47. Gottfried Keller, Description of a Swiss village production of the play William Tell

Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was a Swiss author.   His short stories and novels are from the 19th century German-language literature of the "realistic school."   His semi-autobiographical book Green Henry which portrays life around Zurich, Switzerland during the early 1800's, is considered by some critics to be among the greatest Swiss literature.   The first edition of Green Henry was published about 1854-55.  It was translated into English in 1960.
 

Keller, Gottfried, Green Henry, Translator A.M. Holt:   

John Calder, London, England, 

This English translation of 'Der Gruene Heinrich' by Gottfried Keller 

first published in 1960 by 

 John Calder (Publishers) Ltd, 

17 Sackville Street,  London, w.1

Printed in Great Britain by the Ditchling Press, Hassocks, Sussex.

c 1960. 

When I came upon these chapters in Green Henry, I was enthralled.   I hope you too like this account.  In the next posts, I quote some selections from Keller's book.   Keller describes how a "neighborhood" (a collection of small villages) in a region around Zurich, Switzerland, collaborated to present a theatrical production for the celebration of Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday).   "Henry" was invited to help organize this performance for his village.   This event (or others like it) occurred around the 1840's. 

Previous to becoming Reformed territory, this former Catholic region celebrated the day with "buffoonery."   After the buffoonery was abandoned, the people wanted to commemorate the end of winter and to celebrate a form of "Carnival" in February, but with more dignity.    They opted for the theme of patriotism, and a retelling of the story of our favorite Swiss hero, William Tell from the play by Schiller.

[Note: Permission to quote from Gottfried Keller's book was granted to me on May 2, 2013 from Alma Books / Alma Classics, London House, 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LL, United Kingdom.]
      
The following is a passage from the book.  

Excerpt from Chapter 13 

"The Carnival Play"

by Gottfried Keller

Some weeks after the New Year... several places in the neighbourhood were going to join... and make the Shrove-tide celebrations more splendid by holding a grand dramatic pageant.   The Catholic Carnival fun of olden days had been preserved by us in the form of a general Spring festival, and in recent years the previous uncouth buffoonery had gradually given way to patriotic theatrical performances in the open air...  Sometimes a Swiss battle would be enacted, sometimes an episode in the life of a famous hero, and these performances were rehearsed and carried out with more or less seriousness and display according to the measure of the culture and wealth of the district...  My own village... had been invited by a neighbouring small market town to join in a great performance of "William Tell," so my relations invited me back to the village to take part in the preparations, because I was credited with some experience and skill, especially in painting... I did not have to be asked twice, but went out there for a day or two every week, and these regular expeditions in the early part of the year, when the fields and forests were often thick with snow, were the greatest delight to me.   I was able to see the country in winter now, and the country people's winter work and recreation, and how they get ready for the coming of Spring. 

As a foundation for their play, they took Schiller's "Tell" of which there were a great many copies to be had, in a school edition... It is a book that the people are very familiar with, because it admirably expresses their opinions and everything they hold for truth; and of course a mortal will seldom take it amiss if [Tell] is idealized a little, or even a great deal, poetically.

By far the greater part of the mass of actors were to represent the people, in the form of shepherds, peasants, fishermen and hunters, and had to go in a crowd from one stage to another, wherever the action was taking place, carried on by those who considered themselves qualified to play a prominent part.   There were young girls in the crowd too, mostly there in order to take part in the general singing, the individual female parts being played by boys.   The scenes of the real action were allotted variously to the different localities... so that both those who were in costume, and the crowds of spectators, had to progress solemnly from one spot to another.

[excerpts from pp. 261-262]