The first endeavours to reform what had thus apparently passed beyond
all reach of recovery were neither wholly nor generally successful; but
this does not diminish the honour due to two names which should never be
mentioned without respect in connexion with the history of the drama.
Friederike Karoline Neuber's (1697-1760) biography is the story of a
long-continued effort which, notwithstanding errors and weaknesses, and
though, so far as her personal fortunes were concerned, it ended in
failure, may almost be described as heroic. As directress of a company
of actors which from 1727 had its headquarters at Leipzig (hence the new
school of acting is called the Leipzig school), she resolved to put an
end to the formlessness of the existing stage, to separate tragedy and
comedy, and to extinguish Harlequin. In this endeavour she was supported
by the Leipzig professor J. Chr. Gottsched, who induced her to establish
French tragedy and comedy as the sole models of the regular drama.
Literature and the stage thus for the first time joined hands, and no
temporary mischance or personal misunderstanding can obscure the
enduring significance of the union. Not only were the abuses of a
century swept away from a representative theatre, but a large number of
literary works, designed for the stage, were produced on it. It is true
that they were but versions or imitations from the French (or in the
case of Gottsched's _Dying Cato_ from the French and English),[282] and
that at the moment of the regeneration of the German drama new fetters
were thus imposed upon it, and upon the art of acting at the same time.
But the impulse had been given, and the beginning made. On the one hand,
men of letters began to subject their dramatic compositions to the test
of performance; the tragedies and comedies of J. E. Schlegel, the
artificial and sentimental comedies of Chr. F. Gellert and others,
together with the vigorous popular comedies of the Danish dramatist
Holberg, were brought into competition with translations from the
French. On the other hand, the Leipzig school exercised a continuous
effect upon the progress of the art of acting, and before long K. Ekhof
began a career which made his art a fit subject for the critical study
of scholars, and his profession one to be esteemed by honourable men.
Lessing.
Among the authors contributing to Mme. Neuber's Leipzig enterprise had
been a young student destined to complete, after a very different
fashion and with very different aims, the work which she and Gottsched
had begun. The critical genius of G. E. Lessing is peerless in its
comprehensiveness, as in its keenness and depth; but if there was any
branch of literature and art which by study and practice he made
pre-eminently his own, it was that of the drama. As bearing upon the
progress of the German theatre, his services to its literature, both
critical and creative, can only be described as inestimable. The
_Hamburgische Dramaturgie_, a series of criticisms of plays and (in its
earlier numbers) of actors, was undertaken in furtherance of the attempt
to establish at Hamburg the first national German theatre (1767-1769).
This fact alone would invest these papers with a high significance; for,
though the theatrical enterprise proved abortive, it established the
principle upon which the progress of the theatre in all countries
depends--that for the dramatic art the immediate theatrical public is no
sufficient court of appeal. But the direct effect of the _Dramaturgie_
was to complete the task which Lessing had in previous writings begun,
and to overthrow the dominion of the arbitrary French rules and the
French models established by Gottsched. Lessing vindicated its real laws
to the drama, made clear the difference between the Greeks and their
would-be representatives, and established the claims of Shakespeare as
the modern master of both tragedy and comedy. His own dramatic
productivity was cautious, tentative, progressive. His first step was,
by his _Miss Sara Sampson_ (1755), to oppose the realism of the English
domestic drama to the artificiality of the accepted French models, in
the forms of which Chr. F. Weisse (1726-1804) was seeking to treat the
subjects of Shakespearian plays.[283] Then, in his _Minna von Barnhelm_
(1767), which owed something to Farquhar, he essayed a national comedy
drawn from real life, and appealing to patriotic sentiments as well as
to broad human sympathies. It was written in prose (like _Miss Sara
Sampson_), but in form held a judicious mean between French and English
examples.
Efforts of the theatre and of literature.
The note sounded by the criticisms of Lessing met with a ready response,
and the productivity displayed by the nascent dramatic literature of
Germany is astonishing, both in the efforts inspired by his teachings
and in those which continued to controvert or which aspired to transcend
them. On the stage, Harlequin and his surroundings proved by no means
easy to suppress, more especially at Vienna, the favourite home of
frivolous amusement; but even here a reform was gradually effected, and,
under the intelligent rule of the emperor Joseph II., a national stage
grew into being. The mantle of Ekhof fell upon the shoulders of his
eager younger rival, F. L. Schruder, who was the first to domesticate
Shakespeare upon the German stage. In dramatic literature few of
Lessing's earlier contemporaries produced any works of permanent value,
unless the religious dramas of F. G. Klopstock--a species in which he
had been preceded by J. J. Bodmer--and the patriotic _Bardietten_ of the
same author be excepted. S. Gessner, J. W. L. Gleim, and G. K. Pfeffel
(1736-1809) composed pastoral plays. But a far more potent stimulus
prompted the efforts of the younger generation. The translation of
Shakespeare, begun in 1762 by C. M. Wieland, whose own plays possess no
special significance, and completed in 1775 by Eschenburg, which
furnished the text for many of Lessing's criticisms, helps to mark an
epoch in German literature. Under the influence of Shakespeare, or of
their conceptions of his genius, arose a youthful group of writers who,
while worshipping their idol as the representative of nature, displayed
but slight anxiety to harmonize their imitations of him with the demands
of art. The notorious _Ugolino_ of H. W. von Gerstenberg seemed a
premonitory sign that the coming flood might merely rush back to the
extravagances and horrors of the old popular stage; and it was with a
sense of this danger in prospect that Lessing in his third important
drama, the prose tragedy _Emilia Galotti_ (1772), set the example of a
work of incomparable nicety in its adaptation of means to end. But
successful as it proved, it could not stay the excesses of the _Sturm
und Drang_ period which now set in. Lessing's last drama, _Nathan der
Weise_ (1779), was not measured to the standard of the contemporary
stage; but it was to exercise its influence in the progress of time--not
only by causing a reaction in tragedy from prose to blank verse (first
essayed in J. W. von Brawe's _Brutus_, 1770), but by ennobling and
elevating by its moral and intellectual grandeur the branch of
literature to which in form it belongs.
The Sturm und Drang.
Meanwhile the young geniuses of the _Sturm und Drang_ had gone forth, as
worshippers rather than followers of Shakespeare, to conquer new worlds.
The name of this group of writers, more remarkable for their collective
significance than for their individual achievements, was derived from a
drama by one of the most prolific of their number, M. F. von
Klinger;[284] other members of the fraternity were J. A. Leisewitz[285]
(1752-1806), M. R. Lenz[286] and F. Muller[287] the "painter." The
youthful genius of the greatest of German poets was itself under the
influences of this period, when it produced the first of its
masterpieces. But Goethe's _Gutz von Berlichingen_ (1773), both by the
choice and treatment of its national theme, and by the incomparable
freshness and originality of its style, holds a position of its own in
German dramatic literature. Though its defiant irregularity of form
prevented its complete success upon the stage, yet its influence is far
from being represented by the series of mostly feeble imitations to
which it gave rise. The _Ritterdramen_ (plays of chivalry) had their day
like similar fashions in drama or romance; but the permanent effect of
_Gutz_ was, that it crushed as with an iron hand the last remnants of
theatrical conventionality (those of costume and scenery included), and
extinguished with them the lingering respect for rules and traditions of
dramatic composition which even Lessing had treated with consideration.
