Il teatro di lingua tedesca tra Restaurazione e Naturalismo

Abstract

This article outlines the development of nineteenth-century theatre from a sociological viewpoint, in particular, focusing on the coming of age of the Wiener Volkstheater under the direction of Raimund and Nestroy, as well as with the staging of works by playwrights as different from each other as Grabbe, Grillparzer and Büchner. All three of them, from different angles, tackled the historical genre as well as the problem of theatre seen in a new light. However, it was not their plays that were successful during the period of the Restoration but rather grand scale historical dramas on familiar themes by mostly forgotten playwrights, often translations and adaptations of French and Classical works. In the decades that followed the Revolution of 1848, in which fiction was the dominant literary genre, Hebbel renovated tragedy as form, whereas Wagner went on to reform theatre at all levels.