A master adapts a masterpiece - Goethe's "Romeo and Juliet

From Goethe's youth onward, Shakespeare, like Homer, accompanied him throughout his life. As a university student in Leipzig, Goethe was introduced to William Dodd's famous anthology of essays, The Beauty of Shakespeare, and the same period coincided with the staging of Christian Felix Weiss's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Later, in Strasbourg, Herder continued to encourage Goethe, prompting the latter to deliver his lecture "In Memory of Shakespeare Day".

Between 1791 and 1817, Goethe was in charge of the court theater in Weimar, and during this time twelve Shakespeare plays were performed, with multiple translations and adaptations of individual works. Some of the better known works include King John, Hamlet, Henry IV and The Tempest, etc. In 1812, Goethe adapted Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice from Schlegel's translations and performed them in Weimar.

Romeo and Juliet was Goethe's first exposure to Shakespeare, and in 1767 he read a fragment of the work and immediately wrote a letter to his sister about his view of love - "Love is a puff of smoke ...... It is a lasting sweetness". He was not quite satisfied with Weiss's adaptation and wrote to a friend that "I have new plans to re-imagine Romeo, because after reading through Weiss's work, I don't like it very much ......".

In June 1797, almost at the same time as Schlegel's translation came out, Goethe met the actress Christine Neumann, whom he admired, with the intention of giving the latter a major role in the play when Romeo and Juliet was staged. As can be seen from Goethe's diary of March 1, 1811, the famous actor Pius Alexander Wolf, who played Hamlet, was touring Weimar at the time, giving Goethe the idea to include Romeo and Juliet in the repertoire of the classic plays of the Weimar theater.

Goethe was busy with Romeo and Juliet for almost all of November 1811. The embellishment of each act, the nightly readings, the arrangement of roles, the transcription of the manuscript and the revisions were not finally completed until December 26. rehearsals for the entire play began on January 7, 1812, beginning with repeated readings in the circle of the principal actors. on February 1, the play was officially staged, and it was performed several times in Weimar over the next four years. The play was staged in Berlin in April 1812. Goethe's account of the public reaction to the adaptation of Romeo and Juliet varies, but the attitude is mentioned several times with reservations. The fiercest criticism came from the Romantic camp, so much so that Goethe declared to the Cota publishing house, "I do not want to hand over the handle to the fanatical translators and custodians of this work and give them the opportunity to spout off." Ludwig Tieck, who was one of the custodians of the play according to Goethe, did not publicly dissent until much later when Romeo and Juliet was performed at the Court Theatre in Dresden: "To treat another man's masterpiece so roughly would only be allowed and condoned by a writer as great as Goethe. As far as this tragedy takes place, one can barely find the original work, and even where it remains, it has been changed in such a way that it looks so disfigured that it loses the true meaning of the original."

Goethe defended this by saying, "I select only what is useful in Shakespeare's work and remove the parts that are in the way." He also said, "In fact, [my adaptation] retains only the love. Pure love runs through the whole work, so other things are merely passed over."

Based on such a principle, "Romeo and Juliet," as adapted by Goethe, was reduced from about 3,050 lines in the original to about 2,033 lines. The number of scenes in which the story takes place was reduced from 24 to 12, the number of characters in the play was correspondingly reduced, the mother theme of the feud between the two families was removed, and the grand finale of the final reconciliation was accordingly lost.

In the light of Goethe's loan of the original English text and the beginning of his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, his reference to Schlegel's translation is not without criticism, and he tries in many cases to follow the original more closely. Sometimes he also compares and refers to translations by Wieland and Eschenburg. However, while on the one hand Goethe tried to stay close to the original, on the other hand he deviated from it by abandoning the vulgarity as well as the colloquial expressions of Shakespeare's (and Schlegel's) work.

On the production and reception of this adaptation

Goethe wrote to Karl Ludwig Knebel on December 28, 1811.

I am very much occupied with theatrical matters. To present three works in succession in a very tight time frame from the end of January to the beginning of February keeps us very busy; Romeo and Juliet is nearing completion.

Charlotte Schiller wrote to Carl Schiller on January 26, 1812.

Goethe blends the power of the original with his beautiful language. ...... This adaptation is outstanding and a real gain for the world of theater.

Louise Sadler, Memoirs

Sometime between January 7 and 24, 1812, I received permission to attend a reading of the tragedy Romeo and Juliet at the Goethe residence. Goethe asked the actors to repeat individual lines and to distinguish the slightest differences in tone. It is amazing how tireless and patient he was.

Goethe wrote to Karl Friedrich Reinhard on February 13, 1812.

On January 30, on the Duchess's birthday, we brought the play (referring to Romeo and Juliet) to the stage, this time with a large audience; what was more desirable than these characters, and especially than the leading role, was that the actors were very much in character. This work has been a study for me, and I have never had such a deep insight into Shakespeare's talent; he, on the other hand, is unfathomable.

Goethe wrote to Friedrich Schlegel on April 8, 1812.

I am concentrating on an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. All elements that are not part of the main plot I have deleted. The work has been very well received.

Berlin State and Educational Affairs, a royal-leaning newspaper published in Berlin on April 11, 1812.

Royal Drama

Romeo and Juliet, based on a composition and translation by Shakespeare and W. Schlegel, adapted (for the first time) by Herr von Goethe.

Nothing could be more desirable than a master adapting a masterpiece. Putting all prejudices aside for the moment, this inevitably stirs up conflicting emotions: one sometimes adores the author, sometimes worships the rewriter; one often oscillates between the two. A soberly considered judgment of the work is directed at the author; the view that the work is a surprise is directed at the adaptor. All the changes that alter the author's original plan and alter the course of the work leave the audience asking: Why did you change it this way?

Leipzig, April 20, 1812 issue of the Goya Welt.　

Goethe's Romeo and Juliet was staged, from the Berlin Theater.

That the responsibility for the lukewarm reception of this adaptation does not lie with the performance can be proved by another circumstance. According to reliable sources, the tragedy was not well received when it was performed on the Weimar stage; the opposite seems to be the case, as can be seen from the report on the Weimar production in the last issue of Luxury and Style magazine. However, if the reader reads this dumb, new-fashioned article and looks beyond the false impressions created by the text, it will be easy to see that the report is nothing more than a compliment. ......

Eduard Gnaster, The Classical and Post-Classical Age in Weimar, published in Stuttgart.　

In 1812, on the birthday of the Duchess Louise, the premiere of Romeo and Juliet, translated by Schlegel and adapted by Goethe, was completed. As a result of this adaptation, Goethe was heavily criticized, and not without reason.

......

Apart from the first scene on the terrace, Mercutio's brilliant words in the second scene and Father Lorenzo's monologue, which was brilliantly performed by Graf, this performance received very little applause