Richard Billinger
Richard Billinger was an Austrian playwright whose career spanned from the post-World War I era until the mid-1960s. Known for his ability to navigate the tumultuous political landscape of his time, Billinger produced approximately twenty-five plays, achieving notable success, particularly in the late 1920s to mid-1930s. His works often reflected a deep connection to rural life and folklore, drawing on his upbringing on an upper Austrian farm. Billinger's style, characterized as "romanticized realism," combined realistic settings and characters with dramatic, passionate themes often involving violence.
Despite the Nazis’ attempts to co-opt his work, he maintained his independence and never aligned himself with their ideology, although some of his themes inadvertently resonated with Nazi ideals. Notably, his play "Der Gigant" became a significant success in Nazi Germany, illustrating the complexities of his relationship with the political climate. Billinger's later works retained elements of ritual and passionate expression, though he gradually lost favor in the post-war period. His ability to capture intense human experiences within the framework of local color and folklore remains a hallmark of his contributions to Austrian theater.
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Richard Billinger
Writer
- Born: July 20, 1890
- Birthplace: Sankt Marienkirchen bei Schärding, Austria
- Died: June 7, 1965
Biography
Austrian writer Richard Billinger’s career spanned the years from just after World War I until the mid-1960’s. What makes this remarkable is that he continued to be productive throughout his lifetime, seeming not to have been buffeted by the winds of political turmoil. He remained adaptable and capable of skirting the dangers around him. The Nazis worked to co-opt him, funding him with lucrative commissions. He never joined the party, however, and he maintained his own perspective while accepting theirs. After the fall of National Socialism, he weathered barely concealed animosity from those who suspected him of collaboration. He refused to join in the themes of collective guilt that other German and Austrian playwrights adopted in those postwar years.
One reason Billinger could maintain his equilibrium may well be the style he adopted. Having been born and having grown up on a farm in upper Austria, he had a special affinity for the peasant life and the legends that often accompanied it. That inspired him to create places and characters that were rough and rustic.
At the same time, Billinger was intensely intrigued by the spectacle of buried passion erupting suddenly in uncontrolled violence. It is a style one might call “romanticized realism.” Billinger’s plays are realistic in their detailed depiction of specific places and the local color associated with them. They are romanticized by the overt and deliberate manipulation of the plot into passionate murderous or suicidal acts. This quality the Nazis were pleased to categorize as Blut und Boden (blood and soil); for this quality, they willingly gave approval to the works.
The playDer Gigant (the giant) provides a vivid illustration. It is set in the peasant lands of Czechoslovakia and portrays the characters as caught up in demonic forces with the loose implication that their Slavic nature is their undoing. The implication was made explicit in the film version made in 1942 in which good characters have German names and bad ones Slavic names. The stage play had been a great success in Berlin under the direction of Jürgen Fehling and the film, directed by Veit Harlan, became the most popular film of the Nazi regime. The result for Billinger was a sizeable monetary award for the film rights and a handsome commission for his next play.
Between 1924 and 1964, Billinger had some twenty-five plays produced. Those of the late 1920’s into the mid-1930’s found great success. His Rauhnacht (yule night) epitomizes the nature of his drama. The play is set in rural upper Austria as its peasants indulge in their traditional pagan-like festival of goblins and demons. Two outsiders, a young man and a young woman, come on the scene. Intoxicated with its wild spirit, they end up in a final scene of murder and conflagration.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal, whose Jedermann (everyman) was the regular centerpiece of the Salzburg Festival, gave Billinger encouragement early in his career and commissioned him to provide a play to alternate with his at the festival. The result was Das Perchtenspiel (the play of the sprites) directed at Salzburg by Max Reinhardt in 1928. Again frenetic dance provides spectacular effects, this time conducted by the sprites and demons of the forest. The central character, Peter, falls in love with a beautiful sprite, but then abandons her, leading to a band of demons setting fire to his farm and to his murder by his grandfather. It all ends when the sprite gives birth and the baby is celebrated as new life with a procession of saints.
In 1943, Billinger again received a commission to provide a play for the festival, this time to replace von Hofmannsthal’s play (dropped because von Hofmannsthal was found to be part Jewish). The resulting play, Paracelsus, was itself cancelled along with the whole festival.
After the war, Billinger began to drop from favor. Nevertheless, he remained productive. His later plays often retained the same propensity for ritual, wild movement, and dance and sometimes even the sudden outbursts of passion. Typical of this newer work is Das nackte Leben (the bare life). A mysterious peddler sponsors a party for beggars and gypsies, including a tumultuous parade of gargoyles. In the midst of this, a young blind man finds his sight again by a stroke of lightning and a young woman in love with him receives a mask from the peddler that turns her beautiful.