Its highest significance, however, lies in its having been the first
great dramatic work of a great national poet, and having definitively
associated the national drama with the poetic glories of the national
literature.
Goethe.
Schiller.
Thus, in the classical period of that literature, of which Goethe and
Schiller were the ruling stars, the drama had a full share of the
loftiest of its achievements. Of these, the dramatic works of Goethe
vary so widely in form and character, and connect themselves so
intimately with the different phases of the development of his own
self-directed poetic genius, that it was impossible for any of them to
become the starting-points of any general growths in the history of the
German drama. His way of composition was, moreover, so peculiar to
himself--conception often preceding execution by many years, part being
added to part under the influence of new sentiments and ideas and views
of art, flexibly followed by changes of form--that the history of his
dramas cannot be severed from his general poetic and personal biography.
His _Clavigo_ and _Stella_, which succeeded _Gutz_, are domestic dramas
in prose; but neither by these, nor by the series of charming pastorals
and operas which he composed for the Weimar court, could any influence
be exercised upon the progress of the national drama. In the first
conception of his _Faust_, he had indeed sought the suggestion of his
theme partly in popular legend, partly in a domestic motive familiar to
the authors of the _Sturm und Drang_ (the story of Gretchen); the later
additions to the First Part, and the Second Part generally, are the
results of metaphysical and critical studies and meditations belonging
to wholly different spheres of thought and experience. The dramatic
unity of the whole is thus, at the most, external only; and the standard
of judgment to be applied to this wondrous poem is not one of dramatic
criticism. _Egmont_, originally designed as a companion to _Gutz_, was
not completed till many years later; there are few dramas more effective
in parts, but the idea of a historic play is lost in the elaboration of
the most graceful of love episodes. In _Iphigenia_ and _Tasso_, Goethe
exhibited the perfection of form of which his classical period had
enabled him to acquire the mastery; but the sphere of the action of the
former (perfect though it is as a dramatic action), and the nature of
that of the latter, are equally remote from the demands of the popular
stage. Schiller's genius, unlike Goethe's, was naturally and
consistently suited to the claims of the theatre. His juvenile works,
_The Robbers_, _Fiesco_, _Kabale und Liebe_, vibrating under the
influence of an age of social revolution, combined in their prose form
the truthful expression of passion with a considerable admixture of
extravagance. But, with true insight into the demands of his art, and
with unequalled single-mindedness and self-devotion to it, Schiller
gradually emancipated himself from his earlier style; and with his
earliest tragedy in verse, _Don Carlos_, the first period of his
dramatic authorship ends, and the promise of the second announces
itself. The works which belong to this--from the _Wallenstein_ trilogy
to _Tell_--are the acknowledged masterpieces of the German poetic drama,
treating historic themes reconstructed by conscious dramatic
workmanship, and clothing their dialogue in a noble vestment of
rhetorical verse. The plays of Schiller are the living embodiment of the
theory of tragedy elaborated by Hegel, according to which its proper
theme is the divine, or, in other words, the moving ethical, element in
human action. In one of his later plays, _The Bride of Messina_,
Schiller attempted a new use of the chorus of Greek tragedy; but the
endeavour was a splendid error, and destined to exercise no lasting
effect. The reaction against Schiller's ascendancy began with writers
who could not reconcile themselves with the cosmopolitan and
non-national elements in his genius, and is still represented by eminent
critics; but the future must be left to settle the contention.
The popular stage.
Schiller's later dramas had gradually conquered the stage, over which
his juvenile works had in this time triumphantly passed, but on which
his _Don Carlos_ had met with a cold welcome. For a long time, however,
its favourites were authors of a very different order, who suited
themselves to the demands of a public tolerably indifferent to the
literary progress of the drama. After popular tastes had oscillated
between the imitators of _Gotz_ and those of _Emilia Galotti_, they
entered into a more settled phase, as the establishment of standing
theatres at the courts and in the large towns increased the demand for
good "acting" plays. Famous actors, such as Schruder and A. W. Iffland,
sought by translations or compositions of their own to meet the popular
likings, which largely took the direction of that irrepressible
favourite of theatrical audiences, the sentimental domestic drama.[288]
But the most successful purveyor of such wares was an author who, though
not himself an actor, understood the theatre with a professional
instinct--August von Kotzebue. His productivity ranged from the domestic
drama and comedy of all kinds to attempts to rival Schiller and
Shakespeare in verse; and though his popularity (which ultimately proved
his doom) brought upon him the bitterest attacks of the romantic school
and other literary authorities, his self-conceit is not astonishing, and
the time has come for saying that there is some exaggeration in the
contempt which has been lavished upon him by posterity.[289] Nor should
it be forgotten that German literature had so far failed to furnish the
comic stage with any successors to _Minna von Barnhelm_; for Goethe's
efforts to dramatize characteristic events or figures of the
Revolutionary age[290] must be dismissed as failures, not from a
theatrical point of view only. The joint efforts of Goethe and Schiller
for the Weimar stage, important in many respects for the history of the
German drama, at the same time reveal the want of a national dramatic
literature sufficient to supply the needs of a theatre endeavouring to
satisfy the demands of art.
The romantic school.
Meanwhile the so-called romantic school of German literature was
likewise beginning to extend its labours to original dramatic
composition. From the universality of sympathies proclaimed by this
school, to whose leaders Germany owed its classical translation of
Shakespeare,[291] and an introduction to the dramatic literatures of so
many ages and nations,[292] a variety of new dramatic impulses might be
expected; while much might be hoped for the future of the national drama
(especially in its mixed and comic species) from the alliance between
poetry and real life which they preached, and which some of them sought
personally to exemplify. But in practice universality presented itself
as peculiarity or even as eccentricity; and in the end the divorce
between poetry and real life was announced as authoritatively as their
union had been. Outside this school, the youthful talent of Th. Kurner,
whose early promise as a dramatist[293] might perhaps have ripened into
a fulness enabling him not unworthily to occupy the seat left vacant by
his father's friend Schiller, was extinguished by a patriotic death. The
efforts of M. von Collin (1779-1824) in the direction of the historical
drama remained isolated attempts. But of the leaders of the romantic
school, A. W.[294] and F. von Schlegel[295] contented themselves with
frigid classicalities; and L. Tieck, in the strange alembic of his
_Phantasus_, melted legend and fairy-tale, novel and drama,[296] poetry
and satire, into a compound, enjoyable indeed, but hardly so in its
entirety, or in many of its parts, to any but the literary mind.
Later dramatists.
F. de La Motte Fouque infused a spirit of poetry into the chivalry
drama. Klemens Brentano was a fantastic dramatist unsuited to the stage.
