Doctor Faust is disillusioned with academic disciplines. He learns black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles, promising him his soul if the latter accepts to serve him for twenty-four years. Faust’s new domestic servant, Casperle, also learns to summon demons, and engages the services of the devil Auerhahn. However, he refuses to sell his soul to him. During the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Parma, Faust makes the Ancient Testament appear before them and attempts to seduce the duchess. But he is pursued by her husband, the Inquisition and the outraged people, because Casperle has used his links with the devil to carry out miracles. Faust flees to Constantinople and Auerhahn brings Casperle to Mainz. The final act relates Faust’s damnation. He does penance, but he is doomed when Mephistopheles promises him the most beautiful woman in the world – Helen of Troy. Faust is carried off by demons, while Casperle, now a night watchman, takes his revenge on his wife at the end of the play, for the domestic violence she inflicted on him.

String marionette

Not specified

Simrock Karl

Germany

Bonn

Printed

Scholar

Necromancy

Magic

University

Monkey

Pluto

Crow

Mainz

Perlicke

Drink

Pigtail

Dragon

Seduction

Inquisition

Italy

Couch

Vanity

Repentance

Nightwatchman

Lust

Future punishment

Spousal abuse

Tragic

Humorous

German

Monologue

Dilemma

Off-stage voice

Tragic irony

Misunderstanding

Comic Equivocation

Aside

Lazzi

Song

Pact with the devil

Versified passages

Dream

Appearance

Pyrotechnics

Chase

Theatre within the theatre

Domestic scene

Dance

Doctor Johannes Faust

The fisherman's daughter Lisi and the young bird-catcher Wastl live by a lake in Germany. They offer hospitality to the painter Wilhelm, who has just returned from Italy. The short play ends with a song to nature and joy.

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Manuscript

Fishing

Bird

Nature

Painting

Picturesque

Countryside

Birdcatcher

Bucolic

Forest

Wood

Happiness

Painter

Music

Journey

Hospitality

Childhood

Lyrical

Allegory

Metatheatre

Final song

Am See

By the lake

The tailor Bock lodges a complaint with the mayor Salzmaier against Kasperl, his tenant, for night-time disturbances. Salzmaier wants to put him in prison, but Kasperl, warned by his clerk friend Spritzler, pretends to be Garibaldi, entering the Tyrol leading 50,000 men. He takes up residence in Salzmaier's house, flirts with his wife Margarethe and drinks so much beer... that everyone recognises him: the play ends with a general brawl.

Young audiences

Excessive drinking

Beer

Army

Comical

Burlesque

Satirical

Ein politisches Trauerspiel, aus dem Italienischen übersetzt

Clerk

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Tailor

Innkeeper

In der Ferne das Garibaldische Armeekorps

Inn scene

Political allegory

Parody of formal language

Word for another

Dialect

Macaronism

Disguise

Brawl

Kasperl als Garibaldi

Kasperl as Garibaldi

Teste calde tells the story of patriot Angelo Pradman, a baker who defends Fort Marghera against the Austrian invasion in 1848. He is engaged to the young Teresa, housekeeper to the Austrian baroness, the wife of the Austrian general Standeiskj. Pradman is also a lover of the Baroness herself, and meets her at her home every Thursday evening. The patriot Moser entrusts him with a very delicate mission: to sneak into General Standeiskj's house and get some rifles. Pradman tells Moser that it will be very easy for him, as he has free access to the Baroness's house. Teresa has heard everything and decides to take revenge: she sends a letter to the baroness in which she tells her that her lover, the baker, is talking to everyone about their love affair. The Baroness, in response, sends the General an anonymous letter informing him that Pradman will attempt to enter his home the following Thursday. The mission turns into a massacre: four of Pradman's comrades are killed in Standeiskj’s garden. Only Pradman manages to save himself, but for this he will be killed by his comrades who take him for a traitor. A few years later, another patriot, this time a true double agent, would have a successful career in the kingdom of Italy.