GOETHE CELEBRATIONS IN MARYLAND 1949
By STANLEY N. WERBOW *
The bicentennial of the birth of
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-
1832) was celebrated in Maryland in
many ways, most often by words. It
is indeed fitting that in this year
students of Goethe, professional and
lay alike, should have gathered fre-
quently to revive the words and the
deeds of the greatest spirit in German
literature, Germany's main claim to a
place in world literature, the sage of
Weimar.
But not all who raised their voices
to teach of Goethe in this year were
professional Goethe specialists or even
professional expounders of German
literature, although these do naturally
make up the larger part. There were
also natural scientists, poets and ar-
tists, musicians and actors to contri-
bute to the whole, full picture.
As was to be expected, the main
rallying points for spreading the word
were the universities and colleges, the
libraries, the museums, and, of course,
as a unifying and organizing force,
the "Goethe Society of Maryland and
the District of Columbia." This group,
which was founded to celebrate the
centenary of Goethe's death in 1932,
has functioned continually through-
out the intervening time weathering
even the war years and carrying out
its purpose, to foster an interest in
and to teach German art, literature
and culture. Under the chairmanship
of its president, Professor Arno C.
Schirokauer, and with the immediate
participation of its sometime presi-
dent, Professor Ernst Feise, the So-
ciety sponsored together with the
Johns Hopkins University a special
series of four lectures (Nos. 2, 12, 18,
21). Its regular meetings, held this
year at the Enoch Pratt Library, sup-
plemented this program (Nos. 4, 6,
9). The Society also sponsored two
lectures (Nos. 14, 22) in Washington,
D. C., under the chairmanship of Pro-
fessor Wolfgang Seiferth (Howard
University).
Next in number of programs spon-
sored stands the University of Mary-
land whose Department of Foreign
Languages under Professor A. E. Zuck-
er arranged an interesting and varied
series at College Park, (Nos. 3, 5, 7,
8, 13), No. 3 followed by a recital of
Goethe songs by Madame Zinaida M.
Nicolina.
Both the Enoch Pratt Free Library
and the Friends of the Library of
Johns Hopkins University heard talks
by Professor Ernst Feise (Nos. 10,
20). These libraries (a, and b, g re-
spectively) as well as the Peabody
Institute Library (e), Goucher Col-
lege Library (c), Walters Art Gallery
(f), and Mount St. Agnes College
Library (d) displayed exhibits of Goe-
theana including books and prints
from their own collections and in al-
most every case supplemented from
the valuable collection of Professor
William Kurrelmeyer. The Johns
Hopkins University Library was able
to call also on rare editions from the
collections of the late professors Her-
mann Collitz and Leonard Mackall.
Starting in the last month of 1948
and continuing into 1950, the celebra-
tion was, as we have seen, predomin-
antly composed of lectures and ex-
hibits. However, the Playshop of the
Johns Hopkins University, under the
auspices of the Department of Speech
and Writing and under the supervis-
ion of Professor N. Bryllion Fagin,
* Stanley Newman Werbow, Graduate Student and Instructor of German at the Johns Hopkins
University. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1922, B. A. of George Washington University, Wash-
ington, D. C., in 1946. Studied in the German Summer School of Middlebury College, Vermont, and the
Linguistic Institute at the University of Michigan. Secretary of the Goethe Society of Maryland and the
District of Columbia, 1947-1950. Contributed to the Modern Language Notes.
[71]
produced scenes from Faust I as a
curtain raiser for the year (No. 1).
Under the immediate direction of Miss
Mary Stuart and with the technical
supervision of Professor Feise, the
group presented the Gretchen scenes
from Faust. The players were Robert
Flynn as Faust, Jean Rhudy as Gret-
chen, Carl Skytte as Mephistopheles,
and Josephine Shyers as Martha.
Both performances were accompanied
by an expository talk by Professor
Feise.
The Baltimore Symphony Orches-
tra arranged a Goethe concert (No.
16) when, under the direction of
Reginald Stewart, an assortment of
compositions inspired by Goethe's
works was played and sung. The
vocal soloist was Marshall Singher.
Perhaps the most popular and best
attended event of the year was that
presented at the Zion Church in Bal-
timore under the guidance of the
Reverend Fritz O. Evers, pastor of the
church (No. 19). Held in the Adler-
saal, the celebration, which was at-
tended by over 700 people, included
instrumental and vocal music, recita-
tions, and a lecture. A Beethoven
Trio was played by Mrs. Roberta
Franke, Otto H. Franke, and Lehn
Franke. Vocal soloists were Miss
Shake Vartenissian and Mr. Malcolm
Bernstein. Recitations were rendered
by Mr. Richard Tietz. The Junger
Männerchor of Baltimore and the
choir of Zion Church provided choral
selections. The lecture by Professor
Arno Schirokauer (printed in full in
Sonntagsblatt des Baltimore Corre-
spondent, January 15, 1950) closed
the program.