Here a feeble outgrowth of the romanticists, the "destiny dramatists" Z.
Werner[297]--the most original of the group--A. Mullner,[298] and Baron
C. E. v. Houwald,[299] achieved a temporary _furore_; and it was with an
attempt in the same direction[300] that the Austrian dramatist F.
Grillparzer began his long career. He is assuredly, what he pronounced
himself to be, the foremost of the later dramatic poets of Germany,
unless that tribute be thought due to the genius of H. von Kleist, who
in his short life produced, besides other works, a romantic drama[301]
and a rustic comedy[302] of genuine merit, and an historical tragedy of
singular originality and power.[303] Grillparzer's long series of plays
includes poetic dramas on classical themes[304] and historical subjects
from Austrian history,[305] or treated from an Austrian point of view.
The romantic school, which through Tieck had satirized the drama of the
_bourgeoisie_ and its offshoots, was in its turn satirized by Count A.
von Platen-Hallermund's admirable imitations of Aristophanic
comedy.[306] Among the objects of his banter were the popular playwright
E. Raupach, and K. Immermann, a true poet, who is, however, less
generally remembered as a dramatist. F. Hebbel[307] is justly ranked
high among the foremost later dramatic poets of his country, few of whom
equal him in intensity. The eminent lyrical (especially ballad) poet L.
Uhland left behind him a large number of dramatic fragments, but little
or nothing really complete. Other names of literary mark are those of C.
D. Grabbe, J. Mosen, O. Ludwig[308] (1813-1865), a dramatist of great
power, and "F. Halm" (Baron von Munch-Bellinghausen) (1806-1871), and,
among writers of a more modern school, K. Gutzkow,[309] G.
Freytag,[310] and H. Laube.[311] L. Anzengruber, a writer of real genius
though restricted range, imparted a new significance to the Austrian
popular drama,[312] formerly so commonplace in the hands of F. Raimund
and J. Nestroy.
The German stage of the latter half of the 19th century.
During the long period of transition which may be said to have ended
with the establishment of the new German empire, the German stage in
some measure anticipated the developments which more spacious times were
to witness in the German drama. The traditions of the national theatre
contemporary with the great epoch of the national literature were kept
alive by a succession of eminent actors--such as the nephews of Ludwig
Devrient, himself an artist of the greatest originality, whose most
conspicuous success, though nature had fitted him for Shakespeare, was
achieved in Schiller's earliest play.[313] Among the younger generation
of Devrients the most striking personality was that of Emil; his elder
brother Karl August, husband of Wilhelmine Schruder-Devrient, the
brilliant star of the operatic stage, and their son Friedrich, were also
popular actors; yet another brother, Eduard, is more widely remembered
as the historian of the German stage. Partly by reason of the number and
variety of its centres of intellectual and artistic life, Germany was
long enabled both to cherish the few masterpieces of its own drama, and,
with the aid of a language well adapted for translation, to give
admittance to the dramatic masterpieces of other nations also, and to
Shakespeare in particular, without going far in the search for
theatrical novelty or effect. But a change came over the spirit of
German theatrical management with the endeavours of H. Laube, from about
the middle of the century onwards, at Vienna (and Leipzig), which
avowedly placed the demands of the theatre as such above those of
literary merit or even of national sentiment. In a less combative
spirit, F. Dingelstedt, both at Munich, which under King Maximilian he
had made a kindly nurse of German culture, and, after his efforts there
had come to an untimely end,[314] at Weimar and at Vienna, raised the
theatre to a very high level of artistic achievement. The most memorable
event in the annals of his managements was the production on the Weimar
stage of the series of Shakespeare's _histories_. At a rather later
period, of which the height extended from 1874 to 1890, the company of
actors in the service, and under the personal direction, of Duke George
of Saxe-Meiningen, created a great effect by their performances both in
and outside Germany--not so much by their artistic improvements in
scenery and decoration, as by the extraordinary perfection of their
_ensemble_. But no dramaturgic achievement in the century could compare
in grandeur either of conception or of execution with Richard Wagner's
Bayreuth performances, where, for the first time in the history of the
modern stage, the artistic instinct ruled supreme in all the conditions
of the work and its presentment. Though the _Ring of the Nibelungs_ and
its successors belong to opera rather than drama proper, the importance
of their production (1876) should be overlooked by no student of the
dramatic art. Potent as has been the influence of foreign dramatic
literatures--whether French or Scandinavian--and that of a movement
which has been common to them all, and from which the German was perhaps
the least likely to exclude itself, the most notable feature in the
recent history of the German drama has been its quick response to wholly
new demands, which, though the attempt was made with some persistence,
could no longer be met without an effort to span the widths and sound
the depths of a more spacious and more self-conscious era.[315]
h. _Dutch Drama._
Among other modern European dramas the Dutch is interesting both in its
beginnings, which to all intents and purposes form part of those of the
German, and because of the special influence of the so-called chambers
of the _rederykers_ (rhetoricians), from the early years of the 15th
century onwards, which bear some resemblance to the associations of the
master-singers in contemporary higher Germany. The earliest of their
efforts, which so effectively tempered the despotism of both church and
state, seem to have been of a dramatic kind; and a manifold variety of
allegories, moralities and comic entertainments (_esbatementen_ or
comedies, _kluiten_ and _factien_ or farces) enhanced the attractions of
those popular pageants in which the Netherlands surpassed all other
countries of the North. The Low Countries responded more largely to the
impulse of the Renaissance than, with some local exceptions, any other
of the Germanic lands. They necessarily had a considerable share in the
cultivation of the modern Latin drama; and, while the author of
_Acolastus_ may be claimed as its own by the country of his adoption as
well as by that of his birth, G. M. Macropedius (Langhveldt) (c.
1475-1508), who may be regarded as the foremost Latin dramatist of his
age, was born and died at Hertogenbosch or in its immediate vicinity.
Macropedius, who belonged to the fraternity of the Common Life, was a
writer of great realistic power as well as of remarkable literary
versatility.[316] The art of acting flourished in the Low Countries even
during the troubles of the great revolt; but the birth of the regular
drama was delayed till the advent of quieter times. Dutch dramatic
literature begins, under the influence of the classical studies
cherished in the seats of learning founded before and after the close of
the war, with the classical tragedies of S. Koster (c. 1585-c. 1650).
The romantic dramas and farces of Gerbrand Bredero (1585-1618) and the
tragedies of P. Hooft (1581-1647) belong to the same period; but its
foremost dramatic poet was J. van den Vondel, who from an imitation of
classical models passed to more original forms of dramatic composition,
including a patriotic play and a dramatic treatment of part of what was
to form the theme of _Paradise Lost_.[317] But Vondel had no successor
of equal mark. The older form of Dutch tragedy--in which the chorus
still appeared--was, especially under the influence of the critic A.
Pels, exchanged for a close imitation of the French models, Corneille
and Racine; nor was the attempt to create a national comedy successful.
Thus no national Dutch drama was permanently called into life.
i. _Scandinavian Drama._
Denmark.
