SOURCE: “Grillparzer and the Chorus,” in MLQ,, Vol. 25, No. 1, March, 1964, pp. 46-56.

In the following essay, Krispyn traces Grillparzer's views on the function of the chorus in drama as evinced in his critical and dramatic work.

Grillparzer's remarks in “Über die Bedeutung des Chors in der alten Tragödie” have received scant attention in critical literature. Symptomatic of the literary historian's attitude toward this essay is Hartel's study on Grillparzer and antiquity, which mentions it only once in passing.¹ The most extensive treatment of “Über die Bedeutung des Chors” is to be found in the dissertation of Fritz Strich, whose comments on the subject were used by August Sauer as the basis for his note in the critical edition of Grillparzer's works.²

Strich stresses the lack of originality in Grillparzer's critical views, which closely adhered to those expressed by Joseph Schreyvogel in Sonntagsblatt.³ Strich furthermore establishes a direct...