Among the activities furthered this
year was also the rebuilding of the
Goethe House in Frankfurt-am-Main.
The treasurer of the Goethe Society
was able to send one hundred dollars
from the treasury and over a hun-
dred dollars collected at the Zion
Church to Dr. Ernst Beutler for the
building fund. The Society also pre-
sented a set of Goethe's works to the
library of the Goethe Society of
Bremen.
In addition to these official celebra-
tions, numerous special classroom ac-
tivities in the many schools and col-
leges of Maryland were designed to
pass on to the people of Maryland
of the middle of the twentieth cen-
tury the ideas and the ideals expound-
ed and exemplified in the works and
life of that giant of the eighteenth
century, Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
EXHIBITS OF GOETHEANA
a. August—September, 1949
b. November, 1949
c.
November 11, 1949—January 31, 1950
d. December 1949—January, 1950
e.
December 12-17, 1949
f.
January 9-14, 1950
g.
January 19-31, 1950
h. January, 1950
Enoch Pratt Free Library
Gilman Memorial Hall of
Johns Hopkins University
Goucher College Library
Mt. St. Agnes College
Peabody Institute Library
Walters Art Gallery
Johns Hopkins University Library
State Teachers College,
Salisbury, Maryland
[72]
CALENDAR OF EVENTS IN THE GOETHE YEAR
1948
1. December 12-13
Scenes from Faust 1 with accompanying
lecture by Ernst Feise
Johns Hopkins University
Playshop
1949
2. March 19
Alexander Gillies (University of Leeds,
England) : Herder and Goethe
Goethe Society (in Balti-
more)
3. March 22
England): The English View of Goethe
University of Maryland
4. April 23
Siegfried H. Muller (Adelphi College):
Gerhart Hauptmann and Goethe
Goethe Society (in Balti-
more)
5. May 12
Augustus J. Prahl (University of Mary-
land) : Goethe's Personality and Char-
acter
University of Maryland
6. May 21
Prahl (University of Mary-
land) : The Goethe Club of the City of
New York, 1873-1878
Goethe Society (in Balti-
more)
7. October 5
Bayard Q. Morgan (Stanford University):
Goethe Today and Tomorrow
University of Maryland
8. October 28
-Abich (University of Ham-
burg, Germany): Goethes Naturphiloso-
phie
University of Maryland
9. October 29
Adolf Meyer-Abich (University of Ham-
burg, Germany) : Goethes Naturphiloso-
phie
Goethe Society (in Balti-
more)
10. November 2
s University):
Goethe
Pratt Library (Afternoon
with the Poets)
11. November 15
Stephen Spender: Goethe and the Modern
World
Goucher College
12. November 19
Ernst Scheyer (Detroit Institute of Art):
Goethe as a Draftsman and the Art of
his Time
Goethe Society and Johns
Hopkins University
13. December 2
Joseph C. Willen (Western Maryland Col-
lege): Goethe and our Time
Western Maryland College
14. December 8
Edwin Redslob (University of Berlin):
. . Goethes Lebenstufen
University of Maryland
15. December 10
Felix Morley (Washington, D. C.) Frank-
furt Revisited
Goethe Society (in Wash-
ington)
16. December 13
Ernst Feise (Johns Hopkins University):
Faust
McCoy College
17. December 14
Concert
18. December 15
Leo Spitzer (Johns Hopkins University):
Twentieth Century Criticism of Goethe
in "Romania"
Philological Club (Johns
Hopkins University)
19. December 15
Oskar Seidlin (Ohio State University):
Goethe's Vision of a New World
Goethe Society and Johns
Hopkins University
1950
20. January 8
Arno Schirokauer (Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity): Die Menschlichen Werte
Goethes
Zion Church
21. January 19
Ernst Feise (Johns Hopkins University):
Goethe: The Challenge of the Day
Friends of the Library of
Johns Hopkins University
22. January 20
Goethe as a Scientist
Goethe Society and Johns
Hopkins University
23. January 21
Faust, Genesis and Idea
Goethe Society (in Wash-
ington)
24. February 9
Arno Schirokauer (Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity): Goethe and his Social Responsi-
bility
Mt. St. Agnes College
25. March 9
John N. O'Neill: Goethe's Leipzig Student
Days
Mt. St. Mary's College
26. March 18
Julius Bab (New York) : Die Geschichte
der Goetheschen Lyrik
Goethe Society (in Wash-
ington)
[73]
 |