The modern Norwegian drama.
Still more distinctly, the dramatic literature of the Scandinavian
peoples springs from foreign growths. In Denmark, where the beginnings
of the drama in the plays of the schoolmaster Chr. Hansen recall the
mixture of religious and farcical elements in contemporary German
efforts, the drama in the latter half of the 16th century remained
essentially scholastic, and treated scriptural or classical subjects,
chiefly in the Latin tongue. J. Ranch (1539-1607) and H. S. Sthen were
authors of this type. But often in the course of the 17th century,
German and French had become the tongues of Danish literature and of the
Danish theatre; in the 18th Denmark could boast a comic dramatist of
thorough originality and of a wholly national cast. L. Holberg, one of
the most noteworthy comic poets of modern literature, not only marks an
epoch in the dramatic literature of his native land, but he contributed
to overthrow the trivialities of the German stage in its worst period,
which he satirized with merciless humour,[318] and set an example, never
surpassed, of a series of comedies[319] deriving their types from
popular life and ridiculing with healthy directness those vices and
follies which are the proper theme of the most widely effective species
of the comic drama. Among his followers, P. A. Heiberg is specially
noted. Under the influence of the Romantic school, whose influence has
nowhere proved so long-lived as in the Scandinavian north, A.
Ohlenschlager began a new era of Danish literature. His productivity,
which belongs partly to his native and partly to German literary
history, turned from foreign[320] to native themes; and other writers
followed him in his endeavours to revive the figures of Northern heroic
legend. But these themes have in their turn given way in the
Scandinavian theatre to subjects coming nearer home to the popular
consciousness, and treated with a direct appeal to the common experience
of human life, and with a searching insight into the actual motives of
human action. The most remarkable movement to be noted in the history of
the Scandinavian drama, and one of the most widely effective of those
which mark the more recent history of the Western drama in general, had
its origin in Norway. Two Norwegian dramatists, H. Ibsen and Bjurnsterne
Bjurnson, standing as it were side by side, though by no means always
judging eye to eye, have vitally influenced the whole course of modern
dramatic literature in the direction of a fearlessly candid and close
delineation of human nature. The lesser of the pair in inventive genius,
and in the power of exhibiting with scornful defiance the conflict
between soul and circumstance, but the stronger by virtue of the
conviction of hope which lies at the root of achievement, is
Bjurnson.[321] Ibsen's long career as a dramatist exhibits a succession
of many changes, but at no point any failure in the self-trust of his
genius. His early masterpieces were dramatic only in form.[322] His
world-drama of _Emperor and Galilean_ was still unsuited to a stage
rarely trodden to much purpose by idealists of Julian's type. The
beginnings of his real and revolutionary significance as a dramatist
date from the production of his first plays of contemporary life, the
admirable satirical comedy _The Pillars of Society_ (1877), the subtle
domestic drama _A Doll's House_ (1879), and the powerful but repellent
_Ghosts_ (1881),[323] which last, with the effects of its appearance,
modern dramatic literature may even to this day be said to have failed
altogether to assimilate. Ibsen's later prose comedies--(verse, he
writes, has immensely damaged the art of acting, and a tragedy in
iambics belongs to the species Dodo)--for the most part written during
an exile which accounts for the note of isolation so audible in many of
them, succeeded one another at regular biennial intervals, growing more
and more abrupt in form, cruel in method, and intense in elemental
dramatic force. The prophet at last spoke to a listening world, but
without the amplitude, the grace and the wholeheartedness which are
necessary for subduing it. But it may be long before the art which he
had chosen as the vehicle of his comments on human life and society
altogether ceases to show the impress of his genius.
j. _Drama of the Slav Peoples._
Polish.
As to the history of the Slav drama, only a few hints can be here given.
Its origins have not yet--at least in works accessible to Western
students--been authoritatively traced. The Russian drama in its earliest
or religious beginnings is stated to have been introduced from Poland
early in the 12th century; and, again, it would seem that, when the
influence of the Renaissance touched the east of Europe, the religious
drama was cultivated in Poland in the 16th, but did not find its way
into Russia till the 17th century. It is probable that the species was,
like so many other elements of culture, imported into the Carpathian
lands in the 15th or 16th century from Germany. How far indigenous
growths, such as the Russian popular puppet-show called _vertep_, which
about the middle of the 17th century began to treat secular and popular
themes, helped to foster dramatic tendencies and tastes, cannot here be
estimated. The regular drama of eastern Europe is to all intents and
purposes of Western origin. Thus, the history of the Polish drama may be
fairly dated as beginning with the reign of the last king of Poland,
Stanislaus II. Augustus, who in 1765 solemnly opened a national theatre
at Warsaw. This institution was carried on till the fatal year 1794, and
saw the production of a considerable number of Polish plays, mostly
translated or adapted, but in part original--as in the case of one or
two of those from the active pen of the secretary to the educational
commission, Zablonski. But it was not till after the last partition
that, paradoxically though not wholly out of accordance with the history
of the relations between political and literary history, the attempts of
W. Bogulawski and J. N. Kaminski to establish and carry on a Polish
national theatre were crowned with success. Its literary mainstay was a
gifted Franco-Pole, Count Alexander Fredro (1793-1876), who in the
period between the Napoleonic revival and the long exodus fathered a
long-lived species of modern Polish comedy, French in origin (for Fredro
was a true disciple of Moliere), and wholly out of contact with the
sentiment that survived in the ashes of a doomed nation.[324] His
complaint as to the exiguity of the Polish literary public--a brace of
theatres and a bookseller's handcart--may have been premature; but a
national drama was most certainly impossible in a denationalised and
dismembered land, in whose historic capital the theatre in which Polish
plays continued to be produced seemed garrisoned by Cossack officers.
Russian.
Much in the same way, though with a characteristic difference, the
Russian regular drama had its origin in the cadet corps at St
Petersburg, a pupil of which, A. Sumarokov (1718-1777), has been
regarded as the founder of the modern Russian theatre. As a tragic poet
he seems to have imitated Racine and Voltaire, though treating themes
from the national history, among others the famous dramatic subject of
the False Demetrius. He also translated _Hamlet_. As a comic dramatist
he is stated to have been less popular than as a tragedian; yet it is in
comedy that he would seem to have had the most noteworthy successors.
Among these it is impossible to pass by the empress Catherine II., whose
comedies seem to have been satirical sketches of the follies and foibles
of her subjects, and who in one comedy as well as in a tragedy had the
courage to imitate Shakespeare. Comedy aiming at social satire long
continued to temper the conditions of Russian society, and had
representatives of mark in such writers as A. N. Ostrovsky of Moscow and
Griboyedov, the author of _Gore et uma_.
In any survey of the Slav drama that of the Czech peoples, whose
national consciousness has so fully reawakened, must not be overlooked.
