mythologyand socialist modernity.Stylistically, the ecstatic utopianism of early
expressionism prevailed, notwithstanding occasional experiments with the cool
factualityofNewObjectivity and the aggressive militancy of communist agit-
prop. The spiritualization of working-classsuffering throughaChristian iconog-
raphyand its aestheticization in an expressionist staccato(or telegram) style
wereespeciallypronounced in contributions by Schönlank, includingGroßstadt
(1923,Big City),Dergespaltene Mensch(1927,Divided Man), andSeid geweiht!
(1927,BeBlessed!).Karl Bröger’sRote Erde(1928,Red Earth), written for the So-
zialistische Arbeiterjugend(SAJ, SocialistWorkers’Youth), and MaxBarthel’sIns
Leben hinein(1929,Forward into Life), written for the nondenominationalJugend-
weihe,asocialistversion of the Christian rite of Confirmation, attests to the
Sprechchor’sfrequent enlistment in secular initiation rituals directed specifically
at working-classyouth. By contrast,the modernist proletarian balladMann im
Beton(1932,Man in Concrete),with music byWalter Gronostayand words by
R. A. Stemmle and GüntherWeisenborn, atteststo the strong influenceofthe
BrechtianLehrstück(teachingplay) on theSprechchormovement.Throughout,
the theater of ancient Greece, its architectures and choreographies,remained
an importantinspiration, with the patterns of rediscovery extendingall the
waytothe DelphicFestivals of 1927 and 1930 that includedaperformance of
PrometheusBound.
In making community the preferred category of class analysis,theSprech-
chordoes not fit easilyinto standard accounts ofWeimar drama and theater
based on leftwingand rightwing distinctions.²⁴In addressing the problem,
UweHornauer has proposed two concepts,“refunctionalization of bourgeois tra-
ditions”and“anticipation of the socialist community,”²⁵to evaluate the unique
Forageneral English-languageaccount of modern German theater, see Michael Patterson,
TheRevolution in GermanTheatre, 1900– 1933 (London: Routledge &Kegan Paul, 1981). The
best overviews of proletarian theater duringthe Weimar Republic published in the GDR areLud-
wigHoffmann and Daniel Hoffmann-Ostwald, eds.,Deutsches Arbeitertheater 1918– 1933 ,2vols.,
thirded. (Berlin: Henschel, 1977) andLudwigHoffmann and Klaus Pfützner,eds.,Theater der
Kollektive. Proletarisch-revolutionäresBerufstheater in Deutschland 1928–1933: Stücke, Doku-
mente, Studien,2vols.(Berlin: Henschel, 1980). In both collections,theSprechchoris treated
as amarginal phenomenon because of its association with Social Democracy. Compare, from
aWest German perspective,RichardWeber,Proletarisches Theater und revolutionäreArbeiterbe-
wegung 1918– 1925 (Cologne: Prometh, 1978). On theSprechchormovement in the extensive
scholarship onWeimar theater,see RichardSheppard,“ProletarischeFeierstunden and the
EarlyHistory of the Sprechchor 1919–1923,”Internationales ArchivfürSozialgeschichte der deut-
schen Literatur8(1997): 147 – 185.
UweHornauer,Laienspiel undMassenchor.Das Arbeitertheater der Kultursozialisten in der
WeimarerRepublik(Cologne: Prometh, 1985), 35 and 39.For an introductionto theSprechchor
234 Chapter 12