42. On Ludwig Ganghofer's “Wedding of Valeni”

By Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn

"Ganghofer, an amiable talent, who had hitherto walked only on popular paths as a playwright, persuaded him to a joint dramatization of the novel, and so today's play came into being." ... "We have received a play that is as talented as it is vile and crude." ... "Despite all this, there is much good in the work, and we will probably still have to deal with it." The fact that A. Müller-Guttenbrunn calls one of the most miserable machinations talented and says that there is much good in it, despite the fact that, as his other criticism shows, he knows the weaknesses of the play, has turned us less against him than the fact that he calls the performance a valiant achievement of popular theater. As a critic, he must know that it speaks more against the actors than for them when they perform well in such a bad play, while they spoil every better play through the performance. All in all: if Müller-Guttenbrunn wants to censure, he does it differently.