A Czech theatre was called into life at Prague as early as the 18th
century; and in the 19th its demands, centring in a sense of
nationality, were met by J. N. Stepinek (1783-1844), W. C. Klicpera
(1792-1859) and J. C. Tyl (1808-1856); and later writers continued to
make use of the stage for a propaganda of historical as well as
political significance.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The following works treat the general theory of the
drama and the dramatic art, together with the principles of dramaturgy
and of the art of acting. Works which have reference to the drama of a
particular period or of a particular nation only are mentioned
separately. Works which deal with special authors only have been
intentionally omitted in this bibliography, as being mentioned in the
articles in the several authors.
Aristotle's _Poetics_ (text and transl. by S. H. Butcher, London,
1895; transl. by T. Twining, London, 1812; see also Donaldson's
_Theatre of the Greeks_); H. Baumgart, _Aristoteles, Lessing, u.
Goethe. Uber das ethische u. asthetische Princip der Tragudie_
(Leipzig, 1877); H. A. Bulthaupt, _Dramaturgie des Schauspiels_ (4
vols., Oldenburg u. Leipzig, 1893-1902); L. Campbell, _Tragic Drama in
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Shakespeare_ (London, 1904); P. Corneille,
_Discours du poeme dramatique--de la tragedie--des trois unites,
OEuvres_, vol. i. (Paris, 1862); W. L. Courtney, _The Idea of Tragedy
in Ancient and Modern Drama_ (Westminster, 1900); Diderot, _De la
poesie dramatique_. _Entretiens sur le Fils Naturel, OEuvres
completes_, vii. (Paris, 1875); J. Dryden, _Essay of Dramatic Poesy_
and other critical essays (_Essays of J. Dryden_, ed. W. P. Ker, 2
vols., Oxford, 1900); G. Freytag, _Die Technik des Dramas_ (5th ed.,
Leipzig, 1886); G. W. F. Hegel, _Vorlesungen uber Asthetik_, ed. H. G.
Hotho, bd. 3, chap. iii. c. _Die dramatische Poesie_ (Werke, x. 3;
Berlin, 1838); G. Larroumet, _Etudes d'histoire et de critique
dramatiques_, 2 ser. (Paris, 1892-1899); G. E. Lessing, _Hamburgische
Dramaturgie_. _Erlautert von F. Schroter u. R. Thiele_ (Halle, 1877);
_Materialien zu Lessing's Hamburgische Dramaturgie, von W. Cosack_
(Paderborn, 1876); G. H. Lewes, _On Actors and the Art of Acting_
(London, 1875); Sir T. Martin, _Essays on the Drama_ (London, 1874);
K. Mantzius, _History of Theatrical Art in Ancient and Modern Times_,
transl. by L. von Cossel (London, 1903, &c.); G. Meredith, _Essay on
Comedy_ (Westminster, 1897); R. Prolss, _Katechismus der Dramaturgie_
(Leipzig, 1877); H. T. Rotscher, _Die Kunst der dramatischen
Darstellung_ (3 vols., Berlin, 1841-1846); _Jahrbucher fur dramatische
Kunst u. Literatur_ (Berlin and Frankfort, 1848-1849); P. de
Saint-Victor, _Les Deux Masques, tragedie--comedie_ (3rd ed., 3 vols.,
Paris, 1881, &c.); Saint-Marc Girardin, _Cours de litterature
dramatique_ (7th ed., 5 vols., Paris, 1868); A. W. von Schlegel,
_Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature_ (Eng. transl., London,
1846); Sir W. Scott, _Essays on Chivalry, Romance and the Drama_
(including his article "Drama" written for the Supplement to the 4th
edition of the _Ency. Brit._, and reprinted in the 5th, 6th, 7th and
8th editions); F. T. Vischer, _Asthetik_, vol. iv. (Stuttgart, 1857).
The fullest general history of the drama extant is J. L. Klein's
_Geschichte des Dramas_, 13 vols. and index (Leipzig, 1865-1886). See
also, for encyclopaedic information, W. Davenport Adams, _A Dictionary
of the Drama_, vol. i. (London, 1904); C. M. E. Bequet, _Encyclopedie
de l'art dramatique_ (Paris, 1886); A. Pougin, _Dictionnaire
historique et pittoresque du theatre et des arts qui s'y rattachent_
(Paris, 1885).
The drama of the Eastern nations is generally treated in:--A. P.
Brozzi, _Teatri e spettacoli dei popoli orientali Ebrei, Arabi,
Persani, Indiani, Cinesi, Giapponesi e Giavanesi_ (Milan, 1887); Comte
J. A. de Gobineau, _Les Religions et les philosophies dans l'Asie
centrale_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1866).
The following works deal with the Indian drama:--M. Schuyler,
_Bibliography of the Sanskrit Drama_ (Columbia Univ., Indo-Iranian,
ser. iii., New York, 1906); H. H. Wilson, _Select Specimens of the
Theatre of the Hindus_, transl. from the original Sanskrit (with
introduction on the dramatic system of the Hindus), 3rd ed., 2 vols.
(London, 1871); S. Levi, _Le Theatre indien_ (supplements Wilson)
(Paris, 1891).
For Chinese:--Tscheng-Ki-Tong, _Le Theatre des Chinois_ (Paris, 1886);
see also H. A. Giles, _History of Chinese Literature_ (London, 1901).
For Japanese:--C. Florenz, _Gesch. d. japan. Litteratur_, vol. i. 1
(Leipzig, 1905); see also F. Brinkley, _Japan, its History, Arts and
Literature_, vol. iii. (Boston and Tokyo, 1901).
For Persian:--A. Chodzko, _Theatre persan. Choix de teazies ou drames,
traduits pour la premiere fois du persan par A. Chodzko_ (Paris,
1878); E. Montet, _Le Theatre en Perse_ (Geneva, 1888); Sir L. Pelly,
_The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain, collected from oral tradition;
revised with explanatory notes by A. N. Wollaston_ (2 vols., London,
1879).
Of works treating of the ancient Greek and Roman drama only a small
selection can be given here. In the case of the Greek drama, the chief
histories of literature--such as G. Bernhardy's, K. O. Muller's (Eng.
tr. by Sir G. C. Lewis, with continuation by J. W. Donaldson) and G.
Murray's--and general histories--such as Grote's, Thirlwall's,
Curtius's, &c.--should also be consulted; and for the administration
and finance of the Attic theatre, Boeckh's _Public Economy of Athens_,
Eng. tr. (London, 1842). Much useful information will be found in _A
Companion to Greek Studies_, ed. by L. Whibley (Cambridge, 1905). The
standard collective edition of the ancient Greek dramatic poets is the
_Poetae scenici Graeci_, ed. C. W. Dindorf (5th ed., Leipzig, 1869),
and that of the Comic poets A. Meineke's _Historia critica comicorum
Graecorum. Cum fragmentis_ (5 vols., Berlin, 1839-1857). Aristotle's
_Poetics_, cited above, will of course be consulted for the theory of
the Greek drama in particular; and much valuable critical matter will
be found in passages of Bentley's _Phalaris_ (1699), which are
reprinted in Donaldson's _Theatre of the Greeks_. The following later
works, some of which treat of the ancient classical drama in general,
may be noted:--E. A. Chaignet, _La Tragedie grecque_ (Paris, 1877); J.
