PASTOi^AL LITHltATURK FI!0.\I OITIV, TO flKSSXIOU. 35 



ner, too, in spite of lii.s unreal and conventional shepherds, 

 claimed that Theocritus \Yas his model. Whether he was at all 

 influenced by said article, I do not know. 



Ever since Opitz had introduced the Opera into Germany 

 through his translation of Dafne, with its mythological and pas" 

 toral character, the opera had been a favorite form of entertain- 

 ment, first at court-festivities, ' later in some of the large cities, 

 especially Hamburg, Braunschweig, and Dresden, and grew to be 

 exceedingly popular. Ballets, pantomimes, and masquerades 

 were introduced into these operas, whence the music and display 

 became all-important, while the text was utterly disregarded. 



When Gottsched began his reforms of the German stage, he 

 found the stage occupied by this form of opera, which he heartily 

 despised.^ Wishing to drive the opera off the stage, he pro- 

 posed to substitute for it the shepherd-play to be spoken, not 

 sung, and wrote his Atalanta (published 1741) with this purpose 

 in view. 5 He succeeded, too, beyond his expectations; German 

 literature was literally deluged by imitations of Gottsched's play- 

 During the ten years immediately following the publication of 

 Atalanta more than thirty shepherd-dramas appeared, seven be- 

 ing published in the year 1746 alone. 



In Atalanta and these plays which it called into existence there 

 is no individual characterization; all allusions to the ordinary oc- 

 cupations of life are carefully avoided. The shepherds are mere 

 conventional types, puppets without life and reality; the writers 

 do not give any motives for the entrance or exit of the actors. 



1 As a Rood example of these operas may be mentioned Johann von Besser's 

 Singspiele, n07, ("mit mythologischem Prunk ausstaffiert"), page 563 of Des 

 Herna von Besser Schri£ften 1732. 



2 "Wenn nieht die Regeln der ganzen Poesie iibern Haufen fallen eoUen, so 

 muss ich mit dem St. Evreniond sagen: Die Oper sei das ungereimieste TT^erA', 

 der menschlicbe Verstand Jamais erfunden bat'' Krit. Dichtk. p. 369. 



3 See Das deutsche Schaferspiel des IS. Jahrhunderts (Inaugural Disser- 

 tation), Halle a, S,, 1885, by Friedrich Riihle. In this he sets forth the importance 

 of Gottsched's Atalanta in the development of the i^astoral drama. 



