keller und Karl Pörnbacher, Band 1-5, Mü Hanser, 1963. Die Paginierung obiger Ausgabe wird in dieser Neuausgabe als Marginalie zeilengenau mitgeführt. Umschlaggestaltung von Thomas Schultz-Overhage unter Verwendung des Vasily Perov, Ertrunkene, 1867. Gesetzt aus Minion Pro, 11 pt.
94 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1851
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About the author
Friedrich Hebbel
722 books16 followersThe Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums educated German poet and dramatist Christian Friedrich Hebbel, the son of a bricklayer. He sent verses to Amalie Schoppe (1791–1858), a popular journalist and author of nursery tales; his manifest talent for poetry despite his humble origins resulted in the publication of these verses in the Hamburg Modezeitung. Through her patronage, he ably went to the University of Hamburg.
A year later, Hebbel went to Heidelberg to study law but then went to the University of Munich, where he devoted to philosophy, history, and literature. In 1839, he left Munich and walked all the way back to Hamburg, where he resumed his friendship with Elise Lensing, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest days in Munich. In the same year, he wrote his first tragedy, Judith (1840, published 1841), which in the following year was performed in Hamburg and Berlin and made his name known throughout Germany.
He in 1840 wrote the tragedy Genoveva . Hebel at Munich began Der Diamant , a comedy, which he finished in 1841. In 1842, he visited Copenhagen, obtained a small travelling studentship from Christian VIII, king, and thus ably spent some time in Paris and two years (1844–1846) in Italy. In Paris, he wrote his fine "tragedy of common life," Maria Magdalena (1844). On return from Italy, Hebbel at Vienna met two Polish noblemen, the brothers Zerboni di Sposetti, who in their enthusiasm for his genius urged him and supplied him with the means to mingle in the best intellectual society of the Austrian capital.
Old precarious existence of Hebbel then horrified him, who in 1846 married the beautiful and wealthy actress Christine Enghaus, giving up the faithful Elise Lensing (faithful until her death), on the grounds that "a man's first duty is to the most powerful force within him, that which alone can give him happiness and be of service to the world": in his case the poetical faculty, which would have perished "in the miserable struggle for existence". This "deadly sin," which, "if peace of conscience be the test of action," was, he considered, the best act of his life, established his fortunes. Elise, however, still provided useful inspiration for his art. As late as 1851, shortly after her death, he wrote the little epic Mutter und Kind, intended to show that the relation of parent and child is the essential factor which makes the quality of happiness among all classes and under all conditions equal.
Long before this Hebbel had become famous, German sovereigns bestowed decorations upon him; in foreign capitals he was feted as the greatest of living German dramatists. From the grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar he received a flattering invitation to take up his residence at Weimar, where several of his plays were first performed. He remained, however, at Vienna until his death.
Besides the works already mentioned, Hebbel's principal tragedies are:
Herodes and Mariamne (1850)
Julia (1851)
Michel Angelo (1851)
Agnès Bernauer (1855)
Gyges and His Ring (1856)
Die Nibelungen (1862), his last work (a trilogy consisting of a prologue, Der gehörnte Siegfried, and the tragedies, Siegfrieds Tod and Kriemhilds Rache), which won for the author the Schiller prize.
Of his comedies Der Diamant (1847), Der Rubin (1850) and the tragi-comedy Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien (1845), are the more important, but they are heavy and hardly rise above mediocrity. All his dramatic productions, however, exhibit skill in characterization, great glow of passion, and a true feeling for dramatic situation; but their poetic effect is frequently marred by extravagances which border on the grotesque, and by the introduction of incidents the unpleasant character of which is not sufficiently relieved. In many of his lyric poem
A year later, Hebbel went to Heidelberg to study law but then went to the University of Munich, where he devoted to philosophy, history, and literature. In 1839, he left Munich and walked all the way back to Hamburg, where he resumed his friendship with Elise Lensing, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest days in Munich. In the same year, he wrote his first tragedy, Judith (1840, published 1841), which in the following year was performed in Hamburg and Berlin and made his name known throughout Germany.
He in 1840 wrote the tragedy Genoveva . Hebel at Munich began Der Diamant , a comedy, which he finished in 1841. In 1842, he visited Copenhagen, obtained a small travelling studentship from Christian VIII, king, and thus ably spent some time in Paris and two years (1844–1846) in Italy. In Paris, he wrote his fine "tragedy of common life," Maria Magdalena (1844). On return from Italy, Hebbel at Vienna met two Polish noblemen, the brothers Zerboni di Sposetti, who in their enthusiasm for his genius urged him and supplied him with the means to mingle in the best intellectual society of the Austrian capital.