Denys, _Histoire de la comedie grecque_ (2 vols., Paris, 1886); J. W.
Donaldson, _The Theatre of the Greeks_ (7th ed., London, 1860); Du
Meril, _Histoire de la comedie. Periode primitive_ (Paris, 1864);
_Histoire de la comedie ancienne_ (Paris, 1869); A. E. Haigh, _The
Tragic Drama of the Greeks_ (Oxford, 1896); _The Attic Theatre_
(Oxford, 1898); G. Korting, _Gesch. des Theaters in seinen Beziehungen
zur Kunstentwickelung der dramatischen Dichtkunst_, Bd. i. _Gesch. des
griechischen u. romischen Theaters_ (Paderborn, 1897); R. G. Moulton,
_The Ancient Classical Drama_ (Oxford, 1898); M. Patin, _Etude sur les
tragiques grecs_ (3 vols., Paris, 1861); C. M. Rapp, _Gesch. des
griechischen Schauspiels vom Standpunkt der dramatischen Kunst_
(Tubingen, 1862); H. Weil, _Etudes sur le drame antique_ (Paris,
1897); F. G. Welcker, "Die griechischen Tragodien, mit Rucksicht auf
den epischen Cyklus" (_Rhein. Mus._ Suppl. ii.) 3 pts. (Bonn,
1839-1841).
In addition to the works of individual Roman dramatists, and critical
writings concerning them, see _Scaenicae Romanorum poesis fragmenta_,
2 vols. (I. Tragic, II. Comic) ed. by O. Ribbeck (3rd ed. Leipzig,
1897-1898). W. S. Teuffel's _History of Roman Literature_, Eng. tr. (2
vols., London, 1891-1892), and M. Schanz' _Gesch. der romischen
Litteratur bis Justinian_ (2 vols., Munich, 1890-1892), may be
consulted for a complete view of the course of the Roman drama. For
its later developments consult Dean Merivale's _History of the Romans
under the Empire_, and S. Dill's _Roman Society in the Last Days of
the Western Empire_ (London, 1898). See also L. Friedlander,
_Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms_, 6th ed., vol. ii.
(Leipzig, 1889); M. Meyer, _Etude sur le theatre latin_ (Paris, 1847);
O. Ribbeck, _Die rumische Tragudie im Zeitalter der Republik_
(Leipzig, 1875).
The following works treat of the medieval drama, religious or secular,
of its origins and of usages connected with it:--H. Anz, _Die
lateinischen Magierspiele_ (Leipzig, 1905); E. K. Chambers, _The
Medieval Stage_ (2 vols., Oxford, 1903), with full bibliography; E. de
Coussemaker, _Drames liturgiques du moyen age_ (Paris, 1861); du
Meril, _Theatri liturgici quae Latina supersunt monumenta_ (Caen and
Paris, 1849); C. A. Hase, _Miracle Plays and Sacred Dramas_ (Eng.
tr.), (London, 1880); Hilarius, _Versus et ludi_, ed.
Champollion-Figeac (Paris, 1838); R. Froning, _Das Drama des
Mittelalters_ (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1891, &c.); Edwin Norris, _Ancient
Cornish Drama_ (ed. and tr. 2 vols., 1859); W. Hone, _Ancient
Mysteries Described_ (London, 1823); A. von Keller, _Fastnachtsspiele
aus dem 15. Jahrhundert_ (Stuttgart, 1858); C. Magnin, _Les Origines
du theatre moderne_, vol. i. only (Paris, 1838); F. J. Mone,
_Schauspiele des Mittelalters_ (2 vols., Karlsruhe, 1846); A. Reiners,
_Die Tropen-, Prosen-, u. Prafations-Gesange_ (Luxemburg, 1884); J. de
Rothschild, _Le Mistere du Viel Testament_, ed. J. de Rothschild (6
vols., Paris, 1878-1891); M. Sepet, _Le Drame chretien au moyen age_
(Paris, 1878); _Origines catholiques du theatre moderne_. _Les drames
liturgiques_ (Paris, 1901); T. Wright, _Early Mysteries and other
Latin Poems of the 12th and 13th Centuries_ (London, 1838); C. A. G.
von Zezschwitz, _Das mittelalterliche Drama_ (Leipzig, 1881).
For French medieval drama in particular:--L. Cledat, _Le Theatre en
France au moyen age_ (Paris, 1896); E. Fournier, _Le Theatre francais
avant la Renaissance_ (Paris, 1872); _Miracles de Notre Dame par
personnages_, ed. G. Paris and U. Robert (8 vols., Paris, 1876-1893);
L. J. N. Monmerque and F. Michel, _Theatre francais au moyen age_
(Paris, 1839); L. Petit de Julleville, _Histoire du theatre en France
au moyen age_ (5 vols., Paris, 1880-1886); E. L. N. Viollet-le-Duc,
_Ancien Theatre francais_ (10 vols., Paris, 1854-1857).
For the medieval Italian in particular:--A. d'Ancona, _Sacre
rappresentazioni dei secoli XIV., XV. e XVI._ (Florence, 1872).
For medieval English in particular:--Ahn, _English Mysteries and
Miracle Plays_ (Treves, 1867); S. W. Clarke, _The Miracle Play in
England_ (London, 1897); F. W. Fairholt, _Lord Mayors' Pageants_, 2
vols. (Percy Soc.) (London, 1843-1844); A. W. Pollard, _English
Miracle Plays, Moralities and Interludes_ (3rd ed., Oxford 1898);
_Chester Plays_ ed. T. Wright, 2 vols. (Shakespeare Soc.) (London,
1843), re-ed. by H. Deimling (part only) (E.E.T.S.) (London, 1893);
_Coventry Plays, Ludus Coventriae_, ed. J. O. Halliwell (-Phillipps)
(Shakespeare Soc.) (London, 1841); _Coventry Plays_. _Dissertation on
the pageants or mysteries at Coventry_, by T. Sharp (Coventry, 1825);
_Digby Plays_, ed. F. J. Furnivall (E.E.T.S.) (London, 1896);
_Towneley Mysteries_, ed. G. England and A. W. Pollard (E.E.T.S.)
(London, 1897); _York Plays_, ed. L. T. Smith (Oxford, 1885).
For the German in particular:--F. J. Mone, _Altteutsche Schauspiele_
(Quedlinburg, 1841); H. Reidt, _Das geistliche Schauspiel des
Mittelalters in Deutschland_ (Frankfort, 1868); E. Wilken, _Gesch. der
geistlichen Spiele in Deutschland_ (Guttingen, 1872).
The revival of the classical drama in the Renaissance age is treated
in P. Bahlmann's _Die Erneuerer des antiken Dramas und ihre ersten
dramatischen Versuche_, 1314-1478 (Munster, 1896); A. Chassang's _Des
essais dramatiques imites de l'antiquite au XIV^e et XV^e siecle_
(Paris, 1852); and in V. de Amitis' _L'Imitazione latina nella
commedia del XVI. secolo_ (Pisa, 1871).
