Hanswurst is thrown out like trash from the stage of the Berlin theatre following the success of Voltaire’s tragedy Alzire. He is exiled to Salzbourg, where he lodges at Stoffel Knips’ house and seduces his host’s wife. Stoffel Knips catches them in the act and throws them out. Hanswurst’s distress is such that he tries to kill himself. But thunder strikes the branch on which he was hanging. Two Turks pass by the unconscious couple and take them aboard their felucca going to Turkey. During the trip, Madame Knips gives birth to two children – a boy and a girl – who grow extremely fast. In Turkey, Hanswurst is castrated to be made a eunuch in the Sultan’s seraglio. Madame Knips fell in the sea with her son during the trip, but she manages to swim to shore. She competes with her daughter for the Sultan’s favours; Hanswurst takes offence and makes a scene. He is banished by the Sultan as a result, and returns to Berlin, where he meets a prostitute. He recognizes one of the brothel’s clients as his own son, who also escaped drowning and became a pedant professor of philosophy. During a lecture he gives on the German almanac Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, published by Friedrich Christoph Nicolai, all the characters on stage die from atrocious diarrhoea.

Not specified

Schink Johann Friedrich

Germany

Berlin

Printed

Turkey

Sultan

Seraglio

Unfaithfulness

Prostitution

Suicide

Education

Literary criticism

Sturm und Drang

Genie

Adventure

Navigation

Human castration

Mutilation

Childbirth

Storm

Tempest

Scatology

Colic

Fart

Fornication

Triviality

Obscenity

Satirical

Anonymous illustration on the title page of Johann Friedrich Schink's collection Marionettentheater

German

Hanswurst

Madame Knips

Turk

Sailor

Daughter

Physician

Slave

Lady

Old woman

Prompter (theatre)

Scene of recognition

Bawdy equivocation

Splitting of the body

Prologue

Address to the public

Love story

Hanging scene

Play in verse

Epilogue

Unexpected turn of events

Brothel scene

Foul language register

Allusion to current literary events

Hanswurst von Salzburg mit dem hölzernen Gat

Hanswurst of Salzbourg with the wooden arse

The knight Huldbrand gets lost on a stormy night by a lake and finds refuge with fishermen. He falls in love with the foundling Undine. The girl is in fact a mermaid, cursed by her people to dissolve into a wave if she is rejected by men, and to join them underwater if her true identity becomes known. Huldbrand marries Undine, but offends Berthalda, the adopted daughter of Prince Heinrich. When Heinrich visits Huldbrand, the fishermen recognise Berthalda for the child they had lost, but Berthalda rejects them with contempt. Heinrich banishes her from his presence. In despair, advised by the water genie Kühleborn, Berthalda publicly reveals Undine's identity and Heinrich curses her and Huldbrand. Huldbrand refuses, however, to abandon his wife and she takes him with her to live among her people under the waters, in a crystal palace.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Fishing

Hospitality

Love

Foundling

Wedding

Contempt

Faithfulness

Paganism

Christianity

Mermaid

Fantasy

Comical

Parodistic

Dramatic

Génie des eaux

Ondine

Knight

Kasperl

Duke

Valet

Cook

Trump blower

Light effects

Chorus

Parody of formal language

Song

Sung scenes

Transforming scenery

Brawl

Board

Undine, die Wassernixe

Ondine, the water nymph

In the Valais canton, the sun rises over a pathway and a small wooden house. The mountains appear in the background. It is spring; the goatherd’s horn can be heard in the valley and the goats come running. The village of Savièze comes to life: the girls riding on mules’ backs go to work in the vineyard, two women are chatting, the pigs try to run away from the farmers,… A family of English tourists goes on a walk guided by Lord Quick, who is leading his daughters as a shepherd guides his flock… A storm breaks out in the valley, forcing the tourists, the shepherds and the animals to seek shelter. After the storm, the hikers finish climbing the high mountain and a chamois hunt resumes. Bells and prayers can be heard as a procession slowly walks towards the old chapel of Savièze: the women, the penitents, the priests, the altar children and the elderly are all part of it. The village finally celebrates Christmas before falling asleep under the snow.

Shadow theatre

All audiences

Switzerland

Geneva

Printed outline

Mountain

Seasons

Bucolic

Christmas

Alps

Tourism

Nature

Realist

Lyrical

Outline of Henri van Muyden's Goatherd for En Valais, copied in Le Sapajou.

French

Goat

Shepherd

Tourist

English man

Painter

Bull

Porcher

Hunter

Chamois

Penitent

Choirboy

Old man

Priest

Boniment

Procession

Apotheosis

Comical foreign accent

En Valais

After a terrifying stormy night, Saint Anthony goes out of his cave and into the fresh air to find some peace. Beelzebub orders Hurliburli to take advantage of this hustle and bustle to try and make the pious hermit succumb to one of the seven deadly sins. Meanwhile, Hanswurst, a lost walker, exhausted and starving, seeks refuge in the cave. To his surprise, his complaints are heard and his desires are fulfilled by the devils of gluttony, sloth, and lust. But, as he passionately embraces the devil of lust, who took the appearance of a woman, Hurliburli appears and drags him to hell. Anthony, back in his cave, sees Hanswurst who angrily relates his misadventures and the mistake of which he was a victim. Anthony greets him and thanks God for having protected him from the temptation of the devil by putting a poor stranger in his stead… To reward his faith, an angel appears and crowns the saint with a halo.

Bernus Alexander von

Capital sin

Piety

Hermit

Descent into hell

Religious

Pathetic

Rolf Erik von Hörschelmann, silhouettes and set for St. Anton oder der Heiligenschein.