Spearman of Polycletus:

aka Doryphoros

see Chapter I page 27, Chapter III 112, Chapter V page 177

 

"Peer Gynt" (tragedies of the future):

a 5 act play in verse by Norwegian dramatist Ibsen (1867) in Danish; one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays.  Written in Italy, the first edition swiftly sold out though later reprints were not as popular.  First performed in Oslo 1876, with original music composed by Edvard Grieg (that included the highly recognized classical pieces, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" & "Morning Mood").  Its origins are romantic, but the play anticipates the fragmentations of emerging modernism.  The cinematic script blends poetry with social satire, realistic scenes with surreal ones.  Some have compared it to Strindberg's early drama Lucky Peter's Journey (1882).  Both explore a new kind of dramatic action beyond the capacities of 19th century theatre- sequences of images in language & visual composition possible to capture only on film.  Ibsen was inspired by Peter Christen Anderson’s Norwegian fairy tales (1845) & believed Peer Gynt to be rooted in fact.  Several of the characters in his play are modelled on his own family (his parents).  It is the story of Peer’s journey from Norway’s mountains to the North African desert.  Critics were mixed – some described it as "magnificent", though Anderson & others were hostile (the play was not poetry).  Ibsen defended the work (claiming it WAS poetry) but in fact it was his last to employ verse; from The League of Youth (1869) onwards, he wrote drama only in prose.  He wrote the play in deliberate disregard to theatre conventions of his day. Its 40 scenes move uninhibitedly in time & space and between consciousness & the unconscious, blending folkloric fantasy and unsentimental realism.

 

"Gotterdammerung (tragedies of the future):

The last of Wagner's cycle of 4 music dramas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).  Premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring.  The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war among various beings & gods that ultimately results in the burning, immersion in water, and renewal of the world.   Wagner's account diverges significantly from his Old Norse sources.

 

social drama:

The 19th century movement Realism captures Spengler’s concept of “social drama”.  The Realists depicted everyday subjects and situations in contemporary settings, and attempted to depict individuals of all social classes in a similar manner.  It purposefully criticized social values and the upper classes.  Classical idealism and Romantic emotionalism and drama were avoided.  The sordid or untidy elements of subjects were not smoothed over or omitted.  Social realism emphasizes the depiction of the working class, treating them with the same seriousness as other classes in art.  The avoidance of artificiality in the treatment of human relations and emotions was also an aim of Realism. Treatments of subjects in a heroic or sentimental manner were equally rejected.  This movement began around the 1870s.  It developed a set of dramatic & theatrical conventions aiming to bring greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances.  In this movement, Ibsen's realistic drama in prose has been enormously influential.  It is part of a broader artistic movement; it includes Naturalism and Socialist realism.  Other famous Realist dramatist include August Strindberg, George Bernard Shaw.