König Ottokars Glück und Ende

Peter Schönhofer
2006-11-11

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The cruel King Ottokar of Bohemia, spoiled by fortune and unpredictable, is dead. Now, with the modest Rudolf of Habsburg, peace has finally returned to Austria, for he replaces tyrannical arbitrariness with God-fearing clemency—and the way is clear for a story that lasted 700 years and bears the title: "The Habsburgs in Austria." With this view of Franz Grillparzer's play, many productions have been staged since the premiere of "King Ottokar's Fortune and End" – Rudolf of Habsburg as the gatekeeper to the dawn of a new, better era. It became clear what a great projection screen Grillparzer's play offered. It should really be called "The Habsburgs' rise to power as a development toward the good, the just, the orderly." But it is called "King Ottokar's Fortune and End," and that is what it is about—the fortune and end of a human being and how the one is sometimes directly connected to the other.