Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-16
THE PASSION PLAY
F---
Dr. Oollyer Says It Has Fallen From
Its High Estate.
INFLUENCE OF The BOX OFFICE
Great Change in the Whole Spirit
and Atmosphere.
Is A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE

Written for The Evening Star.
To thousands the little valley of the AM
| mer in the heart of the Bavarian high
| lands will be a place of interesting pilgrim
age this year, for there the regular decen-
| nial production Of the Passion Play, to last
twelve weeks Is being enacted in accord
ance with VOW given in the sixteenth GEN.
| fury. Probably $1,000 Americans alone will
visit the quaint village in the lap Of the
| towering mountains this season. and many
l and divers will be the impressions received.
Nothing could be more idylic more con-
i ducive to the reverential mood than the
pastoral sweep of the Ammer valley, with
It's dottins Of quaint homes, its church
| spires and the somewhat imposing building
where the Passion Play is given. There
for hundreds OF years a thoughtful, rever-
entail people have eked out an humble ex-
| istence by the closest of economy and with
much severe religious discipline. Not more
| than 1000 souls comprise this little aggre-
cation, and the election Of the principal
parts in the play which has made the Ober-
ammergauers known throughout the Chris
tan world Is paramount to all other prob
lens of life among them. Small lives. in
deed, they live. compared with the swift
moving careers Of the outer world. but the
very narrowness has contributed to the
making OF a concrete type such as may
! be found only in purely religious commu-
large has not been considered OF sufficient
Importance to warrant any enterprise in
| that direction. though probably with the
increased interest which the whole Chris
tan world displays in the Passion Play it
| will not be long before this Isolated and
almost medieval community will be reached
by steam railroad or even perhaps by
| trolley line.
Dafsenberger's High Ideals.
The parish priest, Daisenberger. was the
Rrct to hr{r nt-f af Ito
tesqueness the beauty and mystery of the
Passion Play. Before his time the render
ing of the divine tragedy was nothing more
than an outdoor ceremony. For nearly two
score years the priest labored to the end
Of making the Passion Play an observ-
ance Of great Importance in the religious
world. He had a keen dramatic instinct
and. being a very sincere Christian, he
| realized at once what possibilities there
were. not only in the play handed down
from early times. but also in the native
talent of the yokes, woodsmen and hum
BILE artisans of the vale. Daisenberger
eliminated the vulgar buffoonery with which
the early play was burdened, substituting
lines of great force and beauty as well
situations of high artistic merit. To him
is due the beautiful humanzing Of the
personality of the Savior and the vtaliza-
ton of the apostles. which characterize the
Oberammergau performances The par
Elephants in the play are men chosen not
alone for their histrionic ability; In order
to be eligible they must be Of unimpeach-
| able character and entirely worthy to fill
any exalted role. From the time when
they appear in the chorus as little children
In ropes Of many hues, the spirit Of the
Passion Play rules them entirely. Later
they assume the more difficult parts, and
from among the apostles Of this year may
be chosen the Christian of decade hence.
Careful Preparation.
Through all these ten years most ac-
curate and intimate study of the scriptural
situations, the costumes and manners of
New Testament times, the character of the
personages. and their personal appearances
| based on the paintings of the old masters
| is made under careful guidance, and the
rehearsals are long and arduous.
DaiSenberger caused 1t to be recorded
that he undertook the production for the
love of his Divine Redeemer and with only
one object in view. namely, the evangelical
ton of the world" He made the represen-
tation Of the divine passion as dictated by
the entire Scriptures. bringing it within
human scope and typifying in the person
of the Divine man. the supreme Godhood.
But whether the followers Of Daisenberger
have carried out the spirit of his injunc-
ton. never allowing the material to super
impose itself upon the spiritual, is a much
mooted point. Many devout men who
have seen the latest rendering affirm that
all the glory and purity of the. early rep
reservations have been retained indebted
by the modern spirit of commercial enter
prise. Others are convinced that the Pas
sion Play must inevitably fall into the
hands Of the Spectator and the mounte-
bank. and that the natural love for gain
in the human heart will eventually eradi-
cate the more solemn and reverential spirit
without which the Passion Play becomes
merely Theatre and dangerous assump
ton of holy things TO base ends. One of
these holding the negative point Of view is
DR.. Robert Collyer. whose expressed con-
victions are herewith given:
DIR. Collyer's Views.
1t Is a sad commentary on the times that
with the universal popularizing of a pro-
found and sacred observance, the worldly
spirit should thrust itself in and vulgarize
it. I can regard the present production of
the Passion Play at Oberammergau as
nothing short of perversion.
Time was when this simple and beautiful
rendering of the profoundest tragedy known
to man was in the nature of noble re-
ligfous observance. something to be seen,
revered and remembered, and to the sim
pie peasantry of Bavaria a mighty instru-
ment for moral and spiritual betterment.
But with each repetition the ancient spirit
that characterized it faded Into the light
of common day" Now, like everything
else We treasure more or less, 1t is slowly
but surely becoming subservient to COM
mercal uses
This is deplorable, but 1t is beyond gain
saying. A touching and inspiring rite has
been vulgarized by the extraneous and the
commercial It has been made a sightseers'
fair. catch penny vantage to the innkeep-
er and the puryeyor Of souvenirs.
Glorious Religious Rite.
People removed from the scenes and local
spirit can hardly realize how insuar and
concrete the quaint peasant folk of Ober-
ammergau are. and how necessary Is the
symbol to their devout lives. For the most
part the practical talents of the players are
displayed in wood carvings Of exquisite
workmanship. particularly crucifixes and
other religious tokens, in which they are
peculiarly expert, as if the trying work had
sharpened their wits. Morally and spirit
ually they are fitted for their great under
taking. and to be thought worthy of a
place even in the chorus Of the Passion
Play is to them a mark of the highest
merit.
In years and years of toll over their re-
ligious symbols. laboring to bring out more
clearly the Divine features familiarized by
the old masters. these simple folk become
imbued with deep reverence. From the
time that one Schuchler brought the plague
into the valley. and Divine Intervention pre-
vented its utter depopulation-in gratitude
for which the peasants vowed to play the
Passion Play tragedy once every ten years
plo hos iod fbo