Both the medieval and portions of the later drama are treated in W.
Cloetta, _Beitrage zur Litteraturgeschichte des Mittelalters und der
Renaissance_ (2 vols., Halle, 1890-1892); W. Creizenach, _Geschichte
des neueren Dramas_, vols. i.-iii. (Halle, 1893-1903); R. Prulss,
_Geschichte des neueren Dramas_ (3 vols., Leipzig, 1881-1883). See
also L.-V. Gofflot, _Le Theatre au college, du moyen age a nos jours_,
Preface par Jules Claretie (Paris, 1907).
The history of the modern Italian drama, in its various stages, is
treated by A. d'Ancona, _Origini del teatro italiano_ (2nd ed., 2
vols., Turin, 1891); J. Dornis, _Le Theatre italien contemporain_
(Paris, 1904); H. Lyonnet, _Le Theatre en Italie_ (Paris, 1900); L.
Riccoboni, _Histoire du theatre italien_ (2 vols., Rome, 1728-1731);
J. C. Walker, _Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy_ (London, 1799).
See also A. Gaspary, _History of Early Italian Literature_, transl. by
H. Oelsner (London, 1901).
Some information as to the modern Greek drama is given in R. Nicolai,
_Geschichte der neugriechischen Literatur_ (Leipzig, 1876).
Modern Spanish drama:--M. A. Fee, _Etudes sur l'ancien theatre
espagnol_ (Paris 1873); A. Gassier, _Le Theatre espagnol_ (Paris,
1898); G. H. Lewes, _The Spanish Drama_ (London, 1846); H. Lyonnet,
_Le Theatre en Espagne_ (Paris, 1897); A. Schaffer, _Gesch. des
spanischen Nationaldramas_ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1890); L. de
Viel-Castel, _Essai sur le theatre espagnol_ (2 vols., Paris, 1882).
See also G. Ticknor, _History of Spanish Literature_ (3 vols., London,
1863).
Modern Portuguese:--H. Lyonnet, _Le Theatre au Portugal_ (Paris,
1898); see also K. von Reinhardstoettner's _Portugiesische
Literaturgeschichte_ (Sammlung Guschen) (Leipzig, 1904), which
contains a useful bibliography.
Regular French drama (tragedy and comedy):--F. Brunetiere, _Les
Epoques du theatre francais_, 1636-1850 (Paris, 1892); E. Chasles,
_La Comedie en France au XVI^e siecle_ (Paris, 1862); E. Faguet, _La
Tragedie francaise au XVI^e siecle_ (Paris, 1883); A. Filon, _The
Modern French Drama_ (London, 1898); V. Fournel, _Le Theatre au XVII^e
siecle_ (Paris, 1892); E. Fournier, _Le Theatre francais au XVI^e et
au XVII^e siecle_ (2 vols., Paris, s.d.); F. Hawkins, _Annals of the
French Stage_ (London, 1884); H. Lucas, _Hist. philosophique et
litteraire du theatre francais depuis son origine_ (3 vols., Paris);
Parfait, _Hist. du theatre francais_ (15 vols., Paris, 1745-1749); L.
Petit de Julleville, _Le theatre en France depuis ses origines jusqu'a
nos jours_ (Paris, 1899); E. Rigal, _Le theatre francais avant la
periode classique_ (Paris, 1901); E. Roy, _Etudes sur le theatre
francais du XV^e et du XVI^e siecle_ (Dijon, 1901).
The connexion between the Italian and French theatre in the 17th
century is traced in L. Moland, _Moliere et la comedie italienne_ (2nd
ed., Paris, 1867). See also J. C. Demogeot's, H. von Laun's and
Saintsbury's histories of French Literature.
Of the ample literature concerned with the modern English drama the
following works may be specially mentioned, as dealing with the entire
range of the English drama, or with more than one of its periods:--D.
E. Baker, _Biographia dramatica_ (continued to 1811 by J. Reed and S.
Jones) (3 vols., London, 1812); J. P. Collier, _History of English
Dramatic Poetry_, new ed. (3 vols., London, 1879); C. Dibdin, _A
complete History of the English Stage_ (5 vols., London, 1800); J. J.
Jusserand, _Le Theatre en Angleterre_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1881); G.
Langbaine, _Lives and Characters of the English Dramatic Poets_
(London, 1699); _The Poetical Register: or lives and characters of the
English dramatick poets_ (London, 1719); C. M. Rapp, _Studien uber das
englische Theater_, 2 parts (Tubingen, 1862); "G. S. B.", _Study of
the Prologue and Epilogue in English Literature_ (London, 1884); _The
Thespian Dictionary: or dramatic biography of the 18th century_
(London, 1802); A. W. Ward, _History of English Dramatic Literature to
the Death of Queen Anne_ (2nd ed., 3 vols., London, 1899); see also
the histories of English Literature or Poetry, by Warton, Taine, ten
Brinck, Courthope, Saintsbury, &c.
The following works contain the most complete lists of English
plays:--W. W. Greg, _A List of English Plays written before 1643 and
published before 1700_ (Bibliogr. Soc.) (London, 1900); J. O.
Halliwell (-Phillipps), _Dictionary of Old English Plays_ (London,
1860); W. C. Hazlitt, _A Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old
English Plays_ (London, 1892); R. W. Lowe, _Bibliographical Account of
English Dramatic Literature_ (London, 1888) is a valuable handbook for
the whole of English theatrical literature and matters connected with
it. The unique work of Genest, _Some Account of the English Stage from
1660-1830_ (10 vols., Bath, 1832), includes, with a chronological
series of plays acted on the English stage, notices of unacted plays,
and critical remarks on plays and actors. "A Compleat List" of English
dramatic poets and plays to 1747 was published with T. Whincop's
_Scanderbeg_ in that year.
The following are the principal collections of English plays--_Ancient
British Drama_, ed. Sir W. Scott (3 vols., London, 1810); _Modern
British Drama_, ed. Sir W. Scott (5 vols., London, 1811); W. Bang,
_Materialien zur Kunde des alteren englischen Dramas_ (Louvain, 1902,
&c.); A. H. Bullen, _Collection of Old English Plays_ (4 vols.,
London, 1882); R. Dodsley, _A Select Collection of Old Plays_, 4th ed.
by W. C. Hazlitt (15 vols., London, 1874-1876); _Dramatists of the
Restoration_ (14 vols., Edinburgh, 1872-1879); _Early English
Dramatists_, ed. J. S. Farmer (London, 1905, &c.); C. M. Gayley,
_Representative English Comedies_ (vol. i., New York, 1903); T.
