Trauerspiele mit Gesang und Tanz: Zur Ästhetik und Dramaturgie jüdischer Theatertexte

From 1890 until 1938 in Vienna, Jewish theatre was a lively and fascinating part of the theatrical scene. Yiddish operettas and melodramas, serious plays and so-called Jargonschwänke were staged. The widespread texts of these Jewish theatre-evenings, in Yiddish and German, are discussed and analysed in this work. After an introduction, the aesthetical and dramaturgical basics of Jewish drama are presented. As the study shows, Jewish drama has got a very strong connection to non-Jewish theatre. Especially the dramaturgic forms can be found in non-Jewish drama before it emerges in Jewish texts, like the so-called lebnsbild. In the 19th century, it was popular on the Viennese stages, around 1900 it was a main genre of New York City’s Yiddish theatres. Jargon and shund are terms often used to describe Yiddish plays and theatre – these terms are discussed in the present work as well as the cliché of Jewish self-mockery and self-hatred. The most prominent themes Jewish plays are dealing with are: love, marriage and family; anti-Semitism; stories and heroes from ancient Jewish history; myths and legends. The broad spectrum of plays about family and social life shows its importance in Jewish history and presence. The different political and historical situations of Jews in Western and Eastern Europe become evident in text concerning anti-Semitism. In Yiddish operettas and melodramas heroes from ancient Jewish history and the bible are shown, and in the 1920s plays about Dibbuks and Golems were most popular. A bibliography of Jewish dramas, complete with existing translations, builds the last part of this work.