Faksimile

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alloi. Hereiten Puidliteurns Aer Tesier un Kaniitten 1. e
sich die Bedenken durch eine völlig sensationsfreie, reine künstlerische und dis¬
krete Inszenierung überwinden lassen ... Sie dürfen in jedem Fali versichert
sein, daß ich aus den schon wiederholten Gründen mein volles künstlerisches
Interesse Ihrem Werk widmen werde und unbedingt dafür Sorge trage, daß es
auf dem höchsten künstlerischen Niveau herauskomme.?
Onthe strength of these assurances Schnitzler reached an agreement
with Reinhardt according to which Reigen was to be staged in one ofthe
latter’s theatres not later than January 31, 1920. For practical reasons
Reinhardt failed to observe the stipulation regarding the time limit. Be¬
sides, the general political constellation secmed temporarily unfavorable,
a matter in which Schnitzler concurred with Reinhardt. Under date of
April 24, 1920, however, the latter assured the author that he was not
contemplating to turn Reigen over to some other theatre, as had been
rumored,? but reiterated his intention to produce these dialogs himself.
In the summer of 1920, however, Reinhardt relinquished the manage¬
ment of his theatres. His successor, Felix Holländer, took over the pend¬
ing contracts, including that for Reigen. The new director had a personal
conference with the author, seeking his consent to produce Die Schwes¬
tern in the Kammerspiele and Reigen as“ Ensemblegastspiel des Deut¬
schen Theaters“ (as had been done the previous season with Wedekind’s
Die Büchse der Pandora) in the Kleines Schauspielhaus which was under
the direction of Gertrud Eysoldt and Maximilian Sladek. The staging
of Reigen was to be entrusted to Hubert Reusch, personally known to
the author as an excellent régissenr. As the reputation of these people
offered suflicient guarantees, Schnitzler consented.? He makes it clear,
however, that from the moment he gave his consent he accepted full re¬
sponsibility for the production and continues:
Trotzdem bleibt es nach wie vor niemandem verwehrt, im Reigen mit Maxi¬
milian Harden nichts anderes zu sehen als eine Reihe“schon süßlich angeschim¬
melter, in jedem Sinn unplatonischer Gespräche über Lust und Leid der
Paarung;' jedem stcht es auch weiterhin frei, das Experiment einer Reigen¬
Aufführung, wie ich selbst es so lange Jahre hindurch tat, für problematisch, ein
gelungenes für mißglückt und sogar ein behördlich approbiertes noch immer für
strafwürdig zu erklären, ja ich bin fern davon, jeden, der so denkt, für einen
Philister und Dunkelmann und jeden, der für das Bühnenrecht des Reigen ein¬
tritt, schon darum für einen Kunstkenner und Freiheitskämpfer zu halten.“
Before proceeding with the rehearsals, Maximilian Sladek and Hubert
Reusch went to Vienna where they spent several days conferring per¬
sonally with the author regarding every detail of the production.2 The
actors and actresses were selected with great care“ and pains were taken
to avoid everything that might conceivably have given offence. With
this in view cuts or textual changes were made on no less than forty-one
pages.?“ Furthermore, instead of a naturalistic presentation of these
scenes, the whole production was greatly conventionalized, the“ Stil¬
bühne' was substituted for the “Illusionsbühne.? The interiors re¬
mained practically the same, for instance, with only minor changes and
variations. This principle applied also to the acting and all superfluous
motions and gestures were avoided with therobject of subordinating the
external action to thespoken word.28
15 Vossische Zeilung, Nevember 23, 1905.
16 Cf. Schnitzler’s letterte Giampietro, cited above.
VNeues Wiener Journal, August 25, 1917.
18 Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, November 24, 1017.
19 Cf.“ Berichtigung. Ein paar Worte zum Gutachten Maximilian Hardens über den.
Reigen.! Von Artur Schnitzler, Neues Wiener Journal, January 30, 1921.
20 The Wiener Mittags-Zeitung, November 25, 1920, reports that Director Bernau, Josef.
Jarno, and Dr. Geyer had sought the rightsto Reigen.
21 Cf.“ Berichtigung, loc. cif.
2 Cf. also Der Kampf um den Reigen, p. 253.
23 Cf. also Felix Holländer’s testimony in Der Kamp um den Reigen, pp. 190 fl.
24“ Berichtigung,' loc. cil.
25 Cf. Der Kampf um den Reigen, p. 25 f.
25 Ibid., p. 32.
27 In the fourth scene, for example, where the woman says:“ Rasch, Alfred, gib mir meine
Strümpfe,''the last word was replaced by“ Schuhe.'' In the same scene the passage where
the young man takes off his vest and therefore does not have his watch at hand, was
eliminated (ibid., p. 31). Even after the dress-rehearsal Ludwig Fulda suggested toning
down certain other passages in this scene. This advice was followed and these passages later
omitted (ibid., p. 202 f.). Cf. also the summary of changes in this scene as enumerated by
the court (ibid., p. 430).
28 For discussions of this phase of the production cf. the expert opinions of Emil Lind,
régisseur of the Lessing-Theater in Berlin (ibid., p. 249), and of Arthur Eloesser (ibid., H.
263), as wellas the opinion of the court (ibtd., p. 430).