!!!Geistliche Spiele

Religious Drama, emerged from the tropes (alternative singing) of the 
Easter liturgy. The first themes were taken from the passion and death 
of Christ, but soon from all Christian traditions (Easter plays, 
Passion plays, Corpus Christi plays, Christmas plays, plays in praise 
of saints and the Virgin Mary, Doomsday plays, etc.). From the 
10%%sup th/%  century religious plays were staged in Latin, later also 
in vernacular versions in the churches beside the altars. First German 
dramas were written around 1250. Still extant early Austrian drama 
manuscripts are the "Innsbrucker Osterspiel" (1391) and the "Wiener 
Osterspiel" (1472), documented performances, however, can only be 
found later (in Tyrol from 1430, in Vienna from 1499). The 
introduction of coarse popular scenes gradually removed the religious 
play from the liturgy and church service and also from the church 
premises. Religious drama has lived on under changed circumstances and 
in varied forms (religious popular plays), especially in the field of  
Christmas Plays and  Passion Plays.

!Literature
F. Michael, Das deutsche Drama des Mittelalter, 1971; 
R. H. Schmid, Raum, Zeit und Publikum des 
geistlichen Spiels, 1975; B. Neumann, Zeugnisse mittelalterlicher 
Auffuehrungen im deutschen Sprachraum, 1979; F. Hadamowsky, 
Mittelalterliche geistliche Spiele in Wien 1499-1781, 1981; R. 
Bergmann, Katalog der deutsch-sprachigen geistlichen Spiele und 
Marienklagen des Mittelalters, 1986; B. Neumann, Geistliches 
Schauspiel im Zeugnis der Zeit, 1987.


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