SPRING AWAKENING - Segerstrom Center for the Arts

History
Overture to
Summary of Standard for
Historical Understanding
1. Understanding and analyzing
chronological relationships and
patterns:
•
Analyze influence of specific beliefs
on these times. How would events
be different in the absence of these
beliefs?
•
Analyze the effects specfic
decisions had on history. How
would things have been different
in the absence of these specific
decisions?
2. Understanding the historical
perspective:
•
Understand that the consequences
of human intentions are influenced
by the means of carrying them out.
•
Understand how the past affects
our private lives and society in
general.
•
Perceive past events with historical
empathy.
•
Evaluate credibility and
authenticity of historical sources.
•
Evaluate the validity and
credibility of different historical
interpretations.
G e r m a n y
1891
S e t t i n g
t h e Stage
Art as reflection of its time
is undeniable. In the case of
Spring Awakening, the original
1891 play confirms the adage.
Although certainly not the first
work to challenge the norms
of its day, it was considered an
ultra-radical attempt in its time.
Most of German society as it had
been up until then vanished by 1900.
The pace of urbanization was rapidly
escalating. By 1910 Berlin was a major metropolitan center. People from all
over Europe, many escaping war and the confines of less progressive societies,
flocked there. Inventions such as the telegraph, telephone, electricity and mass
transportation undreamed of one hundred years before were now reality.
Along with scientific discoveries it was also a time of great change in
political and social thinking.
Social change, confusion, and moral ambiguity were present in all areas
of life – politics, technology, identity, and sexuality. Male domination
coexisted with an active Women’s Movement. Women, too long
victims of a feudal system that made them
dependent on their husbands, began to
speak out. The League of Progressive
Women’s Associations called for a boycott
of marriage and for social acceptance of
sex as an enjoyable behavior. Founded by
Lily Braun and Minna Cauer, the league
sought to organize and unionize prostitutes,
promote contraception, a woman’s right
to abortion and the decriminalization
of homosexuality. Writer Emma Trosse
published her controversial brochure titled
“Is free love immoral?”.
Politician, feminist and writer, Lily Braun was the
daughter of Prussian general. With no formal
education, she moved to Berlin and lived financially
independent of her family through her writings. The
most famous is the historical literary work--Memoirs
of a Socialist Woman used widely today in Women’s
Studies classrooms.
Minna Cauer promoted radical democratic causes
through the feminist newspaper, The Women’s
Movement. She was an avid campaigner for abortion
Lily Braun
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