Hawkins, _Origin of the English Drama_ (3 vols., Oxford, 1773); Mrs
Inchbald, _British Theatre_, new ed. (20 vols., London, 1824), _Modern
Theatre_ (10 vols., London, 1811), _Collection of Farces and
Afterpieces_ (7 vols., London, 1815); Malone Society publications
(London, 1907, &c.); J. M. Manly, _Specimens of the Pre-Shakespearean
Drama_ (3 vols., London, 1897); _Mermaid Series of Old Dramatists_,
ed. Havelock Ellis (London, 1887. &c.); _Old English Drama_ (2 vols.,
London, 1825); _Pearson's Reprints of Elizabethan and Jacobean Plays_
(London, 1871, &c.).
The following deal with the Elizabethan and Jacobean drama in
especial:--W. Creizenach, _Die Schauspiele der englischen Komudianten_
(Berlin, 1895); J. W. Cunliffe, _The Influence of Seneca on
Elizabethan Tragedy_ (London, 1893); F. G. Fleay, _A Chronicle History
of the London Stage, 1559-1642_ (London, 1890), _A Biographical
Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559-1642_ (London, 1891); W. C.
Hazlitt, _The English Drama and Stage under the Tudor and Stuart
Princes, 1543-1664_ (London, 1869); W. Hazlitt, _Dramatic Literature
of the Age of Elizabeth_ (Works, ed. A. R. Waller, vol. v.) (London,
1902); A. F. von Schack, _Die englischen Dramatiker vor, neben, und
nach Shakespeare_ (Stuttgart, 1893); J. A. Symonds, _Shakspere's
Predecessors in the English Drama_ (London, 1884).
As to the Latin academical drama of the Elizabethan age see G. B.
Churchill and W. Keller, "Die latein. Universitats-Dramen Englands in
der Zeit d. Kunigin Elizabeth" in _Jahrbuch der deutschen
Shakespeare-Gesellschaft_. For a short bibliography of the Oxford
academical drama, 1547-1663, see the introduction to Miss M. L. Lee's
edition of _Narcissus_ (London, 1893). A list of Oxford plays will
also be found in _Notes and Queries_, ser. vii., vol. ii. For a list
of Cambridge plays from 1534 to 1671, the writer of this article is
indebted to Prof. G. C. Moore-Smith of the university of Sheffield.
For an account of the Mask see R. Brotanek, _Die englischen
Maskenspiele_ (Vienna and Leipzig, 1902); H. A. Evans, _English
Masques_ (London, 1897); W. W. Greg, _A List of Masques, Pageants,
&c._ (Bibliogr. Soc.) (London, 1902).
As to early London theatres see T. F. Ordish, _Early London Theatres_
(London, 1894).
Some information as to puppet-plays, &c., will be found in Henry
Morley's _Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair_ (London, 1859).
Among earlier critical essays on the Elizabethan and Stuart drama
should be mentioned those of Sir Philip Sidney, G. Puttenham and W.
Webbe, T. Rymer and Dryden. For recent essays and notes on the
Elizabethan drama in general, see, besides the essays of Coleridge,
Lamb (including the introductory remarks in the _Specimens_), Hazlitt,
&c., and the remarkable series of articles in the _Retrospective
Review_ (1820-1828), the Publications and Transactions of the Old and
New Shakespeare Societies (1841, &c.; 1874, &c.), which also contain
reprints of early works of great importance for the history of the
Elizabethan drama and stage, such as Henslowe's _Diary_, &c., the
_Jahrbuch der deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft_ (1865, &c.), as well
as the German journals _Anglia_, _Englische Studien_, &c., and the
_Modern Language Review_ (Cambridge).
The later English drama from the reopening of the theatres (1660) is
treated in L. N. Chase, _The English Heroic Play_ (New York, 1903); C.
Cibber, _Apology for the Life of C. Cibber_, written by himself, new
ed. by R. W. Lowe (2 vols., London, 1889), who has also edited
Churchill's _Rosciad_ and _Apology_ (London, 1891); J. Doran, _Their
Majesties' Servants: annals of the English Stage_ (3 vols., London,
1888); A. Filon, _Le Theatre anglais: hier, aujourd'hui, demain_
(Paris, 1896); W. Hazlitt, _A View of the English Stage_ (_Works_, ed.
A. R. Waller, vol. viii.) (London, 1903); W. Nicholson, _The Struggle
for a Free Stage in London_ (Westminster, 1907).
The following treat of the modern German drama in particular
periods:--R. Prulss, _Gesch. der deutschen Schauspielkunst von den
Anfangen bis 1850_ (Leipzig, 1900); R. E. Prutz, _Vorlesungen uber die
Geschichte des deutschen Theaters_ (Berlin, 1847); R. Froning, _Das
Drama der Reformationszeit_ (Stuttgart, 1900); C. Heine, _Das
Schauspiel der deutschen Wanderbuhne vor Gottsched_ (Halle, 1889); J.
Minor, _Die Schicksalstragodie in ihren Hauptvertretern_ (Frankfort,
1883); M. Martersteig, _Das deutsche Theater im XIX^ten Jahrh._
(Leipzig, 1904). See also G. G. Gervinus, _Geschichte der deutschen
Dichtung_ (5th ed., 5 vols., Leipzig, 1871-1874); and the literary
histories of K. Goedeke (_Grundriss_), A. Koberstein, &c. A special
aspect of the drama in modern Germany is dealt with in P. Bahlmann,
_Die lateinischen Dramen von Wimpheling's Stylpho bis zur Mitte des
XVI^ten Jahrhunderts, 1480-1550_ (Munster, 1893), and the same
author's _Jesuiten-Dramen der niederrheinischen Ordensprovinz_
(Leipzig, 1896).
The standard history of the modern German stage is Eduard Devrient,
_Gesch. der deutschen Schauspielkunst_ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1848-1861);
see also R. Prulss, _Gesch. der deutschen Schauspielkunst von den
Anfangen bis 1850_ (Leipzig, 1900); O. G. Fluggen, _Biographisches
Buhnen-Lexikon der deutschen Theater_ (Munich, 1892).
A good account of the history of the Dutch drama is F. von Hellwald's
_Geschichte des hollandischen Theaters_ (Rotterdam, 1874). See also
the authorities under J. van den Vondel.
Information concerning the Danish drama will be found in the
autobiographies of Holberg, Ohlenschlager and Andersen; see also vol.
i. of G. Brandes's _Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature_
(Eng. tr., London, 1901). As to the modern Norwegian drama see the
same writer's _Ibsen-Bjornson Studies_ (Eng. tr., London, 1899); also
E. Tissot, _Le Drame norvegien_ (Paris, 1893).
The Russian drama is treated in P. O. Morozov's _Istoria Russkago
Teatra_ (_History of the Russian Theatre_), vol. i. (St Petersburg,
1889); see also P. de Corvin, _Le Theatre en Russie_ (Paris, 1890). A.
Bruckner, _Geschichte der russischen Literatur_ (Leipzig, 1905), may
be consulted with advantage. Information as to the dramatic portions
of other Slav literatures will be found in A. Pipin and V. Spasovich's
_Istoria Slavianskikh Literatur_ (_History of Slavonic Literatures_),
German translation by T. Pech (2 vols., Leipzig, 1880-1884).
(A. W. W.)