Old precarious existence of Hebbel then horrified him, who in 1846 married the beautiful and wealthy actress Christine Enghaus, giving up the faithful Elise Lensing (faithful until her death), on the grounds that "a man's first duty is to the most powerful force within him, that which alone can give him happiness and be of service to the world": in his case the poetical faculty, which would have perished "in the miserable struggle for existence". This "deadly sin," which, "if peace of conscience be the test of action," was, he considered, the best act of his life, established his fortunes. Elise, however, still provided useful inspiration for his art. As late as 1851, shortly after her death, he wrote the little epic Mutter und Kind, intended to show that the relation of parent and child is the essential factor which makes the quality of happiness among all classes and under all conditions equal.
Long before this Hebbel had become famous, German sovereigns bestowed decorations upon him; in foreign capitals he was feted as the greatest of living German dramatists. From the grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar he received a flattering invitation to take up his residence at Weimar, where several of his plays were first performed. He remained, however, at Vienna until his death.
Besides the works already mentioned, Hebbel's principal tragedies are:
Herodes and Mariamne (1850)
Julia (1851)
Michel Angelo (1851)
Agnès Bernauer (1855)
Gyges and His Ring (1856)
Die Nibelungen (1862), his last work (a trilogy consisting of a prologue, Der gehörnte Siegfried, and the tragedies, Siegfrieds Tod and Kriemhilds Rache), which won for the author the Schiller prize.
Of his comedies Der Diamant (1847), Der Rubin (1850) and the tragi-comedy Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien (1845), are the more important, but they are heavy and hardly rise above mediocrity. All his dramatic productions, however, exhibit skill in characterization, great glow of passion, and a true feeling for dramatic situation; but their poetic effect is frequently marred by extravagances which border on the grotesque, and by the introduction of incidents the unpleasant character of which is not sufficiently relieved. In many of his lyric poem
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 31, 2022
"Die Bernauerin ist ertrunken!" So heisst es in der Bernauerin vertont von Carl Orff. Man hat natürlich nachgeholfen auf Befehl des Herzogs Ernst von Bayern.
Ein gut zu lesen Theaterstück.
Ein gut zu lesen Theaterstück.
June 25, 2018
Ein interessantes Stück Zeitgeschichte. Ich kann dennoch nicht sagen, dass es mir gut gefallen hat. Die Dialoge sind für mich oft schwer zu verstehen gewesen (klar, es war eben eine andere Zeit) und das Handeln der Charaktere erschließt sich mir aus heutiger Sicht nicht. Nun kann man argumentieren, dass ich es mit den Augen des Lesers des 19. Jh. betrachten müsste. In diesem Fall möchte ich das nicht. Die Schuld der Frau, die als Opfer für gesellschaftlichen Konflikt herhalten muss; der Mann, der natürlich als König aus der Geschichte hervorgeht; die unabdingbare Tragödie; die Argumentation Agnes mit der Ermordung eigentlich Gutes zu tun (das Christentum schlägt mal wieder zu)... Ja, in der damaligen Zeit war das auch tragisch, aber irgendwo nachvollziehbar. Aus heutiger Sicht eine völlige Katastrophe, die mich beim Lesen teils wütend macht. Da bin ich doch froh, dass die Gesellschaft sich davon ein Stück weit gelöst hat, wenn auch nicht von allen Problematiken, die hier zu finden sind.
August 10, 2015
Ich habe diese Liebesgeschichte und Vater-Sohn-Tragödie mit glühenden Wangen gelesen. Trotzdem: Die Tragödie hat sich selbst knapp verfehlt. Die eigentlich tragische Figur ist der Vater, dessen Gewissenskonflikt zu wenig Raum hat.
January 6, 2022
2,5 Sterne
Was für ein schlechter Start ins neue Jahr :/
Ich muss sagen, dass mir Hebbels frühere Dramen deutlich besser gefallen haben. Insbesondere Judith fand ich wirklich gut und originell. Bei Agnes Bernauer hatte ich hingegen das Gefühl, dass ein Klischee nach dem nächsten abgearbeitet wurde. Es handelt sich zwar definitiv bei Agnes Bernauer um ein ganz klassisches Drama, aber gerade das finde ich einfach langweilig. Hier wurde sich nichts getraut und einfach nach Schema F gearbeitet. Schade, da Friedrich Hebbel in meinen Augen wesentlich mehr kann
Was für ein schlechter Start ins neue Jahr :/
Ich muss sagen, dass mir Hebbels frühere Dramen deutlich besser gefallen haben. Insbesondere Judith fand ich wirklich gut und originell. Bei Agnes Bernauer hatte ich hingegen das Gefühl, dass ein Klischee nach dem nächsten abgearbeitet wurde. Es handelt sich zwar definitiv bei Agnes Bernauer um ein ganz klassisches Drama, aber gerade das finde ich einfach langweilig. Hier wurde sich nichts getraut und einfach nach Schema F gearbeitet. Schade, da Friedrich Hebbel in meinen Augen wesentlich mehr kann
May 6, 2022
Bayern Preußen Adlige Hochzeiten Todesurteil ..... Ouffff.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews