σώμα:

Greek, body, the corporal body as opposed to spirit or soul

 

κάθαρσις:

Greek, cleansing from guilt or defilement, purification, cleansing of the universe by fire, cleansing of food by or before cooking; clarification

 

Hohenstaufen:

see Chapter IV page 140, and above pages 308, 310

 

Don Juan:

aka Don Giovanni (Italian), legendary fictional libertine.  Inspiration for a host of drama, music & art to include: the 17th-century play, El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest) by Molina, the 18th-century opera, Don Giovanni (by Mozart & da Ponte); as well as Don Juan (drama), 1905 by Tolstoy; Don Juan Tenorio, 1844 play by José Zorilla & Dom Juan, a 1665 play by Molière

 

Faust:

see Chapter I, page 27, chapter III page 101 and Chapter IV page 137

 

Michael Kohlhaas:  * see EndNote <A>

novella by German author Heinrich von Kleist, published in part 1808, completed 1810; reflected mood of dissatisfaction in Prussia following defeats against Napoleon & consequent accommodations with France which unsettled domestic politics

see Chapter VIII page 290

 

Golo: * see EndNote<B>

reference to Golo und Genoveva (1801) by the German Maler Müller (1749-1825); he was a poet, dramatist & painter from the Electoral Palatinate, famous for his sentimental prose idylls on country life.  His tale is an adaptation of Genevieve of Brabant's tale.

 

cinema-drama:

Spengler knew the silent era of film.  In the 1890s films were black & white without sound, seen often via temporary storefront spaces & traveling exhibitors or acts in vaudeville programs.  They presented a single scene, authentic or staged, of everyday life, public or sporting events or slapstick comedy.  It was a cheap, simple way to entertain the masses & the industry thrived pre-WWI becoming the most popular visual art form.  Movie houses became popular venues competing with cabarets & theatres.  In 1895 the Berlin Wintergarten theatre hosted an early movie presentation by the Skladanowsky brothers.  A Trip to the Moon (1902) by the French director Georges Méliès became an internationally success & was extensively pirated, especially in the USA.  Its unusual length, production values, special effects & storytelling influenced other film-makers & the development of narrative film as a whole.

 

late Classical mimes: * see EndNote<C>

Greek comedic mime form was adopted by Roman playwrights; the first Roman mime surviving in literary form was written by the knight Decimus Laberius (105–43 BC), later eclipsed by the former slave Publilius Syrus.  Mimes were a traditional feature of the annual Floralia festival, licentious in spirit, these opened the stage to naked mime actresses.  Though only fragments exist, the usual mime plot (while free to indulge in biting topical allusion) focused on scenes of adultery & vice.  Real adultery may have been performed on the mime stage during the Roman Empire as well as execution scenes with convicted criminals in place of actors.

 

Greek theatre (back wall): * see Endnote<D>

In 465 BC playwrights began using a backdrop or scenic wall, which stood behind the orchestra, which also served as an area where actors could change their costumes (called the skênê -scene). In 425 BC a stone scene wall, a paraskenia, became a common supplement to the skênê..  The proskenion ("in front of the scene") was columned similar to the modern day proscenium.  They also used entrances for the actors & chorus members called parodoi, tall arches that opened onto the orchestra, through which the performers entered.  By the end of the 5th century BC, the skênê, was 2 stories high.  Some theatres also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logeion.