Hamburg Dramaturgy

The Hamburg Dramaturgy (German: Hamburgische Dramaturgie) is a highly influential work on drama by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, written between 1767 and 1769 when he worked as a dramaturg for Abel Seyler's Hamburg National Theatre.[1] It was not originally conceived as a unified and systematical book, but rather as series of essays on the theater, which Lessing wrote as commentary on the plays of the short-lived Hamburg National Theater.[2] This collection of 101 short essays represents one of the first sustained critical engagements with the potential of theater as a vehicle for the advancement of humanistic discourse. In many ways, the Hamburg Dramaturgy defined the new field of dramaturgy, and also introduced the term.[3]

During the time Lessing wrote the Hamburg Dramaturgy, there was a new movement of German theatre, based on self-reflection.[4] Actors were beginning to perform the inner and outer lives of their characters at the same time. One of Lessing's most famous and renowned quotes from the compilation considers the responsibilities of the actor and the playwright: “The great discernment of the drama critic lies in his ability to distinguish, whenever he feels pleasure or displeasure, to what extent that feeling should be credited to the writer or to the actor”[5]

The idea of a journal with Lessing as a dramatic critic to reflect on the Hamburg National Theater's efforts was conceived by the theatre's founder Johann Friedrich Löwen, and Abel Seyler, "the power behind the throne," who at first reluctantly agreed, but was eventually won over by the journal's success.[6][7] Because the plays of the new German Bourgeoisie theatre became more detailed and complicated, the audience often felt confused or left out; Lessing’s development of the Hamburg Dramaturgy was in part a reaction to this.[8]

Topics covered by Lessing in the series of essays include Aristotle's theory of tragedy, acting theory, the role of theater in society, the means by which theater achieves its emotional effects, criticism of the actor and the play, issues of translation, and a nascent theory of the psychology of emotions.[9] Lessing's writings were influential for many German theater artists who came after, notably Bertolt Brecht.

  1. ^ Arons, Wendy; Baldyga, Natalya; Chemers, Michael M.; Figal, Sara (2014-06-30). "The "Open-Sourced" Hamburg Dramaturgy: A Twenty-first-Century Invitation to Interact with an Eighteenth-Century Work in Progress". Theatre Topics. 24 (2): 145–148. doi:10.1353/tt.2014.0026. ISSN 1086-3346. S2CID 191520596.
  2. ^ Barr), Nisbet, H. B. (Hugh (2013). Gotthold Ephraim Lessing : his life, works, and thought (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199679478. OCLC 833404656.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Hamburgische Dramaturgie (1767)" (in German). University of Duisburg. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  4. ^ Luckhurst, Mary (2006). Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ "Lessing's Preface to the "Hamburg Dramaturgy" | Hamburg Dramaturgy | MediaCommons Press". mcpress.media-commons.org. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  6. ^ George Freedley, John A. Reeves, A history of the theatre, Crown Publishers, 1968, p. 243
  7. ^ Nisbet, H. B. (Hugh Barr) (2013). Gotthold Ephraim Lessing : his life, works, and thought (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199679478. OCLC 833404656.
  8. ^ Stegemann, Bernd. On German dramaturgy. Routledge. p. 45.
  9. ^ Baldyga, Natalya (May 2017). "Corporeal Eloquence and Sensate Cognition: G. E. Lessing, Acting Theory, and Properly Feeling Bodies in Eighteenth-Century Germany". Theatre Survey. 58 (2): 162–185. doi:10.1017/s0040557417000059. ISSN 0040-5574. S2CID 164810742.