Hermann Bahr
Hermann Bahr was an influential figure in the arts and literature of early 20th-century Austria, known for his role as a champion of modernism. Born into a politically active family, he initially pursued studies in economics but shifted his focus toward the arts after moving to Paris. Bahr helped establish the journal *Freie Bühne für modernes Leben* and became a prominent advocate for avant-garde movements, including the Vienna Secession. His writing spanned genres, with a notable emphasis on drama and essays, and he was recognized for his brilliant dialogue.
Throughout his career, Bahr faced political and personal challenges, including conflicts with contemporary critics like Karl Kraus. He directed renowned theaters, including the Burgtheater in Vienna, and was instrumental in promoting the talents of others, such as the actress Eleonore Duse. Despite his prolific output, Bahr's later years were marked by health issues, and he returned to the Catholic Church after a period of estrangement. He passed away in Salzburg, leaving behind a legacy that continues to be examined for its impact on modernist literature and theater.
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Hermann Bahr
Author
- Born: July 19, 1863
- Birthplace: Linz, Austria
- Died: January 15, 1934
- Place of death: Munich, Germany
Biography
Hermann Bahr was one of four children born to the liberal politician Dr. Alois Bahr and his wife, Wilhelmine Weidlich. Dr. Bahr often spoke of superb performances he had seen in Vienna’s Burgtheater. After Hermann attended elementary school in Linz, he went to Salzburg, Austria, in 1877, to attend a Benedictine high school.
Bahr was dismissed from the University of Vienna and subsequently asked to leave the University of Czernowitz because of his involvement with the German National Party, which opposed the Austrian monarchy. He then spent three years studying economics in Berlin, but his doctoral thesis on Karl Marx was rejected. While in Berlin, Bahr met the innovative writer Arno Holz.
After Bahr completed his compulsory year of Austrian military training, he went to Paris in November of 1888. In Paris, he outgrew his political activism and decided to devote his life to the arts. In May of 1890, Holz asked Bahr to return to Berlin to help found the journal Freie Bühne für modernes Leben (free stage for modern life). From then on, Bahr was a champion of modernism.
On a trip to St. Petersburg in 1891, Bahr saw the actress Eleonore Duse in performance. He praised her highly in a review, with the result that she was offered an engagement in Vienna. Bahr himself moved to Vienna the same year, where his promotion of others’ talents made him a pivotal figure in defining artistic trends.
In 1895, Bahr left the Catholic Church in order to marry the Jewish actress Rosa Joël. In 1909, he divorced Joël and married the alto opera singer Anna Mildenburg (1872-1947). He had no children.
Bahr was a prolific but unpolished writer. As a dramatist, he wrote scintillating dialogue. His novels about Austria are more serious in tone. His autobiography, Selbstbildnis, written in 1923, ranks among the best. Quantitatively, he wrote mostly essays.
Karl Kraus, publisher of the Viennese satirical journal Die Fackel (the torch), kept Hermann Bahr under attack for forty years. Bahr successfully sued Kraus for libel in 1901, but that only intensified Kraus’s animosity. In the same year, Bahr valiantly defended the artists of the Vienna Secession, in particular its founder Gustav Klimt, against Kraus. Posterity has proven Bahr’s artistic judgment correct.
From 1906 to 1908, Bahr worked as theater director with the prominent producer Max Reinhardt in Berlin. Bahr then returned to Vienna as the Burgtheater critic for the Neues Wiener Journal (new Viennese journal). By 1912, he felt unappreciated in Vienna, so he moved to Salzburg. In 1914, Bahr returned to the Catholic Church and attended mass daily for the rest of his life.
In September of 1918, Bahr returned to Vienna to become director of the Burgtheater, but was impeded by politics and left in March of 1919. In 1922, he and his wife moved to Munich, Germany, where she had accepted a teaching position at the music academy. Although Bahr continued to write, he was suffering from arteriosclerosis. His best years were behind him. He is buried in Salzburg.