Berlin by a very
rapid development of native talent. Less than a month after the
performance of Ibsen's play, Gerhart Hauptmann came to the front with
_Vor Sonnenaufgang_, an immature piece of almost unrelieved Zolaism,
which he soon followed up, however, with much more important works. In
_Das Friedensfest_ (1890) and _Einsame Menschen_ (1891) he transferred
his allegiance from Zola to Ibsen. His true originality first manifested
itself in _Die Weber_ (1892); and subsequently he produced plays in
several different styles, all bearing the stamp of a potent
individuality. His most popular productions have been the dramatic poems
_Hannele_ and _Die versunkene Glocke_, the low-life comedy _Der
Biberpelz_, and the low-life tragedy _Fuhrmann Henschel_. Other
remarkable playwrights belonging to the Freie Buhne group are Max Halbe
(b. 1865), author of _Jugend_ and _Mutter Erde_, and Otto Erich
Hartleben (b. 1864), author of _Hanna Jagert_ and _Rosenmontag_. These
young men, however, so quickly gained the ear of the general public,
that the need for a special "free stage" was no longer felt, and the
Freie Buhne, having done its work, ceased to exist. Unlike the French
Theatre Libre and the English Independent theatre, it had been supported
from the outset by the most influential critics, and had won the day
almost without a battle. The productions of the new school soon made
their way even into some of the subventioned theatres; but it was the
unsubventioned Deutsches Theater of Berlin that most vigorously
continued the tradition of the Freie Buhne. One or two playwrights of
the new generation, however, did not actually belong to the Freie Buhne
group. Hermann Sudermann produced his first play, _Die Ehre_, in 1888,
and his most famous work, _Heimat_, in 1892. In him the influence of
Ibsen is very clearly perceptible; while Arthur Schnitzler of Vienna,
author of _Liebelei_, may rather be said to derive his inspiration from
the Parisian "new comedy." Originality, verging sometimes on
abnormality, distinguishes the work of Frank Wedekind (b. 1864), author
of _Erdgeist_ and _Fruhlingserwachen_. Hugo von Hofmannsthal (b. 1874),
in his _Elektra_ and _Odipus_, rehandles classic themes in the light of
modern anthropology and psychology.

The promoters of the Theatre Libre had probably never heard of Ibsen
when they established that institution, but three years later his fame
had reached France, and _Les Revenants_ was produced by the