10. Vienna's Burgtheater Crisis

In Vienna, the Burgtheater crisis has been a daily issue for weeks. By the time these lines appear, it may already have found its solution. But how this solution turns out is not the really interesting thing. Something quite different must excite those who take an interest in the development of the theater. For if, as it seems at the moment, Paul Schlenther replaces the previous director of the Burgtheater, Max Burckhard, there can be no question of artistic considerations having played any part in the solution to this question. And that is the sad thing, that things that should only be decided from the point of view of artistic interest are being made dependent on sympathies and antipathies that have nothing to do with art.

When Dr. Max Burckhard took office, no one with understanding could stand up for him. Of all the candidates considered at the time, he must have seemed the least suitable. One could have no other opinion than that he had no relation to either dramatic literature or practical theater. And the first steps he took as director could only confirm such an opinion. He showed himself to be a dilettante in every respect. The roles he cast were almost unbelievable.

The old master of Viennese theater criticism, Ludwig Speidel, rarely used such harsh words of condemnation as he did towards Burckhard's management. As often as he made himself heard in the pages of the "Neue Freie Presse", one could read a bitter dismissal of the new director. But the improbable happened: Ludwig Speidel converted to Max Burckhard. This marked the course of Burckhard's development during his directorship. He has turned the antipathy of knowledgeable people into sympathy. Today, art connoisseurs are his friends and supporters. He has proven that the office gives the mind. He has settled into art. So much so that such a fine connoisseur of the theater as Paul Schlenther can hardly do anything other than continue to lead the Hofbühne in the way Burckhard did. When Schlenther takes Burckhard's place, all that will have happened is that a personality who has become unpopular will have been replaced by a temporarily popular one. The artistic achievements of the Vienna Burgtheater can hardly be given a new character by Paul Schlenther. Indeed, it must even be considered a stroke of luck if the previous director is replaced by the Berlin critic. It could just as well have been that the clique hostile to Burckhard had once again appointed some dilettante to the important post; and it is doubtful that the stroke of luck would have happened a second time, that the dilettante would have become an important expert in a relatively short time.

There are people of whom one can say: they can do whatever they want. Burckhard seems to be one of them. But these people are quite rare. If you have one, you should hold on to him and give him the opportunity to develop his strengths. Instead, Burckhard is torn from his position at the very moment when he begins to show off his unique personality to the full.

It is a well-known fact that Burckhard had to fight for seven years against cliques of actors who were hostile to him, but who were so influential that they could cause the director immense difficulties. Burckhard fought these cliques with energy and achieved many excellent things against their will. If he was not victorious in the end, it can hardly be assumed that a new man will fight the battle with more luck.

The task of the Burg director today is to adapt this unique art institution to the new circumstances. The public will be just as happy with the new forms of drama as with the new forms of acting if they realize that the reform is based on artistic intentions. The public is much less conservative in artistic matters than the so-called "authoritative circles". The public has been forced to understand Arnold Böcklin! Those who only a few years ago would shrug their shoulders as they walked past Böcklin's Pieta now stand before it in adoration, as they always did before the Sistine Madonna. The audience of the Burgtheater will easily be won over to show as much interest in modern art as in the old. Max Burckhard has worked on this development of taste with skill and insight. He should not have been disturbed in his work.