I.  Announcements:

Cultural History: Meals in Vienna   

III. Lecture:  Schnitzler’s La Ronde (publ. 1900)

La Ronde’s Publication & Performance History:

•      written 1896-98 and published in a private edition (200 copies) in 1900 for Schnitzler’s friends

•     first edition for public consumption 1903 + prohibited/banned in 1904 in Vienna + distributed in Germany + prohibited by Nazis in 1931 as “immoral & degenerate Jewish art”

•      Munich 1903 performance:

•      Berlin in December 1920:

•      Viennese premiere on Feb. 1,1921 (Kammerspiele in der Rothenturmstraße)

•      next performance 1982

“Reigen”/” La Ronde”: 

Title

Structure: 

Questions:

•     Is there any difference in sexuality in terms of gender? class?

•      What classes are portrayed?  Is there an ascending hierarchy of power/rank?  Who is located where?

•     Is there a powerful male presence?  does this differ according to class?

In-Class Writing Assignment: How is marriage portrayed in Schnitzler’s La Ronde? Do you find this play “romantic”? Did aspects of the play upset you? Explain.

Max Ophüls’s La Ronde (1950):

Ophüls:

•     Max Ophuls = Max Oppenheimer (1902–1957).  German Jewish filmmaker = exiled to France (1938–40), Switzerland, and then Hollywood (1941-49)

•      other Vienna films:  Liebelei (Flirtations, Ger. 1930); La Valse Brillante (Fr. 1936), and De Mayerling à Sarajevo (Fr. 1940).

Ophüls: La Ronde (1950)/changes from Schnitzler’s text:

La Ronde & Impressionism:

Discussion:  Love, Sex & Marriage in Viennese Culture