Theater und 19. Jahrhundert

This volume is divided into two parts, both concerned with theatrical practice and the 19th century: the first looks at theatre history, the second at contemporary productions.

The initial focus is the music used in 19th-century drama productions. Today it is generally forgotten that almost every play staged in the late 19th century was accompanied by a theatre musician or a small orchestra. This book presents the first studies of the music for such stagings by the famous Meiningen company in the late 19th century. The focus then shifts to the striking relevance for today’s theatre of theatrical texts by Franz Grillparzer and Friedrich Hebbel, and to productions by Roger Vontobel and Jorinde Dröse. The way in which Hebbel’s Judith is enacted and becomes myth reveals a comparison with Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver.