out ihe questionable presesfure ef uhe universttg: Schate, dple
pecially the waning of academie freedom in thatthe university authori¬
ties allowed themselves to be influenced in their jurisdiction by minis¬
terial decrees. It considered this all the more reprehensible as the minis¬
try had acted, not on ieseown initiative, but as the result of clerical
agitation, a charge that was not refuted. In Vienna meanwhile Hermann
Bahr rallied to the defencc of Reigen by announcing a public reading of
the book in the Bösendorfer Saal for November 8, 1903, which was, how¬
ever, promptly forbidden by the police. Bahr at once appealed tothe
Statthalterei. On November 4 he had a personal consultation with Prime
Minister Dr. v. Körber. Accroding to report,! Bahr’s remark that the
government might fear anti-Semitic demonstrations at the reading was
passed over in silence by the minister. Bahr also pointed out that
10,000 copies had already been sold without interference on the part of
the government. Among other things he submitted the following in sup¬
port of his plea:
Es hat unserer Publizistik an dem Mut gefehlt, öffentlich für das Werk Schnitz¬
lers einzutreten. Gewiß, viele unserer Schriftsteller und Kritiker erkennen den
literarischen Wert der Dichtung Schnitzlers voll an, aber in keinem Blatte ist ein
Artikel für das Buch erschienen. So wurde das Werk eines Dichters totge¬
schwiegen, ja schlimmer als das, dem Unverstande und der Gehässigkeit
preisgegeben. Durch die Vorlesung will ich den Folgen dieser Unterlassung ent¬
gegentreten und will in den Hörern die Erkenntnis erwecken oder die Uberzeu¬
gung bekräftigen, daß es sich hier um ein literarisches Werk handelt, daß die
Form des Ganzen und die Idee, die ihm zu Grunde liegt, es zu einem Kunstwerke
machen, daß die heiklen Situationen, die in ihm vorkommen, nicht in den Dienst
frivoler Spielerei. sondern ernster Gedanken gestellt, und nicht um ihrer selbst
willen, sondern aus künstlerischen Gründen mit künstlerischer Notwendigkeit
behandelt sind.
The appeal, however, failed to change the government’s attitude. On
Friday, November 21, 1930 a reading of Reigen was given before the
Freitag-Vereinigung, a private literary society in Breslau, by Marcell
Salzer in the Riegner Saal “mit fabelhafter technischer Virtuosität und
feinster, aber keine Pointe verfehlender Diskretion.?!!
As an instance of the unpleasant consequences that followed in the
wake of Reigen Schnitzler relates that in March, 1904, the widow of a
tailor i. Vienna called on him to inform him that her son had been ex¬
pelled from the Gymnasium because he had borrowed a copyof the beok
from a schoolmate.
On March 16, 1904, the book was confiscated in Germany at the in¬
stigation of the prosecuting attorney's office in Berlin.“ In September of
the same year Ludwig and Otto Cyriacus, the two partners of the firm
Karl Knobloch, wholesale bookdealers, were summoned before the
criminal court in Leipzig, charged with the sale of Reigen. They pleaded
not guilty and were acquitted, but the further sale of the book was for¬
bidden for all of Germany. Against this decree the owner of the Wiener
Verlag, Fritz Freund, appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Supreme Court at
Leipzig.½ This prohibition of Reigen was later extended, according to an
announcement of the prosecuting attorney's office in Leipzig, to include
the Polish translation published in Cracow under the title Taniec mi¬
tosci i Zycia.!“
As early as 1905 Arnold Korff approached Schnitzler with suggestions
for producing the work, and a Mrs. Tagger began adapting it for the
stage in a French translation. In both cases the author refused his au¬
thorization. In the course of the next few years several readings of Rei¬
gen were given under private auspices, and tnerefore without interfer¬
ence on the part of the authorities. On Nevember 22, 1905, Joseph
Giampietro, the well-known actor, gave a recitation of Reigen in the
8 Cf. Schnitzler's letter to Giampietro of September 13, 1912, embodied in an article by
Max Epstein, Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, February 21, 1921 and reprinted in Der Kampf
um den Reigen, pp. 20 f.
* The complete“ Disziplinarbeschluss'’ was published in the Münchner Neueste Nachrich¬
ten, December 5, 1903.
10 Cf. Berliner Zeitung, November 8, 1903.
U1 Breslauer Morgen-Zeitung, November 11, 1003.
12 Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, March 18, 1004.
