The Neo-Latin theatre play Cenodoxus (1602) by Jakob Bidermann is now only known to some researchers in Latin and German studies. But from 1930 to 1960, the story about the battle between heavenly and hellish powers for the soul of the Parisian scholar Cenodoxus was at the height of its popularity in German-speaking countries: actors in science and culture praised the play as a Latin Hamlet or Faust.
The Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal was already working on a production for the Salzburg Festival in the 1920s, to be directed by Max Reinhardt. However, Hofmannsthal was unable to complete this project before his death in 1929. "Depending on the report, Max Reinhardt, Richard Metzl or Joseph Gregor are said to have continued the project," says Dr. Julia Jennifer Beine, Latinist and head of the interdisciplinary Junior Research Group "Sustainability in Translation" at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU).
"As I quickly realised during my research, some of the newspaper articles from the late 1920s and early 1930s about the Cenodoxus production for the Salzburg Festival were very contradictory. I then began to work out the narrative surrounding the production and asked for further archives," says the JMU researcher. Beine consulted more than 20 archives for her research into the genesis of the Salzburg Cenodoxus production during a research stay in Vienna, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service.
The result: there were a total of three attempts at a Cenodoxus production for the Salzburg Festival, first mainly by Hofmannsthal (1920-1925), then by Metzl (1930/31) and finally by Gregor (1933), with Reinhardt always directing.
"In the surviving testimonies, some of those involved claim the rediscovery of Cenodoxus for themselves, but conceal the involvement of others, especially Gregor," says Beine, "if someone consciously wants to stage themselves as the great discoverer of Cenodoxus and heir to Hofmannsthal, they put themselves alone in the limelight and leave no room for others." The first to fall out of the narratives is the translator of the second planned production, Ljuba Metzl.
Ljuba Metzl's translation of Cenodoxus
But how did Ljuba Metzl come to translate the play? "She was the daughter of Richard Metzl, who, according to his own account, continued to work on the adaptation as Reinhardt's assistant after Hofmannsthal's death," explains Beine. Ljuba Metzl could have received the commission through this family connection. A newspaper article calls her a "talented young philologist". Beine found enrolment sheets in the archives of the University of Vienna that prove that Ljuba Metzl studied there for three semesters from the winter semester of 1930/31.
However, around 1930 it was not so easy for Ljuba Metzl to obtain the model for her translation. "At that time, the drama was difficult to access. The Latin text was only available in printed editions from the 17th century in certain libraries, as was a German translation by Bidermann's pupil Joachim Meichel from 1635," explains Beine. This translation was not published by the publisher Reclam until December 1930, making it generally accessible.
The Salzburg Study Library owned a copy of the Latin text. Richard Metzl, and therefore also Ljuba Metzl, received photographs of the text through their contact with Joseph Gregor. "Back then, it was a huge effort to get access to a text," says the JMU researcher. Gregor also used the photographs later for his own adaptation of the drama, which he brought to the stage of Vienna's Burgtheater in 1933 - in a version in which he had almost completely rewritten the original. It is unclear to what extent Gregor also used Ljuba Metzl's translation, as reported in a newspaper article.
A lost translation
Gregor also published the influential work Weltgeschichte des Theaters (1933). It also mentions Cenodoxus. "Gregor quotes a passage of the play in German without citing its origin, which does not come from his own adaptation and also not from Meichel's translation and which is very close to the original in terms of content," says the Würzburg Latinist. The suspicion is that it is a version by Ljuba Metzl.
But: "Her translation seems to have been lost - at least I couldn't find a manuscript in the archives. It is therefore impossible to determine who wrote the passage in Weltgeschichte des Theaters," so Beine.
The JMU researcher's discovery shows how important archives are for questioning common narratives of authorship: "Joseph Gregor was a big name in theatre studies for decades. His narratives still influence research literature today. Ljuba Metzl and her story, on the other hand, are virtually unknown," says the Latinist.
Biography of Ljuba Metzl
Ljubow "Ljuba" Louise Ludmilla Metzl was born in Berlin on 18 June 1911. She attended the Reformrealgymnasium in Salzburg and then went on to study at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Vienna. After completing three semesters, Ljuba Metzl's name can no longer be found in the university's enrolment sheets from the summer semester of 1932. "In a contemporary article, she is referred to as 'Ljuba Metzl-Binder', which indicates that she had married in the early 1930s. It is not clear whether this was the reason for dropping out of university," explains Beine.
Richard Metzl was probably persecuted due to the anti-Semitic ideology of the National Socialists and fled Germany with his family in August 1938. He died of an unknown cause in Paris in October 1941. There is as yet no further information about the fate of his family and his daughter.
About the Junior Research Group "Sustainability in Translation"
In her Junior Research Group "Sustainability in Translation", Dr. Julia Jennifer Beine analyses translations and their relationship to the original text. These can sometimes show significant differences. The group is developing an interdisciplinary research approach that clarifies the relationship between translation and sustainability.