PASSION
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PASSION
already shows, by the interpolation of free transla-
tions of church hymns and of German verses not
pertaining to such hymns, as well as by the appearance
of the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the
action, a tendency to break away from the ritual and
to adopt a more popular form. From these humble
beginnings the Passion Play must have developed very
rapidly, since in the fourteenth century we see it at
a stage of development which could not have been
reached except by repeated practice. From this
second period we have the V'ienna Passion, the St.
Gall Passion, the oldest Frankfort Passion, and the
Maestricht Passion. All four Plays, as they are
commonly called, are written in rhyme, principally
in German. The Vienna Passion embraces the entire
history of the Redemption, and begins with the revolt
and fall of Lucifer; it is to be regretted that the play as
transmitted to us ends with the Last Suj )] )i t. The oldest
Frankfort Passion play, that of Caniiu Haldemar von
Peterwell (1350-80), the production of which required
two days, was more profusely elaborated than the
other Passion Plays of this period. Of this play only
the "Urdo sive Registrum" has come down to us, a
long roll of parchment for the use of the director, con-
taining directions and the first words of the dialogues.
The plays b;ised on this list of directions lead us to the
period in which the Passion Play reached its highest
development (1400-1515). During this period the
later Frankfort Passion Play (1467), the Alsfelder, and
the Friedberger (1514) originated. Connected with
this group are the Eger, theDonaueschingen, Augsburg,
Freising and Lucerne Passion Plays, in which the
whole world drama, begirming with the creation of
man and brought down to the coming of the Holy
Ghost, is exhibited, and which was produced with great
splendour as late as 1.583.
Nearly all these Passion Plays have some relation to those coming from the Tyrol, some contributing to, others taking from, that source. These, again, are founded upon the Tyrolese Passion Play which origi- nated during the transition period of the fourteenth to the fifteenth century. Wackernell, with the aid of the plays that have reached us, has reconstructed this period. In the Tyrol the Passion Plays received elaborate cultivation; at Bozen they were presented with great splendour and lasted seven days. Here, too, the innovation of placing the female roles in the hands of women was introduced, which inno- vation did not become general until during the seventeenth century. The magnificent productions of the Passion Plays during the fifteenth century are closely connected with the growth and increasing self-confidence of the cities, which found its expression in noble buildings, ecclesiastical and municipal, and in gorgeous public festivals. The artistic sense and the love of art of the citizens had, in co-operation with the clergy, called these plays into being, and the wealth of the citizens provided for magnificent productions of them on the public squares, whither they migrated after expulsion from the churches. The citizens and civil authorities considered it a point of honour to render the production as rich and diversified as possi- ble. Ordinarily the preparations for the play were in the hands of a spiritual brotherhood, the play itself being considered a form of worship. People of the most varied classes took part, in the production, and frequently the number of actors was as high as two hundred and even greater. It was undoubtedly no small task to drill the performers, particularly since the stage arrangements were still very primitive.
The stage was a wooden structure, almost as broad as it was long, elevated but slightly above the ground and open on all sides. A house formed the back- ground; a balcony attached to the house represented Heaven. Under the balcony three crosses were erected. Sometimes the stage was divided into three sections by doors. Along the sides of the stage, taken
lengthwise, stood the houses required for the produc-
tion; they were indicated by fenced-in spaces, or by
four posts upon which a roof rested. The entrance
into liell was pictured by the mouth of a monster,
through which the devil and the souls captured or
released during the plays passed back and forth.
The actors entered in solemn procession, led by musi-
cians or by a precursor (herald), and took their stand
at the places appointed them. They remained on
the stage all through the performance; they sat on the
barriers of their respective divisions, and were per-
mitted to leave their places only to recite their lines.
As each actor finished speaking, he returned to his
place. The audience stood around the stage or looked
on from the windows of neighbouring houses. Occa-
sionally platforms, called "bridges", were erected
around the stage in the form of an amphitheatre.
The scenery was as simple as the stage. There were no side scenes, and consequently no stage per- spective. Since an illusion of reality could not be had, indications were made to suffice. Thus a cask stand- ing on end represents the mountain on which Christ is tempted by the devil; thunder is imitated by the re- port of a gun; in order to signify that the devil had entered into him, Judas holds a bird of black plumage before his mouth and makes it flutter. The suicide of Judas is an execution, in which Beelzebub performs the hangman's duty. He precedes the culprit up the ladder, and draws Judas after him by a rope. Judas has a black bird and the intestines of an animal con- cealed in the front of his clothing, and when Satan tears open the garment the bird flies away, and the intestines fall out, whereupon Judas and his executioner slide down into hell on a rope. A painted picture, representing the soul, is hung from the mouth of each of the two thieves on the cross ; the angel takes the soul of the penitent, the devil that of the impenitent thief. Everything is presented in the concrete, just as the imagination of the audience pictures it, and the scenic conditions, resembling those of the antique theatre, demand. All costume, however, is contemporary, historical accuracy being ignored.
The Passion Plays of the fifteenth century, with their peculiar blending of religious, artistic, and popular elements, gave a true picture of German city life of those times. Serious thought and lively humour were highly developed in these plays. When, how- ever, the patricians, in the sixteenth century, with- drew more and more from the plays, these, left to the lower classes, began to lose their serious and (in spite of the comic traits) dignified character. The influ- ence of the Carnival plays (Faslnachtspiele) was felt more and more. Master Grobianus with his coarse and obscene jests was even introduced into the Passion Plays. In time the ecclesiastical authorities forbade the production of the plays. Thus the Bishop of Havelberg commanded his clergy, in 1471, to suppress the Passion Plays and legend plays in their parish districts because of the disgraceful and irrelevant farces interspersed through the productions. In a similar manner the Synod of Strasburg (1549) opposed the religious plays, and the year previous (1548), the Parliament of Paris forbade the production of " the Mystciics (if the Passion of our Redeemer and other Spiritual Mysteries". One consequence was that the secular plays were separated from the religious, and, as Carnival plays, held the public favour. The Passion Plays came to be presented more rarely, par- ticularly as the Reformation was inimical to them.
School dramas now came into vogue in Catholic and Protestant schools, and frequently enough be- came the battle-ground of religious controversies. When, in the seventeenth century, the splendidly equipped Jesuit drama arose, the Passion Plays were relegated to out-of-the-way villages and to the monas- teries, particularly in Bavaria and Austria. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, during the so-called