13 Die Zeit (Wien), October 1, 1904.
14 Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten, February 5, 1905. In 1904 the book was also translated
into Hungarian by Brödy Sändor under the title Körbe-körbe and published in Budapest.
pecially the waning of academie freedom in thatthe university authori¬
ties allowed themselves to be influenced in their jurisdiction by minis¬
terial decrees. It considered this all the more reprehensible as the minis¬
try had acted, not on ieseown initiative, but as the result of clerical
agitation, a charge that was not refuted. In Vienna meanwhile Hermann
Bahr rallied to the defencc of Reigen by announcing a public reading of
the book in the Bösendorfer Saal for November 8, 1903, which was, how¬
ever, promptly forbidden by the police. Bahr at once appealed tothe
Statthalterei. On November 4 he had a personal consultation with Prime
Minister Dr. v. Körber. Accroding to report,! Bahr’s remark that the
government might fear anti-Semitic demonstrations at the reading was
passed over in silence by the minister. Bahr also pointed out that
10,000 copies had already been sold without interference on the part of
the government. Among other things he submitted the following in sup¬
port of his plea:
Es hat unserer Publizistik an dem Mut gefehlt, öffentlich für das Werk Schnitz¬
lers einzutreten. Gewiß, viele unserer Schriftsteller und Kritiker erkennen den
literarischen Wert der Dichtung Schnitzlers voll an, aber in keinem Blatte ist ein
Artikel für das Buch erschienen. So wurde das Werk eines Dichters totge¬
schwiegen, ja schlimmer als das, dem Unverstande und der Gehässigkeit
preisgegeben. Durch die Vorlesung will ich den Folgen dieser Unterlassung ent¬
gegentreten und will in den Hörern die Erkenntnis erwecken oder die Uberzeu¬
gung bekräftigen, daß es sich hier um ein literarisches Werk handelt, daß die
Form des Ganzen und die Idee, die ihm zu Grunde liegt, es zu einem Kunstwerke
machen, daß die heiklen Situationen, die in ihm vorkommen, nicht in den Dienst
frivoler Spielerei. sondern ernster Gedanken gestellt, und nicht um ihrer selbst
willen, sondern aus künstlerischen Gründen mit künstlerischer Notwendigkeit
behandelt sind.
The appeal, however, failed to change the government’s attitude. On
Friday, November 21, 1930 a reading of Reigen was given before the
Freitag-Vereinigung, a private literary society in Breslau, by Marcell
Salzer in the Riegner Saal “mit fabelhafter technischer Virtuosität und
feinster, aber keine Pointe verfehlender Diskretion.?!!
As an instance of the unpleasant consequences that followed in the
wake of Reigen Schnitzler relates that in March, 1904, the widow of a
tailor i. Vienna called on him to inform him that her son had been ex¬
pelled from the Gymnasium because he had borrowed a copyof the beok
from a schoolmate.
On March 16, 1904, the book was confiscated in Germany at the in¬
stigation of the prosecuting attorney's office in Berlin.“ In September of
the same year Ludwig and Otto Cyriacus, the two partners of the firm
Karl Knobloch, wholesale bookdealers, were summoned before the
criminal court in Leipzig, charged with the sale of Reigen. They pleaded
not guilty and were acquitted, but the further sale of the book was for¬
bidden for all of Germany. Against this decree the owner of the Wiener
Verlag, Fritz Freund, appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Supreme Court at
Leipzig.½ This prohibition of Reigen was later extended, according to an
announcement of the prosecuting attorney's office in Leipzig, to include
the Polish translation published in Cracow under the title Taniec mi¬
tosci i Zycia.!“
As early as 1905 Arnold Korff approached Schnitzler with suggestions
for producing the work, and a Mrs. Tagger began adapting it for the
stage in a French translation. In both cases the author refused his au¬
thorization. In the course of the next few years several readings of Rei¬
gen were given under private auspices, and tnerefore without interfer¬
ence on the part of the authorities. On Nevember 22, 1905, Joseph
Giampietro, the well-known actor, gave a recitation of Reigen in the
8 Cf. Schnitzler's letter to Giampietro of September 13, 1912, embodied in an article by
Max Epstein, Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, February 21, 1921 and reprinted in Der Kampf
um den Reigen, pp. 20 f.
* The complete“ Disziplinarbeschluss'’ was published in the Münchner Neueste Nachrich¬
ten, December 5, 1903.
10 Cf. Berliner Zeitung, November 8, 1903.
U1 Breslauer Morgen-Zeitung, November 11, 1003.
12 Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, March 18, 1004.
13 Die Zeit (Wien), October 1, 1904.
14 Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten, February 5, 1905. In 1904 the book was also translated
into Hungarian by Brödy Sändor under the title Körbe-körbe and published in Budapest.