SOURCE: Schneider-Halvorson, Brigitte L. “Die Schwestern oder Casanova in Spa.” In The Late Dramatic Works of Arthur Schnitzler, pp. 15-43. New York: Peter Lang, 1983.

In the following excerpt, Schneider-Halvorson provides a plot overview and critical analyses of Die Schwestern oder Casanova in Spa.

Background of the Play and Statement of Purpose

The drama Die Schwestern oder Casanova in Spa¹ was published in 1919 by S. Fischer Verlag and produced a year later with some success at the Burgtheater on March 26, 1920. It is one of the rare productions which the author designated as “Lustspiel.” He seems to have reached here the ability to create such “wundervolle Heiterkeit” which was a necessary condition, “um das wahre Lustspiel hervorzubringen.”² Schnitzler himself confesses his fondness for the work in a letter to Hofmannsthal: “[…] mir selbst ist selten was von mir so lieb gewesen.”³

Whenever a date of completion is mentioned for a work...