SOURCE: “The History of a Neglected Masterpiece: Der arme Spielmann,” in Grillparzer's Der arme Spielmann: New Directions in Criticism, edited by Clifford Albrecht Bernd, Camden House, 1988, pp. 9-25.

In the following essay, Cowen places the critical reaction to Der arme Spielmann within a social, literary, and political context.

From the time of its first publication in Iris: Deutscher Almanach für 1848 until today, the literary quality of Grillparzer's Der arme Spielmann has scarcely ever been directly questioned and has, in fact, been reaffirmed by some of the most established and influential literary figures from then to now.¹ Its initial appearance was, in this respect, quite auspicious, for in his review for Augsburg's Allgemeine Zeitung on 6 September 1847, Adalbert Stifter wrote: “Über scheinbar sehr ungefügige, ja fast widerstrebende Verhältnisse ist ein solcher Duft eines Seelenlebens ausgegossen, daß man allmählich hineingezogen wird, daß sich eine edle Rührung...