!!!Ordensdrama

Instructional Religious Plays, instructional drama of the Catholic 
orders from the 16%%sup th/%  to the 18%%sup th/%  century, 
cultivated in Austria from the time the  Jesuits were called to the 
country (Jesuit drama) and soon adopted by other orders, such as the  
Benedictines (Salzburg, Kremsmuenster), the  Piarists (Krems, Horn), 
the  Cistercians (Heiligenkreuz), and the  Schotten in Vienna. The 
"Ratio studiorum" of 1599 made instructional religious plays 
serving the cause of the  Counter-Reformation obligatory for every 
Jesuit school. The plays were written in Latin, and the lay-people 
watching were given programmes containing a synopsis of the story in 
German ("Periochae"). The performances served both 
proselytising purposes and as oratorical training for the students. 
The subject matter was taken from the Bible as well as from legends of 
the saints and martyrs. Powerful and moving scenes of martyrs and 
their sufferings, staged effectively in increasingly lavish 
productions, were meant to shock the audience and convert them to the 
true faith. This development reached its climax in "Ludi 
Caesarei" by N.  Avancini, pieces from Southern Tyrol glorifying 
the house of Habsburg. In order to compete with  Opera, the plays were 
increasingly interspersed with musical interludes by acclaimed local 
composers, as well as with popular traditional songs. The most 
important writer of instructional religious plays in the late Baroque 
was the Silesian J. B.  Adolph, who also used songs in Viennese 
dialect in his interludes.

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Benedictine religious drama refrained from the use of excessive 
didacticism and favoured comic interludes with popular appeal in the 
vernacular ( Vernacular Literature); the rustic characters were later 
adopted by the Altwiener  Volkstheater. The most important author was 
the Benedictine S. Rettenpacher of Salzburg; the transition to the 
drama of the Enlightenment was achieved by M.  Lindemayr of Lambach 
Monastery, with his comedies in Upper Austrian dialect.

!Literature
K. Adel, Das Jesuitendrama in Oesterreich, 1957; 
E. M. Szarota, Das Jesuitendrama im deutschen Sprachgebiet, 3 
vols., 1979-1987; R. Wimmer, Jesuitentheater, 1982; J.-M. Valentin, Le 
Theâtre des Jesuites dans les pays de langue allemande, 
1983/1984 (Bibliography).


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