Page - 567 - in Arthur Schnitzler & Hermann Bahr - Briefwechsel, Aufzeichnungen, Dokumente 1891–1931

dezember 1922 567 30 zler was that suddenly secret tears always mingled with his smile. For many years the critics of Vienna incessantly admonished him. His talent, they maintained, lay fundamentally in his lighthearted- ness, and yet in all his plays he suddenly allowed himself to be led astray by a serious or even a tragic note which was not his forte at 35 all.ForyearsViennesecriticismincessantlycalleduponhimtowrite »theGermancomedy.«Thiscryfor»theGermancomedy«haslong been one of the bravura »stunts« of German criticism. No matter howmanycomediesonemaywrite,still it isneverthemythicalGer- man comedy. How many a time after a première didn’t Schnitzler 40 complainof this! I recommended: »Whynotdothemthefavour?Foronceputasideyourmelancholy inclinations;it isusullyinthethirdactthatyoucan’tresistthemany longer!« Andtobesure,hecamealongafteracoupleofmonthswhenwemet 45 again,beaming: »This time I am doing it. I am writing the piece for which you have been crying for years. There won’t be a melancholy note in it; this time itwillbe the longdesiredGermancomedy!« I wished him »good luck,« and when we saw each other again after 50 a fewweeks my firstquestionwas: »How is theGermancomedygettingon?«i Helookedatatmehesitatinglyandsaid: »I’ve been very busily at it; I am already down at the last act, only, you know, unfortunately in the preceding act one of the characters 55 committedsuicide.Therewasnootherwayout.« And so it happened that up to the present day he has not yet writ- ten the much-wanted German comedy. But to-day we know that the dark shadows surrounding the Austrian lightheartedness of his characterswerethemostgenuinepart.DeepdownSchnitzlerknew, 60 without admitting it to himself, that Vienna during the years from 1890 to the War already bore the kiss of death upon its brow. Vi- enna is still standing, the houses are still standing, but the Empire whosecapital itwas isgone.Viennahasbecomeafairy-talewithout a country. Schnitzler always felt Vienna as a fairy-tale, even when 65 we others were still thinking it was reality. This lends a charm to hisworkswhichwillnot fade, as longasanyremembranceremains anywhere in the world of the old Imperial city on the Danube. Af- terall, italwayshasbeenAustria’sdestinytofinditsfulfilmentonly in art. In Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, and Mahler is 70 representedarealitybesidewhicheventhehistorical realityofAus- triagrowspaleandsketchy.The lifeofAustriawasperhapsalways only a rehearsal for its works of art. It is thus that we few remain-