Nicodemus Frischlin: Band IV,1: Deutsche Dichtungen und Entwürfe

Frischlin's German comedies occupy a special place in his oeuvre. Frischlin wrote most of his texts in Latin, the humanistic language of education of his time; he regarded German as a lowly vernacular and felt that its use was primarily a concession to a supposedly uneducated audience. For Frischlin, this included not only the common people, but also the majority of the nobility. Against this background, it is no coincidence that Fraw Wendelgard (1580), Frischlin's only German-language drama published during his lifetime and also one of his best-known works, in which he took up historical material, was aimed at a courtly audience. In addition to Wendelgard, Frischlin also wrote drafts for three biblical comedies (Hochzeit zu Kana, Joseph, Ruth), which derived their plans from earlier ideas and were written during his imprisonment at Hohenurach Castle (1590) but remained unfinished and were not published until several hundred years later. Frischlin's last work in the vernacular, Vom Leben/ Raisen/ Wanderschafften vnd zustaͤnd Des Grossen S. Christoffels (1591), was not published until after his death, and although his sole authorship of the text is not entirely certain, it is generally regarded as Frischlin's work. As a rhyming satire on the ills of the world, S. Christoffel remains an entertaining and enjoyable read to this day. In addition to the poetic writings in the narrower sense, the volume also contains the Kurtze Abfertigunge (1589), a polemic directed against Melanchthon's follower Sebastian Gobler, in which Frischlin took the side of his friend, the theologian Polykarp Leyser. In striking contrast to Frischlin's own contempt for his vernacular productions, it was precisely these that contributed significantly to his rediscovery in the 19th century and sparked renewed interest in his work. With the critical edition of the 'German poems and drafts' in the fourth volume of the 'Complete Works', these are thus expanded to include a collection of writings that is of central importance both for understanding Frischlin's entire oeuvre and for its reception.